Personality-some
definitions
It at all there is one word that is
mostly misused in everyday conversation, it is the term personality.
Personality is perhaps the most familiar and at the same time the most
difficult concept. It is difficult to give a simple acceptable definition of
personality. According to Allport "Personality is a dynamic organization
within the individual of those psychological systems that determine his
characteristic behaviour and thought. In 1937 Allport gave a list of 50 diverse
definitions of personality. This led George kelly to speak of all such
definitions of personality as constructive alternatives'. Each point of view
provides new information then permits a closer appreciation of personality.
Personality, according to the most general definition, is a composite of mental
abilities, interests, attitudes, aptitudes and other variables characterizing
thoughts, feelings and behaviour. These are the intellectual, emotional and
social aspects of personality.
The aim of education is to promote
a total and harmonious development of personality; Wholesome, integrated, self
actualized, well adjusted personality are all synonymous. Such a person has a
realistic assessment of himself, his strength and weakness. According to
skinner in an integrated personality there is harmonious development of
thoughts and feelings. Allport points but that an individual with an integrated
personality will have clear life values and he involved in such valves. He is
able to evaluate himself without bias. This will generate a good philosophy of
life. The motto of mental health is, know yourself, accept yourself and be
yourself. An integrated personality implies balance between one's abilities and
desires. The development of an integrated personality first implies the
satisfaction of the deficiency needs of an individual, like bodily needs and
psychological needs like love, belonging and esteem needs. The home and the
school have a responsibility in this direction.
Assessment of
personality
The history of personality
assessment is as old as man on earth. With the development of civilization new
methods were evolved. With all this, assessment of personality presents a
variety of obstacles. In spite of this sufficient progress has been made in
this direction. There are also certain pseudo scientific methods of assessing
personality like astrology, palmistry. Physiognomy etc. But more formal and
scientifically objective appraisal of personality is necessary when important
decisions are to be made regarding educational vocational and personal guidance
programmes. Generally before measuring personality it is necessary to draw up a
list of personality traits like honesty, integrity, persistence, cooperation, initiate,
sense of humour etc. The traits to be measured will depend upon the purpose for
which an individual’s personality is to be assessed. So personality is an
integration, a blend, a merger or an organized whole.
Rating scales
Ratings are simply the assignment
of a numerical score that indicates the rater's judgement of the observed
individual’s standing on a given personality trait. This type of device is
useful chiefly to learn what impression an individual has made in respect to
some specified tracts or attitudes, Rating scales may he devised for a great
variety of traits like tact, generosity, leadership, punctuality emotional
control etc. Rating may be done on a 3 point scale (above
average/average/Below. It may be a 5 point scale also. Punctuality may be rated
as always punctual, almost punctual, generally punctual, sometimes punctual and
rarely punctual. This is a judgement based on a 5 point scale. The rater places
a mark at an appropriate place on the scale to represent the degree to which
the subject possesses the tract.
Personality Inventories
We have seen that rating scales are
intended to reveal how other persons have been impressed by the subject.
Personality inventions on the other hand are self rating questionnaires which
deal not only with overt behaviour but also with persons own feelings about
himself and his environment resulting in inprospertion. They are more valuable
than rating scales because they get at the inner aspects personality not
reached by rating scale. The questionnaires are standardized ones. They conform
to the rules of validity and reliability. The nature of responses given by a
subject to the items in a questionnaire will indicate his standing in some
personality trait or the test may provide an overall estimate of personal
adjustment. Wood worth's personal date sheet, Allport’s Ascendance-submission reaction study, Bells
'adjustment inventory the Minnesota multiphasic personality inventory and
Mooney's problem check list are some standard personality questionnaires and
inventories.
Woodworth's personal
data sheet
The first objective test to be
developed were adjustment inventories in the early attempts to measure
personality in the USA as part of the effort to save time in selecting recruits
for First world war R. S. Woodworth was the first psychologist who invented the
first inventory which he called the personal data sheet. The inventories
consisted of 116 questions about common physical and mental systems to be
answered with check marks by appriate answers (Yes or No). The total number of
yes was taken as a measure of general maladjustment.
Minnesota Multiphasic
personality Inventory (MMPI)
After the first world war there was
a surge of personality testing. The authors of many other adjustment
inventories following wood worth's footsteps gave to the world of psychology
many self reporting tests. Between 1920 and 1930 there was a mush room growth
of self reporting tests of various traits.
Minnesota Multiphasic personality
Inventory is an indirect type of objective inventory published in 1943. It
comes in group form with printed answer sheet, and in an individual form in
which 550 items are printed on separate cards, which the subject sorts into
three slots in a box marked True/False/cannot say. Some are rather extreme
psychotic symptoms 'as' My soul sometime leaves my body'. Some items relate to
psydical symptoms as "I have a great deal of stomach trouble". The
original aim of the authors of the inventory was to create an aid to
psychiatric cases. The inventory was developed to detect pathological cases.
Hathaway and his collaborators made a determined effort to enhance the
usefulness of the MMPI by providing several correction keys.
The A—S Reaction study
The A— S (Ascendance-submission
reaction study by G.W. Allport and F. H. Allport (1928) was one of the first
trait measures. The retest reliability is 74, that is moderate. The evidence of
validity is still weaker. The criteria for ratings were self and others. It can
hardly he regarded as at precise or trust worthy measuring stick.
