Theories of Personality PDF - 9th Edition

 NINTH EDITION Theories of Personality Duane P. Schultz University of South Florida...

 NINTH EDITION Theories of Personality Duane P. Schultz University of South Florida Sydney Ellen Schultz Australia Brazil Japan Korea Mexico Singapore Spain United Kingdom United States  Theories of Personality, Ninth Edition © 2009, 2005 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning Duane P. Schultz ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this work covered by the copyright Sydney Ellen Schultz herein may be reproduced, transmitted, stored, or used in any form or by any means graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including but Publisher: Michele Sordi not limited to photocopying, recording, scanning, digitizing, taping, Web distribution, information networks, or information storage and Assistant Editor: Rachel Guzman retrieval systems, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the Technology Project Manager: Amy Cohen 1976 United States Copyright Act, without the prior written permis- sion of the publisher. 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Green, in admiration. This page intentionally left blank  Brief Contents Preface xiii CHAPTER 4 Karen Horney: Neurotic INTRODUCTION Needs and Trends 158 The Study of Personality: Assessment, Research, and CHAPTER 5 Theory 1 Henry Murray: Personology 181 PA R T O N E PA R T T H R E E The Psychoanalytic Approach 45 The Life-Span Approach 205 CHAPTER 1 CHAPTER 6 Sigmund Freud: Erik Erikson: Identity Theory 207 Psychoanalysis 47 PA R T F O U R PA R T T W O The Trait Approach: The Genetics The Neopsychoanalytic of Personality 239 Approach 97 CHAPTER 7 CHAPTER 2 Gordon Allport: Motivation and Carl Jung: Analytical Personality 241 Psychology 99 CHAPTER 8 CHAPTER 3 Raymond Cattell, Hans Eysenck, Alfred Adler: Individual and Other Trait Theorists 263 Psychology 129 v vi Brief Contents PA R T F I V E PA R T E I G H T The Humanistic Approach 297 The Social-Learning Approach 397 CHAPTER 9 Abraham Maslow: CHAPTER 13 Needs-Hierarchy Theory 299 Albert Bandura: Modeling Theory 399 CHAPTER 10 Carl Rogers: Self-Actualization Theory 324 PA R T N I N E Advances in Personality Theory 429 PA R T S I X The Cognitive Approach 345 CHAPTER 14 Facets of Personality 431 CHAPTER 11 George Kelly: Personal Construct EPILOGUE Theory 347 Personality in Perspective 469 Glossary 481 PA R T S E V E N References 489 The Behavioral Approach 371 Author Index 528 CHAPTER 12 Subject Index 539 B. F. Skinner: Reinforcement Theory 373  Contents Preface xiii Anxiety: A Threat to the Ego 59 Defenses Against Anxiety 61 Psychosexual Stages of Personality INTRODUCTION Development 64 Questions About Human Nature 70 The Study of Personality: Assessment in Freud’s Theory 71 Assessment, Research, and Research on Freud’s Theory 73 Theory 1 Extensions of Freudian Theory 87 The Study of Personality 3 Reflections on Freud’s Theory 91 The Place of Personality in the History of Chapter Summary 92 Psychology 5 Review Questions 94 Definitions of Personality 8 Suggested Readings 94 Ethnic and Gender Issues in Personality 9 Assessment in the Study of Personality 12 Research in the Study of Personality 26 PA R T T W O Theory in the Study of Personality 33 Questions About Human Nature 36 The Neopsychoanalytic Chapter Summary 40 Approach 97 Review Questions 41 Suggested Readings 42 CHAPTER 2 Carl Jung: Analytical PA R T O N E Psychology 99 The Life of Jung (1875–1961) 100 The Psychoanalytic Approach 45 Psychic Energy: Opposites, Equivalence, and Entropy 104 CHAPTER 1 The Systems of Personality 105 Sigmund Freud: The Development of the Personality 112 Questions About Human Nature 116 Psychoanalysis 47 Assessment in Jung’s Theory 116 The Life of Freud (1856–1939) 48 Research on Jung’s Theory 120 Instincts: The Propelling Forces of the Reflections on Jung’s Theory 125 Personality 54 Chapter Summary 126 The Levels of Personality 56 Review Questions 127 The Structure of Personality 56 Suggested Readings 128 vii viii Contents CHAPTER 3 Needs: The Motivators of Behavior 187 Personality Development in Alfred Adler: Individual Childhood 190 Psychology 129 Questions About Human Nature 191 The Life of Adler (1870–1937) 130 Assessment in Murray’s Theory 192 Inferiority Feelings: The Source of Human Research on Murray’s Theory 195 Striving 132 Reflections on Murray’s Theory 200 Striving for Superiority, or Perfection 135 Chapter Summary 200 The Style of Life 136 Review Questions 202 Social Interest 138 Suggested Readings 202 Birth Order 139 Questions About Human Nature 142 Assessment in Adler’s Theory 143 PA R T T H R E E Research on Adler’s Theory 146 Reflections on Adler’s Theory 152 The Life-Span Approach 205 Chapter Summary 155 Review Questions 156 CHAPTER 6 Suggested Readings 156 Erik Erikson: Identity Theory 207 CHAPTER 4 The Life of Erikson (1902–1994) 208 Karen Horney: Neurotic Needs Psychosocial Stages of Personality and Trends 158 Development 211 The Life of Horney (1885–1952) 159 Basic Weaknesses 218 The Childhood Need for Safety 162 Questions About Human Nature 218 Basic Anxiety: The Foundation of Neurosis 164 Assessment in Erikson’s Theory 220 Neurotic Needs and Trends 165 Research on Erikson’s Theory 221 The Idealized Self-Image 169 Reflections on Erikson’s Theory 235 Feminine Psychology: Mommy Track or the Chapter Summary 236 Career Path? 170 Review Questions 237 Questions About Human Nature 173 Suggested Readings 238 Assessment in Horney’s Theory 174 Research on Horney’s Theory 175 Reflections on Horney’s Theory 177 PA R T F O U R Chapter Summary 178 The Trait Approach: The Genetics Review Questions 179 Suggested Readings 180 of Personality 239 CHAPTER 5 CHAPTER 7 Henry Murray: Gordon Allport: Motivation and Personology 181 Personality 241 The Life of Murray (1893–1988) 182 The Life of Allport (1897–1967) 242 Principles of Personology 185 The Nature of Personality 245 The Divisions of Personality 186 Personality Traits 246  Contents ix Motivation: The Functional Autonomy of Review Questions 294 Motives 248 Suggested Readings 294 Personality Development in Childhood: The Unique Self 250 The Healthy Adult Personality 252 PA R T F I V E Questions About Human Nature 254 Assessment in Allport’s Theory 254 The Humanistic Approach 297 Research on Allport’s Theory 256 Reflections on Allport’s Theory 259 CHAPTER 9 Chapter Summary 260 Review Questions 261 Abraham Maslow: Suggested Readings 262 Needs-Hierarchy Theory 299 The Life of Maslow (1908 –1970) 300 Personality Development: The Hierarchy of Needs 303 CHAPTER 8 The Study of Self-Actualizers 309 Raymond Cattell, Hans Eysenck, Questions About Human Nature 314 and Other Trait Theorists 263 Assessment in Maslow’s Theory 315 Research on Maslow’s Theory 317 The Life of Cattell (1905–1998) 264 Self-Determination Theory 320 Cattell’s Approach to Personality Reflections on Maslow’s Theory 320 Traits 266 Chapter Summary 321 Source Traits: The Basic Factors of Review Questions 322 Personality 268 Suggested Readings 323 Dynamic Traits: The Motivating Forces 268 The Influences of Heredity and CHAPTER 10 Environment 270 Carl Rogers: Self-Actualization Stages of Personality Development 271 Theory 324 Questions About Human Nature 273 The Life of Rogers (1902–1987) 325 Assessment in Cattell’s Theory 274 The Self and the Tendency toward Research on Cattell’s Theory 276 Actualization 328 Reflections on Cattell’s Theory 277 The Experiential World 329 Behavioral Genetics 277 The Development of the Self in Childhood 330 Hans Eysenck (1916–1997) 278 Characteristics of Fully Functioning The Dimensions of Personality 278 Persons 333 Robert McCrae and Paul Costa: Questions About Human Nature 335 The Five-Factor Model 282 Assessment in Rogers’s Theory 335 Arnold Buss and Robert Plomin: The Research on Rogers’s Theory 337 Temperament Theory 288 Reflections on Rogers’s Theory 341 Reflections on the Trait Chapter Summary 342 Approach 292 Review Questions 343 Chapter Summary 293 Suggested Readings 344 x Contents PA R T S I X Research on Skinner’s Theory 391 Reflections on Skinner’s Theory 392 The Cognitive Approach 345 Chapter Summary 394 Review Questions 395 CHAPTER 11 Suggested Readings 396 George Kelly: Personal Construct Theory 347 PA R T E I G H T The Cognitive Movement in Psychology 348 The Social-Learning The Life of Kelly (1905–1967) 349 Approach 397 Personal Construct Theory 351 Ways of Anticipating Life Events 352 CHAPTER 13 Questions About Human Nature 359 Assessment in Kelly’s Theory 360 Albert Bandura: Modeling Research on Kelly’s Theory 364 Theory 399 Reflections on Kelly’s Theory 366 The Life of Bandura (1925– ) 400 Chapter Summary 367 Modeling: The Basis of Observational Review Questions 368 Learning 401 Suggested Readings 369 The Processes of Observational Learning 406 Self-Reinforcement and Self-Efficacy 408 PA R T S E V E N Developmental Stages of Modeling and Self-Efficacy 412 The Behavioral Approach 371 Behavior Modification 413 Questions About Human Nature 416 CHAPTER 12 Assessment in Bandura’s Theory 417 B. F. Skinner: Reinforcement Research on Bandura’s Theory 418 Reflections on Bandura’s Theory 424 Theory 373 Chapter Summary 425 Rats, Pigeons, and an Empty Review Questions 426 Organism 374 Suggested Readings 427 The Life of Skinner (1904–1990) 375 Reinforcement: The Basis of Behavior 377 Operant Conditioning and the Skinner Box 379 