Personality 83 3 ——~ a 2 2 ee MEANING AND NATURE The term “personality” is derived from the Latin word Persona, whic name given to the masks that actors wore and the characters they porta Was the meaning of the word personality has changed little since ¢ : lassical Gt comments like what does he see in her? She has such a poor per: sonality ang at that young man, what a fine personality he has” are quite comm, + OF like this make us believe that personality is a thing or quality that ig. ‘eMarks by all of us and we can paste labels such as fine, good or poor o; of the physical make-up, manner of walking, talking, dressing a similar characteristics of individuals. However, this isa very limited wien psychological concept of personality goes further and deeper fiers appearance or outward behaviour. The question of how best to interpret a personality has long exercised the minds of psychologists, Watson (1930), the father of behaviourism, on the basis of his behavioural studies, concluded: Personality is the sum of activities that can be discovered by actual observations ‘over a long enough period of time to give reliable information. In this way he tried to make the word personality synonymous with the consistent behaviour patterns of an individual. This, however, reflected a very narrow meaning of the term personality. During the same years, Morton Prince (1929) tried to give personality a broader base by accepting the role of both environmental and hereditary factors in constituting what is termed as personality. In his words: Personality is the sum total of all the biological innate dispositions, impulses, tendencies, appetites and instincts of the individual and the dispositions and tendencies acquired by experience. This definition of Morton Prince was criticised on the ground that it does not present an integrated and organizational view of personality. Fe cannot be described through merely summing up the various elements inh! in it and if this definition is accepted, it would be like describing a house collection of bricks, ity ia The inability of various existing definitions to describe person ae ful acceptable terms led Allport (1948) to engage in trying to discover som definition. After evaluating 49 such definitions, he concluded: it On the Ind a host of oh.: namic organization within ¢ vidual of thy on 1 en a determine his unique adjustment to his environ si h Allport tried to give 4 comprehensive defi wns recognizing its dynamic nature and organizati en the role it can play in an individual's adjustmen shat Prginition suffered from some serious defects. In emphasizing the 4 vs don within the individual he seams 10 view personality as sonewn organi from the individual, residing within him, rather than 8 an integrated aie mind and body. Personality to him is something put into the individual sgn is put into a jug and it takes the shape of the jug. Contemporary IN pologsts like Cattell (1970), Eysenck (1971) are of the opinion that the true ng only the behavioural nition of the term onal aspects and by t to his environment, nature of personality cannot be understood by considerit ‘or dynamic aspects. Cattell (1970): Fessonalityis that which permits @ prediction of what a person wll doin a given ares Eysenck (1971): Personality is the more or less stable and enduring organization of a person's character, temperament, intellect and Physique, which determine his unique adjustment to the environment, 'n Eysenck’s definition character signified conative behaviour or will: physique meant bodily configuration and neuroendocrine endowments, temperament stcod {x affective behaviour based on emotions, and intellect implied the cognitive behaviour or intelligence. The definition given by Eysenck has very strong points in its favour. First, it tries to provide personality with a physiological base and gives a balanced Simsideration to the role of heredity and environment in building the personality. Secondly, it gives a complete picture of human behaviour by involving all of its 5 ive, cognitive and affective. Thirdly, it stresses the need of ‘negration and organisation of the behavioural characteristics. Finally, it aims at ‘making personality somewhat measurable and assessable. thus giving it a scientific base. However, on the other hand, it does have some weaknesses also in that human Personality cannot be supposed to necessarily possess a physiological base and it {anno be considered to be as static and fixed as advocated by this definition. It E.Tue that personality should be evaluated on the basis of generality of the behaviour but at the same time, changes cannot be denied. The person hag is an ert may turn into an introvert depending upon so many intervening — The following definition given by S.R. Maddi (1976), an Aoarces Psychologist in his work, Personality Theories—-A Comparative Anal ews ity as an organized and integrated whole of definite chacseoi cs ind ies within the individual which make him correspond to epee MP: Society, culture and nation and at the same time maintain Uniqueness of his personality: ee Personali f characteristics and tendencies that det is, feelings comnmonalies and aiterences inthe payohological bebe oe Lope not be and actions) of people that have continuity in ti BOAlS. Adjey a oer and is of the opinion that a man’s Personality i through a study and interpretation of the goals Which 4" himself and the approaches he makes to the problem, re I he faces In view of the foregoing discussion regarding its char -actical definition, it may be said that, personality is a sanity evolving and changing pattern of one’s unique cone of one's interaction with one's environment and specific ends. THEORIES OF PERSONALITY ‘The search for understanding the meaning and nature of Personality incomplete if we do not discuss some important theories of Personality be theories in one way or another, try to describe the basic structure ang 4°, Me entities or constructs involved in personality along with the processes de ‘ving these entities interact. The theories of personality in general can be classifeg ®t the following broad categories: » Theories adopting the type approach. The viewpoint of pp, Kretschmer, Sheldon and Jung belong to this category. . Theories adopting the trait approach. Theories like Alipon’s theory ay Cattell’s theory of personality are based on the trait approach. Theories adopting the type-cum-trait approach. Theories like Eysenci’s ty of personality can be put under this category. Theories adopting the psycho-analytical approach. Theories analytic