Personality Theory and Assessment
Personality
The relatively stable and distinctive pattern of behavior, mannerisms, thoughts, motives, and emotions
that characterizes an individual over time and across different situations
Levels of personality:
1. Having - personality traits and strengths
2. Doing - personal goals and motivation
3. Being - life narrative that we tell ourselves (internal working model) and others to
communicate who we are
Research suggests that there are 3 levels of personality, and by ignoring any of them, you artificially limit your
potential and fail to grasp why people do the things they do. At level 1 (having), there are personality traits and
strengths; at level 2 (doing), there is personal striving, or goals that we try to accomplish in our daily life; and at level
3 (being), there is the life narrative that we tell ourselves and others to communicate who we are. Each level of our
personality offers distinct insights into attaining a life well lived.
Learning Objectives
1. What is personality and how does it develop?
2. How do psychodynamic, social-cognitive, and humanistic factors contribute to different
personality traits and behaviors?
3. What specific factors (nature v. nurture) influence individual personality?
4. How does your culture and environment affect personality?
5. How is personality assessed?
6. What is the difference between projective and objective personality tests?
Biological influences on Personality
~ Temperament
Environmental factors (including family interaction), maturation, and experience can
affect the way an individual’s temperament is expressed through their personality
- Inherited personality traits
- Brain regions – Prefrontal cortex
Personality Theories
1. Psychodynamic Perspective – emphasizes unconscious influences on personality often
stemming from childhood experiences
2. Social-Cognitive Perspective – personality development is based on individual learning
history and cognitive processes
3. Humanistic Perspective – personality as an expression of our unique potential as human
beings
4. Trait Perspective – underlying traits help predict how we will respond in different
situations
The Psychodynamic Perspective
Psychoanalytic Theory (Sigmund Freud) The belief that personality is shaped by underlying
conflicts between opposing forces within the mind
Operates in terms of 4 major concepts:
1. Levels of consciousness
2. Structure of personality
3. Defense mechanisms
4. Stages of psychosexual development
, Levels of Consciousness
1. Conscious – Our present awareness
2. Preconscious – Part of the mind whose contents can be brought into awareness through
focused attention
3. Unconscious – Part of the mind that lies outside the range of ordinary awareness and
that holds troubling or unacceptable urges, impulses, memories, and ideas
The structure of personality
Id: operates according to the pleasure principle
Primitive, unconscious part of personality
Ego: operates according to the reality principle
Mediates between id and superego
Superego: moral compass
1. Conscience
2. ego ideal
Defense Mechanisms
● Repression ex. Forgetting a tragic experience such as an assault or forgetting an
unpleasant appointment
● Regression ex. A stressed out college student moves back in with their parents
● Displacement ex. Slamming a door after a fight
● Denial ex. Dismissing romantic feelings for a friend
● Reaction formation ex. Avoiding the friend that you truly want to be with
● Rationalization ex. Saying that smoking is okay as long as you only do it in social
situations
● Projection ex. Perceiving your partners behavior as hostile and accusing them of being
stressed when you’re the one who is stressed
● Sublimation ex. Exercising when you are angry or upset
Because the ids demands for pleasure and immediate gratification often conflict with the superegos desire for moral
perfection, Freud believed that the much of the ego (our “reality principle”) operates below the surface of our
conscious awareness where it employs ways to prevent awareness of demands for immediate pleasure and
unacceptable sexual or aggressive impulses or wishes. The strategies the ego uses to do this are called defense
mechanisms.
Freud believed that repression is the most frequently used defense mechanism, which involves removing an
unpleasant memories, thoughts, or perceptions from consciousness and keeping them in the unconscious or barring
disturbing sexual and aggressive impulses from consciousness
Regression-Reverting to a behavior that might have reduced anxiety at an earlier stage of development
Displacement-Substituting a less threatening object or person for the original object of a sexual or aggressive impulse
Denial-Refusing to acknowledge consciously the existence of danger or a threatening situation
Reaction formation- Expressing exaggerated ideas and emotions that are the opposite of disturbing, unconscious
impulses and desires
Rationalization-Supplying a logical, rational, or socially acceptable reason rather than the real reason for an action or
event
Projection-Attributing one’s own undesirable traits, thoughts, behavior, or impulses to another
Sublimation-Rechanneling sexual and aggressive energy into pursuits or accomplishments that society considers
acceptable or even admirable
Personality
The relatively stable and distinctive pattern of behavior, mannerisms, thoughts, motives, and emotions
that characterizes an individual over time and across different situations
Levels of personality:
1. Having - personality traits and strengths
2. Doing - personal goals and motivation
3. Being - life narrative that we tell ourselves (internal working model) and others to
communicate who we are
Research suggests that there are 3 levels of personality, and by ignoring any of them, you artificially limit your
potential and fail to grasp why people do the things they do. At level 1 (having), there are personality traits and
strengths; at level 2 (doing), there is personal striving, or goals that we try to accomplish in our daily life; and at level
3 (being), there is the life narrative that we tell ourselves and others to communicate who we are. Each level of our
personality offers distinct insights into attaining a life well lived.
