SUMMARY and REVISION STUDY NOTES
Personology 2601
LECTURER: Carey Bremridge
Please note that these notes are not sufficient for study purposes. You are encouraged to first work
through chapter by chapter together with your UNISA study guide and then make your own
summary. These notes simply serve as an indication of what is important to know. It might be
helpful to fill in more information on these notes after you have studied as a revision exercise
before the exam.
Remember to work through ALL your assignment and test questions together with the correct
answers sent to you by UNISA as there is a VERY strong possibility that you will get exactly the
same questions in the final exam.
Chapter 1 – Introduction – read only not for examination purposes
Background:
Question: why study personology?
Personology is s subject we all know something about as we all have ideas or opinions on how
human beings behave. Eg we enjoy watching reality shows and laughing at and predicting human
behaviour of participants.
However most of our theories or predictions are not based on accurate knowledge and we all have
different opinions, beliefs on the same situation or people so there are a wide diversity of views
about the nature of human behaviour. At times our knowledge is so incomplete or uncertain that we
can’t even predict our OWN behaviour let alone the behaviour of other people !
Psychologists too also have different ways of describing of predicting human behaviour and
development. In this course we will study seven of the most important theories by different
psychologists that attempt to explain human functioning.
This field of study is called is called personality psychology or personology and it is extremely
helpful to study as it helps us to better understand both our own behaviour as well as the behaviour
of all human beings.
Personology and everyday knowledge of human behaviour:
Question: what is the difference between personology and everyday knowledge of human
behaviour?
Although everyone has some knowledge of human behaviour not everyone develops it to the same
level. Some people are really bad at understanding human behaviour and say and do the wrong
things at the wrong time or get very hurt by others as they cannot “read” the behaviour of others.
,Fill in definition of everyday knowledge of human behaviour:
Our ability to judge other people depends mainly on four sources of information:
1. direct communication from others
2. observation of other’s behaviour
3. self-observation
4. cultural tradition
Cultural tradition is very important source for example, novels, songs, movies, idioms etc, if a
bird flies in a house someone in the house is going to die or if someone drops a plate they are
pregnant
In social groups there are always stereotypes eg blondes aren’t clever or all scorpios are “bitchy”
all virgo’s are perfectionists
These beliefs are however inaccurate as they are not based on reliable and valid research and
based on subjective judgments
Fill in definition of personology:
Personologists try to improve the everyday knowledge by basing heir theories on scientific
methods.
The most comprehensive elements or personology are to be found in the form of personality
theories which are the subject of this course.
Fill in definition of personality theory:
The nature and purpose of the conceptual handling of human functioning differs from theory to
theory but usually includes:
1. an underlying view of the person
2. certain proposals about eh structure of personality and how the structure functions
3. ideas about what motivates human behaviour
4. a description of human development and propositions about ideal human development
5. reflections on the nature and cause of behavioural problems
6. an explanation of how to control and possibly change human behaviour
7. ideas about how to study, measure and predict human behaviour
, Most theories developed by psychologists based one the experience with their patients but
other theories based on observation of non-patient / “normal” people. They all attempt to
improve the existing theories by reducing or eliminating gaps in existing theories they have
studied extensively.
Why are there so many personality theories:
There are more than thirty different personality theories studies worldwide each with their own
supporters.
This shows that there is great interest in this filed of study and also disagreement between all the
different theories. It also highlights that we do not yet have the “correct” answer or way to
understand and predict human behaviour.
This is probably due to a number of factors:
1. The complexity of humans and their behaviour.
Human behaviour is a highly complex phenomenon which is determined by a wide range of
factors: biology, environmental circumstances eg weather, food we eat, environmental stimuli
eg what people say, social factors eg people’s expectations, social milieu and culture,
psychological and spiritual factors
2. the practical and ethical problems of research
difficult to examine large numbers of people and so we can only draw conclusions ion small
groups or unethical to put people in experiments that monitor how people react under torture
also people in controlled studies do not behave in eth same way as if no one was watching
them in their normal daily circumstances
3. Is complete knowledge possible and desirable?
Determinism versus freedom…is it possible to determine human beings behaviour or do people
have the freedom of choice or individuality eg do all people act the same can we always predict
behaviour and do we want to…people are individuals that make unique choices and decisions
despite all he knowledge and research we might have conducted about people in similar
situations to them.