theory of Freud, theory of individual Psychology by Adler, analytical Psychology of Jung, social relationship theory of Horney and Erickson’s theory of psychosocial development may be included in’ this category. Theories adopting the humanistic approach. Theories like Carl Roger's self theory and Maslow’s self-actualization theory belong to this category. Theories adopting the learning approach, Dollard and Miller's learning theory and Bandura and Walter's theory of social learning can be put into this category Let us now briefly discuss the viewpoints propounded in these theotis Type Approach Theories adopting the type classified into a few clearly i Actetstcg ie istics g 4 comple, jr ex by behavions lend 1 ement Se directed tomanttd le like_ psycho. approach advocate that human personalities ey defined types and each person, depending ure NS behavioural characteristics, somatic structure, blood types, fluids in he WS Personality traits can be described as belonging to a certain type. Based eis an approach, the physician of ancient India broadly categorized all humat of te into three types. This classification was based on the. three basic elemen ood body, namely pitt (bile), vat (wind), and uf (mucus). An almost similat seco was followed by the Greek physicians like Hippocrates, one of the disciple397 wee tle. In the years that followed, man: : Asi f d, many mote scholars and , prilsoPhes to divide people into types depending upon their own spec sigue nm tei ‘tnalane (Ayurvedic) Classification nt ai, cio a, the ancient system of medicine Ayurveda clasifes man based on of combination of elements of Nature. Ayurveda, advocates that the ee Universe (living and non-living) is made up of five elements: air enti wen Indi i . , fire, water, tad ether (space), collectively called “panchamahabhutas”. Human body cotth aM" these elements as its constituents. However, their lie individual contains in human beings and as such the composition of these elements in the aim ual’s differ. Where some are loaded with the combination of air and ether indi ), others may have increased amount of the combinations like water and ree fire and water, The presence of such combinations of the elements in the puman bodies may group them into distinctive body types with a definite pattern a physiological and psychological characteristics depicted as below: Ayurvedic’s Classification of Personality Types Dominance Personality Physiological’ Personality of the pe somatic characteristics dlements in characteristics the body Air & ether Vata Slightly built, a little pigeon Restless with active minds, (space) chested with dull dark hair and indecisive and emotionally eyes, have dry rough and insecure, poor in memory, chapped skin, suffer from stiff tendency towards insomnia joints, rheumatic problems and depression and night marish constipation. dream, good artists and enjoy travelling, solitary and rebellious. Water & Earth Kapha Big boned, often over- Need a lot of sleep, rational weight with a pale, smooth — speak and move slowly, calm complexion, hairs are lustrous _and loyal, emotionally secure, and wavy and eyes are wide experience romantic and and attractive, suffer from sentimental : sinus problems, lethargy and nausea. Fire & Water Pitta Average build, have a ruddy Intense, argumentative and complexion or red hair, with precise with a critical sharp moles, freckles or acne, intelligence, make good tendency to go grey and bald leaders, at their worst they early in life and often have can be passionately angry, Breen or very piercing eyes. enjoy sports, hunting and politics and have vivid Hippocrate’s classification, According to Hippocrates the human body consists Cf four types of humours or fluids—blood, yellow bile, phlegm (mucus), and black bile. The predominance of one of these four types of fluids in one’s body givesmental characteristics leadin, him unique rined in Table 21.1, personality as aN ™ OA, to oe Patticy, ry 2A Hippocrates Classification of Person ae Bid edad Yellow bile Orerte Phtegr (rcs) Phiegmatic ak ike Melancholic Kretschmer’ classification. Kretschmer classified all hua iological types according to their physical structure and definite personality characteristics associated with each ——— ANY Tyg Light-hearted, psig sccommoditing."h Aopys Irritable, angry but " ny active imagination, Cold, calm, slow or sy Bad tempered, dejecny 2 iy ject Pessimistic, deplorable ae Passionate, any. Sad, ty Sein, beings ing alloted f,.% Physical (Table 21.2). Table 21.2 Kretschmer’s Classification : 800d ‘Aieic (balanced body) Energetic, optimistic and adjustable Leptosomaic (lean and thin) Unsociable, reserved, shy, sensitive and Pessimisg, Sheldon’s classification. Sheldon too, like Kretschmer, classified h imto types according to their physical structures and attached cer mental characteristics to them as shown in Table 21.3. uma beings rtain tempers, ‘Table 21.3 Sheldon’s Classification ity types ‘Somatic description Personality charaterisis Endomorphic Person having highly developed Easy-going, sociable nt viscera but weak somatic affectionate structure, (like Kretschmer’s athletic type). Mesomorphie Balanced development of viscera Craving for muscu» and somatic structure, (like self-assertive, loves ssh a Kretschmer’s athletic type), adventure. en Ectomorphic ‘Weak somatic structure as well Pessimistic, unsocshe as undeveloped viscera, (like reserved. Kretschmer’s Leptosomatic). ee on th The approach adopted by the above psychologists of classification. basis of correlation between the structure of the body and persoEetomeorphy Mesomorphy Endomorphy Figure 21.1 Sheldon's thre basic somato-ypes, istic, is lopsided and somewhat misleading. No such Perfect body-mind ( foot contain exit as Bd pepsin Ok wena Farad iPProaches have assumed Jung’s classification. Jung divided all human H beings basically into two distinct types—introvert and extrovert—according to their Social participation and the interest which they take in social activities. Later on he further sharpened his twofold division by giving sub-types. In this Process, he took into consideration the four psychological functions—thinking, feeling, sensation and intuition—in relation to his previous extrovert and introvert types. This division can be diagrammatically represented along with the main characteristics of each sub-type as already described in Chapter 7. This classification has been criticised on the ground that in general, the different types or classes as suggested by Jung do not exist. On the basis of typical characteristics prescribed