Improving Your Personality

Personality - comes from the Latin word "persona " meaning mask.

 personality is defined as the sum total of all the traits and characteristics of a person that
distinguishes him from another.

Personality Theories

Psychoanalytic Theory - according to Freud personality consists of three parts: the id the ego the
superego.

 Id - the id consists of all our primitive, innate desires which include bodily needs, sexual urges,
and aggressive impulses.

"pleasure principle".

 The Ego - the ego is that part of personality that deals with reality if the id's desires are to be
met.

"reality principle."

 The Superego - the superego controls the satisfaction of the id and permits its gratification only
when it is morally correct to do so.

"moral principle."

Psychosexual Stages Of Development

 Oral Stage - focuses on oral satisfaction (sucking and biting).

 Anal Stage - is focused on the bowel and bladder control (pooping).

 Phallic Stage - focused on levels of pleasure-seeking energies or erogenous zones, and during
the phallic stage, a child's focus is on the genitals or penis.

 Latent Stage - is a time where kids focus their energy on creating their identities through
hobbies, friends, and school.

 Genital Stage - the person seeks ways of satisfying sexual impulses in dyadic relationships, and
aggressive impulses through competition, physically demanding activities, exercise, and
argumentation.

Social Learning Theory Of Personality

 this theory explains personality almost entirely in terms of experience rather than biological
factors.
  personality is shaped not just by environmental influences on the person, but also by the
person's ability to influence the environment.

Condition For Effective Modeling

 A- Attention

 R- Relation

 M- Motor Reproduction

 M- Motivation

The Humanistic Theory

 they believe that human beings are endowed with free will and free choice; thus, a person
carves out his own destiny.

Carl Rogers' Phenomenological Theory Of Personality

 Rogers holds that the innermost core of human nature is essentially good, purposive, and
trustworthy.

 the basic drive underlying personality is the self-actualizing tendency.

Personality Theory Of George Kelly

 Kelly's personal construct theory suggested that the differences between people result from the
different ways that we predict and interpret events in the world around us.

 example: a person is friendly to dogs if they pet the dogs - a person is unfriendly to dogs if they
avoid it.

Type Theories Of Personality

Carl Jung used the terms introvert and extrovert to classify individuals.

Introvert - reacts to situations in terms of its significance to him.

Extrovert - is oriented to objects; his interests and attention are directed outward.

Extravert - who is neither extremely introverted or extroverted.

Sheldon's Type Theory

 the personality of a person is based on his physical or body

Types: Ectomorph - skinny

Mesomorph - lean bulk

Endomorph - chubby/bulky
Kretschmer who postulated a relationship between a physical type and susceptibility to mental disorder.

Kretschmer developed the idea of two normal temperamental types:

 The Schizoid - is a condition where a person shows very little, if any, interest and ability to form
relationships with other people.

 The Cycloid - is a personality disorder characterized by recurrent mood swings, with alternating
periods of elation and depression.

The Trait Approach

 a personality trait is defined as a person's generalized and consistent way of behaving in a given
situation.

 traits account for the consistency of behavior of an individual over the years under the same
situations.

Allport's Trait Theory

 Allport's Theory is based on the statement that no two people are completely alike.

 Allport defines personality as the dynamic organization within the individual whose
characteristic behavior and thought is determined by psychophysical systems.

Raymond Cattell

 used a statistical technique, factor analysis, to find out how many traits there are really. cattel
found that sixteen source traits represented the basic dimensions of personality.

Using a 10-point scale, Cattel came up with these 16 source traits:

Reserved Outgoing

Less intelligent Most intelligent

Affective by feeling Emotionally stable

Submissive Dominant

Serious Happy go lucky

Expedient Conscientious

Timid Venturesome
 Tough minded Sensitive

Trusting Suspicious

Practical Imaginative

Forthright Shrewd

Self-assured Apprehensive

Conservative Experimenting

Group dependent Self-sufficient

Uncontrolled Controlled

Relaxed Tense

Determinants Of Personality

Genetic Determinants Of Personality

 certain characteristics undoubtedly ran in families but this alone does not prove that they are
inherited.

 certain characteristics undoubtedly ran in the families.

Social Determinants Of Personality

 the family is one of the major social determinants of personality.

 Freud emphasized the importance of early childhood in personality formation.

In a study by Hewitt and Jenkins as cited by Lewis, three unfavorable family patterns affect a child's
personality very strongly, these are:

 parental rejection

 negligence and exposure

 family repression

Culture And Personality

Assessment Of Personality

There are many ways of assessing personality, some more scientific than others:

Observation - common way of assessing personality.

Diagnosis - a process by which the current state of an organism is determined.

Observation of certain expressive movements - the way a person walks can give a clue to his
personality.

Graphology - is the study of the connection between handwriting and personality characteristics.

Personality Inventory - It is usually a paper-and-pencil test containing a number of questions aimed at

Rating scales are of three types: rating by experts, by colleagues, and by oneself. it involves the use of a
checklist.

Interviews - may be structured or non-structured.

Dialogue - is a specific instance involving a person who seeks self-understanding with a trained therapist.

Personality can be described only in terms of the past. Today, the first step in attempting to understand
and counsel any individual is to use the historical approach.

There are Two Techniques:

Case History - a record of a person's health, development, or behavior, kept by an official such as a
doctor.

Autobiography - the biography of oneself narrated by oneself.