Course Instructor: Ms.

Samreen Shahzaib
Course: Personality Theories 1
COMSATS UNIVERSITY ISLAMABAD, LAHORE CAMPUS

CHAPTER # 1
PSYCHOLOGY OF PERSONALITY
Course Outline
1. Introduction to Personality

2. Meaning of personality

3. Meaning of theory

4. Functions of theory

5. Introduction of personality theories

6. Assessment of personality
 Introduction

The word personality comes from the Latin root persona, meaning "mask." According to
this root, personality is the impression we make on others; the mask we present to the world.
Personality is defined as "a unique set of traits and characteristics, relatively stable over time.
“The definition further suggests that personality does not change from day to day. Over the short-
term, our personalities are relatively set or stable. However, definition does not suggest that
personality is somehow rigid, unchangeable, and cast in concrete. Definition recognizes that, over
a longer term,
personality may change.

Definitions

Psychologists do not agree on an exact definition of the term.

Hilgard and Atkinson define as the "Characteristics patterns of behaviour, thought and
emotion that determine a person's adjustment to the environment."
J.B. Watson (1930): “Personality is the sum of activities that can be discovered by actual
observations over a long enough period of time to give reliable information.”
M. Prince (1929): Personality is the sum total of all biological innate dispositions, impulses,
tendencies, appetites, and instincts of the individual and the dispositions and tendencies
acquired by experience.”
“Personality, a characteristic way of thinking, feeling, and behaving. Personality embraces
moods, attitudes, and opinions and is most clearly expressed in interactions with other
people. It includes behavioral characteristics, both inherent and acquired, that distinguish
one person from another and that can be observed in people’s relations to the environment
and to the social group”.
“Personality is the combination of behavior, emotion, motivation, and thought patterns that
define an individual. Personality psychology attempts to study similarities and differences in
these patterns among different people and groups”.
• Personality refers to important and relatively stable aspects of behavior. Consider a young
woman whose personality includes the trait of “painfully shy.” She will behave shyly in many
different situations, and over a significant period of time. There are likely to be exceptions: She
 may be more outgoing with her family or a close friend, or at her own birthday party. But she
will often have difficulty dealing with other people, which will continue for months or even
years and will have a significant effect on her general well-being.

Example

Background
The systematic study of personality as a recognizable and separate discipline within psychology
may be said to have begun in the 1930s with the publication in the United States of two
textbooks, Psychology of Personality (1937) by Ross Stagner and Personality: A Psychological
Interpretation (1937) by Gordon W. Allport, followed by Henry A. Murray’s Explorations in
Personality (1938)

Nature of Personality
 It is relatively stable but dynamic in nature.
 Helps in adjusting the individual with the environment
 It is consistent.
 It is unique
Characteristics of Personality

 Personality is something which is unique in each individual.

 Personality refers particularly to the persistent qualities of an individual.
 Personality represents a dynamic orientation of an organism to the environment.
 Personality is greatly influenced by social interactions.
 Personality represents a unique organization of persistent dynamic and social predisposition.
 Consistency.
 Psychological and physiological.
 It impacts behaviors and actions.
 Multiple expressions.

Theory

• Theory comes from the Greek word theoria connoting “wakefulness of mind.” It is a type of
“pure viewing” of truth. Theory explains reality; it makes people aware of their world and its
interactions.

• A theory is an unproved speculation about reality. Established facts are often lacking in scientific
work, and a theory offers guidelines that will serve us in the absence of more precise
information.

• A theory consists of a set of terms and principles constructed or applied by the theorist, which are
referred to as constructs. Like the author or inventor, the theorist is a creator (of constructs); and
like creators in other disciplines, the theorist borrows from and builds upon the work of his or her
predecessors.

• Finally, constructs must be interrelated so that a theory is logically consistent. In addition to

defining and explaining the terms and principles, the theorist must show how they fi t together
into a coherent whole.

• A theory is commonly thought to be something that exists in opposition to a fact. That is, it is
viewed as a hypothesis about what is true, a speculation about reality; it is something that is not
known to be true. In general, a theory is thought to be capable of being confirmed or dis-
confirmed when sufficient data have been collected and analyzed. In our view, however, theories
themselves are neither true nor false. It is only their implications, or their derivations, that can be
proven or dis- proven.