for the extrovert and introvert, most of us may belong to both categories at different times and may be called ambivert. This introduces 4 complication and hence the type approach does not give a clear classification or description of Personality. Trait Approach {nthe trait approach the personality is viewed in terms of various tats In our day- personality is vie $ h \o-day conversation we ascribe traits to our friends and near one's as being Hoos, 'Y> Aggressive, lazy, dull, dependent etc. Traits may be defined as relatively felatiely cate jour patterns that an individual Permanent and relatively consistent general behaviour pat a exhibits in most situations. These patterns are said to be the baie ee eee Personality that can be discovered through observing one’s behavi en a a Of situations. If a person behaves honestly in several situations, hin bey eo Beneralized and he may be labelled as honest and honesty is hen SOS Somes de ttn ot ®pproach beli t the personality of an ir 2 comet tough he total of tiene perso or behavioural traits that can be discovers tenes Continuous and objective observation of his Lghinrg ty i the best ‘examples 0} namely, Allport's heaty ‘and Cattell’s theory are sai trait approach.” 000 er rear ———ev Ye W. Alport (1897-1967) was the First oh ey Apres. Geren Ted nmber of peony Me ; the description of highly individualized A te at rch fing 10 Allport. ae the basi units of persona aig * ach of such onganised tendencies termed as tat iq the te develops and gradaal development. Allport distinguished then 4, te of cur contac its, contral traits and secondary traits Pe oy ‘ts namety, cardinal tra a reredinal teats are the primary traits $0 dominant is ong, colour virtually every aspect of one’s Der Sisson it fund in an individual, ae limited in ttre ate. {a person has humorousness as a cardinal tr, pone ‘or two. For example, if a person has humm f ait, he with ‘sense of humour into almost all situations irrespective of its actual demande fact, such cardinal traits although very few in number, overrule other ‘traits ang ud rift the whole personality of the individual along with them thay Central traits represent those few characteristic tendencies Which can coiarily used 10 describe a person, e., honesty, kindness, submissiengst” According 10 Alipo, for knowing an individual's personality, we need , + only five to ten such central traits. , ~~ ” Secondary traits are not as dominant as the cardinal or central traits, They appear in only a relatively small range of situations and are not considered tong enough to be regarded as integral parts of one’s personality. Cardinal waits are thus central tothe description of one's personality. They traits combined with a few central traits form the core of characteristic ra responsible for giving uniqueness to to one’s personality. The other Temaining traits, not so generalized and consistent may also be found in other peopie ng may thus be categorized as common traits. These traits are the ones we may have in common with other people. Thus the trait theory propounded by Allpon ‘emphasized that an individual differs from others but also has common traits wth ‘others at least within the limits of cultural norms. {In order to find out how many traits are responsible for defining personaly, Allport and one of his colleagues, Odbert (1936) analysed about 18,000 terms taken from a dictionary that could be used by people to describe each other and they finally came up with a total of 4541 psychological traits from describing ‘human behaviour, Jn this way, Allport focused on these large number of behavioural traits describe personality instead of explaining it like other developmental an! Psychoanal ytical theorists. To him personality was the dynamic organisation of il the behavioural traits that an individual possessed and it was that organisa? ‘hich could be considered responsible for his behaviour in a particular siuato™ Allport (1961) showed that traits lead towards the consistency in one behaviour though this does not mean that trait of personality must be regarded fixed and stable operating mechanically to the same degree on all occisi™® Instances of inconsistency thus do not mean the non-existence of a trait. tis v9 ‘much there in the behaviour of the person, but for the time being allows isl e be dominated by the demands of the situation, Allport's theory of epee Known not only for its emphasis on traits but also for its stress on concepts1 ot fmm ng nomy, individualized approach in the study of trie ofthe devel 7 nature of the development of personalit iste concept of functional autonomy suggests that hci 1 purpose may attain autonomy at a later stage Thea means which oe sted to begin with, they become functionally autonoy Bh motives are se chived- A behaviour that once satisfied some specific St When the goals et For example, what originally began as an effort to req later serves only ey mY become a source of pleasure and motivation j ‘ace hunger, pain or Mo intoxicating substances originally taken to eget tS own right. The stain autonomy by becoming an end in themselves Pain or anxiety may Regarding the method of investigation into behavi jin looking at large groups of people and identifying’ Allport was not gf beaviour (a normative survey or dimensional ante ty Beneral principles vena in adopting ia pelea approach known as the idogreaeainn an approach dem: ie study of every indivi He approach. y trough his methods of study and pH are Ane Separately and conse- te uniqueness of the individual (having unique teaity ond noes SmPhasized ty functioning). and unique aspects of Allport als i i ca tm nie emt ee ‘ 4 nal i , Grovih in Personality" he mentioned three ages in te odes ee ofpesonlty namely the childhood, adolescence and adeno eerscee capsized that these ae not continuous, Personality is are eee childhood jood rather it is a discrete and disconti ering past cannot decide the functions of the ee Wena ae cxtainly different from th i Se ¢ values during adolesce: tates eas AS ee ee and adulthood and, = soaring. Alpen, ent’s or adult’s functioning is not oe pa ios Past. Only those aspects of the past, which are relevant 2.0 owet fx Planning the future are thus recollected and utilized by the ina ba oe iour manifestation and development of personality. lehavicae 'y, Allport gave a new dimension to the explanation of human 5 Personality, evolution of the behaviour and aspects of ality by taking traits as the basic units of behavi i Fen cried oa of behaviour. However, his theory has been criticised Personality, ang the thus 1. The theory does not give clear and specific consideration to a study of the pattern of growth and development from conception till the end of life as done by the other theorists. 