P. F. – R. B. Cattel
The sixteen personality factors
questionnaire (16 P. F.) was developed by R. B. Cattell on the basis of factor
analytic studies of personality. The 16 P. F. test has two forms containing 187
items in each form. The subject is asked to respond to all the items of the
test and is instructed to express his choice most honestly. The test gives
reliable information on 16 personality fact ors.
The Eysenck personality
Inventory (EPI)
The inventory was recently
developed by H. J. Eysenck and Sybil Eysencek for assessing neurotic
tendencies. The inventory has been developed on the assumption that there only
two dimensions of personality, the stable, the stable unstable and
introverted-betroverted. The inventory is brief, consisting of 57 questions
reasonably reliable.
Projective Techniques
The unconscious structure of
personality cannot be assessed by interview and self reporting techniques. We
must see things as they are, but we see things as we are this is a case of
projection. Projection according to Freund, means externalizing of couflicts or
other internal conditions. By contrast with inventories that attempt to potray
the personality segmentally and imply that personality is the sum of segments,
a projective technique attempts to view and understand personality as a whole
and its components in their interrelationships. This view point is generally
known as global theory. Projective technique of assessing personality was
developed as a protest by psychoanalysis and Gestalt oriented psychologists
against the behaviouristic and statistical emphasis in the testing of
personality in 1920.
Projective tests are so named
because they induce the individual to project himself into the test situation
and thus reveal his motives, aspirations and apprehensions. He projects his own
personality through the responses just as a film projector projects the image
on the screen. Perception of Ink blots, interpretation of pictures, sentence
completion are some of the projective tests. We shall now examine two widely
used projective tests. One is the Rorschach test and another is the Thematic
Apperception Test (TAT). At the end we shall review the other types of
projective tests.
The Rorschach test
This test was developed by the
Swiss psychiatrist Hermann Rorschach in 1928. It makes use of 10 standard ink
blots. One such inkblot is illustrated above. The subject is shown the ten ink
blots, one at a time in a definite order and position He is asked what does it
look like? What could this be? Responses are scored in terms of
i.
the total number of
items seen, whether the item involved the whole inkblot or only parts
ii.
Qualities perceived
(colour, form movement)
iii.
Kinds of things
reported (like anatomical parts, animals, plants, people and so on).
From the various responses as
classified above, the clinician infers certain personality traits. If
'Movement' responses predominate, the person is thought to be an introvert. If
colour responses are mare numerous, the person is regarded as having warm, free
emotional characteristics. All the suing is not however simple. Scoring of
Rorschach date is becoming fully standardized.
The Thmatic
Apperception Test (TAT)
This test was developed by Murray
and Morgan in 1938. The materials consist of 19 cards containing vague
pictures, and one blank card. Like Rorschach, the TAT is an unstructured
experiment. The pictures are ambiguous enough to permit a variety of
interpretations by various subjects. The pictures are presented in a definite
sequence and the subject is asked to make up a story to fit each picture. In
the case of the blank card, the subject is instructed to imagine some picture
on the card, describe it and then tell a story about it.
The TAT unlike the Rorschach, has
no standardized scoring system. The content of the story plays a central role
in interpreting the responses. Though Rorschach and TAT are projective tests,
there is fundamental difference between the two : The Rorschach is intended to
reveal the structure and organization, (or disorganisation) of an individual's
personality, while the TAT is devised to bring out the content of one's
personality viz, drives, needs, sentiments, conflicts and fantasies.
Other projective tests
There are many other varieties of
projective tests, some developed for smaller children and others making use of
different devices. Bellak developed a children's Apperception Test for use with
smaller children. The test is used on the assumption that young children
identify more readily with animals than with human figures. It consists of ten
drawings of animals in various social situations.
Another well known test modelled on
projective technique is the Rosen weig's picture Frustration Test. The test
utilizes a series of 24 action pictures in which the subject is required to
identify with one of the figures and express verbalization of the given
frustrating situation in the test.
The word association test is one of
the oldest projective techniques originally employed by Carl Jung. In this test
certain emotionally tinged words are placed among related neutral words. These
words are read to the subject, who is then asked to give first word that comes
to his mind. The responses which indicate conflict are said to be characterized
by lengthy reaction time, stammering or other signs of tension.
A semi projective test used for
assessment of personality is the sentence completion method. While completing
the sentence, the subject reveals his emotional and social conflicts. A well
known incomplete sentence Blank was prepared by Rotter. Other techniques
include as play-technique, drawings, finger painting, clay-modelling etc. The
subject projects his personality which can be evaluated in the form of content,
colour or symbols used and integration shown in the drawings.
Situational Tests
We can call the situational tests
as a kind of performance tests. The subjects are observed in situation and they
do not know that they are being assessed. The tests are camouflaged. A honesty
test can be conducted on young children. For example, n a vocabulary test, a
list of words may be given to the subject, who is asked to check only the words
known to him. In the list some fictitious words are also included. If a subject
checks fictitious words also he is exposing his dishonesty by his over
statement. A check list of books I have read' can be similarly loaded with
fictitious titles.