4. the large variety of assumptions concerning the person and scientific research:
the different personality theories are based on assumptions that are not necessarily scientific
facts but have had to be assumed otherwise we have no starting point in scientific research.
, DEFINITIONS: It is very important that you understand the
differences between these terms !!
In everyday use we are used to using the following words interchangeably but in the field of
psychology they mean different things:
Person = an individual human being who can act independently
Not all the theorists believed we can act independently and therefore rather used the term
“organisim”
However the humanists believed that all “persons” lead a physical, psychological and
spiritual existence.
Physical = living organism, body with biological characteristics and needs, instruments by which
we operate
Psychological = conscious needs
Spiritual = assess their own attributes, have values and goals which are taken into
consideration when making decisions or judgments
Personality = constantly changing but nevertheless relatively stable organization of all
physical psychological and spiritual characteristics of the individual which determine his
or her behaviour in interaction with the context in which the individual finds him or
herself.
Everyday use refers to = Social dimension, strong personality means influences others easily
However in psychology refers to = what makes people who they are and allows us to make
predictions about their behaviour
Character = only refers to the aspects of a person’s personality involving the person’s values
And his or her ability to act in congruence with his or her values. Therefore more emphasis on
the spiritual or moral dimension of personality. Eg someone acting out of character
Determined by socialization and education
Temperament = often interchangeable with nature = focus more on the emotional aspect of a
person’s personality, eg fiery temperament, shy nature refers to how people express and deal
with their emotional aspect of their personality
Determined by genetics and biological aspects of the person.
Personology 2601
LECTURER: Carey Bremridge
Please note that these notes are not sufficient for study purposes. You are encouraged to first work
through chapter by chapter together with your UNISA study guide and then make your own
summary. These notes simply serve as an indication of what is important to know. It might be
helpful to fill in more information on these notes after you have studied as a revision exercise
before the exam.
Remember to work through ALL your assignment and test questions together with the correct
answers sent to you by UNISA as there is a VERY strong possibility that you will get exactly the
same questions in the final exam.
Chapter 1 – Introduction – read only not for examination purposes
Background:
Question: why study personology?
Personology is s subject we all know something about as we all have ideas or opinions on how
human beings behave. Eg we enjoy watching reality shows and laughing at and predicting human
behaviour of participants.
However most of our theories or predictions are not based on accurate knowledge and we all have
different opinions, beliefs on the same situation or people so there are a wide diversity of views
about the nature of human behaviour. At times our knowledge is so incomplete or uncertain that we
can’t even predict our OWN behaviour let alone the behaviour of other people !
Psychologists too also have different ways of describing of predicting human behaviour and
development. In this course we will study seven of the most important theories by different
psychologists that attempt to explain human functioning.
This field of study is called is called personality psychology or personology and it is extremely
helpful to study as it helps us to better understand both our own behaviour as well as the behaviour
of all human beings.
Personology and everyday knowledge of human behaviour:
Question: what is the difference between personology and everyday knowledge of human
behaviour?
Although everyone has some knowledge of human behaviour not everyone develops it to the same
level. Some people are really bad at understanding human behaviour and say and do the wrong
things at the wrong time or get very hurt by others as they cannot “read” the behaviour of others.