2. His belief and assertion that personality is not a continuum between childhood and adulthood holds no ground as one’s present cannot be delinked from one’s past or future. 3. In the opinion of Pervin (1984), the division of traits into cardinal, central and secondary is somewhat confusing. He devised the idea of Uniqueness of one’s personality but did little research to establish the existence and utility of specific traits concepts. lity based on the Cattel’s theory. ‘The most recent advanced theory of Pesoaie > ADVANCED EDUCATIONAL py, 402 by Cattell (1973) ny bon developed metic, ; h has been AON ie as a structure of the personality ing, a wat se as seid oe and described our (PE of tas =~ idely distributed in ‘The traits found widel Seneray eo Cor mye one ty, aggression and cooperation. lation ‘Traits unique t0 @ person such as temperament, trai our differe que traits. Unional reactions j f traits, These can be recognised by manifestations Of behy, Surface curiosity, dependability, tacfulness, viour These are the underlying structures oF sources tha determine behaviour such as dominance, submission emotionality, te, re dy pen ol a ac ity so that the human behaviour rel iy ere Situation, can be Predicted. Cattell as adopted factors analysis as a technique for this Work. Let uy ‘see how this is done. by attempting to make a complete list of all possi : po sche In 1946, he compiled a list of over 17,000 a by eliminating similarities and synonyms reduced the list to 17] dictionary words related with personality and called these trait elements. 2. His next step was to ascertain how they are related. He found that each trait element has high correlation with some traits and low with others. In this way, he identified some 35 specific groups and called them surface traits. 3. He further analysed these surface traits in terms of their interrelations and eliminated those which were overlapping. The removal of such overlapping gave him the desired basic dimensions which he called source traits, i.e. the real structural influence underlying personality. 4. After obtaining the source traits (which are 16 in number) he tried to use them to predict behaviour employing what is called the specification equation Response = 57; + 527 + $51 +.) SaTy- ‘The response or behaviour of an individual is thus predicted from the degree '° which he exhibits each source trait (7) modit i yf the trait or that response (5). Se eee Suppose, for example, that academic is predictable fom f le, tha Performance (AP) is predictable wo source traits namely intelligence (1) and Reading habits (R), then | AP 5 51 + 53R. Now also suppose that intelligence (J) i portant for tis bes chat ( is more i for this behav than reading habits (R) in the ratio of 5 ; 3; Oiiey cares a AP = 51+3R © Source traits.jict the academic performance . intelligence and reading fat. of an is ¢ trait dimensions (arrived at hie med as factors. Cattell regarded th ity, i.e. the characteristics in terms of whi if which one’s jbed and measured. feelings (emotionally ily up set, changeable). (mild, easily led, ting). moo os (disregards rules). fears threat, sensitive). io trait dimensions or factors (the ways in whi ‘below along with explanatory dace tae may related vis vis vis vis vis vis ‘Tough-minded (self-reliant, realistic) v/s ‘Trusting (accepting conditions). Practical (down-to-earth concems)- Forthright (unpretentious, genuine but socially clumsy). Self-assured (secure, placid, Conservative (respecting r). (careless of social tors of sonality We pF) consis! . Cattell made use of his 16 fa¢ Personality by devising 4 Personality factors inventory T generally prefer persons who are: 1. somewhat reserved 2. somewhat outgoine vis vs vis vis vis vis vis igh the process of lese factors as the Outgoing (warm-hearted, easy-going, More intelligent (abstract thinking Emotionally stable (mature, faces reality, Dominant (aggressive, stubbom, Happy-go-Lucky (enthusiastic). Conscientious (persistent, moralistic, Venturesome (uninhibited, socially TTender-hearted (sensitive, clinging, protected) Suspicious (bard to foo) Imaginative (bohemian. sally precise. exerssing at wil Poe ee rules, follows own urges). ‘Tense Q@ — oo unfrustrated, ws Teewroush Source: Cattell (1973) asurement ‘bast ory Known investor Mable, ml- itll, thus, tried to describe and py ‘The trait eae seby of their personality traits (the fanaa of indivi om personality). Basically, Catell's work ne © sy blocks of er basic dimensions of personality (by applying © identification os observable behaviour, i.e. traits) and then evant measure these dimensions. d instruments to Cattell’s theory, a8 claimed by some, cannot be Sid to ‘ __ Howe account for behaviour and that other Motivationgy ESR . traits alone ituation have nothing to do with it. In fact, for mt concerning So ‘one’s personality, Cattell has taken clearly into, c ction at Sued variables like urges (innate tendencies to react to Bal in hints i attitude states (the individual’s moods), ang Sara peceetng toma relevert€ the elustion ang thereby 2 good sandi among the contemporary theories of personality, yy "yy a good eat ng ce to the role of both heredity and environment in nov given eqn of personality and thus is able to demonstrate strong in noahety biological-genetic factors and the environmental influence for » eT Camas pascal ine) is bower ci ae grounds of (a) circularity of the trait concept (ie. first defini observed behaviour and then using it to explain the same be a emphasis on overt behaviour, and (c) Projection of a Static Picture of fy functioning. It is also criticised for not making full use of the factor ang approach to yield higher order factors for identifying fundamental Categories dimensions of personality like the personality types listed by Eysenck Type-cum-Trait Approach trait th i OY on Ng trait in term haviour), (b) ey, Personality types. a How individual behaviour is Organised and acquires the shape of a defi ‘ype is revealed by the following illustration (Figure 21.2). According to Eysenck, there are four levels of behaviour organisation aa 1. At the lowest level are the specific responses. They zr od Particular responses to any single act. Blushing, for example Specific response, Habitual responses form an individual, o simi easily strike friends habitual responses. sponses the second level and comprise ete q ilar situations. For instance, (a) the nae a hips, or (b) hesitancy in talking to strIntroversion Rigidity Subjectivity Shyness Irritability Habitual response level Specific response level Figure 21.2 Organisation of individual behaviour, 3. At the third level is the organisation of habitual acts into traits. Behaviour acts which have similarities are said to belong to one group and are called traits. In the above example the habitual Tesponses (a) and (b) etc., give birth to a group of traits called ‘shyness’. 