Introduction to Personality Theory

Personality Defined

• Personality originated from the Latin word "persona," referring to a theatrical mask.
• Personality encompasses important and relatively stable aspects of behavior.
• It deals with a wide range of human behaviors.
• Personality refers to long-lasting and crucial characteristics within an individual that strongly influence behavior.
• Aspects of personality can be observable or unobservable, and conscious or unconscious.

Theory Explained

• A theory is an unproven speculation about reality.
• Theories offer guidelines when established facts are lacking.

Four Criteria for a Personality Theory

• Description can provide convenient descriptions, establish a framework for organizing data, and focus attention on important matters.
• Explanation elucidates phenomena, answering questions about individual personality differences.
• Prediction involves describing past and present events, predicting future ones, and generating testable predictions for evaluation and improvement.
• Control involves valuable theories that leads to practical applications, and allow control and change of the environment.

Sources of Influence Upon Personality Theory

• European Clinical Medicine
• Psychometrics
• Behaviorism
• Gestalt Psychology

European Clinical Medicine (18th and 19th Century)

• In 1879, Wilhelm Wundt established the first psychological laboratory in Leipzig, Germany.
• Wundt aimed to explore consciousness through measurement and introspective observation.
• Early European Clinical thought focused on understanding, classifying, and treating mental disorders.
• Philippe Pinel conceptualized psychotic personality disorders as brain dysfunction.

Additional Contributions to Personality Theory

• Techniques of "suggestion" were used to understand and treat neurotic disorders.
• French physician Jean-Martin Charcot uniquely interpreted "hypnosis."
• Freud went to France to study with Charcot in 1885.
• European Clinical Medicine laid the groundwork for Freud's psychoanalytic techniques and first major personality theory.

Psychometrics (Psychological Measurement)

• Gustav Fechner theorized a measurable relationship between external stimuli and internal sensations.
• Statistical techniques were developed, leading to the introduction of psychological testing.

Behaviorism

• Founded in 1913 by John B. Watson.
• Pavlovian conditioning was central to an objective, scientific approach to studying behavior.
• Learning became a key focus.

Gestalt Psychology

• Founded in 1912 by German psychologist Max Wertheimer.
• The whole is greater than and different from the sum of its parts.
• Personality assessment considers the holistic, organized, dynamic whole rather than reducing it to parts.

Qualities of a Useful Theory

• Generates research by stimulating and guiding further studies.
• Is falsifiable and can be confirmed or disconfirmed through research.
• Organizes data effectively by integrating human behavior and personality development information.
• Guides action by assisting practitioners with day-to-day problems, stimulating thought and action across disciplines.
• Is internally consistent, with logically compatible components and clear language.
• Is parsimonious, favoring simple, straightforward explanations.

Basic Assumptions Concerning Human Nature

Determinism vs. Free Choice

• Explores whether behaviors are determined by uncontrollable forces.
• Considers whether people can choose to be what they wish.

Pessimism vs. Optimism

• Investigates whether people are destined for misery and conflict.
• Considers whether they can change and grow into psychologically healthy individuals.
• Questions whether human beings are inherently good or evil.

Causality vs. Teleology

• Considers if people act as they do because of their past.
• Explores whether they act based on future expectations.
• Examines whether the past or future is a more powerful shaper of personality.

Conscious vs. Unconscious

• Explores whether people are aware of their actions.
• Considers if unconscious forces influence them.

Biological vs. Social Influences

• Explores whether people are primarily products of biology.
• Considers if their personalities are largely shaped by social relationships.

Uniqueness vs. Similarities

• Differentiates whether human nature is unique or universal.