Situational tests were extensively
used during the second world war in a programme for the selection of man for
secret duties in army. Hartshorne and may have devised a number of such
situational tests and performance tests of honesty. Such tests have poor
validity. Situation tests often involve interpersonal situations. Situation
tests may use two techniques, one is psycho-drama and another is socio-drama.
i. Psychodrama
Situational tests are the very
recent developments in personality testing. In situational tests the behaviour
of the individual is evaluated in action. Psychodrama is a technique used for
assessing personality as part of situational tests. Its psychodrama the
individual has to play a role spontaneously in a situation. His behaviour is
observed by trained observers. This technique is used to assess the personality
of maladjusted persons. The director or therapist plays an important role in
organising situations in which the subject may express his bottled up emotions.
The central principle of psychodrama is spontaneity of the individual. The
psychodrama releases the tension and re-educates the individual for better
adjustment.
ii. Sociodrama
The purpose and emphasis are
different in sociodrama. In psychodrama the subject taking the role is involved
but socio drama potrays problems with which the audience is concerned. It deals
with the problems of the group, its structure and thinking. Many modern
pictures written and directed by creative thinkers are the examples of
sociodrama. They reflect on the screen the corruption, nepotism, favouritism
and redtapisn of the administrative set up.
Personality
Personality" a psychological
concept which is having a deeper connotation than men/ other concepts. It
becomes imperative for all teachers to read, feel and practise the concepts
related to personality
Knowing bits and pieces of an
individual is no doubt helpful to solve some momentary problem. But teachers
should go deeper in to the aspects of individual behaviour, not only for
understanding the behaviour of the pupil., but also for guiding, shapping and
helping the individual pupil to actualize themselves better as human resources.
Students in the formal educational setting "Late confronted by problems
(both academic and non-academic), Human environment demands human solution.
Very often the teacher by applying principles of non-human' not to speak of
'inhuman' principles thwarts the pupil's goals and behaviour; The burning
problems at the academic institution 'pupil adjustment' to the learning
environment, 'learning' and motivation'.
A successful teacher must
comprehend the ways and wee, why and how of the individual pupil's learning
behaviour. To do thissuccessfully, understanding 'personality as a
multi-dimensionalphenomena, is a must. So in these packages, we are dealing at
length with the concept of personality.
We have also dealt at length in
this package, the determinants of personality, to justify the general construct
of personality as the totally of an individual as a social being. Assessment of
personality is also described.
The importance of mental hygiene is
stressed, for developing good go dance and counselling programmes at intra and
inter institutional levels. We have concluded our discussion of personality by
introducing the concept of self actualization which is the ultimate goal of
education. Human oriented education should help the learner to realize his
potentials, so that he could adjust to the most challenging social and economic
situation in which he or she is placed. Perhaps the aim of all learning as the
great, Persian Poet said is "self learning". We have provided the
range of concept related to personality "as being and becoming". A
good teacher who has discovered himself should lead his wards to the pure realm
of 'discovery learning', when he will raise question such as "who am
I?" "What am I?" "What can l learn?" "how can I
learn?" and lastly, not the least "what can I contribute?”
OBJECTIVES
On completion of this package, you
should be able to:
1.Describe the development of
personality through three stages.
2. State the concept of
personality.
3. List the type, trait and social learning
theories, related to personality.
4. List and describe the
determinants of personality.
5. Describe at least two psychological tools,
for assessing personality
6. Define personality.
7.List the behaviour problems
commonly met with in schools.
8. List the way coping with normal
and abnormal behaviour inside classroom.
9. List the criteria for mental
hygiene in schools.
10. Define mental hygiene,
11. Define juvenile delinquency.
12. Develop a case study of a
problem pupil in the school.
13. Define self appraisal
14. Describe the strategy leading
to self appraisal.
15. Define self-actualisation.
16. Describe the importance of self
-actualization.
17. Describe motivation and
self-actualization.
18. Summarise the changes that
occur in personality with age.
19. Describe the kind of pupil the schools
should develop.
20. Describe the role of culture in
shaping personality.
Development of
Personality
Development of personality takes
pace from two general influences biological and situational. Our attitude and
values, self concept, mode of adjustment, reaction to frustrating situations
are important in determining the dynamic aspects of our personality,
Socialization also important for personality development. Psychological
deprivation, during infancy provides a serious handicap for the development
personality.
We will
be discussing the following in this package.
1. Concept
of personality. Type & Traits and social learning theories
2.Devorninat
he of personality
3.
Personality assessments
4.Behaviour
problems & Coping behaviour,
5.Educalon
and positive mental health, self-appraisal and
actualization.
Concept of Human
Resources
A dedicated teacher or all those who are
dedicated to pedagogy must have two goals; one to help the pupil 'develop a
wholesome personality and the economic growth, due to the contribution of the
fully developed individuals. Many may brush aside the fact that, the area of
economic growth has no immediate relevancy to the area of personality
development.
The Definitional
controversy
About forty years ago Gordon All
port found no less than fifty different definitions of personality. He
categorized these definitions into five areas and labelled them as follows
1. Omnibus. These definitions view personality
as the "sum total" "aggregate-' or "constellation" of
properties or qualities.
2. Integrative and
configurationally. Under this view of personality the organization of personal
attributes is stressed.
3. Hierarchical. Those definitions
specify the various level of integration or organization of personality.
4. Adjustment. This view emphasizes
the adjustment (adaption survival, and evaluation) of the person to tee
environment.
5. Distinctiveness. The definitions
for this category stress theuniqueness of each personality.