,Fill in definition of everyday knowledge of human behaviour:
Our ability to judge other people depends mainly on four sources of information:
1. direct communication from others
2. observation of other’s behaviour
3. self-observation
4. cultural tradition
Cultural tradition is very important source for example, novels, songs, movies, idioms etc, if a
bird flies in a house someone in the house is going to die or if someone drops a plate they are
pregnant
In social groups there are always stereotypes eg blondes aren’t clever or all scorpios are “bitchy”
all virgo’s are perfectionists
These beliefs are however inaccurate as they are not based on reliable and valid research and
based on subjective judgments
Fill in definition of personology:
Personologists try to improve the everyday knowledge by basing heir theories on scientific
methods.
The most comprehensive elements or personology are to be found in the form of personality
theories which are the subject of this course.
Fill in definition of personality theory:
The nature and purpose of the conceptual handling of human functioning differs from theory to
theory but usually includes:
1. an underlying view of the person
2. certain proposals about eh structure of personality and how the structure functions
3. ideas about what motivates human behaviour
4. a description of human development and propositions about ideal human development
5. reflections on the nature and cause of behavioural problems
6. an explanation of how to control and possibly change human behaviour
7. ideas about how to study, measure and predict human behaviour
, Most theories developed by psychologists based one the experience with their patients but
other theories based on observation of non-patient / “normal” people. They all attempt to
improve the existing theories by reducing or eliminating gaps in existing theories they have
studied extensively.
Why are there so many personality theories:
There are more than thirty different personality theories studies worldwide each with their own
supporters.
This shows that there is great interest in this filed of study and also disagreement between all the
different theories. It also highlights that we do not yet have the “correct” answer or way to
understand and predict human behaviour.
This is probably due to a number of factors:
1. The complexity of humans and their behaviour.
Human behaviour is a highly complex phenomenon which is determined by a wide range of
factors: biology, environmental circumstances eg weather, food we eat, environmental stimuli
eg what people say, social factors eg people’s expectations, social milieu and culture,
psychological and spiritual factors
2. the practical and ethical problems of research
difficult to examine large numbers of people and so we can only draw conclusions ion small
groups or unethical to put people in experiments that monitor how people react under torture
also people in controlled studies do not behave in eth same way as if no one was watching
them in their normal daily circumstances
3. Is complete knowledge possible and desirable?
Determinism versus freedom…is it possible to determine human beings behaviour or do people
have the freedom of choice or individuality eg do all people act the same can we always predict
behaviour and do we want to…people are individuals that make unique choices and decisions
despite all he knowledge and research we might have conducted about people in similar
situations to them.
4. the large variety of assumptions concerning the person and scientific research:
the different personality theories are based on assumptions that are not necessarily scientific
facts but have had to be assumed otherwise we have no starting point in scientific research.
, DEFINITIONS: It is very important that you understand the
differences between these terms !!
In everyday use we are used to using the following words interchangeably but in the field of
psychology they mean different things:
Person = an individual human being who can act independently
Not all the theorists believed we can act independently and therefore rather used the term
“organisim”
However the humanists believed that all “persons” lead a physical, psychological and
spiritual existence.
Physical = living organism, body with biological characteristics and needs, instruments by which
we operate
Psychological = conscious needs
Spiritual = assess their own attributes, have values and goals which are taken into
consideration when making decisions or judgments
Personality = constantly changing but nevertheless relatively stable organization of all
physical psychological and spiritual characteristics of the individual which determine his
or her behaviour in interaction with the context in which the individual finds him or
herself.
Everyday use refers to = Social dimension, strong personality means influences others easily
However in psychology refers to = what makes people who they are and allows us to make
predictions about their behaviour
Character = only refers to the aspects of a person’s personality involving the person’s values
And his or her ability to act in congruence with his or her values. Therefore more emphasis on
the spiritual or moral dimension of personality. Eg someone acting out of character
Determined by socialization and education
Temperament = often interchangeable with nature = focus more on the emotional aspect of a
person’s personality, eg fiery temperament, shy nature refers to how people express and deal
with their emotional aspect of their personality
Determined by genetics and biological aspects of the person.