WHAT SHOULD A THEORY DO?

 A theory should be simple and forthright enough to make the idea it is trying to present
understandable. It should use clear language and not be couched in neologisms.
 A theory should be useful so that it leads to meaningful progress in the evolution of man
toward better life goals.
 A theory should bring together what is known in an orderly manner, incorporating this
into a meaningful whole.
 A theory should clarify man's thinking. A theory should lead to accurate prediction
before the fact, not after the fact.

Definition of Personality Theories

We have said that personality is defined by the particular concepts a theorist uses to
describe or understand human behavior. And we have said that a theory is composed of a set of
assumptions about certain empirical phenomena, together with the empirical definitions needed
to move from theory to concrete reality. Combining these statements, we can define personality
theory initially as a set of assumptions about human behavior, together with appropriate
empirical definitions. And we should add to this definition the prescription that a personality
theory should ideally be comprehensive; that is, it should be able to deal with or make
predictions about behavioral events that fall within the scope of its definition of personality.

The Role of Personality Theory

 Serves as a guide for researchers

 Organizes known findings
 Makes predictions about behavior and psychological phenomena that not one has yet
documented or observed
 Scientific theories need to be distinguished from beliefs. Beliefs are based on leaps of faith,
not on reliable facts and systematic observations, whereas theories are based on systematic
observations that can be repeated by others to yield similar conclusions
Standards for evaluating personality theories

• Comprehensiveness.

• Heuristic value.

• Testability.

• Compatibility and integration across domains and levels.

The first standard is comprehensiveness—does the theory do a good job of explaining

all of the facts and observations within its domain? Theories that explain more empirical data
within their domains are generally superior to those that explain fewer findings

A second evaluative standard is heuristic value —does the theory provide a guide to
important new discoveries about personality that were not known before? Theories that steer
scientists to making these discoveries are generally superior to theories that fail to provide this
guidance. Plate tectonic theory in geology, for example, guided researchers to discover regions
of volcanic activity that were unknown prior to the theory. Similarly, a good personality theory
will guide personality researchers to make discoveries that were previously unknown.

A third important standard for evaluating theories is testability—does the theory

render precise enough predictions that personality psychologists can test them empirically? Some
theories, for example certain aspects of Freud's theory of intrapsychic conflict, have been
criticized on the grounds that they are difficult or impossible to test; other aspects of Freud's
theory are testable As a general rule, the testability of a theory rests with the precision of its
predictions. Precise theoretical predictions aid progress in the science because they allow
inadequate theories to be discarded (those whose predictions are falsified) while good theories ca
be retained (those whose predictions are empirically confirmed). If a theory does no lend itself to
being tested empirically, it is generally judged to be a poor theory

A fourth standard for evaluating personality theories is parsimony—does the theory

contain few premises and assumptions (parsimony) or many premises and assumptions (lack of
parsimony). As a general rule, theories that require many premises and assumptions to explain a
given set of findings are judged to be poorer than theories that can explain the same findings
with fewer premises and assumptions

Assessment in the Study of Personality

To assess something means to evaluate it. The assessment of personality is a major area of
application of psychology to real-world concerns. Consider a few everyday examples. Clinical
psychologists try to understand the symptoms of their patients or clients by attempting to assess
their personalities, by differentiating between normal and abnormal behaviors and feelings. Only
by evaluating personality in this way can clinicians diagnose disorders and determine the best
course of therapy. School psychologists evaluate the personalities of the students referred to
them for treatment in an attempt to uncover the causes of adjustment or learning problems.
Industrial/organizational psychologists assess personality to select the best candidate for a
particular job. Counseling psychologists measure personality to find the best job for a particular
applicant, matching the requirements of the position with the person’s interests and needs.
Research psychologists assess the personalities of their subjects in an attempt to account for their
behavior in an experiment or to correlate their personality traits with other measurements.
No matter what you do in your life or your working career, it is difficult to avoid having
your personality assessed in some way. Indeed, much of your success in the workplace will be
determined by your performance on various psychological tests. Therefore, it is important that
you have some understanding of what they are and how they work.