Drawing from these five approaches
and not being satisfied from any one, AIlport offered his own definitions of
personality, "Personality is the dynamic organization within the
individual of those psycho physical systems- that determine his unique
adjustments to his environment.”
Unfortunately, Allport's analysis
did not lead to universal agree-ment on the meaning of personality. Much of the
controversy can be attributed to the fact that lay persons and behavioural
scientists define personality from different perspectives. Lay persons tend to
equate personality with social success (good, popular or "a lot of
Personality') and to describe personality by a single dominant characteristic
(strong, weak, shy or polite). When it is realized that more than 4,000 words
in the dictionary can be used to describe personality this way, the
definitional problem becomes staggering. The academicians take different
theoretical perspectives. So they differ in their definition,
The
Comprehensive meaning of personality
The word personality has an interesting
derivation, It can be traced to the Latin words `perssonare’, which translates
as “to speak, through” The Latin term was used to denote the masks worn by
actors in ancient Greece and Room. This Latin Meaning is particularly relevant
to the contemporary analysis of personality. Common usage, of the word
personality emphasizes the role which the person (actor) displays to the
public. The academic definitions of Personality concerned more directly. With
the person (actor) than with the role played. Probably the most meaningful
approach would-be to both the person and the role, as Floyed Ruch does in his
definition. He states that the human personality includes:
1. External appearance and
behaviour of social stimulus value
2. Inner awareness of self as a
permanent organizing force
3. The particular pattern or
organization of measurable trait both "inner", and “outer”.
More simply, in this package
personality will mean how people affect others, how they understand and view
themselves, and pattern of inner and outer measurable traits.
How people affect others primarily
depends upon their external appearance (height, weight, facial feature, colour
and other physical aspects) and behaviour (vulgar, friendly, courteous, arid so
on). The roles concept is closely tied to these aspects of personality. A very
large, friendly. Worker will have a different impact on other people than a
very small courteous manager. Obviously all the ramifications, of perception
enter into these aspects of personality.
People's attempts to understand
themselves are called the self concept in personality theory. The self is -a
unique product of many interacting parts and may be thought of as the
personality viewed from within. The pattern of measurable traits adds an
important dimension to the understanding of the human personality.
In summary, personality is a very
diverse and complex psychological
concept it incorporates all the psychological processes studied, so for
and more. As defined above, personality is concerned with external appearance
and behaviour, self, and measurable, traits. Probably the best concluding
statement on the meaning of personality was given by Kaiuckhohn and Murray when
they said that to some extent, a person's personality is like all other people, like some other people,
like no other people Personality is patty outer but mostly inner.
Theories of Personality
There are various theorises of
personality. Some are based on the concept of unconscious. Others explain in
terms of traits. Let us examine in a detailed manner the type, trait and social
learning theories for application in pedagogy.
Type Theories
The type theories represent an
attempt to put some degree of order into the chaos of personality theory. Both
Lay person and scholar would feel more comfortable if they could place
personalities info clearly identifiable categories. This is a basic aim of any
Scientific end generally endeavour. The search for personality types has the
following three approaches
1. The
physique or body -type theories have concentrated on determining a relationship
between features of the face or body and personality. Sheldon’s body types, are
most widely known classification of personality types.
2. The
physiological theories have concentrated on the relationship between body
chemistry or endocrine balance and personality. Typically, certain chemical
substances are correlated with temperament.
The third Way to type personalities
is in terms of behaviour an example, of psychological factors. Jung’s introvert
and extrovert types are an example. However, as Jung himself pointed out, the
turns out the introvert-extrovert
typology turns out to be more in the nature of a coot than discretely separate
types.
The continuum reference mode by
Jung generally applies to the other type theories as well. They tend to
over-simplify the very complex human personality, it is doubtful that any truly
meaningful personality type theories can ever be developed.
Eysenck’s theory
Hans J. Eysenck migrated from
Germany to England. He did his Ph. D. in psychology from London University. He
is a professor of psychology in London University and has conducted many
experiments in the field of personality. He is also in charge of the
psychological Department at the institute of psychiatry. Thus he combines
experimental and clinical work in his new theory of personality. Eysenck's
theory of personality is the outcome of numerous original studies conducted by
him. He found that most of the prevalent personality theories were loaded with
complex and undefined variables. Eysenck emphasises the need to find the
dimensions of personality before theory can be constructed. According to him,
these dimensions of personally can be discovered with the help of
factor-analysis.
Eyrenck's main interest is to
identify the primary dimension of personality. He discovered major dimensions
of personality on The basis of large scale investigations involving thousands
of subjects. These dimensions are neuroticism- emotional stability and
introversion-extroversion. The neurotic person is slow in thought and action
and unsociable He lacks emotional stability and capacity to exert himself. On
the other hind art emotionally stable person is calm, even tempered carefree
and thoroughly reliable. Eysenck also discovered that people also differed on
another dimension which he calls introversion—extroversion. Introvert is
characterised by excessive tiredness-, constant introspection feeling of guilt
and over concern with religious and ethical matters. An extrovert is impulsive,
changeable, irresponsible and lacking in moral fibre, He is active and
sociable.
In his subsequent programme of
research Eysenck discovered the third dimension --- psychoticism. He found that
an individual high, in his dimension is less fluent poor in his concentration,
memory and reading. The factor psychoticism is found independent of
neuroticism. The factors neuroticism and pyschoticism are different in
symptoms. Recently Eyseeck has added another dimension of personality
intelligence.
