Theories of Personality PDF

Theories of personality, personality assessment Lecture Lecturer: PhDr. Martina Ružičková, PhD. Psychology & Medical Communication Dental Medicine, 2nd y. 1st Dept of Psychiatry, UPJŠ Košice Definition personality - refers to the long-standing traits...

Theories of personality, personality assessment Lecture Lecturer: PhDr. Martina Ružičková, PhD. Psychology & Medical Communication Dental Medicine, 2nd y. 1st Dept of Psychiatry, UPJŠ Košice Definition personality - refers to the long-standing traits and patterns that propel individuals to consistently think, feel, and behave in specific ways comes from the Latin word persona makes us unique as individuals thought to be long term, stable, and not easily changed Typologies tried to connect somatic and psychological characteristics beginning with Hippocrates in 370 before BCE four fluids (“humors”) of the body: choleric temperament (yellow bile from the liver), melancholic temperament (black bile from the kidneys), sanguine temperament (red blood from the heart), and phlegmatic temperament (white phlegm from the lungs) Galen built on Hippocrates’s theory – both, diseases and personality differences could be explained by imbalances in the humors and that each person exhibits one of the four temperaments  Sanguine personality type - highly talkative, enthusiastic, active, and social;... Choleric individuals - more extroverted, independent, decisive,... Melancholic individuals - analytical and detail-oriented, deep thinkers and feelers;... Phlegmatic individuals - relaxed, peaceful, quiet, and easy-going;...  In 1780, F. Gall, a German physician - the distances between bumps on the skull reveal a person’s personality traits, character, and mental abilities phrenology I.P. Pavlov - strong and weak nervous systems with different sub-types under the strong type; those individuals with weak nervous systems were "to have limited adaptive abilities," while strong nervous systems were more adaptable  In the 1940's, W. H. Sheldon associated body types with human temperament types a body type could be linked with the personality of that person endomorphs are physically "round„, relaxed, tolerant, comfortable,...  an ectomorph - narrow shoulders, thin legs and arms, little fat on the body. Personality wise, they tend to be self- conscious,... a mesomorph - an attractive and desirable body. Psychologically, the mesomorph is adventurous and courageous;.... These were typologies that tried to link somatic and psychological characteristics.  E. Spranger - personalities in term of value orientation. His value attitudes (types of personalities) were: - Theoretical, whose dominant interest is the discovery of truth - Economic, who is interested in what is useful - Aesthetic, whose highest value is form and harmony - Social, whose highest value is love of people - Political, whose interest is primarily in power - Religious, whose highest value is unity and altruism Trait theories seek to identify the basic traits necessary to describe personality all people possess certain traits, but the degree to which a given trait applies to a specific person varies and can be quantified E. g. Gordon Allport’s Trait Theory, Raymond Cattell’ s Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire, Eysenck´s theory of two basic factors, and The Five-Factor Theory of Personality „Big five“ by Costa, Mc Crae Gordon Allport’s Trait Theory G.W. Allport was American psychologist, he referred to as one of the founding figures of personality psychology. In 1936, found that one English-language dictionary alone contained more than 4,000 words describing different personality traits. He categorized these traits into three levels: Cardinal Traits, Central Traits, and Secondary Traits. Raymond Cattell’s Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire R. B. Cattell was British and American psychologist known for psychometric research into intrapersonal psychological structure. He reduced the number of main personality traits to 171. using a statistical technique known as factor analysis – 16 key personality traits - the source of all human personality "Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire“ is still used today in career, marital counseling and in business for employee testing and selection. Cattell's 16 Personality Factors include: Abstractedness: Imaginative vs practical Apprehension: Worried vs confident Dominance: Forceful vs submissive Emotional Stability: Calm vs high-strung Liveliness: Spontaneous vs restrained Openness to Change: Flexible vs attached to the familiar Perfectionism: Controlled vs undisciplined Privateness: Discreet vs open Reasoning: Abstract vs concrete Rule-Consciousness: Conforming vs non-conforming Self-Reliance: Self-sufficient vs dependent Sensitivity: Tender-hearted vs tough-minded. Social Boldness: Uninhibited vs shy Tension: Impatient vs relaxed Vigilance: Suspicious vs trusting Warmth: Outgoing vs reserved  H.J. Eysenck was German-born English psychologist who found that behavior could be represented by 2 dimensions: - Introversion/Extroversion (E) - Neuroticism/Stability (N) Each aspect of personality (extraversion, neuroticism) can be traced back to a different biological cause.  