Personality is the set of psychological traits

and mechanisms within the individual that is

organized and relatively enduring and that
influences his or her interactions with, and
adaptations to, the environment (including the
intrapsychic,
physical,
and
social
environment).

persons general style of

interacting with the world
People differ from one another in
ways that are relatively consistent
over time and place

Four Major Perspectives

Psychoanalytic
unconscious
Four major perspectives on Personali
motivations
Behavioral / Trait - specific
dimensions of personality
Humanistic - inner capacity for
growth
Social-Cognitive - influence of
environment

Psychodynamic
Unconscious, motivation, conflict, anxiety
Humanistic
Positive growth, realization of potential
Trait
Categorize and describe
Cognitive- Social Learning
Think, act, and respond to environment

 Developed by Sigmund Freud

Emphasizes unconscious motivation

the main causes of behavior lie buried in

the unconscious mind
Personality arises from conflict
between aggressive, pleasure-seeking
impulses and social restraints
Personality forms during the first few
years of life, rooted in unresolved
conflicts of early childhood

Rational,
planful,
mediating
dimension
of personality

Conscious

Ego
Superego

Moralistic,
judgmental,
perfectionist
dimension of
personality
Irrational,
illogical,
impulsive
dimension of
personality

Preconscious
Unconscious

Id

Information
in your
immediate
awareness
Information
which can
easily be
made
conscious

Thoughts, feelings,
urges, and other
Information that
is difficult to bring
to conscious
awareness

Id - instinctual drives present at birth

does not distinguish between reality and

fantasy
operates according to the pleasure
principle

Ego - develops out of the id in infancy

understands reality and logic

mediator between id and superego

Superego
internalization of societys moral standards
responsible for guilt
Conscience

 Unconscious

mental processes
employed by the ego to reduce
anxiety

Anxiety

Repression
Rationalization
Displacement
Projection
Regression
Sublimation

p. 456

Repression - keeping anxiety-producing thoughts out

of the conscious mind
Reaction formation - replacing an unacceptable wish
with its opposite
Displacement - when a drive directed to one activity
by the id is redirected to a more acceptable activity
by the ego
Sublimation - displacement to activities that are
valued by society
Projection - reducing anxiety by attributing
unacceptable impulses to someone else
Rationalization - reasoning away anxiety-producing
thoughts
Regression - retreating to a mode of behavior
characteristic of an earlier stage of development

How can we assess personality?

(i.e., the unconscious)
Objective Tests?
No - tap the conscious

Projective Tests?
Yes - tap the unconscious

Thematic Apperceptions Test (TAT)

Rorschach Inkblot Test

Maslows
Self-Actualizing
Person

Rogers
Person-Centered
Perspective

Healthy rather than Sick

Individual as greater than the sum of test scores

Carl Rogers
Self-Concept

Unconditional Positive Regard

Fully functioning person

People are basically good

with actualizing tendencies.
Given the right environmental
conditions, we will develop
to our full potentials
Genuineness, Acceptance, Empathy

Self Concept - central feature

of personality

t
r
e ra
b
Al du
n
a
B

Behavior learned through

conditioning & observation

What we think about our situation

affects our behavior
Interaction of
Environment & Intellect

Personal/Cognitive Factors

Environment
Factors

Behavior

Internal
Internal World
World +
+ External
External World
World =
= Us
Us

 Traits

represent single dimensions of

personality
Types represent constellations of
traits

Peoples characteristic behaviors & conscious motives

Tendencies to behave, think, or feel in certain ways in
certain situations
collections of similar thoughts, feelings, and

behaviors
traits are the constructs of personality

Traits are dimensionala structure that recurs in the

same qualitative form in different people, but at different
quantitative levels (e.g., high or low on a trait)
No hidden personality dynamicsjust basic personality
dimensions

Personality
PersonalityDeterminants
Determinants
Heredity
Heredity
Environment
Environment
Situation
Situation

 Self-Efficacy
A persons beliefs about his or her

capabilities to perform a task.

Authoritarianism
The extent to which a person believes

that power and status differences are

appropriate within hierarchical social
systems such as organizations.

Conditions
ConditionsFavoring
FavoringHigh
HighMachs
Machs
Direct
Directinteraction
interaction
Minimal
Minimalrules
rulesand
andregulations
regulations
Distracting
Distractingemotions
emotions

 Machiavellianism
People who possess this personality

trait behave to gain power and control

over the behavior of others.
High machs are very similar to
psychopaths
Charming with no remorse, guilt, or
empathy

High Risk-taking Managers

Make quicker decisions.
Use less information to make decisions.
Operate in smaller and more entrepreneurial
organizations.
Low Risk-taking Managers
Are slower to make decisions.
Require more information before making decisions.
Exist in larger organizations with stable environments.
Risk Propensity
Aligning managers risk-taking propensity to job
requirements should be beneficial to organizations.

Personality
PersonalityTypes
Types
Extroverted
Extrovertedor
orIntroverted
Introverted(E
(Eor
orI)I)
Sensing
Sensingor
orIntuitive
Intuitive(S
(Sor
orN)
N)
Thinking
Thinkingor
orFeeling
Feeling(T
(Tor
orF)
F)
Perceiving
Perceivingor
orJudging
Judging(P
(Por
orJ)J)

 Person X Situation Interaction

Mischel proposed a specificity

theory of

behavior
Must consider both the person and situation

Traits and situations interact to produce behavior

The stronger the situational factors the less traits contribute
to behavior
Restrictive environments restrict behavior
If everyone lived in a closet there would be very few
differences in behavior
Unstructured environments allow for differences

among people
Compare what people do when they travel alone to a
country in which they dont speak the language

Personality
PersonalityTypes
Types
Realistic
Realistic
Investigative
Investigative
Social
Social
Conventional
Conventional
Enterprising
Enterprising
Artistic
Artistic
2003 Prentice Hall