Psychology of Personality

CPS 212
LECTURE -1-
Introduction to psychology of personality
Adjectives that can be used to describe characteristics of people are called trait.

Descriptive adjectives. There are more than 20,000 such trait-descriptive

adjectives.

In the English language. This astonishing fact alone tells us that, in everyday

life, there are compelling reasons for trying to understand and describe the nature

of those we interact with, as well as compelling reasons for trying to understand

and describe ourselves.

Personality definition

Establishing a definition for something as complex as human personality is difficult.

The authors of the first textbooks on personality—Gordon Allport (1937) and
Henry Murray (1938)—struggled with the definition.

The problem is how to establish a definition that is sufficiently comprehensive to

include all of the aspects mentioned.
 Personality definition

• Personality refers to the enduring characteristics and behavior that comprise a

person's unique adjustment to life, including major traits, interests, drives, values,
self-concept, abilities, and emotional patterns.

• Personality is the set of psychological traits and mechanisms within the individual
that are organized and relatively enduring and that influence his or her interactions
with, and adaptations to, the intrapsychic, physical, and social environments.
Personality Is the Set of Psychological Traits

Psychological traits are characteristics that describe ways in which people are
different from each other.
Traits also define ways in which people are similar. For example, people who are
shy are similar to each other in that they are anxious in social situations,
particularly situations in which there is an audience focusing attention on them.
Notice that the adjectives describing personality refer to several very
different aspects of people.
Words such as thoughtful refer to inner qualities of mind.
Words such as charming and humorous refer to the effects a person has on
other people.
Words such as dominant are relational and signify a person’s position, or
stance, toward others.
Words such as ambitious refer to the intensity of desire to reach our goals.
Words such as creative refer both to a quality of mind and to the nature of
the products we produce.
Words such as dishonest refer to the strategies a person uses to attain his or
her goals. All of these features describe aspects of personality.
And Mechanisms . .

Psychological mechanisms are like traits, except that the term mechanisms
refers more to the processes of personality .

Most psychological mechanisms have three essential ingredients: inputs,

decision rules, and outputs.

This does not mean that all of our traits and psychological mechanisms are
activated at all times. In fact, at any point in time, only a few are activated.
Within the Individual . .
Within the individual means that personality is something a person carries with
him or herself over time and from one situation to the next. Typically, we feel that
we are today the same people we were last week, last month.

That Are Organized and Relatively Enduring

• Organized means that the psychological traits and mechanisms, for a given
person, are not simply a random collection of elements. Rather , personality is
organized because the mechanisms and traits are linked to one another in a
coherent fashion.
 And that Influence

• In the definition of personality , an emphasis on the influential focus of personality means

that personality traits and mechanisms can have effect on people’ s lives.
His or Her Interactions with . .

This feature of personality is perhaps the most difficult to describe, because the nature of
person–environment interaction is complex.

Perceptions refers to how we “see,” or interpret, an environment.

Selection describes the manner in which we choose situations to enter.

Evocations/recalls are the reactions we produce in others, often quite unintentionally .

Manipulations are the ways in which we intentionally attempt to influence others.

And Adaptations to ...
An emphasis on adaptation conveys the notion that a central feature of personality
concerns adaptive functioning—accomplishing goals, coping, adjusting, and dealing
with the challenges and problems we face as we go through life.

The Environment
The physical environment often poses challenges for people. Some of these are
direct threats to survival.
Three Levels of Personality Analysis
These three levels are well summarized by Kluckhohn & Murray , in their 1948
book on culture and personality , in which they state that every human being is, in
certain respects,

1. Like all others (the human nature level).

2. Like some others (the level of individual and group differences).

3. Like no others (the individual uniqueness level).

1. Human Nature

The first level of personality analysis describes human nature in general—the

traits and mechanisms of personality that are typical of our species and are
possessed by everyone or nearly everyone. For example, nearly every human has
language skills, which allow him or her to learn and use a language. All cultures
on earth speak a language, so spoken language is part of the universal human
nature.
 2. Individual and Group Differences
The second level of personality analysis pertains/relates to individual and group

differences. Some people are outgoing and love parties; others prefer quiet evenings

reading.

These are dimensions of individual differences, ways in which each person is like some

other people (e.g., extraverts, sensation seekers, and high self-esteem persons).

Personality can also be observed by studying differences between groups. That is, people

in one group may have certain personality features in common, and these common features

make that group of people different from other groups.

3. Individual Uniqueness
No two individuals, not even identical twins raised by the same parents in the same home
in the same culture, have exactly the same personalities. Every individual has personal
qualities not shared by any other person in the world.

One of the goals of personality psychology is to allow for individual uniqueness and to
develop ways to capture the richness of unique individual lives.

One debate in the field concerns whether individuals should be studies nomothetically—
that is, as individual instances of general characteristics that are distributed in the
population, or should be studied ideographically, as single, unique cases.
Nomothetic research typically involves statistical comparisons of individuals or
groups, requiring samples of subjects on which to conduct research. Nomothetic
research is typically applied to identify universal human characteristics and
dimensions of individual or group differences.

Idiographic (translated literally as “the description of one”) research typically

focuses on a single subject, trying to observe general principles that are manifest
in a single life over time . Often, idiographic research results in case studies or the
psychological biography of a single person.
Six Domains of Knowledge about Human Nature

The various views of researchers in personality stem not from the fact that one
perspective is right and the others wrong but, rather , from the fact that they are
studying different domains of knowledge.
A domain of knowledge is a specialty area of science and scholarship, in which
psychologists have focused on learning about some specific and limited aspects of
human nature. A domain of knowledge explains the boundaries of researchers’
knowledge, expertise, and interests.
In this way , the field of personality can be neatly cleaved into six
distinct domains of knowledge about human nature: personality is influenced by
traits the person is born with or develops (dispositional domain” temperament,
and genetics”); by biological events (biological domain); by conflicts within the
persons own mind (intrapsychic domain ); by personal and private thoughts,
feelings, desires, beliefs, and other subjective experiences (cognitive-experiential
domain ); by social, cultural, and gendered positions in the world (social and
cultural domain); and by the adjustments that the person must make to the
inevitable challenges of life (adjustment domain).
The Role of Personality Theory

A good theory is one that fulfills three purposes in science

• Provides a guide for researchers.

• Organizes known findings.

• Makes predictions.
Standards for Evaluating Personality Theories
As we explore each of the six domains, it will be useful to bear in mind five
scientific standards for evaluating personality theories:

• Comprehensiveness.

• Heuristic value.

• Testability.

• Parsimony.

• 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/direct scientists to making these discoveries are
generally superior to theories that fail to provide this guidance.
A third important standard for evaluating theories is testability—does the theory render

precise enough predictions that personality psychologists can test them empirically?

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).

A fifth standard is compatibility and integration across domains and levels.

Five Standards for Evaluating Personality Theories
Standard Definition
Comprehensiveness Explains most or all known facts.
Heuristic value Guides researchers to important new
discoveries.
Testability Makes precise predictions that can be
empirically tested.
Parsimony Contains few premises or assumptions.
Compatibility and integration Consistent with what is known in other
domains.
Can be coordinated with other branches of
scientific knowledge.
Exercise (1)

 Who am I?
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHwVyplU3Pg

 3 Strong traits in your personality

 3 Weak traits in your personality