PA R T N I N E Schedules of Reinforcement 381 Advances in Personality Successive Approximation: The Shaping Theory 429 of Behavior 383 Superstitious Behavior 384 The Self-Control of Behavior 385 CHAPTER 14 Applications of Operant Facets of Personality 431 Conditioning 386 Julian Rotter: Locus of Control 432 Questions About Human Nature 388 Marvin Zuckerman: Sensation Assessment in Skinner’s Theory 389 Seeking 437  Contents xi Martin E. P. Seligman: Learned Helplessness The Learning Factor 472 and the Optimistic/Pessimistic Explanatory The Parental Factor 473 Style 445 The Developmental Factor 475 Positive Psychology 457 The Consciousness Factor 478 Comment 463 The Unconscious Factor 479 Chapter Summary 464 Review Questions 480 Review Questions 466 Suggested Readings 466 Glossary 481 References 489 EPILOGUE Author Index 528 Personality in Perspective 469 Subject Index 539 The Genetic Factor 470 The Environmental Factor 471 This page intentionally left blank  Preface to the Ninth Edition Each edition of a textbook must be as vital, dynamic, and responsive to change as the field it covers. To remain an effective teaching instrument, it must reflect the development of the field and continue to challenge its readers. We have seen the focus of personality study shift from global theories, beginning with Sigmund Freud’s 19th-century psychoanalytic theory of neuroses, to 21st-century explorations of more limited personality dimensions. And we have seen the basis of personality explora- tion change from case studies of emotionally disturbed persons to more scientifically based research with diverse populations. Contemporary work in the field reflects differences in gender, age, and sexual orientation as well as ethnic, racial, religious, and cultural heritage. New and Expanded Coverage Major changes for this edition include new biographical material for the theorists, to suggest, where warranted, how the development of their theory may have been influenced by events in their personal and professional lives. This approach shows students that the development of science through theory and research is not always totally objective. It may also derive from intuition and personal experience later refined and extended by more rational, analytic processes. Social and cultural influ- ences on the theorists’ beliefs about human nature are described. The sections on personality research have been updated with more than 300 new references to maintain the emphasis on current issues. Considerable material has been added on the effects of gender, ethnicity, and culture on the issues of personality devel- opment, test performance, and the broader conceptions of human nature. We present the results of cross-cultural research and a diversity of samples of research participants from more than 45 nations throughout the world, not only English-speaking countries but also countries in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and South America. We have expanded coverage of ethnic issues in personality assessment among African American, Asian American, Hispanic American, and Native American populations. There is new material on personality assessment including computerized test taking and the use of personal electronic devices as diaries for recording samples of thoughts and behaviors. We describe the increasing use of the Internet as a psychol- ogy laboratory to sample a greater number and variety of subjects online. For Freudian theory, we have added more than two dozen new studies on con- cepts such as the influence of the unconscious, ego control, ego resiliency, displaced aggression, repressors and non-repressors, and dream content. For Jung, we discuss xiii xiv Preface to the Ninth Edition research on the development of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and on behavioral differences as a function of psychological type. We have added research on the midlife crisis in women, a stage of life Jung considered to be particularly important. And we include more description of Jung’s psychotherapy sessions with his patients. For Adler, we present new findings on early memories, birth order and social inter- est. For Horney, we have expanded the coverage of neurotic competitiveness. For the chapter on Murray there is additional material on the needs for achieve- ment and affiliation. For Erikson there is extensive biographical material from a new book by his daughter. In addition, we offer more coverage of psychosocial stages of identity, ethnic identity, gender preference identity, cultural differences in the search for identity, and the role of the Internet in creating a virtual identity. As the general population ages, we have more research available on the issues of generativity in middle age and ego integrity in old age. For Allport, we discuss more research on expressive behavior, computer recog- nition of facial expressions and emotions, and the computer transmission of facial expressions through the use of “emoticons.” To reinforce findings on the genetic basis of personality, we present new research growing out of Eysenck’s work and the five-factor model. The Maslow chapter contains additional work on self-esteem, and the Skinner chapter includes research with human subjects on superstitious behavior and on self-control. The Bandura chapter contains more material on self-efficacy, on the relationship between video games and aggressive behavior, and on the effect of rap music on aggressive behavior. The Rotter chapter has new biographical material and updated research on locus of control. The chapter on limited-domain approaches, or the study of specific facets of personality, evaluates new forms of sensation seeking, such as tattooing, body pierc- ing, and Internet addiction. Cultural differences in optimism/pessimism are reported as well as cross-cultural research on positive psychology and the different types of happiness. Organization of the Text The ninth edition of Theories of Personality retains its orientation toward undergradu- ate students who have had little previous exposure to personality theories. Our purpose is to reach out to beginning students and ease their task of learning about the study of personality. We have chosen theorists who represent psychoanalytic, neopsychoana- lytic, life-span, trait, humanistic, cognitive, behavioral, and social-learning approaches, as well as clinical and experimental work. The concluding chapter reviews the seven major perspectives from which to view personality development and suggests ways to help students draw conclusions and achieve closure from their studies. Each theory in the text is discussed as a unit. Although we recognize the value of an issues or problems approach that compares theories on specific points, we believe that the issues-oriented book is more appropriate for higher-level students. The theories-oriented text makes it easier for beginning students to grasp a theory’s essential concepts and overall flavor. We try to present each theory clearly, to convey its most important ideas, assumptions, definitions, and methods. We discuss each  Preface to the Ninth Edition xv theorist’s methods of assessment and empirical research, and we offer our evalua- tions and reflections. The Questions About Human Nature section for each theorist deals with six fundamental issues: free will versus determinism, nature versus nur- ture, childhood experiences, uniqueness versus universality, goals, and optimism versus pessimism. Except for placing Freud first in recognition of his chronological priority, we have not arranged the theories in order of perceived importance. They are presented in nine parts, placing each theory in the perspective of competing viewpoints. A Note on Diversity The first person to propose a comprehensive theory of the human personality was Sigmund Freud, a clinical neurologist who formulated his ideas while treating pa- tients in Vienna, Austria, in the 19th century. His work, known as “psychoanalysis,” was based largely on sessions with wealthy White European females who came to him complaining of emotional distress and disturbing thoughts and behaviors. From his observations of their progress, or lack of it, he offered a theory to explain the personalities of everybody. Freud’s system was important for the concepts he proposed—many of which are now part of popular culture—as well as for the opposition he provoked, inspiring other theorists to examine and promote their own ideas to explain personality. Today, personality theorists and researchers recognize that an explanation based on a small, homogeneous segment of the population cannot be applied to the many diverse groups of people sharing living space in our world. The situation is similar in medicine. Doctors and researchers are recognizing that some medications and treat- ments appropriate for young adults are not suitable for children or elderly people. Some diseases prevalent in certain ethnic groups are rare in others, requiring differ- ences in medical screening and testing for diverse populations. Contemporary personality theory and research strives to be inclusive, studying the influences of age, gender, race, ethnic origin, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, and child-rearing practices. We see examples of this diversity throughout the text. Features For the student, we offer chapter