PERSPECTIVES OR DOMAINS OF PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY

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Personality Psychology PSY 405

Lesson 41

PERSPECTIVES OR DOMAINS OF PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY

Personality can be approached or studied Using the six perspectives or domains.

1-Dispositional

2-Biological

3-Intrapsychic

4-Cognitive/ Experiential

5-Social and Cultural

6-Adjustment

Dear students we have covered at least two to three personality theories related to each of the perspectives.

1-Dispositional

2-Biological

3-Intrapsychic

4-Cognitive/ Experiential

5-Social and Cultural

6-Adjustment

Outline of the Perspectives

1-Dispositional

It deals centrally with the ways in which individuals differ from one another.

This domain cuts across all other domains

It tries to explore how individuals differ in their emotions, self concepts, in physiological characteristics

and even in their intra-psychic mechanisms

2-Biological

Humans are first and foremost collections of biological systems and these systems provide the building

blocks for behavior, thought and emotions

The biological approach refers to three areas genetics, psychophysiology and evolution.

3-The Intra-psychic approach was founded by Freud, who assumes that a human personality is formed

out of conflicts between basic needs and demands of the society. Most of these conflicts are at the

unconscious level and they affect our everyday behavior.

4-The Cognitive / Experiential Approach it focuses on the cognition and subjective experiences such as

conscious thoughts feelings, beliefs and desires about oneself and others. The psychological mechanisms

involved in subjective experience, however, differ in form and content from one another.

5-Social and Cultural

The assumption that personality not merely something that resides within the brain, nervous system and

genes of individuals rather the social and cultural context also has an important role.

6- Adjustment

This refers to the fact that personality plays a key role in how we cope, adapt, and adjust to events in our

every day live

Personality is linked with important health issues such as heart disease, sleep, diet, and the role of exercise

in long live of an individual.

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Let us talk about the first three approaches or perspectives in more detail

1- Dispositional

2-Biological

3-Intrapsychic

1-Dispositional

It deals centrally with the ways in which individuals differ from one another.

This domain cuts across all other domains

It tries to explore how individuals differ in their emotions, self concepts, in physiological characteristics

and even in their Intra-psychic mechanisms

The goal of the psychologist is to identify and measure the important ways in which individuals differ from

one another,

The origin of these differences and how these develop and how they are maintained

The term disposition refers to an inherent tendency to behave in a specific way or traits or stable internal

characteristics.

So traits are the raw material of personality structure.

This Approach assumes that personality is made up of a set of stable internal characteristics that guide

behavior. These characteristics are described as personality types but more often each person's unique

combination of traits, factors or needs. These inherited tendencies or traits are the raw material which is

molded into a unique personality by the environment.

The questions that come to our mind is

How many personality traits exist?

What is the best classification system of traits?

How many personality traits exist?

A person's personality is viewed as being built out of a set of common as well as important traits. The

psychologists use three strategies to identify fundamental traits, out which differences between people can

be formed.

What is the best classification system of traits?

1- The language Approach

2- The Statistical Approach

3- The Theoretical Approach

The psychologist blend the three together to classify or identify the fundamental traits

How are traits measured?

Qualitatively as well as Quantitatively

Work is being done to develop such measures which are standardized objective reliable and valid and not

easily faked.

Example is Cattle's 16PF

Traits are used in selecting people for specific careers or for specific education,

Will an aggressive person be suitable for the post of a police officer, or a kind hearted lady will be suitable

for the nursing job?

Allport's Theory and Cattle's Theory

Kelly's Theory and Murray's Theory

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Allport`s trait is the unit of analysis for understanding and studying personality.

Traits are predispositions to various kinds of stimuli. They may be classified under cardinal, central, or

secondary according to their degree of pervasiveness within a personality.

The construct that unifies traits and provides direction for the person's life is termed the Proprium. This

concept refers to the "self" including all aspects of personality.

For Cattell factor analysis is a method used to discover traits which he considers the building blocks of

personality. An ability discovered in such a cluster is called a factor and in Cattell's theory, the term factor

is equated with the term trait.

Traits

A trait is a "mental structure" that is observed to account for regularity or consistency in individual's

behavior.

Types of Traits

1- Unique traits,

2- Common traits

3- Surface traits

4- Source traits

Need

A need is a construct is a force which organizes perception, apperception, interjection, conation and action.

