Module 4 – Personality 1

Module 4 – Personality

Introduction
Material in this module will focus on aspects of self. How did we get to be the way we are?
We will explore a number of theoretical responses to that question.

Overview
If I asked you to write a description of your personality, most of you would readily be able to
think of descriptive terms such as outgoing, friendly, quiet, aggressive, and so on. While
these characteristics may be descriptive of you, the study of personality is more complex
than these labels imply. You may be outgoing in some situations, such as a party, yet quiet
and reserved in other situations, such as tutorials. Does this mean that you don’t have an
outgoing personality after all? Is it possible to measure personality? Do we have a few main
personality characteristics or hundreds of traits? Were we born with certain personalities or
were they shaped over a period of time? The answers to these questions depend largely on
your own theoretical orientation. In this module, we will consider the five main theoretical
approaches to the study of personality and look at some of the ways in which it can be
measured.

Module objectives
At the completion of this module, you should be able to do the following:

Psychodynamic theories
a. Define the terms personality, structure of personality, and individual differences.
b. Discuss the major assertions of the psychodynamic perspective of personality.
c. Explain the three levels of consciousness in Freud’s topographic model: conscious,
preconscious, and unconscious.
d. Explain the meaning of defence mechanisms, and briefly describe the key defence
mechanisms.
e. Describe the three sets of mental forces or psychic structures (id, ego, and superego) that
Freud used to explain the causes of behaviour.
f. Describe each stage of Freud’s psychosexual theory of personality development.
g. Describe the methods used to assess personality: life history methods, projective
personality tests, the Rorschach inkblot test, and the Thematic Apperception Test.
h. Describe the main propositions of object relations theories and relational theories.

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i. Explain how Freud’s psychodynamic theory contributed to modern-day psychology, and

why it is criticised by some contemporary psychologists.

Cognitive-social theories
a. Outline the major propositions of cognitive-social theories of personality.
b. Describe the role of encoding and personal relevance in personality theory.
c. Explain how expectancies and competencies influence the actions that people take.
d. Describe how self-regulation is required to successfully execute a behaviour.
e. Describe the contributions and limitations of cognitive-social theories.

Trait theories
a. Define traits and briefly outline the trait approach to personality.
b. Distinguish between the three traits of extroversion, neuroticism and psychoticism in
Eysenck’s model of personality.
c. Outline the major propositions of the five factor model.
d. Explain the debate over the extent to which personality is consistent across time and
situations.
e. Describe the contributions and limitations of trait theories.

Humanistic theories
a. Describe Rogers’ basic assumptions about personality and its development.
b. Define the terms empathy, self-concept, and ideal self.
c. Explain how self-actualisation is involved in the development of personality according to
Rogers.
d. Distinguish between the terms existentialism, bad faith, and existential dread.
e. Describe the contributions and limitations of humanistic theories.

Genetics, personality and culture

a. Explain the extent to which personality is inherited.
b. Describe the relationship between personality and culture.

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Required reading
Find a quiet comfortable spot and read Chapter 11 of your textbook (Burton,
Westen, & Kowalski, 2009).

Stop as you complete each section and answer the Learning Objectives
questions in the Study Book. You should be accumulating a good summary of
the course work by now.

Presentation
The lectures for this module have been recorded in 4 parts. Clink on the links on
the Study Desk to access each part.

Module 4 part 1

Module 4 part 2

Module 4 part 3

Module 4 part 4

Self assessment 4.1

Test your understanding by completing the Chapter 11 – Multiple Choice Quiz.

Learning activity (Optional)

Activity: The personality of Mary Jane Badluck

Background reading

● Chapters 11 and 16 of Burton, Westen, and Kowalski (2009) textbook.

Aim

To analyse a person’s behaviour using different theories of personality.

Materials

● Case study (Mary Jane Badluck).

● Case study answer sheet.

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Procedure

Read the case study of Mary Jane Badluck.

Answer the discussion questions that follow.

Discussion questions
Q1 If asked to give reasons why Mary Jane Badluck acted the way she did,
different personality theorists would probably offer different
explanations. How would each of the following theorists explain her
behaviour? Write your answer in the spaces provided on the answer
sheet.
a. Psychodynamic theorist.
b. Cognitive-social theorist.
c. Trait theorist.
d. Humanistic theorist.
Q2 What might each of the following theorists do in therapy to help Mary
Jane overcome her problems? Write your answers in the spaces provided
on the answer sheet.
a. Psychodynamic theorist.
b. Cognitive-social theorist.
c. Humanistic theorist.

NB. The trait theorist has been left out of question 2 because trait theory does
not directly lend itself to therapy.

The case study (Mary Jane Badluck)

Name: Ms Mary Jane Badluck
Age: 43
Marital status: Divorced, with custody of her two children – Kylie and Craig.

Family background: Mary’s father, Walter Franz Krapinski, emigrated to Australia at the
age of 19. While working as a miner in Mt Isa, he fell in love with the local school teacher,
Emma Clump. Walter and Emma married and moved to Melbourne, where Walter took a job
as a stable hand for one of Melbourne’s leading horse trainers. Emma had intended to
continue her work as a teacher, but that all ended when she became pregnant with Mary. She
had a difficult pregnancy and labour, and vowed never to have another child. Walter pleaded
with her, and she eventually gave in. When she found she was pregnant with her second
child, she could not cope with the emotional and physical strain. Without consulting Walter,
she went to a backyard abortionist. Walter was furious when he learned what Emma had

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done. He began drinking heavily and started to gamble all of his money away at the race
track. Emma died soon after from complications arising from the abortion.