Evaluation of the type
theory
A satisfactory theory is hot
impossible. It may be that we will eventually isolate men into personality type
as distinctive as blood types. There are no logical barriers against such
theories. The fact is, however, that present theories, including Eysenck’s have
produced the evidence needed to gain widespread support. Even if the evidence
were more satisfactory than it is now two dangers in type theory would remain.
1. The type description tends to
assert too much about the individual. As soon as a person is tagged according
to type theory, the assumption is that great many assertions can safety be made
about him; that is, he is expected to have all the characteristic belonging to
that type. But the determiners of individual personality are too numerous and
they combine into something both too rich and too unusual to be described by a
single general term.
The danger is
that of assigning the person to a stereo-type, Mention some of the names of
regional groups such as "Sikhs' "Bengalis' etc and we readily come to
behave certain stereo-type qualities of each. Such stereo-types ignore the
individual differences, among members of a group A stereotype is, to be sure, a
faulty type classification and even a type classification, that easily lends
itself to abuse,
2) The type description tends to
held to outmoded cones phone of personality and especially neglects cultural
influences Psychologists are now aware of the enormous importance of childhood
experiences and later opportunities in shaping personality. Type theories are
generally sponsored by those who regard human characteristics as chiefly the
result of biological inheritance. That is why many type theories refer to body
form or body chemistry. The body is an important locus of personality, but
personality is also interpersonal, that is, dependent upon relations to other
people. When one understands the richness and diversity of cultural influences,
he loses fall, in type theories.
Trait Theories
Another approach to the study of
personality has been the search for identifiable traits. A personality trait
can be defined as an enduring attribute of a person that appears consistently
in a variety of situations, in combination, such traits distinguish one
personality from another. The two most widely known trait theories come from
the classic works of Gordon Allport and Raymond Cattell.
Allport's Trait Theory
Allport bases his theory on the
distinction between common traits and personal dispositions. Common traits are
used to compare people. For example, the theoretical, economic, aesthetic,
social political, and religious categories in Allports' Scale of Values Test
are primarily used for comparative purposes. However besides the common traits,
there are traits which are completely unique. These unique are personal
dispositions, according to Allport.
They can be cardinal (most
pervasive,) central (unique and limited in number), or secondary- (peripheral).
Allport's emphasis on personal disposition is a departure from the more
traditional common 'trait approach. He gives more recognition to the complexity
and uniqueness of the human personality. 'Traits differ in intensity runt
magnitude. No two individuals are alike. Each individual is unique in his
adjustment
Cattell's Trait Theory
Cartel' takes a different approach
from Allport. Many thousands of words can be used to describe personality. By
eliminating overlapping meanings. Catell was able to come up with 171 words
that can be used to describe personality traits. He then made distinction
between what he called surface traits and source traits. Some examples are
wise-foolish, affectionate-cold, sociable-seclusive, and honest-dishonest. Such
traits lie on the surface of the personality and are largely determined by the
underlying source traits. Using factor analysis, Cattell was able to determine
twelve source traits. Examples, include affectothymia (good nature and
trustfulness) verses sivothymia (critical and suspicious attitudes), ego
strength (maturity and realism) verses emotionality and neuroticism (immaturity
and evasiveness) dominance versus submissiveness; and surgency (cheerfulness
and energy) versus desurgency (depressed and subdued feelings),
Cattel regards trait, as the basic
structural element of personality. He gives more importance to source traits.
He discovered these traits with the help of life record data, questionnaire
data and objective test, data. Cattell has given much 'importance to attitudes
in the functioning of personality. He discovered five components of attitude in
the functioning of personality, namely unconscious Id, ego expression, super
ego, physiological need expression and repressed complexes.
The value of Trait Theories :
Overall the trait theories seem to make more sense than the type theories. The
type theories unrealistically attempt to place personalities into discrete
discontinuous categories. The trait theories, on the other hand, give
recognition to the contiguity of personalities. The trait theorists have also
contributed personality tests and factor- analysis techniques to the
behavioural science.
The trait approach is a straight
forward one, leading itself readily to experimentation. By breaking down the
total field of personality into more manageable items, the consistencies and
generalities can be readily subjected to study. Hence methods of trait
appraisal legitimate and 'merit additional' careful investigation. There are
some interesting theoretical problems as to how traits should be considered.
For example, should they be considered motivational (as in the need for
achievement ) emotional (as in the expression of anxiety), attitudinal (as in
prejudce)? Merely choosing a trait -approach does not answer these questions.
The piecemeal nature of traits
means that something is needed to describe their organization within the
individual. The trait profile that emerges from a set of rated traits is not an
adequate description of a personality, even though it may be a true one. When
behaviour it broken down into traits, we have no way of knowing how the traits
fit into a hierarchical order in the goal-seeking behaviour of the individual.
One method of meeting this objection to the trait profile is to consider the
overall characteristics of the profile. The proposed method, known as profile
analysis, consists of appraising trait patterns as individual stressing
interrelationships and hierarchical organizations as well individual trait.