Learning Objectives
1. What is personality and how does it develop?
2. How do psychodynamic, social-cognitive, and humanistic factors contribute to different
personality traits and behaviors?
3. What specific factors (nature v. nurture) influence individual personality?
4. How does your culture and environment affect personality?
5. How is personality assessed?
6. What is the difference between projective and objective personality tests?
Biological influences on Personality
~ Temperament
Environmental factors (including family interaction), maturation, and experience can
affect the way an individual’s temperament is expressed through their personality
- Inherited personality traits
- Brain regions – Prefrontal cortex
Personality Theories
1. Psychodynamic Perspective – emphasizes unconscious influences on personality often
stemming from childhood experiences
2. Social-Cognitive Perspective – personality development is based on individual learning
history and cognitive processes
3. Humanistic Perspective – personality as an expression of our unique potential as human
beings
4. Trait Perspective – underlying traits help predict how we will respond in different
situations
The Psychodynamic Perspective
Psychoanalytic Theory (Sigmund Freud) The belief that personality is shaped by underlying
conflicts between opposing forces within the mind
Operates in terms of 4 major concepts:
1. Levels of consciousness
2. Structure of personality
3. Defense mechanisms
4. Stages of psychosexual development
, Levels of Consciousness
1. Conscious – Our present awareness
2. Preconscious – Part of the mind whose contents can be brought into awareness through
focused attention
3. Unconscious – Part of the mind that lies outside the range of ordinary awareness and
that holds troubling or unacceptable urges, impulses, memories, and ideas
The structure of personality
Id: operates according to the pleasure principle
Primitive, unconscious part of personality
Ego: operates according to the reality principle
Mediates between id and superego
Superego: moral compass
1. Conscience
2. ego ideal
Defense Mechanisms
● Repression ex. Forgetting a tragic experience such as an assault or forgetting an
unpleasant appointment
● Regression ex. A stressed out college student moves back in with their parents
● Displacement ex. Slamming a door after a fight
● Denial ex. Dismissing romantic feelings for a friend
● Reaction formation ex. Avoiding the friend that you truly want to be with
● Rationalization ex. Saying that smoking is okay as long as you only do it in social
situations
● Projection ex. Perceiving your partners behavior as hostile and accusing them of being
stressed when you’re the one who is stressed
● Sublimation ex. Exercising when you are angry or upset
Because the ids demands for pleasure and immediate gratification often conflict with the superegos desire for moral
perfection, Freud believed that the much of the ego (our “reality principle”) operates below the surface of our
conscious awareness where it employs ways to prevent awareness of demands for immediate pleasure and
unacceptable sexual or aggressive impulses or wishes. The strategies the ego uses to do this are called defense
mechanisms.
Freud believed that repression is the most frequently used defense mechanism, which involves removing an
unpleasant memories, thoughts, or perceptions from consciousness and keeping them in the unconscious or barring
disturbing sexual and aggressive impulses from consciousness
Regression-Reverting to a behavior that might have reduced anxiety at an earlier stage of development
Displacement-Substituting a less threatening object or person for the original object of a sexual or aggressive impulse
Denial-Refusing to acknowledge consciously the existence of danger or a threatening situation
Reaction formation- Expressing exaggerated ideas and emotions that are the opposite of disturbing, unconscious
impulses and desires
Rationalization-Supplying a logical, rational, or socially acceptable reason rather than the real reason for an action or
event
Projection-Attributing one’s own undesirable traits, thoughts, behavior, or impulses to another
Sublimation-Rechanneling sexual and aggressive energy into pursuits or accomplishments that society considers
acceptable or even admirable