4. The fourth level is the organisation of these traits into a general type. A type is defined as a group of correlated traits. Traits which are similar in nature give birth to a definite type just as in Figure 21.2 traits like Persistence, ri } Shyness etc., have been grouped into a type termed An ultimate, distinct type is obtained at this final stage. A person, can now ‘lasted as an introvert if he has traits as described atthe thir level, habits G_nbit systems as described at the second level and responds specifically as at the first level. Eysenck’s work has clearly demonstrated that human behaviour os the bong’, “a be Very well-organised into a hierarchy with specific esponcs Mis desert the definite personality type at the top. In fact in his wok. at been fy 48 basic dimension in the form of personality traits by ee behavign = eBFOuped yielding fewer dimensions for the description of ba 7 “iour and personality. The three basic dimensions (csfond = PONS of correlated traits) derived by Eysenck through his work are | \. Introversi s | 7 Meneses easiean instability-emotional stability) 3. Paychoticism. oe ‘These three basic dimensions refer to definite peony ee je by Een SAVER, neurotic and psychotic, However the tem ype a ih en pas clearly for a dimension along a scale with & 1 64 7° pe hi Pang people at various points between the {60 6S | | | | eason the first dimension introversion-extroversion, includes recognized as sociable, outgoing, impulsive, optimistic ang jot, Pith, and typifies the highly introvert recognized as quiet, intros reflective, disciplined and well-ordered people, Eysenck bet eCtive, extrovert or purely introvert people were rarely found and he to use a dimension, je, a continuum ranging from introvert instead of naming types as introverts and extroverts, : The second major dimension suggested by Eysenck te instability at the lower end and emotional stability at the "ey, people as neurotic and not neurotic. Thus, at its lower eng are Nd eg are moody, touchy, anxious of restless and at the upper end ae stable, calm, carefree, even-tempered and dependable, The third dimension is psychoticism. The people high on i: tend to be solitary, insensitive, egocentric impersonal, impulsive ai} : accepted social norms while those scoring low are found to be more less adventurous and bold. Mathie Eysenck has also tried to make use of Cattell’s basic dimension measurement of one’s personality by developing an Appropriate set of : ed in te form of two well-known inventories—the Maudsley peronainy and the Eysenck personality inventory. The contribution of Eysenck’s theory to describing, explaining Predicting one’s behaviour and personality are notable and worthy of raise has presented a viable synthesis of the trait and type approaches, given 2 biological-cum-hereditary base, accepted the role of environmental in im shaping and developing personality and exploded many myths and generalizations of psychoanalytical theory. In addition to its close focus individual differences and principle of behaviour changes, his theory contributed to the study of criminology, education, aesthetics, genet Psychopathology and political ideology. Psychoanalytical Approach ‘The psychoanalytic approach to personality was first created and advocated by Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) by viewing people as being engaged in a | struggle to tame their biological urges. He propagated analysis of the payee mind by coining many new terms and used psychoanalysis as a method for at standing behaviour and for treating mental illness. His school of thought is _ as the school of psychoanalysis and the approach it adopted for ee buman behaviour and personality is known as the psycho-analytical app yi Freud's prychoanalytic theory of personality. Freud's theory of Pes built on the premise that the mind is topographical and dynam on Provinces or divisions which are always moving and interrelated. The hums has three main divisions namely, the conscious, semiconscious and wae of These three levels of the human mind are continuously in # Si! : and compromise to give birth to one or the other type O! Dr characteristics Fesulting in a specific type of personality. Freud als°built around the : 907 wg eH Ad ED Fg 75 st Super ego $ 2 | |& : a g 2 id Figure 213 Relative positions of id, ego and superego. is ida 8 the aw, savage and immoral basi suff ofa man’s personaly that 's hidden in the deep layers of his unconscious mind. It consists of och anions (tes, tendencies and appetites as are guided bythe pleasure secking procs {thas no values knows no laws, follows no rules, does not recognise ightor wneg and considers only the satisfaction of its needs and appetites to be panmoun, Obviously, the id cannot be allowed to dominate and so a second system. the ego, functions, as a policeman to check the unlawful activites ofthe id It the executive unit with the power of veto. It follows the principle of realty and acts, with intelligence to control, select and decide what appetites have to be Satisfied and in which way they may be satisfied. . ‘The third system of personality is the superego. It isthe ethical or moral arm Of the personality, It is idealistic and does not care for realities. Perfection rather than pleasure is its goal. It is a decision-making entity which decides what is good ©F bad to the social norms and therefore acceptable or otherwise. Freud put forward a dynamic concept of personality by conceptualizing the the pone onli among the id, ego and superego. While thei operating on the pleasure principle, continuously presses for the immediate discharge — tension, the superego concerned with morality Learrelaamlceryr ia a warlike situation is created between the id and the superego with the 60 attempting to mediate, The extent to which the ego is able to disc responsibilities decides the personality make-up of the individual. 