There is some objection to
assigning traits to an individual as though they assert something fundamental
the way he is causing him to do what he does. Another way of looking at the
matter is to consider the trait as an assertion of the individual’s capability
of behaving in certain ways under certain environmental provocation: thus he is
capable of aggression under some circumstances and of natural behaviour under
others. In their study of aggressive boys for example, Bandura and Waters found
that all boys were, not aggressive under all provocations. The boys had to
be known well before it could be
predicted when they would express 'aggression and when they would inhibit it.
Some sort of interactive 'theory is
needed to replace a pure "trait" theory, That is the
"trait" has to be appraised according to a range of situational
circumstances, in which the disposition of capability to act in a certain way
tends to be called into play: when these circumstances are ' known, practices
of trait modification are' likely to be suggested also.
Psycho-analytic Theory
of Personality
Sigmund Freud was born in
Czecholovakia but spent most of his years in Vienna, in Austria. His theory of
personality is a dynamic theory, a theory that explains how a person has come
to his or her present state of perfection or imperfection. The trait and the
type theories are structural theories. Freud was the first to talk about the
dynamic aspect of personality, Prior to his time it was assumed that the
personality of a person was determined by the biological forces, the genes, the
instincts. Freud explained personality as being shaped by the interaction
between biological and intra-psychic forces. Thinking and reasoning are psychic
(mental) forces and, these forces within (intra) an individual interact with
his biologic forces (instincts', natural dispositions) and shape his
personality.
He explains personality in terms of
its structure and in terms of its dynamics. Mind has different areas of
structures, There are three regions or systems; the unconscious the
preconscious and the conscious. The unconscious mind is the storehouse of the
memories of childhood emotions. The newly born child is simply a mass of blind
biological desires. It is motivated only by biological urges, such as hunger,
sleep, thirst, mobility or escape from pain. These biological instincts demand
immediate gratification (satisfaction), The little mental activity that the
child has is aimed at satisfying these physiological demands; The child, the
new born, therefore, thinks with its body and not with its mind. This thinking
if at all it is thinking is non-logical though at times it may be creative.
This greedy, selfish childish', socially unrealistic way of behaving is the
primary process according to Freud. What the child now has is only body-think
and not mind think. The child therefore has no way of attaching verbal labels
to the primary process experiences. Therefore these memories of childhood
thinking and emotions are not available to the mind later in an individual's
life. But these body thoughts' reside in the memory system and constitute what
Freud calls the unconscious mind. The unconscious mind is filled with conscious
thought. These unconscious thoughts are tied to the gratification of biological
reeds of the new born. The biological needs of the new born are generally
satisfied immediately and the child lives in pleasure. The primary process
(that is the unconscious thinking) thus is pleasure oriented, The unconscious
mind functions (thinks) on pleasure principle, that is it thinks always in
terms of satisfying the needs, getting immediately whet it wants then and
there.
But all is not pleasure for the
child throughout. As the child grows, restrictions to the immediate
satisfaction of the needs are imposed. The child does not get everything it
wants then and there. The child slowly learns that it has to give up sometimes
momentary pleasures, for more long term benefits. The child for more long term
benefits. The child stats thinking rationally and learns to delay the immediate
gratification of needs. The unconscious bodily needs have to be controlled, the
pleasure principle has to Ito carded. The external, world has its own reality.
It cannot be what the child wants it to be.
A conscious awareness of this reality becomes necessary for the child to
survive. This way of consciously becoming aware of the logic and tee reason
that tire external environmental is having, is called secondary process
thinking by Freud. Secondary process thinking takes place in the conscious mind
and this conscious mind is survival system functioning on reality principle.
Reality principle is imposed on the child by the external world and the
pleasure principle wars against the reality principle. The battles that
pleasure and reality principles fight cause consciousness to emerge in the
child. Thus the conscious mind develops.
In between the conscious and the
unconscious minds there is a boundary area that Freud calls preconscious mind.
Primitive urges, coming up from the unconscious mind will wait at the
preconscious level to escape to the conscious level. If the urges seem to be
threatening to the individual they may not become conscious directly but nay frighten
hire without being visible. But in general preconscious thoughts can be made
conscious without much difficulty.
Thus Freud views the structure of
the personality with three regions, unconscious, preconscious and conscious, Ha
explains the dynamics of personality on tied basis of libidos. Libido
(lib-bee-doh) is the dynamic life force that propels all living organisms. This
life force is discharged by three psychic 'selves'. The pleasure self, the
pleasure ego, with all its unconscious biological urges acting on the pleasure
principle is named as id (the Latin word for it). ‘Id' functions from the
unconscious mind. The reality self is the ego, It is the conscious self obeying
the reality principle. It is that part of our intra-psychic self that we are conscious
of, The moral self represents the morals, laws, customs, and standards of the
social environment and it is named super ego. It is above (super-id ) the ego,
Super ego is the 'conscience' that we have.
When the child is new born libido
is discharged by id. Id discharged libido in the most satisfying ways it can,
just as any 'unconscious' (not thinking) animal would try to do, For a new born
the oral receptors only are matured enough to release any energy So Freud calls
the stage when the new born releases the libido through oral (month) receptors,
the oral stage._ The psycho logical world of the child is now cent tired on its
mouth, When the external world puts restrictions on the feeding pleasures of
the child that is when the child is new forced to wait for its meal—the
pleasure principle and the reality principle quarrel and in the midst of this
quarrel the conscious mind (ego) emerges, Ego then takes hold of the situation
and controls the libidinal energy and thereby the functioning of id.
