Introduction to Personality

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Personality Psychology

• Chapter 1
• Introduction to Personality

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What do psychologists want to know about people?

• Why the person is the way he/she is
• What the person might do in a given situation
• What drives the persons behavior
• What systems maintain the behavior
• How to influence the person
• What are some enduring qualities

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Theories

• address these questions about personality that
  psychologists and others ask.

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Purpose of a Theory

• Explain phenomena
• Predict phenomena

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The Four Aspects of a Good Theory

• Testable
• Generalizable
• Parsimonious
• Useful

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Defining Personality Theories

• Purpose
• To have a sense of consistency or continuity
  about a person
• To recognize that behavior originates from within
  that person
• To predict behavior
• To summarize a person
• To categorize a person

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Personality Defined

• 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).

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3 Levels of Personality Analysis
Every human being is

• like all others Human nature level
• like some others Individual/Group Differences
• like no others Individual Uniqueness Level

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Human Nature Level

• The traits and mechanisms of personality that are
  typical of our species and are possessed by
  everyone or nearly everyone

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Group Differences Level

• Ways in which each person is like
• some other people

Risk takers
Worriers
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Individual Uniqueness Level

• Every individual has personal and unique
  qualities not shared by any other person in the
  world

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A Problem in the Field

• Concerning the major theories of personality

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Grand Theories of Personality

• Grand theories of personality are based upon
  different views of human nature
• Different theorists had different assumptions, or
  paradigms, about human nature, resulting in many
  sometimes opposing theories

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Paradigm

• World-view
• Set of assumptions that determine what kinds of
  theories one develops
• Determines the kinds of questions one asks

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Theories

• are based on paradigms

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Science is subjective

• Scientists conceptualize the world based on the
  paradigm they live in
• Interpretation of science or psychology is
  subjective
• Different theories of psychology are based in
  different paradigms
• As a result, we have many different perspectives,
  or approaches to the study of personality

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Approaches to the Study of Personality

• Biological
• Intrapsychic
• Dispositional
• Social and Cultural
• Adjustment/Health

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How do we approach this problem?

• 1. Take them apart Look at each individually
  using critical thinking skills
• 2. Put them together for a multifaceted view

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• Not everyone will agree with every theory
  depends on your world-view of how human nature
  works
• Is behavior genetically determined?
• Is human nature innately good or evil?
• What are the basic human needs?

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Bridge the Fissure

• Integrating the domains of knowledge can give us
  a more complete picture of personality

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WHOLE PERSONALITY
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