outlines, summaries, review questions, annotated reading lists, margin glossary terms, a cumulative glossary, tables and figures, a ref- erence list, and referrals to relevant Web sites. Students can also log on to the book companion Web site located at http:/academic.cengage.com/psychology/schultz for tutorial quizzes and other resources. For instructors, the instructor’s manual with test bank has been thoroughly revised by Ken Pearce of California Baptist University and offers lecture outlines, ideas for class discussion, projects, useful Web links, and test items. The test bank is available both in print and computerized formats. The instructors can also create, deliver, and customize tests and study guides (both print and online) in minutes with ExamView®, an easy-to-use assessment and tutorial system. ExamView offers both a Quick Test Wizard and an Online Test Wizard that guide users step-by-step through xvi Preface to the Ninth Edition the process of creating tests, while its unique WYSIWYG capability previews the test on the screen exactly as it will print or display online. Instructors can build tests of up to 250 questions using up to 12 question types. With ExamView’s complete word-processing capabilities, instructors can also enter an unlimited number of new questions or edit existing questions. New to this edition is WebTutor Toolbox on WebCT and Blackboard, an online course management system that also offers sup- plementary study materials for students. PowerPoint Lecture Slides and electronic transparencies are available on eBank. The transparencies feature selects figures and tables from the text loaded into Microsoft PowerPoint. Contact your local sales representative for details. Acknowledgments We would like to thank the many colleagues and students who have written to us about the book and have offered suggestions for this edition. We are especially grateful to the following reviewers: Charisse Chappell, Salisbury University; Travis Langley, Henderson State University; Pamela Mulder, Marshall University; Ken Pearce, California Baptist University; Linda Rangell, New York Institute of Technology. Duane P. Schultz Sydney Ellen Schultz  INTRODUCTION The Study of Personality: Assessment, Research, and Theory You are about to begin a fascinating journey that covers the various ideas psychologists and other scientists have advanced to explain the human personality—your personality. It also tells the story of the great theorists’ lives and how their own experiences may have influenced the explanations they proposed. You already know how important personality is. Everything you have achieved so far, your expectations for the future and even your general health are influenced by your personality and the personalities of the people with whom you interact. We have organized the theories by their outlook on human nature, beginning with Sigmund Freud. We consider extensions of his theory of psychoanalysis and discuss the men and women who revised his ideas or rebelled against his system. These chapters are followed by a life-span approach, tracking personality development from birth to old age. We then discuss theories that focus on individual personality traits, on psychological health, on predeter- mined behavior patterns, and on cognitive learning from social situations. We also introduce an idea for the 21st century, the happy personality type. The book’s final chapter offers conclusions from our exploration of personality. We also recognize that theorists from the last century rarely considered the importance of ethnic and cultural diversity. You can readily see that it is not appropriate to generalize to all people from, for example, ideas that one theorist based on clinical observations of neurotic European women or that another theorist based on tests given to American college men. Therefore, 1 2 INTRODUCTION The Study of Personality when we discuss research conducted on these theories, and describe their use for real-world problems of diagnosis and therapy, we show the influence of age, gender, race, ethnic and national origin, reli- gious beliefs, and sexual orientation. To make your study easier, we include chapter outlines, summaries, review questions, and reading lists. Important words are defined in the margin, and these definitions are also listed in the back of the book. Also, you may want to check out the Web sites in our “Log On” features included in each chapter. They contain a wealth of information on personality. The Study of Personality Research in the Study of Personality Everybody Has One The Clinical Method Describing Your Personality The Experimental Method How Does Personality Develop? The Virtual Research Method The Correlational Method The Place of Personality in the History of Psychology Theory in the Study of Personality The Study of Consciousness Formal Theories and Personal Theories The Study of Behavior Subjectivity in Personality Theories The Study of the Unconscious Questions About Human Nature The Scientific Study of Personality Free Will or Determinism? Definitions of Personality Nature or Nurture? As Others See Us Past or Present? Enduring and Stable Characteristics Uniqueness or Universality? Unique Characteristics Equilibrium or Growth? Optimism or Pessimism? Ethnic and Gender Issues in Personality Cultural Influences on Human Nature Cross-Cultural Psychology Chapter Summary Assessment in the Study of Personality Reliability and Validity Review Questions Self-Report Inventories Suggested Readings Computerized Test Administration Projective Techniques Clinical Interviews Behavioral Assessment Thought and Experience Sampling Gender and Ethnic Issues in Assessment  INTRODUCTION The Study of Personality 3 The Study of Personality Everybody Has One Everybody has one—a personality, that is—and yours will help determine the boundaries of your success and life fulfillment. It is no exaggeration to say that your personality is one of your most important assets. It has already helped shape your experiences and certainly will continue to do so. All your achievements to date, your expectations for the future, whether you will be a good spouse or par- ent, even your health can be influenced by your personality and the personalities of the people with whom you interact. Your personality can limit or expand your options and choices, prevent you from sharing certain experiences or enable you to take advantage of them. It restricts or constrains some people and opens up the world to others. How often have you described someone as having a terrific personality? By that you typically mean the person is affable, pleasant, nice to be around, and easy to get along with—the kind of person you might select for a friend, roommate, or colleague at work. If you are a manager, you might choose to hire this person. If you are ready to make a commitment to a personal relationship, you might want to marry this person, basing your decision on your perception of his or her personality. You have also known people you would describe as having a terrible personality. Such persons may be aloof, hostile, aggressive, unfriendly, unpleasant, or difficult to get along with. You would not hire them or want to associate with them, and they may be similarly shunned, rejected, and isolated by others. While you are making judgments about the personalities of other people, they are making similar judgments about you. These mutual decisions that shape the lives of both the judged and the judges are made countless times, every time we encounter a social situation that requires us to interact with new people. Of course, the num- ber and variety of social situations you willingly participate in are also determined by your personality—for example, your relative sociability or shyness. You know where you rate on that factor, just as you no doubt have a reasonably clear picture of your overall personality. Describing Your Personality Of course, it is glib and facile to attempt to sum up the total constellation of some- one’s personality characteristics by using such fuzzy terms as terrific and terrible. The subject of personality is too complex for such a simplified description, because humans are too complex and changeable in different situations and with different people. We need to be more precise in our language to adequately define and de- scribe personality. For that reason, psychologists have devoted considerable effort to developing tests to evaluate, or assess, personality. You may believe you don’t need any psychological test to tell you what your personality is like, and, in general, you may be correct. After all, you probably know yourself better than anyone else. If you were asked to list the words that best de- scribe your personality, no doubt you could do it without too much thought. 