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Introduction to Personality Theory

Chapter 1

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Outline

• Questions Addressed by Personality Psychologists

• Overview of Personality Theory

• What is Personality?

• What is Theory?

• Dimensions for a Concept of Humanity

• Research in Personality Theory

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Some Questions Addressed by Personality Psychologists

• What drives people? – Motivation

• What makes people unique and different? – Individual Differences

• Are personalities stable over time, or do they change? – Personality Stability

Cont’d

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Some Questions (cont’d)

• How are we different than we were as children? As young adults? As older adults?– Personality Stability & Change

• How much of Personality is Temperament?

• Why do people reared in the same environment often end up so different?– Biological Basis of Personality

Cont’d

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Some Questions (cont’d)

• What are the fundamental dimensions of Personality?– Personality Structure

• How can our theories of personality be applied to help people in clinical, educational, and business settings? – Application of Personality Theory

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What is Personality?

• Word stems from “persona” or “mask”

• Personality Defined: – A pattern of relatively permanent traits,

dispositions, or characteristics that give some consistency to human behavior

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What is a Theory?

• Theory Defined– A set of assumptions that allows scientists to

use logical deductive reasoning to formulate testable hypotheses

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Theory and Its Relatives• Philosophy

– Broader than theory

• Speculation– Important but not enough

• Hypothesis– Theories generate and are made up of hypotheses

• Taxonomy– Classification that does not generate hypotheses

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Why Different Theories?

• Different Personal Backgrounds

• Different Philosophical Orientations

• Data Chosen to Observe is Different

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Theorists’ Personalities & Their Theories of Personality

• Psychology of Science– The empirical study of scientific thought and

behavior (including theory construction)

• The personalities and psychology of different theorists influence the kind of theory they develop

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What Makes a Theory Useful: Criteria for Evaluating a Theory

• Generates Research

• Is Falsifiable (Verifiable)

• Organizes Known Data

• Guides Action (Practical)

• Is Internally Consistent

• Is Parsimonious

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Dimensions for a Concept of Humanity

• Determinism v. Free Choice

• Pessimism v. Optimism

• Causality v. Teleology

• Conscious v. Unconscious

• Biological v. Social Influences

• Uniqueness v. Similarity Among People

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Research in Personality Theory

• Theories must be Empirically Grounded

• Two Empirical Criteria– Reliablity: Consistency of Measurement

• Internal Consistency

• Test-Retest Reliability

– Validity: • Predictive Validity

• Construct Validity

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Methods Used to Study Personality

• Longitudinal Assessment• Cross-Sectional Assessment• Self-Reported Data

– California Psychological Inventory (CPI)– NEO-PI (Big Five)

• Observer-Reported Data– Peers, Family, Friends– Therapist