Personality

Definition

“Personality is the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical

systems that determine his characteristic behaviour and thought” (Allport, 1961, p. 28).

Theories of Personality

1. Type Theories

 Hippocrates, the father of medicine, explained personality in terms of body fluid or

humours such as Sanguine (cheerful and sociable), Choleric (irritable and aggressive),

Melancholic (sad and thoughtful), and Phlegmatic (calm and sluggish). Built upon

this, Gale proposed a theory of temperaments which includes blood, yellow bile,

black bile and phlegm.

 Carl Jung proposed personality types based on two attitudes: introversion and

extraversion, and four functions: thinking, feeling, sensing, and intuition. Introverts

are more inward-focused, while extraverts are more outward-focused. The functions

describe how people take in information and make decisions, leading to different

personality patterns.

 Sheldon came up with three somatotypes such as Endomorph being chubby looking

but has characteristics such as sociable, relaxed, tolerant, comfort loving, peaceful and

good humor. Mesomorphs are those who are muscular and fit. They are active,

supportive, assertive, adventurous, vigorous and dominant. Ectomorph are thin

looking and are quiet, reserved, self-conscious, sensitive, artistic and introverted in

nature.

2. Trait Theories

 Allport’s Trait Theory - Allport thought of traits as internal structures that direct the

behaviour of an individual in consistent and characteristic ways. He distinguished

 common traits from unique traits, depending on whether they characterized many

people or few. He also mentioned cardinal, central and secondary traits depending on

how pervasively they manifested themselves in an individual's personality.

 Cattell’s 16 Personality Factors (16PF) - Cattell has used the concept of factor

analysis as an empirical tool while identifying the various traits. According to him,

traits or factors are the basic structural units of personality. He classified traits in

several ways as follows. Common traits are possessed by everyone to some degree.

Examples include intelligence, extraversion and gregariousness, whereas on the other

hand, unique traits are the traits possessed by one or a few persons. Some examples

are liking for politics or an interest in archery. These two traits are classified by

possession. The second class of traits are based on their stability and permanence;

surface traits are traits that show a correlation but do not constitute a factor because

they are not determined by a single source. Source traits are unitary personality

factors that are much more stable.

Source traits are further divided into two based on their origin as constitutional traits

(originated in biological conditions but are not necessarily in Cattell classified source traits

based on modality (through which they are expressed as Ability) and Environmental - mold

traits (learned from social and physical environment) traits, Dynamic traits and Temperament

Traits. To conclude, Cattell’s approach to personality gives equal importance to genetics and

environment.

 Eysenck’s PEN Model (Psychoticism, Extraversion, Neuroticism)

Eysenck (1952) was one of the researchers who have pursued a causal connection between

genetic inheritance and personality. He came up with a personality theory based on three

dimensions.
 a. Extraversion versus introversion - The traits include sociable, lively, active, assertive,

sensation seeking, carefree, dominant and venturesome. The Biological difference

between these two kinds of people is due to the difference in base level of cortical

arousal.

b. N - Neuroticism versus emotional stability - The traits include anxious, depressed,

guilt feelings, low self-esteem, tense, irrational, shy and moody. Greater activity in the

brain areas that control the sympathetic branch of the automatic nervous system where

the body's alarm system responds to stressful events that are observed with those of

high neuroticism.

c. P - Psychoticism versus Impulse control - The traits include aggression, cold,

egocentric, impersonal, impulsive, antisocial, creative and tough-minded. Those who

score high in psychoticism are found to be cruel, hostile and insensitive to the needs

and feelings of others.

Eysenck primarily considered heredity as determination of personality however he did not

rule out environmental influences, such as family interaction in childhood. He believed their

effects on personality were limited.

 Big Five/Five-Factor Model (OCEAN)

Costa and McCrae came up with five key or central dimensions of personality called the “Big

Five” factors. They are as follows:

a. Extraversion - ranges from energetic, enthusiastic, sociable and talkative at one end to

retiring, sober, reserved, silent and cautious at the other.

b. Agreeableness - ranges from good natured cooperative, trusting and helpful at one end

to irritable, suspicious and uncooperative at the other.

c. Conscientiousness - ranges from well organized, careful, self-disciplined, responsible

and precise at one to disorganized, impulsive, careless and undependable at the other.
 d. Neuroticism - ranges from poised, calm, composed and not hypochondriacal at one

end to nervous, anxious, high strung and hypochondriacal at the other.

e. Openness - ranges from imaginative, witty and having broad interests at one end to

down-to-earth, simple and having narrow interests at the other.

All these appear to represent a “common human structure of personality” that transcends

cultural differences.

