1
GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY (PSYC 210)
Study Guide: Personality
Clara B. Jones, Ph.D.
Na x Nu--Æ Be
What is personality?: An individual’s unique and relatively stable behavior patterns
• Not to be confused with character: no implication about good or bad
• Not to be confused with temperament
--“temperament” (see Study Guide on Developmental Psychology) is inborn “raw
material” from which personality is formed
--Traits: specific lasting qualities within a person that are inferred from observed
behavior; traits imply consistency (Discussion/thought question: What do you perceive to
be your most characteristic personality traits?)
--Personality “types” (e.g., “motherly type,” “athletic type,” “strong, silent type”)
• How valid are “types?” This is an empirical question. (e.g., Carl Jung’s
“introvert” and “extrovert” or “Type A” and “Type B” personalities)
--Self-concept: an individual’s perception of his/her own personality traits; all your ideas
and feelings about who you are
• Assumes that a stable self-concept guides behavior
• Self-concepts can be accurate (e.g., “passive-aggressive” personality)
• Self-concepts relate to beliefs, attitudes, values, behavior
Personality Theory: system of assumptions, ideas, and principles proposed to
explain personality. Four broad theoretical perspectives: Trait Theories,
Psychodynamic Theories, Behavioristic Theories, and Humanistic Theories
1. Trait Theories: classify traits and discover which are most basic (typical characters
relatively permanent and enduring qualities)
• Gordon Allport: Central Traits are building blocks of personality (small number
of traits most consistent)
• Raymond Cattell: Source Traits (traits that appear in clusters); differed from
Allport’s subjective classification by using statistical techniques for analysis, in
particular, factor analysis (a multivariate statistical technique)
--Cattell identified 16 underlying source traits
--each individual administered a test [16 Personality Factor Questionnaire (PF)]:
led to Five Factor Model which reduced Cattell’s 16 Source Traits to five (5)
universal dimensions (The Big Five: extroversion, agreeableness,
conscientiousness, neuroticism, openness to experience)
2. Psychoanalytic (Psychodynamic) Theories not content to study traits; want to study
what motivates personality (e.g., drives, conflicts, energies); Psychoanalysis is both a set
of ideas, a theory, and a method of “talking” therapy