4 INTRODUCTION The Study of Personality Table i.1 Adjective checklist Make a check mark next to the words you believe apply to your personality. _____affectionate _____ambitious _____assertive _____boastful _____cheerful _____cynical _____demanding _____dominant _____fearful _____forceful _____generous _____high-strung _____impatient _____insightful _____meek _____moody _____optimistic _____opinionated _____persistent _____prudish _____relaxed _____sarcastic _____sensitive _____sociable _____submissive _____tolerant _____trusting _____uninhibited _____vindictive _____withdrawn OK. Try it. Take a piece of paper and write down as many adjectives as you can to describe what you are really like—not how you would like to be, or what you want your teachers or parents or friends to think you are like—but the real you. Try not to use the word terrific, even if it does apply in your case. How many words did you select? Six? Ten? A few more? A widely used personality test, the Adjec- tive Checklist, offers an astonishing 300 adjectives to describe personality. People taking the test choose the ones that best describe themselves. No, we’re not going to ask you to review all 300 adjectives, only the 30 we have listed in Table i.1. Place a check mark next to the ones you believe apply to you. Now you have a description of your personality in greater detail, but remember that in the actual test, you would have an additional 270 items to pick from. How Does Personality Develop? Our focus here is not what your personality is like. You don’t need a psychology course to learn that. What we will be studying are the forces and factors that shape your personality. Later in this chapter, and throughout the book, we consider some basic questions about the nature of personality—for example, whether we are born with a certain type of personality or learn it from our parents, whether personality is influenced by unconscious forces, or whether personality can change after our childhood years. In this book, we describe a variety of theories that have been proposed to help answer these and related questions about human nature. After we have dis- cussed them—what they are, how they developed, and what their current status is—we will evaluate their usefulness in answering our questions and contribut- ing to our understanding of how personality develops. We may think of each of these theorists as contributing pieces to a grand puzzle, which is why we study their ideas, even though some of their concepts are decades old. Psychologists continue to try to fit these pieces together to bring forth a clearer image, a more complete picture of what makes us the way we are and determines how we look at the world.  INTRODUCTION The Study of Personality 5 The Place of Personality in the History of Psychology Because the study of personality is so central to an understanding of human nature, you might assume it has always occupied a prominent position in psychology. For more than half of psychology’s history as a science, however, psychologists paid relatively little attention to personality. Psychology emerged as an independent and primarily experimental science from an amalgam of ideas borrowed from philosophy and physiology. The birth of psychology took place in the late 19th century in Germany and was largely the work of Wilhelm Wundt, who established psychology’s first laboratory in 1879 at the University of Leipzig. The Study of Consciousness The new science of psychology focused on the analysis of conscious experi- ence into its elemental parts. The methods of psychology were modeled on the approach used in the natural sciences. Physics and chemistry appeared to be unlocking the secrets of the physical universe by reducing all matter to its basic elements and analyzing them. If the physical world could be understood by break- ing it down into elements, why couldn’t the mind or the mental world be studied in the same way? Wundt and other psychologists of his day who were concerned with study- ing human nature were greatly influenced by the natural science approach, and they proceeded to apply it to the study of the mind. Because these researchers limited themselves to the experimental method, they studied only those mental processes that might be affected by some external stimulus that could be ma- nipulated and controlled by the experimenter. There was no room in this ex- perimental psychology approach for such a complex, multidimensional topic as personality. It was not compatible with either the subject matter or the methods of the new psychology. The Study of Behavior In the early decades of the 20th century, the American psychologist John B. Watson, at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, sparked a revolution against behaviorism the work of Wilhelm Wundt. Watson’s movement, called behaviorism, opposed The school of Wundt’s focus on conscious experience. More devoted than Wundt to a natural sci- psychology, founded by ence approach, Watson argued that if psychology was to be a science, it had to focus John B. Watson, that only on the tangible aspects of human nature—that which could be seen, heard, focused on psychology recorded, and measured. Only overt behavior—not consciousness—could be the as the study of overt legitimate topic of psychology. behavior rather than of mental processes. Consciousness, Watson said, cannot be seen or experimented upon. Therefore, like the philosophers’ concept of the soul, consciousness is meaningless for science. Psychologists must deal only with what they can see, manipulate, and measure—that is, external stimuli and the subject’s behavioral responses to them. According to 6 INTRODUCTION The Study of Personality Watson, whatever happens inside the person after the stimulus is presented and be- fore the response is made cannot be seen. Because we can only speculate about it, it is of no interest or value to science. Behaviorism presents a mechanistic picture of human beings as well-ordered machines that respond automatically to external stimuli. It has been said that be- haviorists see people as a kind of vending machine. Stimuli are put in, and appro- priate responses, learned from past experience, spill out. In this view, personality is nothing more than the accumulation of learned responses or habit systems, a definition later offered by B. F. Skinner. Thus, behaviorists reduced personality to what could be seen and observed objectively, and there was no place in their conception for consciousness or for unconscious forces. However, the more re- cent social-learning theorists, who offer explanations derived from Watson’s and Skinner’s versions of behaviorism, have restored to personality some measure of consciousness. If Watson and the early behavioral psychologists dismissed all those notions, feelings, and complexities that come to mind when we use the word personal- ity, then where were they? What happened to the consciousness you know you experience every moment you are awake? Where were those unconscious forces that sometimes seem to compel us to act in ways over which we feel we have no control? The Study of the Unconscious Those aspects of human nature were dealt with by a third line of inquiry, one that arose independently of Wundt and Watson. They were investigated by Sigmund Freud, beginning in the 1890s. Freud, a physician in Vienna, Austria, called his psychoanalysis system psychoanalysis. Sigmund Freud’s Psychoanalysis and psychology are not synonymous or interchangeable theory of personality terms. Freud was not a psychologist but a physician in private practice, work- and system of therapy ing with persons who suffered from emotional disturbances. Although trained for treating mental as a scientist, Freud did not use the experimental method. Rather, he developed disorders. his theory of personality based on clinical observation of his patients. Through a lengthy series of psychoanalytic sessions, Freud applied his creative interpre- tation to what patients told him about their feelings and past experiences, both actual and fantasized. His approach was thus quite different from the rigorous experimental laboratory investigation of the elements of conscious experience or of behavior. Inspired by Freud’s psychoanalytic approach, a group of personality theorists developed unique conceptions of human nature outside the mainstream of experi- mental psychology. These theorists, the neopsychoanalysts, focused on the whole person as he or she functions in the real world, not on elements of behavior or stimulus-response units as studied in the psychology laboratory. The neopsycho- analysts accepted the existence of conscious and unconscious forces, whereas the behaviorists accepted the existence only of that which they could see. As a result, the early personality theorists were speculative in their work, relying more on inferences based on observations of their patients’ behavior than on the quantitative analysis of laboratory data.  