3. Psychoanalytic Theory

 Freud’s Structural Model - Sigmund Freud's central idea was that personality

characteristics including the symptoms of psychological disorders, grow out of

unconscious conflicts about sexual and aggressive drives. Freud believed that

personality was composed of three different mental structures such as the id, the ego

and the superego. A child's personality consists of unconscious drives for pleasure and

destruction called ID. The ID strives for immediate satisfaction of its drives.

According to Freud, this satisfaction is obtained by the elimination of tension. Ego is

the conscious and precious level of awareness. It is rational and practical. It operates

on a reality principle, seeking to mediate between the demands of the ID and the

superego. The third is Superego and it starts to develop at 5 years of age. It is partly

conscious and consists of internalized parental and societal standards.

 Freud proposed five psychosexual stages of development. The oral stage (0–1 year)

focuses on mouth-related pleasure like sucking. The anal stage (1–3 years) centers on

bowel control and toilet training. The phallic stage (3–6 years) involves attraction to

the opposite-sex parent (Oedipus/Electra complex). The latency stage (6–12 years) is

a period of social development and sexual calm. The genital stage (12+ years) focuses

on mature sexual interests and relationships. Fixation at any stage can influence adult

personality.
 Defense Mechanisms are psychological strategies that are unconscious resources used

by the ego as defined by Anna Freud. Defence mechanisms include Repression,

Projection, Denial, Reaction formation, displacement, rationalization, sublimation,

identification, projection, etc.

4. Neo-Freudians

 According to Carl Jung, the personal unconscious consists of experiences that are

unique to each individual. The collective unconscious refers to that part of a person’s

unconscious that is common to all human beings. He discussed four functions that an

individual reacts to experience: sensation, intuition, thinking and feeling. He

mentioned four Archetypes such as Persona, Shadow, Anima/Animus, Self.

 Alfred Adler believed that infants and young children are helpless and dependent

upon others. This situation produces deep feelings of weakness, inadequacy and

incompetence that Adler called an inferiority complex. He discussed a drive for power

which he later called a drive for superiority.

 Karen Horney was an important critic of Freud where she believed that sex and

aggression are not the primary human motives. She argued that the primary need is

security which arises out of “basic anxiety”. To cope with this, neurotic needs are

compulsive desires developed by individuals.

 Erik Erikson proposed eight stages of psychosocial development in the 1950s

influenced by biological, psychological and social factors throughout the lifespan.

Each stage presents a unique crisis that shapes personality development across the

lifespan. These stages are Trust vs. Mistrust, Autonomy vs. Shame and doubt,

Initiative vs Guilt, Industry vs Inferiority, Identity formation vs Role confusion,

Intimacy vs. Isolation, Generativity vs. Stagnation and Integrity vs. Despair.

5. Behavioural Theories
  From Pavlov’s work, John B. Watson used the principles of classical conditioning in

the study of human emotion. Watson assumed that behavior is either a reflex

automatically triggered by a specific stimulus or shaped by an individual’s past

experiences with reinforcement and punishment. He emphasized that current

motivational states and environmental stimuli also play a role in influencing behavior.

 According to B.F. Skinner, the theory of operant conditioning explains how behavior

is shaped by consequences. Behaviors followed by reinforcement are more likely to

be repeated, while those followed by punishment are less likely to occur.

 Albert Bandura proposed the Social Learning Theory. It emphasizes learning through

observation and imitation. He mentioned modeling, observational learning, and the

role of self-efficacy in shaping behavior.

 Dollard and Miller combined behavioral and psychoanalytic ideas to form the Drive-

Reduction Theory. They suggested that behavior is motivated by drives. Learning

occurs when a response reduces a drive, such as hunger or fear.

Types of Personality Assessment

1. Projective Tests

According to Freudian and other psychodynamic theories, understanding people's

personalities may require indirect methods to get information about unconscious motives and

conflicts, which subjects cannot report directly. Several interesting and provocative methods

of gaining this kind of access are known as projective tests. Projective Test assuming that

people will project their needs, feelings, and conflicts onto ambiguous stimuli. Two of the

best-known projective tests are the Rorschach test and the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT).

 The Rorschach Inkblot Test - Hermann Rorschach developed the first projective test

in the year of 1921. Rorschach's test consists of 10 symmetrical inkblots, which are
 presented to subjects on cardboard cards. In a Rorschach test, it is always assumed

that people's responses reflect particular needs, feelings, and conflicts.

 The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) developed by Christiana Morgan and Henry

Murray (1935). Like the Rorschach test, the TAT is intended to reveal the subject's

unconscious motivation and personality characteristics.