1. Individuals who have a strong or powerful ego are a Ne ait 7 oF balanced personality because the ego is capable balance between the superego and the id.assessment of Personality The accuracy of any process of measurement depends on 1. The nature of the thing to be measured, 2. The instruments to be used. 3. The person who will do the measurement, the following: Let us now evaluate the measurement of Personality in terms of these criteria. 1, The nature of the ‘thing’. Personality is a complex characteristic that it is hardly possible to measure it. First, personality is not a ‘thing’; it is an idea, an abstraction, and in an attempt to measure it, we would have to wrongly, ty to give it a concrete shape. Secondly, since Psychologists are not agreed upon the dimensions or content of Personality, what would be measured? Thirdly, Personality is not static. How can we accurately measure something which is constantly in the process of change and modification? Its measurement would vary from time to time and hence would not be the same from one moment to the next. 2. The nature of the instruments. The process of measurement Tequires appro- Priate tools and satisfactory units of measurement. In Personality measurement, we ‘counter difficulties in this direction as well: (@) There is no zero (starting point) for reference in case of personality. No child is born with zero personality. ? ©) Length is measured in units like inches, centimeters etc., temperature is Measured in degrees but in psychological measurement we do not have any such equal or regular units of measurement. whe © Accurate Measurement requires exact scales or measuring instrument. No such reliable instruments are available for measurement :of Personality, a4 CYAN rye 4 . The dependabitit of the person Ys accuracy 3 The netieasuement largely depends onthe competence iM al, offing measurement. 1 the sbsence of sian chy! person Cent, the results of any evaluation of persona, malt oe tt eee by the subjective views and the norms, likes ang dislike, “2% infloes ‘out the measurement. Sof they be me vay the actual MASUEMEN! (Which defines iggy ility and validity) of personality is not possitje Al” rm nd in search forall the constituents or elemeny Ms unknown. Moreover, prediction ofthe future na! Peng) the se difficult to go FOU hich are + ae of measurement. In case of a dynamic phenomenon ye Ne "en a s not possible and hence itis not justified yy”? t such prediction have the estimate or 7 measurement. We can only have SMEHEMEDE Of Persona, ques and Methods of Assessment of Personali, i y used for the assessment of personality may be termed as subj jective. As it is not possible, however, to clearly yo ; from objectivity and even effectively insulate projective seers te subjectivity and personal biases of the examine, itis neces ce for other ways to classify the techniques of personality assessment. The comm, ‘employed assessment techniques may be classified as follows: 1. Where an individual’s behaviour in actual life situations can jy observed, namely observation techniques and situation tests, 2. Where the individual is required to speak about himself name, autobiography, questionnaire and personality inventory and interviey, 3. Where other people's opinions about the individual whose persoaity is under assessment are ascertained. These are biographies, case histo, rating scales and sociometric techniques. 4. Projective techniques involving fantasy which aim at assessing the individual's reaction to imaginary situations. 5. Indirect techniques in which some personality variables may be determined in terms of physiological responses by the use of machines or technical devices, Let us discuss some of the important techniques in detail Techni The methods used objective oF proj Observation Observation is a popular method to study the behaviour pattern of an individual in an actual life situation. The observer decides what personality tats o characteristics he needs to know, and he then observes the relevant activities of the subject in real life situations. The observation can be done in two ways. In o0€ the observer does not hide from the subject or subjects and even becomes more or less a part of the group under observation. In the other, he takes a postion wie? his presence is least disturbing to the subject but from where he can clearly obser"? every detail of the behaviour of the individual under observation. He may als0 Us®ores repear nD et, 4, a5 0 we of the subject may be oem Sbrervati HE retin me. pooled together, od bY a mam the gery | uy same ip the | a may ber of Shere, ton | al Tests and the - atom ‘ | sit” ons are artificially created in i ; hich uate ated to the personality traits aN indivig rel ; nd hal Hn aC TC ividual, some situations can jo Mi"E: For exy'®, “*Pected ‘ i a be fy of 80 of honesty or dishor Created ang 1 ts in terms 0 . nesty. Does his reagg? "at the te es he try t0 Pick Up the ten-rupee nel tempat be one Tote which is tying ne ‘ ao lead t0 an assessment of how honest e's” Ying tener rt i aationnaire jonnaire is explained by f a questionnaire is explained by the description yn Biven by Goode o (19 ne word qucstlonnsice refers to a device ing seoatin * wn ee using a form which the respondent fils in mecwat® ¥E o - a ition makes it clear that in collecting information from te res his personality characteristics, a form consisting ofa series of Primed ist aepuetions is used. The Subject responds to these questions inthe spaces * ‘columns of yes, No or cannot say ete. These ansi , ‘ *wers are then evaluated ee re ity assessment. Items, like the following, are incadea in the ionnaires: = Yes, No, (Cannot say) Do you enjoy being alone? es a Do you enjoy seeing others succeed? “ae = Do you laugh at a joke on yourself ? eae Do you get along well with your relatives? — — - This is the most popular method and is quite useful in collecting both catiiave as well as qualitative information. Personality Inventory Mile this resembles the questionnaire in many respects such as administration, ce interpretation etc., itis different in two ways. First, while the questionnaire meee device and can be used for collecting all kinds of information not Pooal Specifically with personality traits or the behaviour of an individual, W eaonane NOY 8 specifically designed to seek answers about the person and ia pa Second, the questions, set in the questionnaire, are generally Second person, e.g., Do y Wien - often feel lonely? Yes, No, Sonality inventory, they may be worded in the first person such 25,a ADVANCED py WcAng OS ee LOMA Yes, No, "Oy often feel lonely ea known personality inventory ist} Ne Minnesoy, The pc tory (MMPI) developed by J.C. McKinley ang ¢ R ali Medical School. The items included in this inventor, the Minnesor ve known to indicate certain specific personatign 2 a, their answers are Known i Yy taits, 1p” thy of 550 items some of which are: i “min easily even on cool days. T ewea! Womething wrong with my Sex organs i have never been in love with any one. I like to talk about sex. Each item is printed on a separate card. The subject reads the questi, then, according to his response puts it down as yes, no oF doubtful ny wwided for the purpose. Evaluation of the important Personality traits 4. redone in terms of these responses. 