Topic 7A: personality

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Theories of personality attempt to answer 5 philosophical questions about what really determines personality:

freedom vs. determinism: questions how much it of an individual's personality is under their conscious control

heredity vs. environment: questions how much of a role internal and external influences play in determining personality

uniqueness vs. universality: questions if individuals are more alike or different in nature to one another

active vs. reactive: questions if human behavior is passively shaped by environmental factors or if humans have an active role in the development of their personality

optimistic vs. pessimistic: questions whether humans can learn and change through interaction and intervention

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Theories of personality:

Psychoanalytic perspective: states personality is made of the id, the ego, and the superego.

id: pleasure-seeking impulses

ego: reality-oriented executive

superego: internalized set of ideals

humanistic perspective: posits that an individual’s subjective free will is the most important determinant of behavior.

Further states that people strive to become the best version of themselves.

Defines incongruence as the gap between the ideal and real selves, which can cause discomfort and lead to defensive behaviors.

Trait perspective: posits that personality can be understood as a set of common traits that every individual exhibits to a degree; personality traits are different from person to person but within an individual over time and place, their personality traits remain stable.

Social cognitive perspective: places importance on thinking and judging in the development of personality

States that individuals observe an admired role model, then choose to adopt and emphasize traits and behaviors of that person, thereby using cognitive processes to learn behaviors central to one's personality.

Biological perspective: places importance on the role of genetics and the brain in shaping personality; Evolutionary theories are related to this perspective, as they consider how variation in personalities may be rooted in natural selection.

Behaviorist perspective: present outcomes as the driving factor behind an individual's choices and behaviors; States an individual’s actions are responses to external stimuli

Big 5 model: breaks personality down to 5 major traits (openness to experience, contentiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism). This model is used in research to study the effect of personality on measurable behaviors.

Putting these theories into context, our culture is one of the most important environmental factors that shapes our personalities.

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Trait versus state debate: the result of the conflict of ideas between trait theories and the social- cognitive perspective on personality; questions whether trait is more important in predicting behavior or the situation.

Some traits are stable across situations, such as intellect, while people may change other aspects of their personality from situation to situation

Social- cognitive perspective, developed by Walter Mischel, suggests an individual's behavior is fundamentally dependent on situational cues.

This counters trait theories’ perspective that behavior is dependent on traits and should be consistent across diverse situations.