Personality development unit -1

Personality is defined as the characteristic sets of behaviors, cognitions, and emotional patterns
that evolve from biological and environmental factors.

The word “personality” originates from the Latin word persona, which means “mask.”

DEFINATION OF PERSONALITY: According to Mann defines personality as the most

characteristic integration of an individual‟s structures, modes of behaviour, interest, attitudes,
capacities, abilities and aptitudes, specially when considered from the standpoint of adjustment
in social situation.

According to G. W. Allport: Personality is the dynamic organization within the individual of

those psychological systems that determine his unique adjustment to his environment.

According to Salvatore Maddi : “Personality is a stable set of characteristics and tendencies

that determine those commonalities and differences in the psychological behaviour (thoughts,
feelings and actions) of people that have continuity in time and that may not be easily
understood as the sole result of the social and biological pressures of the moment. This
definition emphasizes all the important aspect of personality.

According to Robbins: personality is the sum total of ways in which an individual reacts to
and interacts until others.

A careful analysis of the definition would enable us to from a scientific conception of the
personality. Let us therefore, examine each portion of the definition.

Dynamic organization. Human personality is an organized system. Organization also implies

disorganization. A disorganized personality is called abnormal. The organization is called
dynamic because it is constantly changing and evolving. It is active organization. It is
motivational and self-regulating.

Psychophysical systems. Psychophysical systems include habits, attitudes, sentiments and the
other disposition known as traits. Psychophysical also means that personality is both mental as
well as neural. Determine. Personality is not the same as behaviour or activity. It is what lies
within the individual. Personality is something and does something.
Unique. Every person adjusts himself to the situation in his own unique way. Adjustment.
Survival depends on adjustment and personality is a mode of survival. Adjustment may be to
the physical world as well as to the imagined or ideal world. It involves mastery as well as
passive adaption. Human adjustment is not merely reactive adaption, but it is spontaneous,
creative behaviour towards the environment. Adjustment also implies maladjustment.
Environment. Environment is a broad term which includes geographical environment as well
as the behavioural environment.

Origin of Personality Psychology:

The Origin of personality psychology dates as far back as Ancient Greece. Indeed,
philosophers since the 4th Century BCE have been trying to define exactly what it is that makes
us. In 370 BCE, Hippocrates proposed two pillars of temperament: hot/cold and moist/dry,
resulting in four humors or combinations of these qualities. The hot and dry combination was
referred to as yellow bile, cold and dry as black bile, hot and wet was blood and cold and wet
was phlegm. Though much of the work that arose from this theory of the Four Humors was
medicinal in nature, it was also hypothesized a patient's personality could be influenced by
humoral imbalances.

This categorical way of thinking about personality permeated ancient thinking on the matter.
Plato proposed four groupings (artistic, sensible, intuitive, reasoning) and Aristotle
hypothesized four factors (iconic i.e. artistic, pistic i.e. common-sense, noetic i.e. intuition and
dianoetic i.e. logic) contributed to one’s social order in society.

Aristotle was also one of the first individuals to hypothesize connections between physical
aspects of the body and behavior. In the mid to late 18th Century, Franz Gall, a neuroanatomist,
fathered the new ‘pseudoscience’ of phrenology, a doctrine that hypothesized correlations
between specific brain areas and functions. Gall believed measurements of the skull could
reveal something about individuals’ inner thoughts and emotions, an assumption that paved the
way for modern neuropsychology. Gall’s work was some of the first to move away from a
philosophical explanation of behavior and personality into one rooted in anatomy.

Physiological evidence for such a conjecture arrived in the mid 19th Century with the iconic
and fascinating case of Phineas Gage. Gage was a railroad construction worker from New
Hampshire when, in 1848, an accident caused a tamping iron to be driven through the side of
his face, behind his left eye and all the way through the top of his skull. Miraculously, Gage
recovered. Though weakened, he was able to walk and speak. However, the brain damage from
the accident resulted in numerous changes in his personality. Though history has distorted the
extent of these changes, it is generally agreed that Phineas Gage’s demeanor went from moral
and calm to irreverent, impatient and profane. His case is one of the first to provide physical
evidence that personality is linked to specific brain regions.

