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Personality Psychology PSY 405

Lesson 39

THE GRAND PERFECT THEORY OF PERSONALITY

1- Is there a perfect theory of personality?

2- Can a single theory answer all the relevant questions related to personality domain?

3- All the theories that we have studied which one is the best?

4- Which theory can we trust the most as a student of personality psychology?

We began by defining personality psychology, discussed personality measurement, then briefly we talked

about the approaches or perspectives in personality psychology and we discussed the major theories of

personality related to each and every area or domain or perspective.

After studying some of the most important Personality theories beginning from Freud, Jung, Adler, Karen

Horney, Eric Erikson, Sullivan, Sheldon, All port, Murray, Maslow, Rogers, Dollard and Miller, Albert

Ellis, Bandura and Skinner.

My students ask the following questions.

1- Is there a perfect theory of personality?

No there is no perfect theory of personality.

2- Can a single theory answer all the relevant questions related to personality domain?

No single theory can fully answer all the relevant questions related to personality domain or human nature.

3- All the theories that we have studied which one is the best?

All the theories that we have studied

We can not label one as the best and the others as bad or incomplete. Each theory has emphasis on one or

another important thing related to human nature.

4- Which theory can we trust as the most representative of human nature?

One cannot blindly trust a single theory of personality to be representative of human behavior.

Is there a grand ultimate or a true theory of personality?

Dear students a good theory of personality is one that fulfills three purposes in science

1- Provides a guideline to researchers

2- Organizes the known available findings

3- Makes predictions

1- Provide a Guideline to Researchers

Now as far as the first one is concerned theories serve as guideline or a map for researchers in directing

them to important questions in the area of personality psychology.

2- Organizes the Known Findings

A useful function of a theory is to organize known findings.

In physics the theory of Gravity accounts for the facts such as why objects fall down on the earth and not

remain suspended in the air or when we walk we press the ground and the force of the earth pushes us

forward and in Biology the theory of evolution is the one that accounts for organizing the known facts, but

in Personality we lack a theory which can account for the most of known facts of human nature.

May be Freud's theory or Maslow's theory or Allport's theory

Actually these theories point to different domains or perspectives or schools of psychology.

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Personality Psychology PSY 405

All the theories of personality are quite different, or that they belong to different to a different perspective

but they try to answer questions related to the following areas

Genes

ii)

Stages of Development

iii)

Motivation

iv)

Learning

Perception

vi)

Traits

vii)

Emotions

viii)

Temperament and Body Types

ix)

Neurosis

Disorders and Therapies

xi)

Conscious and Unconscious

xii)

Therapy

xiii)

Defense Mechanisms

1- Genes and Biology

All theories of personality endorse the important role of genes and heredity in personality development. In

the past there was an emphasis on whether its genes which are important or is it environment which is

important the nature nurtance controversy is now over today we know that both (genes and environment)

contribute equally in personality development.

2-Stages of Development

Stages of development, as given in the theories of Freud, Jung and Erikson

3-Motivation

Motivation is central to most theories of personality.

First the biological motives need for air, water, food, pain and heat/ cold avoidance.

Second there are the social motives which develop on the biological motives, especially self-esteem that is

based on such approval and self actualization.

4-Learning

Dollard and Miller's Stimulus Response learning theories as well as Skinner, Thorndike, Pavlov's and

Watson who say that individual learns from his environment.

Social learning includes imitation and modeling. This kind of learning is probably significant and vital for

the development of personality as advocated by Bandura.

5- Perception

Kelly, Rogers and Maslow emphasize on the fact that the way an individual perceives reality is the basis of

individual differences or uniqueness of people.

6- Traits

Allport (Cardinal Traits, Central Traits) and Cattle (Unique, Common, Surface, Source traits) focus

on the traits that an individual posses

A trait is a predisposition or way to respond in a manner to various kinds of stimuli.

or Mental Structure.

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7- Emotions

Emotions or feelings of anxiety, fear, guilt, shame, grief, depression, anger, sadness, aggression, and

hostility are some of the key emotional states that the personality psychologists are concerned with and

they work on these emotions.

Freud was interested in anxiety, hostility, and aggression where as the humanistic are concerned with anger

and hostility management.

The behaviorists focus on learning of faulty and negative emotions and their modification.

8- Temperament and Body Types

(William Sheldon)

Sheldon correlated specific body type with a specific temperament

i. Ectomorphs: Slender, lean and tall with a mean, miserly temperament

ii. Mesomorphs: Muscular well build with an adventurous temperament.

iii. Endomorphs: Fat and plumb people who are happy go lucky type temperament.

9- Neurosis

According Karen Horney a child with loving parents, peers, and teachers may help the child to overcome

abuse, neglect, sickness, parent's death, divorce or to cope with insecurity and basic anxiety.

Adler and Rogers considers unconditional positive regard, need for positive regard, love, approval, respect,

attention essential for healthy growth and development otherwise it leaves the child with low self-esteem.

10- Consciousness and the Unconscious

Freud's

He talked about:

1- Conscious

2- Preconscious or Subconscious

3- Unconscious

Jung's

1- Personal Unconscious

Collective Unconscious

Archetypes

11- Therapy

It is somewhat surprising that, for all the variation in theories, there is considerable agreement regarding the

concept of psychotherapy

12- Defense Mechanism

According to Anna Freud all

(1) They operate an on unconscious level and are therefore self-deceptive

(2) They distort one's perception of reality, so as to make anxiety less threatening to the individual

(3) They protect the ego

We can list a large number of defense mechanisms, as given by Freud or Karen Horney to defend the ego

such as projection, displacement, rationalization, regression, blind spots, and cynicism.

An ultimate theory of personality is not possible in personality psychology which is still a developing

science and it is not as scientific as biology, physics or chemistry.

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