BEHAVIOR (B) = F[ PERSONALITY (P), ENVIRONMENT (E) ]
We can see that the determinants (causes) of BEHAVIOR can be separated into 2 classes of variables: PERSONALITY AND ENVIRONMENT.
The difference is that PERSONALITY variables are internal causes of behavior (inside the skin) and ENVIRONMENTAL variables are external causes of behavior.
A more complicated formula from Gustav Bergman, a logical positivist philosopher, who played with Breuer’s grandchildren.
BEHAVIOR = F
[(A) HEREDITY/PHYSIOLOGY,
(C) FLUCTUATING LEVELS OF AROUSAL, & (D) AND THE ENVIRONMENT].
A, B, and C (above) are all internal, so PERSONALITY variables can also be either PHYSIOLOGICAL (biological) or LEARNED.
Also, it is generally agreed that a personality variable must exert a relatively consistent influence on behavior over time. Thus, PERSONALITY variables are both A) INTERNAL, and B) RELATIVELY CONSISTENT OVER TIME. For this reason C above (fluctuating levels of arousal) is excluded from the domain of personality.
This leads to your instructor’s favorite definition of Personality which comes from Salvador Maddi:
“PERSONALITY is a STABLE set of INTRAPSYCHIC (INTERNAL) characteristics and tendencies that determines the psychological behavior of people. The behavior determined by personality is RELATIVELY CONSISTENT over time.”
THE ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF A GOOD THEORY
- CORE: Those elements or variables in a theory, which are assumed to be common to all people. The ways in which we are all alike.
- DEVELOPMENT: We are all born with the same core, yet each person has a unique developmental course. The unique experiences each one of us has in our development forms our peripheral personality characteristics.
PERIPHERAL CHARACTERISTICS: Elements or variables of a theory, which are closer to being observable and are generally learned, rather than inherent. We will often refer to this as the adult personality characteristics of an individual.
A good theory should describe a core (e.g., Freud’s Id, Ego, and Superego). A good theory should also describe developmental experiences that may be beneficial or harmful (e.g., fixation during one of the psychosexual stages). The theory should also describe specific adult peripheral personality characteristics that would develop in individuals who have had certain developmental experiences. For example, compulsive characteristics should occur in adults that received harsh toilet training at age 2.
Even though a theory may be “good” by these standards, it does not make the theory “true” (valid).
Theories can be evaluated in one of three ways:
1. Case Study Method, used most often by “traditional” personality theorists.
2. Correlational Research
3. Experimental Research
Correlational and Experimental Research may often use Personality Tests or Questionnaires. The usefulness of these tests depends on two issues:
Reliability, and Validity
Personality Tests can be either Projective tests, or Objective tests.
Personality is the supreme realization of the innate idiosyncrasy of a living being. It is an act of high courage flung in the face of life, the absolute affirmation of all that constitutes the individual, the most successful adaptation to the universal condition of existence coupled with the greatest possible freedom for self-determination.”
- Carl Gustav Jung, 1934
As we move from intelligence to personality...
As this course moves from intelligence (1st 5 weeks) into personality (next 10 weeks), it is worth pointing out that the relationship between intelligence and personality may be stronger than many assume.
Intelligence influences different aspects of personality in many different ways. In fact, intelligence is sometimes considered to be part of personality. This issue will probably always be debated. The main point to bear in mind is that both intelligence and personality are prominent individual differences.
Personality is not easily defined. Basically, ‘personality’ refers to our attempts to capture or summarize an individual’s ‘essence’. Personality is person-ality, the science of describing and understanding persons. Clearly, personality is a core area of study for psychology, if not the core. Together with intelligence, the topic of personality constitutes the most significant area of individual difference study.
No two people are exactly the same - not even identical twins. Some people are anxious, some are risk-taking; some are phlegmatic, some highly-strung; some are confident, some shy; and some are quiet and some are loquacious. This issue of differences is fundamental to the study of personality. Note also that in studying these differences we will also examine where the differences come from: as with intelligence we will find that there is a mixture of nature and nurture involved.
Perspectives on personality that we’ll be examining...
- Trait Perspective
Biological Perspective
Psychoanalytic Perspective
Learning Perspective
Phenomenological Perspective - Cognitive Perspective
Lay usage of the term "personality"
We use the term personality frequently but what does it actually mean?
“She has a wonderful personality.”
“He has no personality.”
“He has personality plus.”
“We seem to have a personality conflict.”
“It’s just her personality.”
“She has her mother’s personality.”
“He’s a real personality.
Personality comes from the Greek word "persona", meaning "mask"
The word ‘personality’ derives from the Latin word ‘persona’ which means ‘mask’. The study of personality can be understood as the study of ‘masks’ that people wear. These are the personas that people project and display, but also includes the inner parts of psychological experience which we collectively call our ‘self’.
"I" is for personality
According to Adams (1954, cited in Schultz & Schultz, 1994) personality is “I”.
Adams suggested that we get a good idea of what personality is by listening to what we say when we use "I". When you say I, you are, in effect, summing up everything about yourself - your likes and dislikes, fears and virtues, strengths and weaknesses.
The word I is what defined you as an individual, as a person separate from all others.”
"I am" exercise
Write 10 honest endings to "I am..."
Share them with someone
Does this sum up your personality? Why or why not?
Various definitions of personality
• "Deceptive masquerade or mimicry."
• "The entire organization of a human being at any stage of development."
• "Levels or layers of dispositions, usually with a unifying or integrative principle at the top."
• "The integration of those systems or habits that represent an individual’s characteristic adjustments to the environment."
• "The way in which the person does such things as remembering, thinking or loving."
• "Those characteristics that account for consistent patterns of behaviour"
• "Personality is not an existing substantive entity to be searched for but a complex construct to be developed and defined by the observer."
>>>> A contemporary definition for personality is offered by Carver and Scheier (2000, ): “Personality is a dynamic organisation, inside the person, of psychophysical systems that create a person’s characteristic patterns of behaviour, thoughts, and feelings.” Carver & Scheier (2000,
> Dynamic Organisation: suggests ongoing readjustments, adaptation to experience, continual upgrading and maintaining Personality doesn’t just lie there. It has process and it’s organised.
> Inside the Person: suggests internal storage of patterns, supporting the notion that personality influences behaviours, etc.
> Psychophysical systems: suggests that the physical is also involved in ‘who we are’
> Characteristic Patterns: implies that consistency/continuity which are uniquely identifying of an individual
> Behaviour, Thoughts, and Feelings: indicates that personality includes a wide range of psychological experience/manifestation: that personality is displayed in MANY ways.
• Carver & Scheier (2000) suggest that the word personality “conveys a sense of consistency, internal causality, and personal distinctiveness”. This issue of “personal distinctiveness is very important. There are certain universal characteristics of the human race and particular features of individuals. We all for example experience stress and the elevated cortisol that goes with it, and we all suffer the immune suppressive effects thereof. BUT each of us is unique too.