common extrovert traits: have large social networks, enjoy being the center of attention,... common introvert traits: enjoy spending time in solitude, don’t prefer to be the center of attention, value close one-on-one relationships,... psychoticism - individuals who are high on this trait tend to have difficulty dealing with reality and may be antisocial, hostile, non-empathetic, and manipulative  five traits of personality the "Big Five Theory of Personality“ (or OCEAN) research Psychoanalytic approach to personality Sigmund Freud - a central figure in theories of personality the basic premise of psychoanalytic theory - unconscious processes technique of hypnosis the method of free association conscious and unconscious Structural model of personality: - Id - the most primitive part - Ego - decides which id impulses will be satisfied and in what manner - Superego - internalized representation of the values and morals of society  Personality development - psychosexual stages the Oedipal conflict The behaviorist approach the importance of environmental, or situational, determinants of behavior operant conditioning – the type of learning that occurs when we learn the association between our behaviors and certain outcomes observational learning classical conditioning – the type of learning that occurs when specific situations become associated with specific outcomes  Personality assesment Aims of psychological examination: - to establish the level of cognitive functioning - differential diagnosis - evaluation of personality structure Commonly used psychological tests psychologic test = a set of stimuli administered to an individual or a group under standard conditions to obtain a sample of behavior for assessment objective and projective tests The most commonly used: The Rorschach TAT MMPI The Rorschach - the best-known psychologic assessment tool, the "inkblot test“ (by Hermann Rorschach, 1921) to report everything the inkblot resembles Three main categories: location (the entire inkblot or a part of it), determinants (the shape of the blot, its color, or differences in texture and shading), and content (what the response represents), widely used in clinical and forensic settings. Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) (at Harvard University, 1935) to tell a story about what is happening in the picture, what led up to it, and how will it turn out achievement and aggression Figure. A 21-year-old male told the following story...  to draw pictures of people, houses, trees, and so on Minessota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI, 1943) - the most frequently used objective test designed for ages 16 and over contains 566 items to be answered yes or no HS (hypochondriasis), D (depression), HY (hysteria), PD (psychopathic deviant), PA (paranoia), PT (psychastenia), SC (schizophrenia), and MA (hypomania) Neuropsychologic testing testing organic brain syndrome - when a CT scan is negative in the presence of suspicious symptomatology (early Alzheimer's disease), in assessing the relative importance of organic versus psychologic variables in the behavior of trauma victims,... cognitive tests  Fig. Clock test used in assessing of dementia. Example: Self-referential thought is associated with increased activity in the medial prefrontal cortex - the famous case of Phineas Gage. Assessment of intellectual abilities Intelligence = a global capacity of the individual to act purposefully, to think rationally, and to deal effectively with his environment (Wechsler, 1943) = the general mental capacity that involves reasoning, planning, solving problems, thinking abstractly, comprehending complex ideas, learning efficiently, and learning from experience (AAIDD, 2010) early history of testing modern intelligence tests - Alfred Binet, in 1881 Intelligence Quotient / IQ = diveding the child´s mental age/MA by his or her chronological age/CA, multiplying the result by 100 IQ= (MA:CA) x 100  IQ score ranges IQ scale Interpretation of IQ score % of population above 130 Very gifted 2.1% 121-130 Gifted 6.4% 111-120 Above average intelligence 15.7% 90-110 Average intelligence 51.6% 80-89 Below average intelligence 15.7% 70-79 Cognitively impaired 6.4%  Seven distinct kinds of intelligence, idependent of one another (1) linguistic, (2) musical, (3) logical-mathematical, (4) spatial, (5) bodily-kinesthetic, (6) intrapersonal, and (7) interpersonal Intellectual disability intellectual disability (ID, a mental retardation) = significant cognitive deficits which has been established through a standardized measure of intelligence, in particular, with an IQ score of below 70, and also by significant deficits in functional and adaptive skills diagnosis and assessment  adaptive skills - the ability to carry out age-appropriate daily life activities The DSM-5 diagnosis of ID and three criteria: deficits in intellectual functioning, deficits in adaptive functioning , the onset of these deficits during childhood. Classifications of severity mild to moderate ID severe ID profound ID Etiology environmental factors genetic factors Demographic factors and duration of the disorder  References Ruzickova M, Dragasek J.. Psychology in Medicine, UPJS Kosice, 2023. https://unibook.upjs.sk/sk/lekarska- fakulta/1838-psychology-in-medicine. At Portal UPJS. Nolen-Hoeksema S. et al. Atkinson & Hilgard’s Introduction to Psychology, 15th Edition. Cengage Learning EMEA, UK, 2009. Ayers S, de Visser R. Psychology for Medicine. Sage, London 2011. Taylor S E. Health Psychology. International Edition. McGraw Hill, 6th Ed., New York, USA 2006. Plotnik R. & Kouyoumdjian H. Introduction to Psychology, 9th Ed., Wadsworth/Cengage Learning, Belmont, CA, USA 2011. https://www.verywellmind.com