Types of Needs

1- Primary and Secondary

2- Overt Needs and Covert Needs

3- Focal Needs and Diffuse Needs

The TAT was developed (Morgan & Murray, 1935) out of Murray's belief that many of the basic human

motives exist outside of conscious awareness.

Murray's TAT is a projective test. If we present a person with an ambiguous picture and then ask what is in

the picture, the response must be a reflection of what is important to the person or the themes the person

uses to organize the world.

2-Biological

Humans are first and foremost collections of biological systems and these systems provide the building

blocks for behavior, thought and emotions

The biological approach refers to three areas genetics, psychophysiology and evolution.

1- Genetics

It is concerned with the genetics of personality

Some important research questions are

Are identical twins more alike or fraternal twins in their personalities?

What happens when identical twins are reared together versus when they are reared apart?

It is behavior genetics which asks such important questions.

2-The psychophysiology of personality summarizes what is known about personality in terms

nervous system functioning, neurotransmitters, cardiac reactivity, pain tolerance, circadian rhythms

(whether you are a morning or night person) and links hormones and personality

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3- How evolution has shaped human psychological functioning; this approach assumes that

psychological mechanisms that constitute human personality have evolved over thousand of years because

they were effective in solving adaptive problems.

The research study related to following areas has contributed in biological approach.

Selective Breeding only Conducted in Animals

Family Studies

Twin Studies

Adoption Studies

Freud's Psychoanalytic Theory

Sheldon's Theory

Erikson's emphasis on biology

Freud's theory is biological in nature

Emphasis on sex and aggression

Stages of development are five, beginning from birth up till adolescence

Freud's account of psychosexual development is based on the premise that sexuality begins at birth and

progresses thereafter through a biologically defined zones until adulthood is reached. Freud conceived of

personality development as proceeding through the following stages: oral, anal, phallic, and genital.

Sheldon's Somatotype Theory

Sheldon looks at the physique or body type (soma) for the explanation of human behavior.

1- A discrete number of physical and

2- Temperamental variables that he considers of primary importance in representing human behavior.

1- According to Erickson biology or genetics is one strong determinant of personality but culture is another

important determinant.

2- Thus biologically determined differences between the two sexes can be explained as result of social

expectations or cultural expectations.

Karen Horney deemphasized the biological motives and focused on a need for a feeling of security in the

child is important.

Karen Horney totally rejected the concept that anatomy is destiny and males are superior. Males are equal

to females.

3- The Intra-psychic approach was founded by Freud, who assumes that a human personality is formed out

of conflicts between basic needs and demands of the society. Most of these conflicts are at the unconscious

level and they affect our everyday behavior.

There are other psychodynamic theorists who differed from Freud such as:

Jung

Adler

Karen Horney

Freud proposed three levels of consciousness- the conscious, preconscious, and unconscious- to describe

the degree to which mental events vary in accessibility to awareness. The most significant mental events

take place in the unconscious.

In Freudian theory, human psychological makeup comprises three structural components- id, ego, and

superego. The id, representing the instinctual core of the person, is irrational, impulsive, and obedient to the

pleasure principle.

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The ego represents the rational component of personality and is governed by the reality principle. Its task is

to provide the individual with a suitable plan of action in order to satisfy the demands of the id within the

restrictions of the social world. The superego, the final structure developed, represents the moral branch of

personality.

Freud's motivational theory is based on the concept of instinct, life and death instincts

Freud recognized three types of anxiety such as reality, neurotic, and moral. He proposed that anxiety

serves as a warning signal to the ego of impending danger from instinctual impulses. In response, the ego

employs a number of defense mechanisms, including, sublimation, projection, displacement,

rationalization, reaction formation, and regression.

The Personal Un-conscious consists of repressed or forgotten or not very vivid or clear memories. It

consists of clusters of emotionally loaded thoughts-- complexes.

The Collective Un-conscious

It refers to our ancestral experiences, memories or all human history that we inherit from our forefathers.

Jung labeled these ancestral experiences as archetypes.

Fragments of all human history that we inherit from our forefathers. Jung labeled these ancestral

experiences as archetypes.

Which are followings:

Persona

Anima

Animus

Shadow

Self

For Karen Horney, child's relationship to his parents is very important and that determines whether or not

the child would develop the basic anxiety.

For Karen Horney, basic anxiety leads to development of neurosis and causes basic hostility,

which is unconscious.

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