INTRODUCTION The Study of Personality 7 The Scientific Study of Personality We see, then, that experimental psychology and the formal study of personality be- gan in two separate traditions, using different methods and pursuing different aims. We should note that experimental psychology in its formative years did not totally ignore personality—some limited aspects of personality were studied—but there did not exist within psychology a distinct specialty area known as personality as there was child psychology or social psychology. It was not until the late 1930s that the study of personality became formalized and systematized in American psychology, primarily through the work of Gordon Allport at Harvard University. Allport’s landmark book, Personality: A Psychological Interpretation, is generally considered to mark the formal beginning of the study of personality. Following his initial efforts, other professional books appeared, journals were founded, universities offered courses, and research was undertaken. These activ- ities signaled a growing recognition that some areas of concern to the psychoanalysts and neopsychoanalysts could be incorporated into psychology. Academic psycholo- gists came to believe that it was possible to develop a scientific study of personality. From the 1930s to the present day, a variety of approaches to the study of person- ality have emerged. In this book, in addition to the psychoanalytic and behavioristic viewpoints noted above, we discuss several others. These include the life-span approach, which argues that personality continues to develop throughout the course of our life; the trait approach, which contends that much of our personality is inherited; the humanistic approach, which emphasizes human strengths, virtues, aspirations, and the fulfillment of our potential; and the cognitive approach, which deals with conscious mental activities. Finally, we explore the work of theorists who have focused on narrower issues in personality such as the need for achievement, locus of control, sensation-seeking behavior, learned helplessness, and optimism/pessimism. We then examine what each approach can teach us about personality and conclude on a cheerfully positive note with a description of the so-called happy personality. LOG ON The Personality Project A large, informative Web site from the psychology department at Northwestern University. Contains discussions of the major approaches to personality theory, recommended readings, academic and nonacademic links, advice for students, and information about personality tests. Personality Theories A personality theories e-text with chapters to download. Includes links to other sites on personality. Great Ideas of Personality Includes information on research programs, journals, and professional societies, as well as a glossary and self-quiz for students. 8 INTRODUCTION The Study of Personality Society for Personality and Social Psychology The Web site of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology. Contains infor- mation for students and links to other relevant sites. For direct links to these sites, log on to the student companion site for this book at http:// www.academic.cengage.com/psychology/Schultz and choose Chapter Introduction. Definitions of Personality We often use the word personality when we are describing other people and ourselves, and we all believe we know what it means. Perhaps we do. One psychologist suggested that we can get a good idea of its meaning if we examine our intentions whenever we use the word I (Adams, 1954). When you say I, you are, in effect, summing up every- thing about yourself—your likes and dislikes, fears and virtues, strengths and weak- nesses. The word I is what defines you as an individual, separate from all others. As Others See Us In our effort to define the word more precisely, we can look to its source. Personal- ity derives from the Latin word persona, which refers to a mask used by actors in a play. It is easy to see how persona came to refer to outward appearance, the public face we display to the people around us. Based on its derivation, then, we might con- clude that personality refers to our external and visible characteristics, those aspects of us that other people can see. Our personality would then be defined in terms of the impression we make on others—that is, what we appear to be. One definition of Our personality may be the mask we wear when we face the outside world. © Jeff Greenberg/PhotoEdit  INTRODUCTION The Study of Personality 9 personality in a standard dictionary agrees with this reasoning. It states that person- ality is the visible aspect of one’s character, as it impresses others. But is that all we mean when we use the word personality? Are we talking only about what we can see or how another person appears to us? Does personality refer solely to the mask we wear and the role we play? Surely, when we speak of per- sonality, we refer to more than that. We mean to include many attributes of an indi- vidual, a totality or collection of various characteristics that goes beyond superficial physical qualities. The word encompasses a host of subjective social and emotional qualities as well, ones that we may not be able to see directly, that a person may try to hide from us, or that we may try to hide from others. Enduring and Stable Characteristics We may also, in our use of the word personality, refer to enduring characteristics. We assume that personality is relatively stable and predictable. Although we recognize, for example, that a friend may be calm much of the time, we know that he or she can be- come excitable, nervous, or panicky at other times. Thus, our personality can vary with the situation. Yet although it is not rigid, it is generally resistant to sudden changes. In the 1960s a debate erupted within psychology about the relative impact on behavior of such enduring personal variables as traits and needs, versus variables re- lating to the situation (see Mischel, 1968, 1973). The controversy continued for some 20 years and concluded with the realization that the “longstanding and controversy- generating dichotomy between the effect of the situation versus the effect of the per- son on behavior... is and always was a fake” (Funder, 2001, p. 200). And so the issue was resolved by accepting an interactionist approach, agreeing that enduring and stable personal traits, changing aspects of the situation, and the interaction between them must all be considered in order to provide a full explanation for human nature. Unique Characteristics Our definition of personality may also include the idea of human uniqueness. We see similarities among people, yet we sense that each of us possesses special prop- personality erties that distinguish us from all others. Thus, we may suggest that personality is The unique, relatively an enduring and unique cluster of characteristics that may change in response to enduring internal and different situations. external aspects of a Even this, however, is not a definition with which all psychologists agree. To person’s character that achieve more precision, we must examine what each personality theorist means by influence behavior in the term. Each offers a unique version, a personal vision, of the nature of personal- different situations. ity, and that viewpoint has become his or her definition. And that is what this book is all about: reaching an understanding of the different versions of the concept of personality and examining the various ways of defining the word I. Ethnic and Gender Issues in Personality The personality theorists we discuss in this book offer diverse views of the nature of the human personality. Despite their disagreements and divergences, however, they share certain defining characteristics: All are White, of European or American 10 INTRODUCTION The Study of Personality heritage, and almost all are men. There was nothing unusual about this situation, given the period during which most of these researchers and theorists were develop- ing their ideas. At the time, nearly all of the great advances in the arts, philosophy, literature, and the sciences, including the development of the scientific method, were propounded and promoted by White men of European or American background. In most fields, educational and professional opportunities for women, people of color, and people of other ethnic groups were limited. In addition, in the field of personality theory, virtually all of the patients, clients, and subjects on whom the theories are based were also White. Even the laboratory rats were white. Further, the majority of the patients and subjects were men. Yet the personality theorists confidently offered theories that, by implica- tion, were supposed to be valid for all people, regardless of gender, race, or ethnic origin. None of the theorists stated explicitly that his or her views applied only to males or to Whites or to U.S. citizens, or that their ideas might not be useful for explaining personality in people of other backgrounds. Although the theorists accepted, to some degree, the importance of social and environmental forces in shaping personality, they tended to ignore or minimize the influence of gender and ethnic background. Our own experiences tell us that our brothers and sisters were exposed to different childhood influences than we were and that, as a result, they grew up to have different personalities. We also know from research in social psychology and sociology that children from different environments—such as a predomi- nantly White Midwestern town, an Asian immigrant community, a Los Angeles barrio, an Appalachian mountain village, a Native-American reservation, or an affluent Black suburb—are exposed to vastly different social and cultural influ- ences. If the world in which people live and the factors that affect their upbring- ing are so different, then surely as a result their personalities can be expected to differ. They do, as demonstrated by a rapidly growing body of research. For example, consider a classic study comparing the personalities of Chinese college students in Hong Kong with Chinese students in Canada. Those living in Hong Kong, an East- ern culture, were more introverted than those living in Canada, a Western culture, a finding that supports earlier