By the time the child completes one
year the anal receptors mature and id releases the libidinal energy through
defecation. Proper toilet, training will help the ego to gain more influence
over the dynamic flow of libidinal energy and id. This stage (fern 1 year to 3
years) is named the anal stage by Freud. During this stage id's pleasure zone
moves from the mouth to the other end of the aliment any canal namely the anus.
The period between 3 to 5 is the
phallic stage when the libidinal interest focuses on the external sex organs.
Libid is dis-changed through sex organs,
that is, they become the pleasure
zone for the boy or girl. The child becomes emotionally (Oedipus crisis), and the
girl to the father (Electra crisis). Ego fights against id, now getting support
from super ego also. Super ego is that part of the personality that says 'No'
to anti-social urges. This is the stages when 'Super ego develops taking the
morals, and the standards of the parents and the social customs and approval of
the society too child lives in The super ego gets supremacy over id and
controls over the libidinal force it becomes the conscience and sets standards
and urges ego to follow Them. The Oedipus or the Electra situation when being
resolved leads to the development of ego.
The phallic stage is followed by a
latent period when boys find 'heroes' among older male teachers or friends and
girls develop crushes or other girls and older women. The latent period ends at
puberty and the child finally enters the genital stage. Now the libidinal
energy is focused on hetero sexual activities and pleasure comes mainly from
contact with the opposite sex.
From the phallic stage onwards the
ego finds itself caught between the Id (the biology) and the super ego
(sociology, that is the social environment). It has to have control over the id
and at the same time please super ego also. Id is irrepressible; super ego is
stern. Id wants gratification of biological urges then and three, Super ego
says, "No, it is not desirable acceptable, it is not the norm". The
demands from id are unconscious; they rise from the unconscious mind. Super ego
is alert in checking id's primitive demands. Ego is thus being attacked from
both sides; id demanding, gratification end super ego warning against breaking
social norms and moral principles. Ego has a feeling that something bad is to
happen. Id is going to demand and super ego is going to resist. This is the
feeling about the impending danger anxiety according to Freud Anxiety is the
warning that the ego gets about the 'incoming disaster’. Ego prepares itself to face the situation. It
puts on the 'psyche armour'. This psychic armour is the defence mechanism. Ego
has mains defence mechanism, different types of armours at its disposal to deal
with the ultimatums from the id and the super ego. Defence mechanisms are the
techniques used by the ego to defend itself against impulses from the id and
'commands from the super ego.
Major Determinants of
Personality
The major determinants of
personality can perhaps best be summarizad into four broad categories;
biological, cultural, family and situational.
Biological
Contributions
The study of the biological
contributions to personality can be divided into several major approaches;
heredity the brain, biofeedback and physical stature.
The Role of Heredity
The impact of heredity on the human personality is a very active but still an
unsettled area of study. One problem is that geneticists face major obstacle in
scientifically gathering information on the human being. Animal scientists can
conduct highly controlled breeding experiments but geneticists studying human
heredity cannot. Through research on animals, it has been clearly shown that
both physical and 'psychological characteristic can be transmitted through
heredity.
The role of the Brain
The second biological approach is to concentrate on the role that the brain
plays in personality. Similar to the geneticists, the physiologists have been
unable to supply precise information on the contributions of the brain, but also
as in genetics, some promising inroads are being made. The most recent and
exciting possibilities come from the work done with electrical stimulation of
the brain (ESB). Preliminary researches indicate that better understanding of
human personality and beaviour may come from the study of the brain.
Biofeedback
Similar to the work on electrical
stimulation of the brain have been some of the widely publicized and
spectacular results of biofeedback training (BFT). Up to recent years,
physiologists felt that certain biological functions such as brain wave
patterns, gastric secretions and fluctuations in blood pressure and skin
temperature were beyond conscious control. Now some scientists and many
quasi-scientists believe that these involuntary functions can be consciously
controlled through biofeedback. In BFT the individual learns the internal
rhythms of a particular body process through electorate signals fed back from
equipment that is wired to the body (e.g, skin, brain, or heart). From this
bio-feedback the person can learnt, to control the body process in question
which may have implication for personality
Physical
Characteristics and Rate of Maturing
Another biologically based approach
is to analyze the effects of physical characteristics and rate of maturing on
personality. This approach has, already proved to be a significant contribution
to the human personality. An individual's external appearance, which was said
be a vital ingredient of the personality, is biologically determined. The fact
that a person is tall or short, fat or lean, handsome or ugly or fair or dark
will influence the person's effect on others and in turn will affect his
self-concept.
Cultural Contributions
At least traditionally, culture is
usually considered to make a more significant contribution to personality than
biological factor in terms of personality development. Culture is a major tenet
to anthropology. Anthropologists, using cross-cultural analysis, have clearly
demonstrated the important role that culture plays in the development of the
human personality. The methods by which an infant is fed and toilet trained and
makes the transition from adolescence to adulthood are all culturally
determined. The culture largely determines attributes toward independence,
aggression, competition and co-operatien. As noted by Mussen “Each culture
expects, and trains its members to behave in the ways that are acceptable to
the group, To a marked degree the child's cultural group defines range of
experiences and situations he is likely to encounter and the values and
personality characteristics that will be reinforced and hence learned",
Contribution from the
Family and Social Group
Whereas the culture generally
prescribes and limits what a person can be taught, it is the family, and later
the social group, which selects, interprets and dispenses tae culture. Thus, it
is the family and the social group which probably have the most significant
impact on personality development.