In another conceptualization of personality, Sigmund Freud published The Ego and the Id in
1923. Freud posited that the human psyche consists of three main components: the id, the ego
and the superego which control all conscious and unconscious thought and therefore behavior.
The id can be thought of as the innate drivers of behavior. It encompasses bodily needs and
desires and, according to Freud, drives us to seek out these wants. In other words it is “the dark,
inaccessible part of our personality [that] contains everything that is inherited, the instincts,
which originate from somatic organization.” The ego can be thought of as the bridge between
the id and reality; it is what finds realistic ways to achieve what the id wants and also finds
justifications and rationalizations for these desires. Lastly, the superego is the organized
component of the psyche and is often referred to as the moral check of the ego. It is responsible
for conscience and for regulating the drives of the id and ego by providing a sense of right and
wrong.

Carl Jung, a psychiatrist and student of Freud, developed a type-based theory of personality. In
his book, Psychological Types, Jung claims individuals fall into different dichotomous
personality categories - for example, introversion/extraversion. The typology theory of
personality was further popularized by Katherine Cook Briggs and her daughter Isabel Briggs
Myers who eventually developed the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Type theory remains a
common conceptualization of personality to this day.

The trend of investigating the personality puzzle from the angle of “what are our underlying
drives?” continued into the 1940s and 1950s. Many are familiar with Abraham
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, but fail to recognize Maslow proposed that all of human
motivation is driven by the necessity of fulfilling these needs in accordance with the principle
of self-actualization, which states humans are driven to be the best they can be.

In the late 1950s, Carl Rogers built off the ideas of Maslow, arguing that yes, we all strive to
achieve our greatest potential but we do so in different ways according to our personalities.
This line of reasoning leads to a chicken and the egg problem: motivations to do something
(like fulfill your human needs) ultimately influence behavior and thereby influence personality
(as Maslow believed); but, that personality is simultaneously influencing the way you act upon
motivations (as Rogers hypothesized). Ultimately, there is no right answer in terms of which
way this circle flows. The puzzle untangling the relationship between personality and behavior
persists in modern psychological conversations and continues to inspire research and debate
across many fields of study.

Assessment of Personality: Projective & Objective Techniques

Meaning

Personality assessment refers to the estimation of one’s personality make up, that is
the person’s characteristic behaviour patterns and salient and stable characteristics.

Some of the important tests and techniques measuring personality include (i) Projective
techniques (ii) Objective tests

Projective Techniques

These techniques are assumed to reveal those central aspects of personality that lie in the
unconscious mind of an individual. Unconscious motivations, hidden desires, inner fears
and complexes are presumed to be elicited by their unstructured nature that affect the
client’s conscious behaviour. The assignment of a relatively unstructured task is a major
distinguishing feature of projective techniques. An unstructured task is one that permits an
endless range of possible responses. The underlying hypothesis of projective techniques is
that the way the test material or “structures” are perceived and interpreted by the individual,
reflects the fundamental aspects of her or his psychological functioning. In other words,
the test material serves as a sort of screen on which respondents “project” their
characteristic thought processes, anxieties, conflicts and needs.

Clients are shown ambiguous visual stimuli by the psychologist and are asked to
Assessment of Personality tell what they see in that stimuli. It is presumed that the client
will project the unconscious concerns and fears onto the visual stimulus and thus the
psychologist can interpret the responses and understand the psychodynamic underlying the
problem of the client. Tests that utilise this method are called projective tests. These tests,
besides their function of exploring one’s personality, also serve as a diagnostic tool to
uncover the hidden personality issues.

1. Association Techniques
This category includes all those situations where responses are to be given by the examinee
in the form of associations which he makes after seeing or listening to the stimulus material
. E.g. The Word Association Test etc. In the Word Association test, the examinee is
provided with a number of words in the form of a list and he is required to utter the very
first word that comes to his mind on listening the stimulus word. The responses in
accordance with the reaction time are used for the analysis of personality of the individual.

2. Ink blot techniques

The Ink blot techniques consist of two popular techniques, that is, The Rorschach Test and
The Holtzman Ink blot test. In these tests the examinee has to respond to an unstructured
situation composed of some ink blots.