research showing that Eastern societies, in general, are more introverted than Western societies. In the same study, recent Chinese immigrants to Canada demonstrated a similarly low level of introversion as the Hong Kong Chinese. However, Chinese immigrants who had lived in Canada at least 10 years, and thus had greater exposure to Western culture, scored significantly higher in extraversion than did more recent immigrants or the Hong Kong subjects. In this instance, cultural forces had exerted an impact on this basic personality characteristic (McCrae, Yi, Trapnell, Bond, & Paulhus, 1998). Boys and girls are still typically reared according to traditional stereotypes, and this upbringing influences personality in different ways. Research has documented many instances of differences between men and women on specific personality factors. Let us note a few examples. One large-scale study of the  INTRODUCTION The Study of Personality 11 intensity of emotional awareness and expression compared male and female college undergraduates at two U.S. universities and male and female students at medical schools in the United States and in Germany. The results showed that women from both cultures displayed greater emotional complexity and intensity than did men (Barrett, Lane, Sechrest, & Schwartz, 2000). A study of more than 7,000 college students in 16 Islamic nations found that women measured signifi- cantly higher in anxiety than men did in 11 of the 16 samples studied (Alansari, 2006). A study of stress on the job found that women managers reported more frequent headaches, anxiety, depression, sleep disturbances, and eating disorders than did men managers. Women also reported a higher incidence of smoking and of alcohol and drug use in response to workplace stress (Nelson & Burke, 2000). Another study compared the death rates of men and women 45 years after they took various psychological tests. The tests, given in the year 1940, measured voca- tional interests, degree of masculinity-femininity, and occupational preferences. The average age of the subjects when they were tested was approximately 30. The results showed clearly that those who selected occupations that in 1940 were considered “masculine,” such as airline pilot, engineer, judge, chemist, or lawyer, had a higher mortality rate than those who selected other occupations. The researchers concluded that certain typical gender-related traits correlated highly with death rates (Lippa, Martin, & Friedman, 2000). Cross-Cultural Psychology The influence of cultural forces on personality is now widely recognized in psychol- ogy. A specialty area called cross-cultural psychology developed in the late 1960s, as reflected in new publications such as the Cross-Cultural Psychology Bulletin and the Directory of Cross-Cultural Psychological Research. In 1970, the Journal of Cross- Cultural Psychology began, and in 1980, the Handbook of Cross-Cultural Psychol- ogy first appeared, revised in 1997. In 2002, an article entitled “Cultural influences on personality” was published in the influential Annual Review of Psychology. The authors noted that “personality is shaped by both genetic and environmental influ- ences. Among the most important of the latter are cultural influences” (Triandis & Suh, 2002, p. 135). All this attention sounds impressive and it does represent a major advance after years of neglect. However, comparatively less research has been conducted on personality in African and in South American nations than in English-speaking countries or many of the countries of Europe and Asia. Also, much of the research that has been conducted among these populations has not been widely published in English-language sources. Another problem limiting the applicability of cross- cultural personality research is that the majority of studies use college students as subjects; it is questionable whether we can generalize results obtained from college students in the United States to the population as a whole. In this text we offer re- search results from a more diverse selection of people. Studies are cited from more than 40 countries and from a variety of age groups, cultures, religions, and ethnic backgrounds. 12 INTRODUCTION The Study of Personality LOG ON Social Psychology Network Provides links to diverse sites related to racial, ethnic, and multicultural issues, espe- cially African, Asian, Hispanic, Jewish, and Native-American cultures. For a direct link to this site, log on to the student companion site for this book at http:// www.academic.cengage.com/psychology/Schultz and choose Chapter Introduction. Assessment in the Study of Personality To assess something means to evaluate it. The assessment of personality is a major area of application of psychology to real-world concerns. Consider a few everyday examples. Clinical psychologists try to understand the symptoms of their patients or clients by attempting to assess their personalities, by differentiating between normal and abnormal behaviors and feelings. Only by evaluating personality in this way can clinicians diagnose disorders and determine the best course of therapy. School psychologists evaluate the personalities of the students referred to them for treatment in an attempt to uncover the causes of adjustment or learning problems. Industrial/organizational psychologists assess personality to select the best candidate for a particular job. Counseling psychologists measure personality to find the best job for a particular applicant, matching the requirements of the position with the person’s interests and needs. Research psychologists assess the personalities of their subjects in an attempt to account for their behavior in an experiment or to correlate their personality traits with other measurements. No matter what you do in your life or your working career, it is difficult to avoid having your personality assessed in some way. Indeed, much of your success in the workplace will be determined by your performance on various psychological tests. Therefore, it is important that you have some understanding of what they are and reliability how they work. The consistency of response to a psychological assessment Reliability and Validity device. Reliability can be determined by the test- Assessment techniques differ in their degree of objectivity or subjectivity; some retest, equivalent-forms, techniques are wholly subjective and therefore open to bias. The results obtained and split-halves methods. by subjective techniques may be distorted by the personality characteristics of the person making the assessment. The best techniques of personality assessment adhere validity to the principles of reliability and validity. The extent to which an assessment device measures what it is Reliability. Reliability involves the consistency of response to an assessment device. intended to measure. If you took the same test on two different days and received two widely different Types of validity include scores, the test could not be considered reliable because its results were so inconsis- predictive, content, and tent. No one could depend on that test for an adequate assessment of your personal- construct. ity. It is common to find some slight variation in scores when a test is retaken, but if  INTRODUCTION The Study of Personality 13 the variation is large, then it is likely that something is wrong with the test or with the method of scoring it. Several procedures are available to determine the reliability of a test before it is used for assessment or research. The test-retest method involves giving the test twice to the same people and statistically comparing the two sets of scores by calculating the correlation coefficient. The closer the two sets of scores are to each other (the higher the correlation coefficient), the greater the test’s reliability. In the equivalent-forms method, instead of taking the test a second time, the subjects take two equivalent forms of the test. The higher the correlation between the two sets of scores, the greater the test’s reliability. This approach is more expensive and time-consuming than the test-retest method because it requires that psycholo- gists develop two equal forms of the test. In the split-halves method, the test is administered once, and the scores on half the test items are compared with the scores of the other half. This is the fastest approach because the test is given only one time. Also, there is no opportunity for learning or memory to influence performance. Validity. Validity refers to whether an assessment device measures what it is in- tended to measure. Does an intelligence test truly measure intelligence? Does a test of anxiety actually evaluate anxiety? If a test does not measure what it claims to, then it is not valid and its results cannot be used to predict behavior. For example, your score on an invalid intelligence test, no matter how high, will be useless for predicting how well you will do in college or in any other situation that requires a high level of intelligence. A personality test that is not valid may provide a mislead- ing portrait of your emotional strengths and weaknesses. As with reliability, validity must be determined precisely before a test is applied. Psychologists use several kinds of validity, including predictive validity, content va- lidity, and construct validity. From a practical