2. Objective

Personality inventories differ from projective tests in two ways.

i. First, they use unambiguous stimuli in the form of many true-false questions about

personal characteristics or behavior. In contrast, the projective tests use stimuli

that are purposely ambiguous and open to interpretation.

ii. Personality inventories are constructed and the results scored on the basis of

research findings about the characteristics of individuals who give certain

responses.

 The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) - Probably the most

famous and widely used inventory of personality traits is the Minnesota Multiphasic

Personality Inventory, or MMPI. The MMPI contains over 500 statements. Subjects

respond to each statement by answering True, False or Cannot say.

 The California Psychological Inventory, or CPI, was constructed with the same

procedures used to create the MMPI. CPI and the MMPT use some identical items.

But, unlike the MMPI, the focus of the CPI is on identifying traits that differentiate

normal individuals.

 The Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire, or 16 PF was developed by Cattell to

measure the degree to which people have these traits. The questionnaire consists of

more than 100 items to which people respond "yes" or "no." The scale has been

shown to be a valid measure of people's standings on the 16 traits. The traits are
 warmth, reasoning, emotional stability, dominance, liveliness, rule conscious, social

boldness, sensitivity, vigilance, abstractness, privateness, apprehension, open to

change, self-reliance, perfection and tension.

3. Subjective

 An autobiography is one's own written account of their life, giving personal

information on what they did, thought, and felt. It is a rich, personal narrative that is

an impression of the person and their development through their lives.

 Case history is the accumulation of detailed, subjective data regarding a person's

previous and current life circumstance, behavior, and psychological patterns. Case

history is typically applied by clinicians to comprehend a person's background and

assist in diagnosis or treatment planning.

 Interviews are participative, subjective personality measuring instruments wherein an

individual is questioned with open-ended questions to tell his or her story, attitude,

and experiences. Interviews may be structured or unstructured and contain verbal and

nonverbal responses useful in personality measurement.

Application of Personality Test in Various Settings

Personality tests are administered for various settings like clinical diagnosis, career guidance,

academic counseling, job recruitment, juvenile and criminal rehabilitation centres. They

determine personal traits of an individual. Through this, their behaviour is estimated and

interventions are provided based on their personal and professional growth.

Purpose of Personality Assessment:

Personality tests aim to determine one's typical kinds of thoughts, feelings, and

behaviours. They are used to increase self-awareness, assist in career decisions, refine

mental illness diagnoses, and aid research on human personality.

Preparing and Conducting of Personality Tests

Preparation includes selection of suitable instruments, defining the test purpose, and

creating a relaxing atmosphere. Administration should be unambiguous instructions,

use in accordance with ethics, and ensuring data collected by standardized methods

Ethical Practices followed in Assessments

 They should be given autonomy and be voluntary. However, for education

assessments, it is necessary to evaluate student learning outcomes without

pressurizing them to participate.

 Privacy must be maintained by the researcher and even though assessments do not

cause any physical harm, it must mitigate potential psychological and embarrassment

that their assessment could cause participants.

 The assessment should be beneficial for the participants by tangible (like positive

change or difference) and intangible benefits (like free food, etc.)

 The participants should be treated fair without any impartiality. The assessment

should be informed fully, how their information will be used and conducted equally.

Researchers should also be honest to share, use accurate data, and to be respectful of

sensitive content.

Computer Assisted Assessments:

These assessments use computer facilities for test administration, marking, and test

interpretation. Some advantages are less time-consuming for both the applicant and the

researcher, less expensive, objective scoring and standardized administration. It also prevents

test-takers from looking ahead at questions (which they can do with a traditional paper-and-

pencil test), and it prevents them from changing answers since entered. Since it is also online,

the participants feel anonymous and share more personal information.

Researches Conducted using any personality assessments

Hispanics Studies show that scores obtained on the MMPI by people of Hispanic origin are

similar to those obtained by Whites (see, for example, Handel & Ben-Porath, 2000).

A study of American Indians using the MMPI-2 demonstrated how responses to test

questions reflected behavior that was considered normal in that culture but pathological in the

mainstream White culture (Hill, Pace, & Robbins, 2010)

In a study, Sixteen Personality Factors was administered and the results of 1198 participants

suggest that there is no greater variability in the scale scores of the 16PF in applicants scoring

higher in intelligence (Schermer et al., 2020).

Factors affecting personality

Individuals factors such as heredity (genetic susceptibility), physique, biological factor

(endocrine glands and hormonal changes) and intelligence (high IQ, better the social

adjustment) influence personality. Environmental factors affecting the development of

personality are family (parent’s behavior, trust, support, attention, socio-economic

conditions), school and cultural background (way of living, food habits)

Personality is unique to each person which makes them outstanding from a group of people,

to like them, know, understand and interact. One’s personality is shaped by various reasons