Socialization process
The contribution of the family and
social group in combination with the culture is commonly referred to in the
behavioural sciences as the process of socializatien". Meissen cir fines
socialization as the process by which an individual infant acquires, from the
enormously wide range of behavioral potentialities that are open to him at
birth, those behaviour patterns that are customary and acceptable according to
the standard of his family and social group. Socialization starts with initial
contact between a mother and her new infant. After infancy other members of the
immediate family (father, brothers, sisters and close relatives or friends) and
the social group (peers, school friends, and members of the work group) play
influential roles in the socialization process. The process takes place
throughout a person's life.
Identification process
The parents play an especially
important part in the identification process which is important to the person's
early development. Usually, the parent of the same sex as the child will serve
as the model for the child's identification. The process can be examined from
three different perspectives.
First identification can be viewed
as the similarity of behaviour (including feelings and attitudes) between child
and model.
Second, identification can be
looked at as the child's motives, or desires to be Like the model.
Third, it can be viewed as the
process through which the child actually takes on the attributes of the model.
From all three perspectives, the
identification process is fundamental to the undarstanding of personality
development.
Horne Environment
There is a substantial amount of
empirical evidence to indicate that the overall home environment created by she
parents is critical to personality development. For example, children, with
markedly institutional upbringing (orphans) or children reared in a cold
unstimulating home have a much greater potential to be socially and emotional y
maladjusted than children raised by parents in a warm, loving wad stimulating
environment. The key variable is not the parents parse, but rather the type of
atmosphere that is generated for the child. As explained by Mussen.
Children between the ages of four
and six from democratic homes are more stable, less argumentative, more
sensitive to praise and blame, more socially successful, and more considerate
than children from authoritarian homes. Over-attention or over-indulgence at
home also leads to many kinds of maladaptive infantile behaviour for instance,
crying easily, dawdling, lack of independence and persistence, withdrawal, and
high dependence on adults.
Clinical case histories of
maladjusted children and adults also show the important role that the parents play.
The most common element in histories of mal-adjusted persons is that of
friction between their mother and father. Birth-order and sibling (brothers and
sisters) contribute to personality. So far, studies of birth order have
produced some very interesting but inconclusive results. First born and only
children in a family have a stronger need to affiliate than do children born
later. They are probably more anxious more dependent on others, especially in
anxious situations; and more inclined to go along with the group than are other
children." First-borns may be more serious, less carefree, and more likely
to be a problem than later-borns.
The importance that developmental
history plays in personality should never be slighted, but it should also be
recognized that the immediate situation may predominate. It is situation
interacting with the human being (including the individuals personality) that
are vital antecedents to behaviour. An example is the worker whose
developmental history has shaped a personality which incorporates a high need
for power and achievement. However when placed in to a highly bureaucratized
work situation, this individual may become frustrated tad react apathetically
and/or aggressively. Thus, on the surface this worker appears lazy and/or a
trouble maker. Yet the developmental history would predict that the individual
would be a very hard worker striving to get ahead. The countless potential
combinations of the situation and the human being make it virtually impossible
to predict, accureitely from the developmental history alone the ways in which
the personality will be behaviourally expressed. The interaction is too
complex, and when the role of consequences is included, becomes obvious that
the developmental aspects of personality fall very short of understanding,
predicting, and controlling human behaviour.
Personality Assessment
There are two major ways of
measuring end describing personality the self report personality inventories
and the projective techniques. The self- report approach relies on paper and
pencil tests". They are based on these assumption that the personality consists
of group of traits, The purpose of the tests is to measure traits such as
masculinity-femininity, introversion-extroversion, dominance-sub-missiveness,
and independence-dependence. The results are usually shown on an overall
personality profile, The biggest problem with self report personality tests is
that they are designed and interpreted on the basis of a priority rather than
empirical data and can be easily faked. An important exception is the highly
regarded Minnesota Multiphasic Personality inventory (MMPI), which has
empirically validated dimensions and scales which identify those who are
faking.
Probably the greatest weakness of
the trait approach, based on personality tests or rating scales, Is that the
traits measured do not correlate well, if at all, with actual behaviour.
Experiments that objectively measure some bit of behaviour-say, sample of
honesty-show that this behaviour does not have much to do with the trait
-honesty--as measured on a personality test, The reason, psychologists now know,
is that the behaviour of people is not very consistent even if their responses
on paper and-pencil tests of personality are.
The others approach to testing
personality is by projective means. In contrast to the self-report, projectives
attempt to test the whole personality rather than a set of traits. The best
known projective tests are the word association and Rorschach inkblot tests and
the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), Word association tests are one o' the
oldest tests used in the behavioural sciences. Even Whilhelm Wundt the founder
of modern experimental psychology, utilized the technique in the study of
thought process. Word associations are still widely used e assessing
personality for clinical purposes.
The Rorschach and the TAT present a
series of stimuli to the test taker. In the Rorschach the stimuli consist of
unstructured ink-blots. In the TAT a series of realistic pictures are
presented. Subjects respond to the stimulus by telling a story about what they
see. By doing this the test-takers project their personalities. Using some
pre-determined guides, a qualified psychologist or Psychometrist will then
interpret these projection and make conclusions about the individual's
personality.
