Personality and Individual Differences

What the resources cover

The page spans the main families of personality theory. The Freud's Theory of Personality mind map walks through the id, the ego and the pleasure principle. Further maps cover Alfred Adler and his types of people based on social interest, Jung and psychic energy, and Person Centred Theory from Carl Rogers. There are also comparison maps such as Adler vs. Horney.

Trait and construct approaches

The flashcard deck on Gordon Allport's trait theory covers his definition of personality, temperament, character and the criteria for an adequate theory. The Gordon Allport mind map shows how he began by listing trait words from a dictionary. For a different angle, the quiz on George Kelly's Personal Construct Theory and its 11 corollaries tests how people construe events. The page also lists a slide set on Eysenck and a mind map on Gray's RST and the FFM.

Where to start

1. Open a broad mind map such as Personality or Theories of Personality to see the whole field.
2. Move to one theorist at a time, using the single-theory maps and flashcard decks.
3. Take a quiz, such as the one on personality assessment in CHAPTER 3, to see what you recall.
4. Return to the maps for any topic you missed.

Using quizzes and maps together

Maps give you the structure: who argued what, and how the ideas connect. Quizzes then check the detail. Try reading a map, covering it, and writing down what you remember before you take a quiz. Flashcards suit short definitions, like terms from Allport or Kelly. Teachers can pick a map or quiz to set alongside a lesson.

Where this unit sits

Personality and Individual Differences belongs to the Individual Differences strand of Psychology. Most of the material here is at university level, and a small share is aimed at school study.

Choose a theorist that you find hardest, open its map and see what the quizzes make of it.