INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY

CHAPTER 10

IMPROVING
YOUR
PERSONALITY
presented by: Group 6
 OVERVIEW

NATURE AND DEFINITION OF PERSONALITY

PERSONALITY THEORIES
DETERMINANTS OF PERSONALITY
ASSESSMENT OF PERSONALITY
IMPROVING YOUR PERSONALITY
 WHAT IS PERSONALITY?

Personality comes from the Latin word "persona" meaning

mask.

Personality is defined as the sum total of all the traits and

characteristics of a person that distinguishes him from another.
PERSONALITY THEORIES
 PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY

Acccording to Freud personality

consists of three parts:
the id
the ego
the superego
THE ID
The id consists of all our
primitive, innate desires which
include bodily needs, sexual urges,
and aggressive impulses.
"Pleasure Principle."
THE EGO
The ego is that part of
personality that deals with
reality if the id's desires are to
be met.
"Reality Principle."
THE SUPEREGO
The superego controls the satisfaction
of the id and permits its gratification
only when it is morally correct to do
so.
"Moral Principle."
 PSYCHOSEXUAL STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT

Oral Stage
Anal Stage
Phallic Stage
Latent Stage
Genital Stage
SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY OF PERSONALITY
This theory explains personality almost entirely in terms of
experience rather than biological factors.
Personality is shaped not just by environmental influences on the
person, but also by the person's ability to influence the
environment.
The most important variable in determining personality are the
person's expectations concerning the future.
 THE HUMANISTIC THEORY

They believe that human beings are endowed with free will and free
choice; thus, a person carves out his own destiny.

"life is what you make it."

 CARL ROGERS' PHENOMENOLOGICAL
THEORY OF PERSONALITY

Rogers holds that the innermost core of human nature is

essentially good, purposive, and trustworthy. The basic
drive underlying personality is the self-actualizing tendency.
 PERSONALITY THEORY OF GEORGE KELLY

Kelly's personal construct theory suggested that the differences

between people result from the different ways that we predict and
interpret events in the world around us.
Friendly vs. Unfriendly
 TYPE THEORIES OF PERSONALITY
Carl Jung used the terms introvert and extrovert to classify individuals.

Introvert- reacts to situations in terms of its significance to him.

Extrovert- is oriented to objects; his interests and attention are
directed outward.
Extravert - who is neither extremely introverted or extroverted.
 SHELDON'S TYPE THEORY

The personality of a person is

based on his physical or body
type
Another psychologist who attempted to approach personality in
terms of general body condition was Kretschmer who postulated a
relationship between a physical type and susceptibility to mental
disorder.

Kretschmer developed the idea of two normal temperamental types

The schizoid
The cycloid
 THE TRAIT APPROACH

A personality trait is defined as a person's generalized and

consistent way of behaving in a given situation. Traits account for
the consistency of behavior of an individual over the years under
the same situations.
 ALLPORT'S TRAIT THEORY

Allport's theory is based on the statement that no two people are

completely alike.

Allport defines personality as the dynamic organization within the

individual whose characteristic behavior and thought is determined by
psychophysical systems.
 The following will summarize Allport's statements regarding
personality traits:
[Link] traits are real. [Link] are more permanent,
enduring, and general features of behavior. Habits, while
enduring, refer to limited tendencies.
[Link] motivate the person to seek situations in which he can manifest
his own traits.
4.A trait may be both common and individual.
[Link] same traits do not exist in two different individuals in exactly the
same way.
Another trait theorist, Raymond Cattell used a statistical technique,
factor analysis, to find out how many traits there are really.

Cattel found that sixteen source traits represented the basic

dimensions of personality.
Using a 10-point scale, Cattel came up with these 16 source traits.
Reserved Outgoing
Less intelligent More intelligent
Affected by feelings Emotionally stable
Submissive Dominant
Serious Happy go lucky
Expedient Conscientious
Timid Venturesome
Tough minded Sensitive
Trusting Suspicious
Practical Imaginative
Forthright Shrewd
Self-assured Apprehensive
Conservative Experimenting
Group dependent Self-sufficient
Uncontrolled Controlled
Relaxed Tense
Another trait theorist,
Hans Eysenck used factor
analysis to determine the
basic structure of human
personality.
Traits associated with
Eysenck's Two Major
Personality Dimensions
 RESEARCH UPDATE
Recent researchers regarding personality have revealed the
following;

Consistency of Personality.
Personality and verbal style.
The inheritance of traits
Type A - Type B Behavioral Pattern.
DETERMINANTS OF PERSONALITY
 GENETIC DETERMINANTS OF PERSONALITY

Certain characteristics undoubtedly ran in families but this

alone does not prove that they are inherited.
Certain characteristic undoubtedly ran in the families
The quality of the functioning of the autonomic nervous
system is related to the pattern of inner traits developed by
the individual.
 SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF PERSONALITY

The family is one of the major social determinants of

personality.

Freud emphasized the importance of early childhood in

personality formation.
In a study by Hewitt and Jenkins as cited by Lewis, three
unfavorable family patterns affect a child's personality very
strongly. These are:

parental rejection
negligence and exposure
family repression
 CULTURE AND PERSONALITY

Within a given culture, a particular pattern of traits is likely to

be idealized and held up to all children as a desirable orientation.
 ASSESSMENT OF PERSONALITY
There are many ways of assessing personality, some more scientific
than others.

Observation - common way of assessing personality.

Diagnosis - a process by which the current state of an organism is

determined.
 ASSESSMENT OF PERSONALITY

Observation of certain expressive movements - the way a person

walks can give a clue to his personality.

Graphology - is the study of the connection between handwriting

and personality characteristics.
 ASSESSMENT OF PERSONALITY

Personality Inventory- It is usually Typical questions are:

a paper-and-pencil test containing a Do you feel tired most of the time?

number of questions aimed at Do you try to assert yourself?
Do you try to avoid busy people?
determining personality traits. Do you get so angry you can't talk?
Do you require less sleep than the
average person?
Another way of uncovering personality through communication of
themselves to others is the use of disclosure techniques such as
questionnaires, rating scales, interviews, and dialogues.

Self-disclosure results in a confrontation with oneself. It

answers the question "Who am I?"
Rating scales are of three types: rating by experts, by colleagues,
and by oneself. It involves the use of a checklist.
Interviews- may be structured or non-structured.

Dialogue - is a specific instance involving a person who seeks

self-understanding with a trained therapist.
Personality can be described only in terms of the past. Today, the first
step in attempting to understand and counsel any individual is to use
the historical approach.

There are two techniques:

case history
autobiography
 IMPROVING YOUR PERSONALITY

Know yourself
Have an optimistic view in life
Be genuinely interested in others
Be realistic about your goals in life
Learn to accept failures
Learn to deal with others
Strive to have emotional balance and
maturity
Cultivate a good sense of humor
Strive to be healthy, physically, and
mentally
Have a wholesome relationship with God
How well do you know yourself?
Rate it from 1-10 and Why?
A REMINDER:

"Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in

yourself, do not go out and look for a successful
personality and duplicate it."

Bruce Lee