standpoint, the most important kind of validity is predictive validity—how well a test score predicts future behavior. Suppose you apply for flight training to become an astronaut. As part of the selection process, you are given a lengthy paper-and-pencil test to complete. If the majority of the appli- cants over the last 10 years who scored above, let us say, 80 percent on the test became successful astronauts, and the majority of those who scored below 80 percent failed as astronauts, then the test can be considered a valid predictor of performance in that situ- ation. In establishing predictive validity, we must determine the correlation between a test score and some objective measure of behavior, such as job performance. The higher the correspondence between the two, the greater the test’s predictive validity. Content validity refers to the test’s individual items or questions. To determine content validity, psychologists evaluate each item to see if it relates to what the test is supposed to measure. For example, the Sensation-Seeking Scale is a test designed to measure the need for stimulation and excitement. One of the test items is the state- ment “I would like to try parachute jumping.” A content analysis would ascertain how well this statement (and all other statements) distinguishes between people high in sensation-seeking behavior and people low in sensation-seeking behavior. Construct validity relates to a test’s ability to measure a construct—a hypo- thetical or theoretical component of behavior, such as a trait or motive. Anxiety is 14 INTRODUCTION The Study of Personality one example of a construct. How can we tell if a new test that promises to measure anxiety really does so? A standard way to determine this is to correlate the scores on the new test with other established and validated measures of anxiety, such as other psychological tests or some behavioral measure. If the correlation is high, then we can assume that the new test truly measures anxiety. Methods of assessment. The personality theorists discussed in this book devised unique methods for assessing personality, ways that were appropriate for their theo- ries. By applying these methods, they derived the data on which they based their formulations. Their techniques vary in objectivity, reliability, and validity, and they range from dream interpretation and childhood recollections to paper-and-pencil and computer-administered tests. In psychology today, the major approaches to personal- ity assessment are: Self-report or objective inventories Projective techniques Clinical interviews Behavioral assessment procedures Thought- and experience-sampling procedures It is important to note that assessment for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes should not be based solely on a single approach. Ideally, multiple assessment mea- sures are used to provide a range of information about a person. Self-Report Inventories self-report inventory The self-report inventory approach involves asking people to report on themselves A personality by answering questions about their behavior and feelings in various situations. These assessment technique in tests include items dealing with symptoms, attitudes, interests, fears, and values. which subjects answer Test-takers indicate how closely each statement describes their characteristics or questions about their how much they agree with each item. Two widely used self-report inventories are behaviors and feelings. the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and the California Psy- chological Inventory (CPI). Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). The MMPI has been translated into more than 140 languages and may be the world’s most widely used psychological test. First published in 1943, the MMPI was revised in 1989 to make the language more contemporary and nonsexist. Items were also rewritten to elimi- nate words that over the years had acquired alternative meanings or interpretations. The 1989 revision, the MMPI-2, is a true-false test that consists of 567 statements. These items cover physical and psychological health; political and social attitudes; educational, occupational, family, and marital factors; and neurotic and psychotic behavior tendencies. The test’s clinical scales measure such personality characteris- tics as gender role, defensiveness, depression, hysteria, paranoia, hypochondriasis, and schizophrenia. Some items can be scored to determine if the test-taker was faking or careless, or misunderstood the instructions. Examples of the types of state- ments in the MMPI can be found in Table i.2.  INTRODUCTION The Study of Personality 15 Table i.2 Simulated items from the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) Answer “true” or “false.” At times I get strong cramps in my intestines. I am often very tense on the job. Sometimes there is a feeling like something is pressing in on my head. I wish I could do over some of the things I have done. I used to like to do the dances in gym class. It distresses me that people have the wrong ideas about me. The things that run through my head sometimes are horrible. There are those out there who want to get me. Sometimes I think so fast I can’t keep up. I give up too easily when discussing things with others. The MMPI-2 is used with adults in research on personality, as a diagnostic tool for assessing personality problems, and for vocational and personal counsel- ing. In 1992, the MMPI-A was developed for use with adolescents. The number of questions was decreased from 567 to 478, to reduce the time and effort needed to administer it. Both forms of the test have their shortcomings, however, one of which is length. It takes considerable time to respond diligently to the large number of items. Some people lose interest and motivation long before they finish. Also, some of the items on this and other self-report personality tests deal with highly personal character- istics, and some people consider the questions an invasion of privacy, particularly when someone is required to take the test to get a job. Nevertheless, despite the length and privacy issues, the MMPI-2 is a valid test that discriminates between neu- rotics and psychotics and between emotionally healthy and emotionally disturbed persons. Thus, it remains a highly valuable diagnostic tool. California Psychological Inventory (CPI). Developed in 1957 and revised in 1987, this test is designed for use with normal people ages 12 to 70. It consists of 434 items that call for a true or false response. The CPI has three scales to measure test-taking attitudes and provides scores on 17 personality dimensions, including sociability, dominance, self-control, self-acceptance, and responsibility. The CPI has been successful in profiling potential delinquents and high school dropouts and in predicting success in various occupations, such as medicine, dentistry, nursing, and teaching. Assessment of self-report inventories. Although there are self-report inventories to assess many facets of personality, the tests are not always appropriate for people whose level of intelligence registers below normal, or for people with limited reading skills. Research has shown that even minor changes in the wording of the questions or the response alternatives on self-report measures can lead to major changes in the results. For example, when adults were asked what they thought was the most important thing for children to learn, 61.5 percent chose the alternative “to think for 16 INTRODUCTION The Study of Personality themselves.” But when adult subjects were asked to supply the answer—when no list of alternatives was provided—only 4.6 percent made that or a similar response (Schwarz, 1999). This is also the tendency for test-takers to give answers that appear to be more socially desirable or acceptable, particularly when they are taking tests as part of a job application process. Consider the MMPI-type question: I am often very tense on the job. If you were taking the test for a job you really wanted, wouldn’t you answer “no” to that question? When a group of 161 college students took a self- report test with the instructions to make themselves appear as good, or as socially acceptable, as possible, they were more careful with their answers and took longer to complete the test than did students who were not deliberately trying to appear good (Holtgraves, 2004). Despite these problems, self-report inventories remain the most objective ap- proach to personality assessment. Their greatest advantage is that they are designed to be scored objectively. Virtually anyone with the proper answer key can score these tests accurately. The test results do not depend on the scorer’s personal or theoretical biases. This objectivity in scoring, combined with the widespread use of computers, has led to automated personality assessment programs for the MMPI-2, the CPI, and dozens of other tests. Computerized scoring provides a complete diagnostic profile of the test-taker’s responses. Computerized Test Administration Most self-report inventories can be taken on your PC or laptop at home, in your dormitory room, or at your local Wifi-equipped coffee shop. Many organizations prefer that job applicants take tests in this way as a prescreening method, rather than taking up time and space at the company’s office. The advantages of computerized test administration include the following: It is less time consuming for the application and the organization It is less expensive The scoring is more objective The method is readily accepted by younger members of the workforce It prevents test-takers from looking ahead at questions (which they can do with a traditional paper-and-pencil test), and it prevents them from changing answers already given A sizable body of research has confirmed the usefulness of this approach. No significant differences in responses to self-report inventories have been found between paper-and-pencil tests and the same tests administered online (see, for example, Chuah, Drasgow, & Roberts, 2006; Luce, Winzelberg, Das, Osborne, Bryson, & Taylor, 2007). Other research has shown that people are significantly more likely to reveal sen- sitive, even potentially embarrassing information when responding to computerized self-report inventories than to paper-and-pencil tests given by a live test administra- tor. Apparently, many people feel a greater sense of anonymity and privacy when interacting with a computer and so will reveal more personal information.  