chapter 1

• Personality


  A pattern of relatively permanent traits and unique characteristics that give both consistency and individuality to a person's behavior
• Traits


  • Contribute to individual differences in behavior, consistency of behavior over time, and stability of behavior across situations
  • May be unique, common to some group, or shared by the entire species, but their pattern is different for each individual
• Characteristics


  Unique qualities of an individual that include such attributes as temperament, physique, and intelligence
• No two people, not even identical twins, have exactly the same personalities
• Theory


  A set of related assumptions that allows scientists to use logical deductive reasoning to formulate testable hypotheses
• Theory


  • It is a set of assumptions, not proven facts
  • The components are accepted as if they were true to allow for useful research
  • Logical deductive reasoning is used to formulate testable hypotheses
• Theory


  Related to but distinct from philosophy, speculation, hypothesis, and taxonomy
• Theories are a reflection of their authors' personal backgrounds, childhood experiences, philosophy of life, interpersonal relationships, and unique manner of looking at the world
• Major theoretical perspectives on personality

  • Psychodynamic
  • Trait
  • Biological
  • Cognitive
  • Humanistic

  
• Psychodynamic theories


  • Focus on the importance of early childhood experience and relationships with parents as guiding forces that shape personality development
  • See the unconscious mind and motives as much more powerful than conscious awareness
• Psychodynamic theories


  Focus on the importance of early childhood experience and relationships with parents as guiding forces that shape personality development. See the unconscious mind and motives as much more powerful than conscious awareness.
• Psychoanalysis


  Traditionally used dream interpretation to uncover the unconscious thoughts, feelings, and impulses as a main form of treatment of neurosis and mental illness.
• Humanistic-existential theories


  Assume that people strive toward meaning, growth, well-being, happiness, and psychological health. Negative experiences like failure, awareness of death, and anxiety can foster psychological growth.
• Dispositional theories


  Argue that the unique and long-term tendencies to behave in particular ways are the essence of our personality. There are five main trait dimensions in human personality.
• Biological-evolutionary theories


  Behavior, thought, feelings, and personality are influenced by differences in basic genetic, epigenetic, and neurological systems between individuals. Human thought, behavior, and personality have been shaped by forces of evolution.
• Learning-(social) cognitive theories


  Focus only on observable behavior, not on hypothetical and unobservable internal states. Personality is shaped by how we think and perceive the world.
• Personality theories grow from theorists' own personalities
• Personality differences among theorists account for fundamental disagreements between those who lean toward the quantitative side of psychology and those inclined toward the clinical and qualitative side
• Useful theory


  • Generates research
  • Is falsifiable
  • Organizes data
  • Guides action
  • Is internally consistent
  • Is parsimonious
• Descriptive research


  Concerned with the measurement, labeling, and categorization of the units employed in theory building
• Hypothesis testing research


  Leads to an indirect verification of the usefulness of the theory
• A theory must be falsifiable to be useful
• Theories that rely heavily on unobservable transformations in the unconscious are exceedingly difficult to either verify or falsify
• A useful theory should be able to organize research data that are not incompatible with each other
• Useful theory


  Provides a structure for practitioners to find answers to day-to-day problems
• A useful theory of personality must be capable of integrating what is currently known about human behavior and personality development

  
• A useful theory must be able to shape as many bits of information as possible into a meaningful arrangement
• If a personality theory does not offer a reasonable explanation of at least some kinds of behavior, it ceases to be useful

  
• Guides Action


  A useful theory's ability to guide the practitioner over the rough course of day-to-day problems
• Practitioners who can benefit from a useful theory


  • Parents
  • Teachers
  • Business managers
  • Psychotherapists
• Without a useful theory, practitioners would stumble in the darkness of trial and error techniques
• With a sound theoretical orientation, practitioners can discern a suitable course of action
• Differing answers from psychoanalytic and Rogerian therapists


  • Psychoanalytic therapist: Delve into repressions and allow patient to relive experiences
  • Rogerian therapist: Provide accepting, non-threatening atmosphere
• Both therapists constructed their answers in an if-then framework
• A useful theory need not be consistent with other theories, but it must be consistent with itself
• Internally consistent theory


  Components are logically compatible, limitations of scope are carefully defined, uses language consistently
• Operational definition


  Defines units in terms of observable events or behaviors that can be measured
• Parsimony


  When two theories are equal in other abilities, the simpler one is preferred
• Personality theories differ on basic issues concerning the nature of humanity
• Dimensions for a concept of humanity

  • Determinism vs free choice
  • Pessimism vs optimism
  • Causality vs teleology
  • Conscious vs unconscious determinants
  • Biological vs social influences
  • Uniqueness vs similarities