• The Rorschach Inkblot Test

Rorschach inkblot test was developed in 1921 by Swiss psychiatrist Hermann Rorschach.
It consists of 10 inkblots, five in black ink on a white background and five in coloured inks
on a white background. The Rorschach test is a measure of both the intellectual and non-
intellectual personality traits. While developing this technique, Rorschach experimented
with a large number of ink blots which were administered to different psychiatric groups.
On the basis of such clinical observations various psychiatric syndromes that differentiate
response characteristics were taken up in the scoring system. In the test, the subjects are
asked to simply state whatever each inkblot looks like to them. Responses are scored by
the psychologists using predetermined categories, on key factors such as colour and shape,
movement, whether the whole or part blot has been seen, and whether the response is given
in content to the whole or to peculiar details in the blot. These blots are frequently used for
personality description, diagnosis of mental disorders and for behaviour predictions
(Watkins et al, 1995; Wiener, 1997). The whole procedure of The Rorschach Test is a
combined set of three components, viz., performance proper, inquiry, and scoring. Let us
deal with each of these one by one. Such tests are also used by employers to assess the
mental status of their employees.

• The Holtzman Inkblot Test

Holtzman et. Al. (1961) developed an inkblot test known as the Holtzman Inkblot Test
(HIT). This test was developed by Holtzman in order to remove the inherent technical
difficulties of the Rorschach like unlimited number of responses, poor scorer reliability etc.
There are two parallel forms (A and B) having 45 cards, both coloured and achromatic and
markedly asymmetric. One response per card is taken by the respondent. Each response is
followed by a two-fold simple question: where was the percept represented in the blot and
what the percept suggests about the blot? All the responses are then classified under 22
response variables. It has been found by many researchers that Holtzman test appears to be
better standardised than the Rorschach test. Also, the scorer reliability of the HIT is highly
satisfactory validity data on HIT have also yielded satisfactory results. It has also overcome
the problem of productivity ratio by specifying the number of responses. Recently,
Holtzman (1988) has also developed a variant of HIT called HIT 25. Consisting of 25 cards.
It has been found to be successful in diagnosing schizophrenia.

3. Construction Techniques
All those situations are included here in which a story is constructed by the examinee on
seeing the stimulus material within some given time limit. The themes and mode of
responding are considered relevant in such tests. The Thematic Apperception Test
(TAT), the Object Relations Test are some of the examples of construction techniques.

• SSB (Service selection board interview)

The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

This test was developed by Henry Murray and his colleagues (Morgan and Murray, 1935).
The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) consists of 20 pictures which are all black and
white. The people depicted in the picture are deliberately drawn in ambiguous situations.
After showing the picture, a story is to be told by the client about the person or people in
the picture. They have to say what is happening in the picture, what has caused the event
and what could have taken place in the past and what would happen in the future. The story
narrated by the client is interpreted by the psychologist, who tries to look for revealing
statements and projection of the client’s hidden emotions onto the characters in the pictures.
In the original interpretation method of TAT scores, the examiner first determines who is
the “hero”, the character of either sex with whom the respondent presumably identifies
himself or herself. The content of the stories is then analysed in reference to Murray’s list
of “needs” and “press”. Achievement, affiliation and aggression are the examples of needs
whereas “press” refers to environmental forces that may facilitate or interfere with need
satisfaction.

4. Completion Techniques
These include the situations where some incomplete sentences are presented to the
examinee and he can complete them in the form he desires. For example I want ………..,
I feel excited about………………….. The subject has to fill up the blanks and the
responses given by the examinee are recorded and analysed to get a picture of the
individual’s personality. For example, Rotter’s Incomplete Sentences Blank. Some people
consider it as a semi projective technique.

Objective tests

Most personality tests are “objective tests,” so-named because they are not projective (not
because they are especially objective). These requires the respondent to make a particular
response to a structured set of instructions e.g., true/false, yes/no, or the correct answer
numerical response options, etc.