Following Emma’s death, 5 year old Mary was placed into the care of her elderly Aunt
Hester. Aunt Hester was very kind, but rather old-fashioned. When Mary was a teenager,
Aunt Hester would seldom let her go out with her friends. It was not until Aunt Hester’s
death that Mary actually went on her first date. Mary has since tried to locate her father, but
all of her efforts have been in vain. Either he is dead, or simply does not want to be found.

Details of Mary’s marriage and divorce: Mary married Arthur John Badluck when she was
24. Their first few years of marriage were very happy, but things began to change after the
birth of their children. Since they did not have much money, Arthur began to do more and
more overtime at work to help pay the bills. The children were often in bed before he arrived
home, and he was usually too tired to spend much time talking to Mary. Even on weekends,
Mary and Arthur didn’t spend much time together. On Saturdays, Mary would take Kylie to
dance lessons, while Arthur took Craig to Little Athletics. When Mary and Arthur did go out
together, it was usually just down to the local pub for dinner and a few drinks. They began to
argue more and more. Mary wanted to get a part-time job so Arthur wouldn’t have to work so
much overtime. Arthur flatly refused, and told Mary that he was the breadwinner and it was
her job to stay home and look after the children.

Mary became more and more unhappy with the family situation, and finally gave Arthur an
ultimatum: either he agreed for her to get a job, or she would leave him. Arthur eventually
gave in to Mary’s request, Mary took a job relief-teaching at the local primary school, Arthur
worked less overtime, and things seemed to improve for a while.

Just when things seemed to take a turn for the better, one of Mary’s friends told her that she
had seen Arthur having a romantic dinner with his secretary. Mary didn’t say anything to
Arthur at the time, but she became increasingly suspicious of him. The final straw came
when Arthur said he had to attend a business conference in Sydney and would be away all
weekend. Mary did some checking of her own. First, she found that there were no
conferences being held in Sydney that weekend. Then when she tried to ring Arthur’s
secretary, Rhonda Lush, Rhonda’s flatmate said that she had gone away for the weekend.
Mary confronted Arthur when he came home, and he confessed that he was having an affair
with his secretary. He then packed his bags and left. The divorce was finalised eight months
ago, and Mary has not seen Arthur since.

Details of the children: Mary’s 12 year old son, Craig Joseph, was a good student and
generally well-behaved before the divorce. He now has difficulty in concentrating, often fails
to do his homework, and has recently been sent to the principal for fighting in the
playground. He tends to bottle things up inside, and doesn’t confide in his mother and sister.
He misses his father terribly, and has been very unhappy since the divorce.

Mary and her 16 year old daughter, Kylie May, have always been close. Since the divorce,
however, Kylie has been overprotective and possessive of her mother. When Mary told Kylie
that she was going out to dinner with one of the men from work, Kylie became extremely
upset and begged her mother not to go. She hates the thought that her mother may remarry
someday.

The current situation: Since the divorce, Mary has been very depressed. Arthur was her
only true love, and in spite of what he’s done, she still loves him. She’s extremely lonely and
wants to remarry as soon as possible. Still, the thought of having to start another relationship
all over again frightens her. Barry, a middle-aged widower at work, asked her out to dinner a

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few weeks ago. She initially agreed, but ended up cancelling the date when she found out
how much it would upset Kylie. Since then, Barry has hardly spoken to her, and she has
become more and more depressed. In desperation, she tried to take an overdose of sleeping
tablets last weekend. Fortunately, Kylie found her and was able to call an ambulance before
it was too late. The overdose seems to have been a cry for help rather than a serious suicide
attempt. She was discharged from hospital a couple of days ago. A psychologist from the
hospital has been assigned to Mary to help her work through her problems.

Case study of Mary Jane Badluck – answer sheet

How would each of the following theorists describe the causes of Mary Jane’s behaviour,
and what might they do in therapy to help Mary Jane overcome her problems?
Psychodynamic theorist
Causes

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________
Therapy

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________
Humanistic theorist
Causes

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________
Therapy

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________
Cognitive-social theorist
Causes

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

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Therapy

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________
Trait theorist
Causes

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

Self assessment 4.2

Review your learning by completing the Chapter 11 – Glossary Quiz.

Additional reading (optional)

Some books on personality in the USQ library include:

Buss, A. (1995). Personality: Temperament, social behaviour and the self. Boston, MA:
Allyn & Bacon.

Drapela, V. (1995). A review of personality theories (2nd ed.). Springfield, Ill: C.C. Thomas.

Ewen, R. (1993). An introduction to theories of personality (4th ed.). Hillsdale, NJ:

Lawrence Erlbaum.

Kline, P. (1993). Personality: The psychometric view. London: Routledge.

McMartin, J. (1995). Personality psychology: A student-centred approach. Thousand Oaks,

CA: Sage.

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Internet resources
You can access the Burton, Westen, & Kowalski (2009) Web site to learn more about the
topics found in each chapter of your textbook. Type the following URL into your web
browser:

<http://www.johnwiley.com.au/highered/psych>

In addition to the study materials provided for this course, and the textbooks you have
purchased, you might find the following sites helpful. The URLs for each site have been
grouped as much as possible according to the module to which they apply. Several other sites
of general interest have been included also.

I would be interested in any feedback you have to offer on how useful (or otherwise) you
consider these resources to be.

Module 4: Personality
<http://www.psywww.com/resource/bytopic.htm#personality> (accessed 5/11/08)

<http://www.freudfile.org> (accessed 5/11/08)

General references
The following URLs can be included as a general search engine for those modules where
only a couple of web sites are listed.

<http://www.princeton.edu/~psychlib/links.htm> (accessed 5/11/08)

<http://www.psywww.com/resource/bytopic.htm> (accessed 5/11/08)

(This allows the search by psychology topic.)

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