Reliability and Validity

Assessment techniques differ in their degree of objectivity or subjectivity; some

techniques are wholly subjective and therefore open to bias. The results obtained by subjective
techniques may be distorted by the personality characteristics of the person making the
assessment. The best techniques of personality assessment adhere to the principles of reliability
and validity.

Reliability

The consistency of response to a psychological assessment device. Reliability can be determined

by the test retest, equivalent-forms, and split-halves methods.

Validity

The extent to which an assessment device measures what it is intended to measure. Types of
validity include predictive, content, and construct.

Methods of assessment.

The personality theorists discussed in this book devised unique methods for assessing
personality, ways that were appropriate for their theories. By applying these methods, they
derived the data on which they based their formulations. Their techniques vary in objectivity,
reliability, and validity, and they range from dream interpretation and childhood recollections to
 paper-and-pencil and computer-administered tests. In psychology today, the major approaches to
personality assessment are:

 Self-report or objective inventories

 Projective techniques
 Clinical interviews
 Behavioral assessment procedures
1. Self-Report Inventories
A personality assessment technique in which subjects answer questions about their
behaviors and feelings.
The self-report inventory approach involves asking people to report on themselves by answering
questions about their behavior and feelings in various situations. These tests include items dealing
with symptoms, attitudes, interests, fears, and values. Test-takers indicate how closely each
statement describes their characteristics or how much they agree with each item. Two widely used
self-report inventories are the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and the
California Psychological Inventory (CPI).
2. Projective techniques
A personality assessment device in which subjects are presumed to project personal needs,
fears, and values onto their interpretation or description of an ambiguous stimulus.
Clinical psychologists developed projective tests of personality for their work with emotionally
disturbed persons. Inspired by Sigmund Freud’s emphasis on the importance of the
unconscious, projective tests attempt to probe that invisible portion of our personality. The
theory underlying projective techniques is that when we are presented with an ambiguous
stimulus, such as an inkblot or a picture that can be understood or interpreted in more than one
way, we will project our needs, fears, and values onto the stimulus when asked to describe it.
Because the interpretation of the results of projective tests is so subjective, these tests are
not high in reliability or validity. It is not unusual for different test administrators to form
different impressions of the same person, based on the results of a projective test; in such a case,
the interscorer reliability of the test is considered to be low. Nevertheless, such tests are widely
used for assessment and diagnostic purposes. Two popular projective tests are the Rorschach
Inkblot Technique and the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT).
3. Clinical Interviews
In addition to the specific psychological tests used to measure an individual’s personality,
the assessment procedure often includes clinical interviews. After all, it is reasonable to assume
that valuable information can be obtained by talking to the person being evaluated and asking
relevant questions about past and present life experiences, social and family relationships, and
the problems that led the person to seek psychological help. A wide range of behaviors,
feelings, and thoughts can be investigated in the interview, including general appearance,
demeanor, and attitude; facial expressions, posture, and gestures; preoccupations; degree of self-
insight; and level of contact with reality.

Armed with the results of psychological tests such as the MMPI, which are usually
administered before or during a series of interview sessions, the psychologist can focus on
problems indicated by the test results and explore those areas in detail. Interpretation of
interview material is subjective and can be affected by the interviewer’s theoretical orientation
and personality. Nevertheless, clinical interviews remain a widely used technique for personality
assessment and a useful tool when supplemented by more objective procedures.

4. Behavioral Assessment
In the behavioral assessment approach, an observer evaluates a person’s behavior in a
given situation. The better the observers know the person being assessed, the more accurate
their evaluations are likely to be. Psychologists Arnold Buss and Robert Plomin developed a
questionnaire to assess the degree of various temperaments present in twins of the same sex
(Buss & Plomin, 1984). The mothers of the twins were asked, on the basis of their observations
of their children, to check those items on the questionnaire that best described specific and
easily discernible instances of their children’s behavior. Sample items from the questionnaire
are listed in Table i.3. As we noted in the section on clinical interviews, counselors routinely
observe their clients’ behavior—considering, for example, facial expressions, nervous gestures,
and general appearance—and use that information in formulating their diagnoses. Such
observations are less systematic than formal behavioral assessment procedures, but the results
can provide valuable insights.