1. The Caliper Profile

The Caliper Profile Assessment is considered to be one of the most challenging

personality tests conducted by businesses today. It uses 60 years of scientific research to
measure a person’s personality, behaviors and motivations.

It is primarily used for high-level or senior positions in the following industries:

• Technology
• Medicine
• Aviation
• Finance
• Engineering
For recruitment, the test adds depth to the interview process. Recruiters can compare your
test results with your resume and interview answers to see if everything adds up. Post
recruitment, these tests are used to create a well-balanced team. Those with strong
interpersonal skills might be matched with results-driven or task-oriented people. A
productive team needs an equal balance of all attributes. Too much of one thing may lead
to conflict. Beyond team-building, the Caliper Profile may influence career development.

The Caliper Profile analyses 23 different attributes of personality for your employees. The
test measures all traits and behaviors that might be beneficial or counterproductive in a
specific working environment. The test parameters can be categorized into four groups:

The test scores its participants on a 1-99 percentile range. Employers can use this to
distinguish their employees based on their scoring range. In this case, a higher score number
denotes better results.

1. Interpersonal skills such as helpfulness, empathy, global mindset, collaboration and

teamwork
2. Persuasiveness and leadership skills, particularly assertiveness, urgency, attitude to
risk-taking, delegating, ego, empathy and resilience
3. Decision-making and problem-solving ability, including level of creativity,
flexibility, attention to detail and abstract problem-solving
4. Time management and personal organization traits, such as motivation, self-
awareness, accountability and continuous learning

2. Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator checks up on the preferences of employees. This is to know

how they prefer to use their perception and judgment. Here, MBTI's notion is that our
choices play a huge role in interpreting experiences. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
(MBTI) is an introspective, self-report evaluation that identifies a person’s personality type
and psychological preferences. The purpose of this assessment is to assign individuals into
one of four categories based on how they perceive the world and make decisions, enabling
respondents to further explore and understand their own personalities.

The four categories are: introversion or extraversion, sensing or intuition, thinking or

feeling, judging or perceiving. Each person is said to have one preferred quality from each
category, producing 16 unique personality types. According to the MBTI theory, you
combine your preferences to arrive at your personality type. The 16 types are referred to by
an abbreviation of the initial letters of each of the four type preferences. For example,
“ISTP” would denote introversion, sensing, thinking, and perceiving. There is not a
combination that is considered "better" or "worse” than another– all types are viewed as
equal. Rather, the MBTI emphasizes that each individual has specific preferences in the
way they view the world and this assessment provides insight into the differences and
similarities in people's experiences of life.

An Overview of the Test

Based on the answers to the questions on the inventory, people are identified as having one
of 16 personality types. The goal of the MBTI is to allow respondents to further explore
and understand their own personalities including their likes, dislikes, strengths,
weaknesses, possible career preferences, and compatibility with other people.
The questionnaire itself is made up of four different scales.

• Extraversion (E) – Introversion (I)

The extraversion-introversion dichotomy was first explored by Jung in his theory of
personality types as a way to describe how people respond and interact with the world
around them. While these terms are familiar to most people, the way in which they are used
in the MBTI differs somewhat from their popular usage.

Extraverts (also often spelled extroverts) are "outward-turning" and tend to be action-
oriented, enjoy more frequent social interaction, and feel energized after spending time with
other people. Introverts are "inward-turning" and tend to be thought-oriented, enjoy deep
and meaningful social interactions, and feel recharged after spending time alone.

We all exhibit extraversion and introversion to some degree, but most of us tend to have an
overall preference for one or the other.

• Sensing (S) – Intuition (N)

This scale involves looking at how people gather information from the world around them.
Just like with extraversion and introversion, all people spend some time sensing and
intuiting depending on the situation. According to the MBTI, people tend to be dominant
in one area or the other.

People who prefer sensing tend to pay a great deal of attention to reality, particularly to
what they can learn from their own senses. They tend to focus on facts and details and enjoy
getting hands-on experience. Those who prefer intuition pay more attention to things like
patterns and impressions. They enjoy thinking about possibilities, imagining the future, and
abstract theories.

• Thinking (T) – Feeling (F)

This scale focuses on how people make decisions based on the information that they
gathered from their sensing or intuition functions. People who prefer thinking place a
greater emphasis on facts and objective data.

