These notes are fully exhaustive explanations of the various theories of personality taught in the second semester, first year psych course. I obtained 83% for this course so the notes were helpful.
The distinctive and relatively enduring ways of thinking, feeling and acting that characterise a
person’s responses to life situations.
Personality is a pattern of relatively permanent traits and unique characteristics that give both
consistency and individuality to a person’s behaviour
Style of interacting with the world and people.
[Personality should not be confused with character, which refers to value judgements made about a
person’s morals or ethical behaviour; nor should it be confused with temperament, the enduring
characteristics with which each person is born, such as irritability or adaptability. Temperament is
based in one’s biology, either through genetic influences, pre-natal influences or a combination of
those influences, and forms the basis upon which one’s larger personality is built. It is imperative to
note that both character and temperament are vital parts of personality. Every adult personality is a
combination of temperaments as well as the personal history of family, culture and the time during
which the person grew up.]
Personality psychologists aim to:
describe the structure of personality (what are the central components of personality)
study individual differences in personality (how and why we differ from one another)
How psychologists address these goals depends on their theoretical background
Theorists have attempted to explain personality. There are 5 main approaches to personality
Trait (focus on the end results – characteristics of personality)
Psychodynamic (Freud and the unconscious mind)
Humanistic (role of conscious life experiences and choices)
Social Cognitive (focuses on the effect of environment)
Biological (places importance on genetics as personality determinants)
Trait Theories
A personality trait is a relatively stable predisposition to behave in a certain way in a variety of
situations
Traits exist on a continuum
, The words we use to describe people in everyday lives. Most people are somewhere in the
middle of the continuum of traits. ‘Moderate”
Trait theorists believe there are a certain number of trait theories everyone has that make up
personality. What makes us unique is the different combinations.
How many traits are there?
Allport (1937) listed approximately 200 traits
Cattell (1950) reduced these to 16 personality
factors [source traits – underlie the 200 surface traits] (Used factor analysis to group together
correlated traits and made a personality questionnaire to test the continuum of individual traits).
Tense, outgoing, emotionally stable, imaginative etc.
The Big Five Model (OCEAN)
5 trait dimensions: (are not interdependent)
Openness to experience
More recent. Refers to the extent to which a person is willing to try new things and be open to new
experiences. High – imaginative, curious, independent and interested in variety. Low – someone who is
more practical, conforming and likes routine.
Conscientiousness
Refers to the extent to which somebody is organised, careful, disciplined and dependable. Low-
irresponsible, impulsive, careless, disorganised.
Extraversion
Outgoing (sociable, enthusiastic, warm, talkative) vs reserved, quiet, thoughtful (introverted)
Agreeableness
Refers to the extent to which somebody is kind, soft-hearted, affectionate vs suspicious, ruthless and
uncooperative. (basic emotional style of a person)
Neuroticism
Emotional in/stability. High – anxious and insecure. Low – calm, secure and emotionally stable.
, There is a great deal of evidence to support this model. For example, the same 5 personality traits have been
seen to emerge across different cultures, ages and across different personalities and whether a person rated
themselves or another person rated them.
However, there are some critiques. Will you be for e.g., Shy in every situation? NO. Same applies for all
traits – it all is dependent on situation.
Personality or Situation?
Mischel: Argues that behaviors are determined more by situations than by personality traits –
known as situationism.
Evidence – studies around dishonesty being subjective to certain situations. E.g., Lying about
assignment doesn’t mean you will steal etc. More than 90% of the difference in people’s
behaviours in different situations could not be determined by personality traits. (Traits defined as
being relatively stable and consistent).
Counter argument: traits may fail to predict single behaviours, but are good at predicting
aggregates of many behaviours.
Personality traits do predict behaviour, but situations also influence how our personalities are
expressed.
Current view: Interactionism: behaviour is determined by the interaction of personality traits and
the situation or environment.
Situations themselves vary in the extent to which they influence behaviour irrespective of
personality:
Strong situations may mask individual differences in personality (These are situations where
clear rules or norms about what is acceptable behaviour are present and therefore people mask
individual differences in behaviours – Funeral).
Weak situations allow people to behave more naturally due to there being less norms present – it
thus makes differences in personality clearer (e.g., A bar).
Contributions and Limitations of Trait Theories
Traits are easy to measure and assess using personality questionnaires and they are based on statistics
– thus are widely applicable … BUT
Trait models are descriptive rather than explanatory (just describe people but don’t explain why
people have different personality traits)
Free traits – core projects that make up idiosyncrasy.
The Psychodynamic Perspective
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