INTRODUCTION The Study of Personality 17 Projective Techniques projective test Clinical psychologists developed projective tests of personality for their work with A personality assessment emotionally disturbed persons. Inspired by Sigmund Freud’s emphasis on the im- device in which subjects portance of the unconscious, projective tests attempt to probe that invisible portion are presumed to of our personality. The theory underlying projective techniques is that when we are project personal needs, presented with an ambiguous stimulus, such as an inkblot or a picture that can be fears, and values onto understood or interpreted in more than one way, we will project our needs, fears, and their interpretation or description of an values onto the stimulus when asked to describe it. ambiguous stimulus. Because the interpretation of the results of projective tests is so subjective, these tests are not high in reliability or validity. It is not unusual for different test administrators to form different impressions of the same person, based on the results of a projective test; in such a case, the interscorer reliability of the test is considered to be low. Nevertheless, such tests are widely used for assessment and diagnostic purposes. Two popular projective tests are the Rorschach Inkblot Technique and the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT). Rorschach Inkblot Technique. The Rorschach was developed in 1921 by the Swiss psychiatrist Hermann Rorschach (1884–1922), who had been fascinated by inkblots since childhood. As a youngster he had played a popular game called klecksographie, or blotto, in which children gave their interpretations of various ink- blot designs. Rorschach was known to be so intensely interested in inkblots that as a teenager, he acquired the nickname Klecks, which means, in German, blot of ink. Later, when Rorschach was serving a hospital residency in psychiatry after receiv- ing his M.D., he and a friend played blotto with patients to pass the time. Rorschach noticed consistent differences between the responses of patients and the responses offered by school children to the same inkblots. In developing his inkblot test, Rorschach created the inkblots by dropping blobs of ink on blank paper and folding the paper in half (see Figure i.1). After trying nu- merous patterns, he settled on 10 blots because he could not afford to have more than 10 printed. He wrote about his work with inkblots, but the publication was a failure. Few copies were sold, and the few reviews it received were negative. Although the test eventually became immensely popular, Rorschach became depressed and died nine months after his work was published. The inkblot cards (some black, others using color) are shown one at a time, and test-takers are asked to describe what they see. Then the cards are shown a second time, and the psychologist asks specific questions about the earlier answers. The examiner also observes behavior during the testing session, noting test-takers’ gestures, reactions to particular inkblots, and general attitude. Responses can be interpreted in several ways, depending on whether the subject or patient reports seeing movement, human or animal figures, animate or inanimate objects, and partial or whole figures. Attempts have been made to standardize the administration, scoring, and interpretation of the Rorschach. The most successful of these, the Comprehensive System, claims, on the basis of consider- able research, to lead to improved reliability and validity (see Exner, 1993). It should be noted that there is not universal agreement about the Rorschach’s usefulness and validity, even with the Comprehensive System for scoring. Some 18 INTRODUCTION The Study of Personality Figure i.1 An inkblot similar to a Rorschach inkblot researchers have concluded that there is no scientific basis for the Rorschach; others insist that the test is as valid as any other personality assessment measure. A good overview of the problem was published in a special issue of Psychological Assess- ment (2001, volume 13, number 4). Nevertheless, the Rorschach remains the second most frequently used assessment technique in personality research and clinical prac- tice; only the MMPI is more popular (Ganellen, 2002; Meyer, 2001). The Rorschach is also widely used in research in Europe and South America. The International Rorschach Society has more than 2,400 members; over 7,000 articles have been published about the test (Allen & Dana, 2004). Overall, validity research is generally more supportive of the MMPI than of the Rorschach. Thus, the MMPI can be used with greater confidence, especially for ethnic minority groups and diverse cultural groups (see, for example, Wood, Garb, Lilienfeld, & Nezworski, 2002). LOG ON The Classical Rorschach Serious information sources about Hermann Rorschach and the Rorschach test. For a direct link to this site, log on to the student companion site for this book at http:// www.academic.cengage.com/psychology/Schultz and choose Chapter Introduction.  INTRODUCTION The Study of Personality 19 Thematic Apperception Test (TAT). Henry Murray and Christiana Morgan devel- oped the TAT (Morgan & Murray, 1935). The test consists of 19 ambiguous pictures, showing one or more persons, and 1 blank card. The pictures are vague about the events depicted and can be interpreted in several ways. A sample TAT picture and a possible interpretation are shown on page 194. Persons taking the test are asked to construct a story about the people and objects in the picture, describing what led up to the situation shown, what the people are thinking and feeling, and what the outcome is likely to be. In clinical work, psychologists consider several factors in interpreting these stories, including the kinds of personal relationships involved, the motivations of the characters, and the degree of contact with reality shown by the characters. There are no objective scoring systems for the TAT, and its reliability and valid- ity are low when used for diagnostic purposes. However, the TAT has proven highly valid for research; for that purpose, scoring systems have been devised to measure specific aspects of personality, such as the needs for achievement, affiliation, and power. Other projective techniques. Word association and sentence completion are ad- ditional projective techniques that psychologists use to assess personality. In the word-association test, a list of words is read to the subject, and he or she is asked to respond with the first word that comes to mind. Response words are analyzed for their commonplace or unusual nature, for their possible indication of emotional tension, and for their relationship to sexual conflicts. Speed of response is considered important. The sentence-completion test also requires verbal responses. Subjects are asked to finish such sentences as “My ambition is...” or “What worries me...” Interpretation of the responses with both of these approaches can be highly subjec- tive. However, some sentence-completion tests, such as the Rotter Incomplete Sen- tence Blank, provide for more objective scoring. Clinical Interviews In addition to the specific psychological tests used to measure an individual’s per- sonality, the assessment procedure often includes clinical interviews. After all, it is reasonable to assume that valuable information can be obtained by talking to the person being evaluated and asking relevant questions about past and present life experiences, social and family relationships, and the problems that led the person to seek psychological help. A wide range of behaviors, feelings, and thoughts can be investigated in the interview, including general appearance, demeanor, and attitude; facial expressions, posture, and gestures; preoccupations; degree of self-insight; and level of contact with reality. Armed with the results of psychological tests such as the MMPI, which are usually administered before or during a series of interview sessions, the psycholo- gist can focus on problems indicated by the test results and explore those areas in detail. Interpretation of interview material is subjective and can be affected by the interviewer’s theoretical orientation and per