They tend to be consistent, logical, and impersonal when weighing a decision. Those who
prefer feeling are more likely to consider people and emotions when arriving at a
conclusion.

• Judging (J) – Perceiving (P)

The final scale involves how people tend to deal with the outside world. Those who lean
toward judging prefer structure and firm decisions. People who lean toward perceiving are
more open, flexible, and adaptable. These two tendencies interact with the other scales.
Remember, all people at least spend some time engaged in extraverted activities. The
judging-perceiving scale helps describe whether you behave like an extravert when you are
taking in new information (sensing and intuiting) or when you are making decisions
(thinking and feeling).

The Myers Briggs Types4

Each type is then listed by its four-letter code:

• ISTJ - The Inspector: Reserved and practical, they tend to be loyal, orderly, and
traditional.
• ISTP - The Crafter: Highly independent, they enjoy new experiences that provide first-
hand learning.
• ISFJ - The Protector: Warm-hearted and dedicated, they are always ready to protect the
people they care about.
• ISFP - The Artist: Easy-going and flexible, they tend to be reserved and artistic.
• INFJ - The Advocate: Creative and analytical, they are considered one of the rarest
Myers-Briggs types.3
• INFP - The Mediator: Idealistic with high values, they strive to make the world a better
place.
• INTJ - The Architect: High logical, they are both very creative and analytical.4
• INTP - The Thinker: Quiet and introverted, they are known for having a rich inner
world.
• ESTP - The Persuader: Out-going and dramatic, they enjoy spending time with others
and focusing on the here-and-now.
• ESTJ - The Director: Assertive and rule-oriented, they have high principles and a
tendency to take charge.
• ESFP - The Performer: Outgoing and spontaneous, they enjoy taking centre stage.
• ESFJ - The Caregiver: Soft-hearted and outgoing, they tend to believe the best about
other people.
• ENFP - The Champion: Charismatic and energetic, they enjoy situations where they
can put their creativity to work.
• ENFJ - The Giver: Loyal and sensitive, they are known for being understanding and
generous.
• ENTP - The Debater: Highly inventive, they love being surrounded by ideas and tend
to start many projects (but may struggle to finish them).
• ENTJ - The Commander: Outspoken and confident, they are great at making plans and
organizing projects.
3. Predictive Index (PI) Behavioural Assessment

Predictive Index (PI) Behavioural Assessment is a time-limited employment personality

test. The test takes over 12 minutes and analyzes four aspects of employee personality.
These are “dominance,” “extroversion,” “patience,” and “formality.” What does the PI
Behavioral Assessment measure?

Dominance is the drive to exert influence on people or events.

Extraversion is the drive for social interaction with other people.

Patience is the drive to have consistency and stability.

Formality is the drive to conform to rules and structure.

Objectivity is the degree to which an individual prefers objectivity when processing
information and making decisions.

These four key factors—or key behavioral drives—provide a simple framework for
understanding your employees’ and candidates’ workplace behaviors. PI is your
superpower: it lets you see beneath the surface so you can predict how people will behave
in given situations. Behavioral testing, combined with an understanding of cognitive
ability, can dramatically improve the hiring process. It also checks up on two secondary
aspects. These are “decision-making” and “response level.” This test is particularly useful
in the hiring decision. It is because it helps determine how an individual is likely to behave.

4. Situational Judgment Test (SJT)

A situational judgement test (SJT) is a test used to assess someone's decision making and
judgement. The candidate will be presented with a work-like situation and a number of
possible actions/responses they could take. The candidate must then choose their most
likely and least likely response if faced with this situation. There are technically no correct
or incorrect answers - however, the employer will have their preferred answers. SJTs are
always multiple-choice; no answers other than the options listed are allowed. This test
illustrates how an employee may respond to certain workplace situations. The format of
this test carves out questions related to critical working situations. It is to understand how
employees react in such situations. SJT focuses on conflict management, interpersonal
skills, problem-solving, negotiation, teamwork, and cultural sensitivity. Nowadays, this
test is standard in predicting job performance.