37 then The California personality inventory, the Eysenck Personality inven, the Sinten personality factor inventory (16 PF.) developed by Cael, of the other well-known inventories. sme The questionnaire and personality inventory technique suter fy yy following drawbacks: 1. It is difficult to get the responses to all questions. 2. The subject may give selective responses rather than genuine ones (ite his weaknesses etc.) 3. He may be ignorant of his own traits or qualities which he may pose Rating scale. The rating scale is used to assess where an individual stands ia terms of other people’s opinion of some of his personality traits. It reflecs te impression the subject has made upon the person who rates him. There are tree basic factors involved in this technique: 1. The specific trait or traits to be rated. 2. The scale on which the degree of possession or absence of the trait has to be shown. 3. The appropriate persons or judges for rating. First ofall, the traits-or characteristics, which have to be evaluated by he Judges are to be stated and defined clearly. Then a scale for the rating has to be constructed. How it is done can be understood from the example which follows Suppose we wish to rate the students of a class for the quality leadership’ We can rate the degrees of this quality as divisions such as very good, ba] peers fe te: Now the arrangement of these divisions along a line, 00 ae ae is, tee I is termed as a rating scale for assessment fie Jeadership. Usually ated by num pee i omprsing a three-point, five-point or seven-point ae seven-point scale is of the following type: 1 1 6 5-4 3 Z ee ee ee eure Excellent Very good Good ‘Average Below average Poor ia Maly, Hath ie yysO 417 e raters, who are in a position to properly rate the indivi yw th iduals by them scores, ranging from | to7, according to the degr may be asked give ee of leadership they 88. F goss Rating techniques suffer from some obvious drawbacks like the em tral tendency, subjective bias and halo effect etc, In the former, the ‘ < presitate tO give very high He very low Tatings and tend to keep their ratings in os misdle. Subjective bias leads to their own likes and dislikes, colouring. the sment of the individuals under rating, and under the halo effect, they day rae an individual (on the basis of general impression) to be more honest or ihe like, than he may actually be. . To bring some reliability into rating scale technique, it has been suggested that instead of having rating by only one judge, we an assign the rating work to more judges—for example to different teachers, classmates, parents etc —the rating may be done by pooling the individual assessments. Interview Interview is a technique of eliciting information directly from the subject about his personality in face-to-face contacts. It gives an opportunity for mutual exchange of ideas and information between the subject and the psychologists. For this purpose, the psychologist tries to arrange a meeting with the person or persons under assessment. The face to face interaction in the interview is of two types viz., structured or unstructured. An unstructured interview is an open interrogation. Here the interviewer asks the interviewee any question on any subject relevant to the situation. The interviewer here is not restricted to a particular set of predetermined questions but is free to drift along the paths opened up by the interviewee to explore any issue that may arise, and to clarify any dought that may emerge in the broad assessment of his personality. The structured interview on the other hand, adopts a systematic and predetermined approach instead of riding on the tides of the situation. Here the interviewer is definite about the personality traits or behaviour he has to assess and then plans accordingly. Usually, a list of questions, is prepared for this purpose and after taking the subject into confidence, the psychologist tries to seek answers to these pre-planned questions. He does not attend to only the content of the Fesponses but also to the tone, behaviour and other similar factors, for the total valuation in terms of the designated personality pattern of the individual. ___ The limitations of this technique are that it calls for a well-trained competent ‘IMterviewer and is costly in terms of labour, time, and money. It also suffers from the subjective bias of the interviewer. Here also, like questionnaire and personality ‘ventory, we cannot have any safeguard to prevent the subject from hiding his feelings or from giving selective responses. The points in favour of the technique 3° that answers are obtained to every question which is put to the subject. In fac “sponses even to intimate questions, which subjects may hesitate to pul Warting, can also be obtained. In fact, interview is a relatively flexible woh & Permits explanation, adjustment and variation according to the situation and 3 Proved to be one of the essential and more important tools of personal sessment,ADVANCED pROJECTIVE TECHNIQUES : ly those techniques which far discussed only evalua We have <2 iviour ofan individual, The covert or unconscious pa Orn conscious eM cant; rater, it is more significant than overt beh, Our, fact, - ea conscious behaviour is only one-tenth of our ar api bel should, therefore, be some other techniques which do Tt strege i, heervable part of human personality but can reveal a person's ted Oty the Gadd ‘and go deeper in the unconscious of an individual to dig out th pri feelings, wishes, desires, fears, hopes and ambitions, etc, ee ‘These techniques, on account of their using projection Phenomena projective techniques. The material used in these techniques or tests Te cally sort of screen’ on which the subject ‘projects his characteristics through sen needs, anxieties and conflicts (Anastasi, 1976) Processes, Projective techniques pee | meet the challenge. They are ig i the total personality of an individual rather than in fragments. Let a these technique are. What The nature of projective techniques. In view of the declared objective of a types of tests and techniques, relatively indefinite and unstructured stimuli ie vague pictures, inkblots, incomplete sentences, drawings etc.) are presented tothe subject and he is asked to structure them in any way he likes. In doing so be unconsciously projects his own desires, hopes, fears, repressed wishes etc, and hy not only reveals his inner or private world but also gives indications on the bass of which his total personality may be assessed. ‘Some Common Projective Techniques are discussed here. The Rorschach Inkblot Test This technique was developed by Harmann Rorschach (1884-1922), the Swiss psychiatrist. The material used in this test consists of 10 cards on which there ar ink-blots. Five of them are in black and white and five are multi-coloured. Thes ink-blots are completely unstructured—the shapes of the blots do not have any specific meaning (Figure 21.4). Figure 21.4 An inkblot of the type used in the Rorschach test NM419 f of the test. The test is administered in the following seq sequence: v e cards are presented one at the time ii 1 subject gets seated, the examiner gives him Maes i ae jnstructions and asks him to say what he sees in it, ao he io, , it looks like ihe subject i allowed as much time as he wants for , , a gett may mah wise et aoe Murnthe card around an look at it from any angle he wants Besides Keeping & record of the responses of the subject concernin these inkblots on separate pieces of paper, the examiner notes the ae in for each response. The position in which the cards are being held, emotional expression and other factors of incidental behaviour of the subject during the test etc. all the cards have been presented, the second phase of inquiry 10 seek clarification or addition to the original which is intended t responses follows. it , analysis and interpretation of the tet For the purpose of scoring, the are given specific symbols and are entered into 4 columns. scoring categories are marked as (a) location, (b) contents, ) originality and (@) determinants. Location refers to the part of the blot with which the subject associates each pete sybols W, wD, dads ar fo sing he een SPOS as follows: © (W indicates that the subject is seeing the card as a whole. ) inate tte eabjot has failed t seth problems a # wine | ©) indicates the major details. {@ indicates minor details involving petty issitt Jess important matters. ject’s response to the white spaces within the main () indicate the sul the responses. It takes | outlines. Contents column is concerned with the conten's of mean yienaad rete the symbols used for scoring the ‘contents of the responses are: | Scoring Symbol Contents of the response | H human forms A animal forms | a4 animal detail Hd human detail N frarural objects like rivers. Bee, fields etc. ° inanimate objects like lamp-shade, pot etc. Inorg iginality column for each of 10 cards, certain responses are scored as popular, Using the symbol P, because of their common ‘oecurrence while others which eate some type of originally are scored as chat ign) something new and thus and represented by the symbol O-ADVANCED EDUCANoy 20 27 my Determinants column takes note of the manner of Pere particular characteristics which helped the subject in deciphering he deciding his manner of perception. The main determinants are (F), the tee Hot op blot, (C), its colour, (M) its movement and (K), its shading, Of the For instance, if the subject responds to a blot as a butterfly, then, that itis the “form” which led to this way of seeing it and we score ge, as F. On the other hand, if the subject sees something like fire, beer pny the determinant is certainly the “colour” and we enter C in the fourth cof, The subject's responses on account of shading, e.g., Perception of Pi smooth surfaces, smoke, cloud etc, are scored as K, whereas if the subjecr owt in terms of movements—(like a boy running, dancing ete), an anima gn barking), or inanimate objects like water following, cloth fluttering ete ; dog symbols, M, Fy of m are entered in terms of C, F, K ot M, etc. Alternatively, = may be noted by using mixed symbols like CF, FK etc, they Interpretation. Now, the different symbols in all the four columns are This gives an idea of the relative frequencies of different kinds of Tesponses, ‘The score may be entered in terms of symbols in different columns as shown in Table 21.4. Table 21.4 Recording of the subjects’ Responses in Rorschach inkblot test 1 Column I Column MW Column IV Column location contents originality determinants Symbols WDd HAA,HJNO PO FCKM Mixed category Frequency The relative frequencies of the different symbols within the scoring categories, and among the several categories help the interpreter to decide the Personality characteristics of the subjects. For example, if (a) the number of Ws is Szeater than d or D; then the person is said to be mature, intelligent and is expected 10 possess the ability to synthesize; (b) greater frequency of colour at the expense of human movement indicates an extrovert nature while domination of M over K characterizes an introvert; (c) dominance of shading responses expresses anxit, depressed attitudes and feelings of inferiority; and (4) relatively greater emphasis ‘on movement indicates the richness of the subject's imaginative life. It is not only the relative importance or occurrence of certain kinds of responses which helps in interpretation but other factors like the time factor, behaviour of the subject at the time of reactions etc., also have their own significance. s It is, therefore, only through various kinds of relationships, observations, records and integration of results from various parts that a final global picture about a subject’s personality can be drawn, The test demands a lot of training ro skill in scoring and interpretation on the part of the examiner and, oe 7 work must be taken seriously and done only be an experienced an psychologist.esONATY TAT OF Thematic Appercen test consists of Perception of entain pig eating imaginative themes. I¢ ag pt ct ng measure the need 0" achievemeny, Later it wae pS by Hens ac ™anne, Ur personality with the help of the Seri asf ate of uly deve Yeholopist Cy *eoped fo organ tion Tea This Test material and administration, 1€ test human beings in a vay Material cg h portray ety of ac ts of ail for males, ten for female al life 5 hi are ituatio TY Bite + and ten are comme Ten of oe aximum number of pictures used on e max ; ' MY one g) bot eo ally administered in two sessions, using mpi 1 i thus, twenty