ID#:620034659 Tutorial time: Wednesday 9-10am Tutor: J.

Martin Due November 11, 2011 Question 1: Respond critically to the following statement: personality psychologists have a sound set of theories and reliable and valid ways of collecting data to confirm these theories and fulfill the goals of the field.

Personality may be defined as the unique, relatively enduring internal and external aspects of a persons character that influence behavior in different situation. Schultz and Schultz (2009) pg. 9. With that said our personality can be said to be our innate trait that manipulates the way in which we think and act out our cognitions. In essence it may just as well be said that personality is what we wear when we face the outside world. Schultz and Schultz , pg 8. The historical background of personality theories goes as far back as Hippocrates, Plato and Aristotle era. Hall and Lindzey, (1978). Because Personality psychologists are concern with issues that are associated with personality and the development of those personality. Fehr 1983, suggest that personality psychologist is someone who specialize in the analysis of personality theories, develop new theories, utilize the personality assessment technique, develop new methods of assessment, conduct empirical scientific research of the nature of personality characteristics, treat personality disorders and develop new ways of treating personality disorders, classify personality disorder and develop personality. Pg 10. Even thought personality psychology are said to perform those roles they are just like any other psychologist in the field hence they teach, research, diagnose, does clinical practice, management, test administration, and technical writing. In addition to the roles of a psychologist, within the field of personality psychology, there are numerous theories which speak to personality problems and development. These theories include Psychoanalytic, Phenomenological (cognitive and Humanistic), Trait, and Behavioral theory. For further understanding, a theory may be defined as a general principle formulated to explain a group of related phenomenon. Chaplin, 1975 in Fehr 1983 pg 11. Personality psychologists do have a stable set of theories, reliable and valid ways of gathering data to confirm their theories and complete the goal of the field. In order to prove this, the major theorist and their perspective will be examined. The first set of theories being examine

are the psychoanalytic and Neo-analytic approaches to personality, second inline are the phenomenological theories, the third group of personality theories are the trait theories of personality psychology and the final set are the behavioral theories. All these theories have contributed to the growing dynamic field of personality psychology through empirical research and observation. There are several methods by which personality psychology test and evaluate their theory. Personality assessment is defined by Fehr as any effort to systematically comprehend, predict and explain the personality character of a person. Page 179. Backtracking to the topic of this essay, personality psychologists have valid and reliable ways to collect data to confirm their theories. Assessment technique displays difference in their degree of subjectivity and objectivity. Subjective techniques are vulnerable to biasness which is mostly avoided with the scientific field. Hence the best techniques can be said to be reliable and valid techniques. Validity refers to the extent to which an assessment device measures what it is intended to measure while reliability refers to the consistency of response to a psychological assessment instrument. Shultz and Shultz pg 12.Relaiblity may be achieved through the test retest, equivalent-forms and the split halves method. The method by which personality psychologist evaluate their theories are through self-report or object inventories, projective techniques, Clinical interviews, behavioral assessment procedures and thought and experience sampling method. The Psychoanalytic theory, created by Sigmund Freud, was the earliest approach to the formal study of personality. Shultz and Shultz. Psychoanalysis emphasized unconscious forces, the Id, Ego and superego, biologically based drives of sex; libido and cathexis; aggression drives, life and death instinct and the importance of childhood experiences in shaping adult behavior and also the operation of the defense mechanism in controlling anxiety. Within the psychoanalytic

theory emerge the four psychosexual stages of development, the oral, Anal, Phallic, latency period (not a stage) and the Genital stage. In addition to Freud psychoanalytic theory of personality emerge the neo-analytic approach. This approach was derived from Freud psychoanalytic theory by Freud followers and student who broke away from Freud. The neo Freudian theorist differ from each other in numerous ways but share a common ground in that they oppose Freud psychoanalytic on two main grounds: Freud emphasis on instinct as the primary motivators of human behavior along with his deterministic view of personality and also his sexist view. Shultz and Shultz. It was further said that the neo-analytic theorist presented a more optimistic and gratifying view of personality and the human nature. The first neo Freudian theorist is Carl Jung, who developed the analytic psychology approach. Within this theory, personality is said to be shaped by the future and the past and greater emphasis was placed on the unconscious in the development of personality. Shultz and Shultz. Jung broadened Freud definition of the libido, redefining it has a more dynamic force than sexual. According to Fehr 1983, Jung outlined that the psyche to include the conscious ego, the personal unconscious and the collective unconscious, of which the most important is self which eventually becomes the centre of personality. In addition to Jung psyche he also developed a typology for classifying people on the basis of his notions of attitudes and functions. Subsequently Alfred Adler developed the individual psychology theory. His theory stressed individual development within the society. Alder theory compared to Frueds showed major differences. While Freud emphasized on, biological motives, sex, Oedipus complex, unconsciousness, Adler emphasized on social motives, sex being minimal, Oedipus being largely social, importance of conscious, positive attitude toward human existence in contrast to Freuds negative attitude. While Adler views are different from Freud and Jung, he has made distinct contribution to the field of

personality theory. In his individual psychology theory, Adler stipulated that: men are social being, that their personality may be the product of society and not necessarily biology, the creative self , man was free to choose the personality that he/s. Assessments for the psychoanalytic and neo-analytic approaches are done by using the projective technique, free association and dream analysis, both allows patients to freely express their problem; uniqueness of personality; conscious determinants of behavior. Fher 1983. Carl Jung analytic theory of personality include the investigation of symbols, myths and rituals in ancient cultures: the word association test , used to expose complexities, symptom analysis in which patients talk about their problems, free association, and dream analysis. The second set of personality theories are the Phenomenological theories. These theories are a diversion from the psychoanalytic and Neo-analytic approaches. They mainly recognize the importance of human as a social being and who is striving to reach his full potential. Fher 1983. The theories and psychologist famous within this group are Abraham Maslows dynamic health psychology theory, Carl Rogerss self theory, and George Kellys personal construct theory. These theories are said to be phenomenological theories because they see man as a human being who is mainly influenced by his/her environment and who act upon the environ with a certain degree of intention. Phenomenological theories encompass the humanistic and cognitive approach. Phenomenological theories test their theory by mainly Construct Repertory Test, Qsort technique, Personal orientation technique and semantic Differential. The assessment techniques used in this area have received the highest criticism mainly because of the subjectivity of the methods. Reason being is that phenomenological psychologist are not concerned with assessment o validate their method, but are more concerned about the individual development. Thus their method lack reliability and validity. In addition, it also does not provide

any unified approach for evaluation as it is with other theories. Compared to others, these sets of theories are vague and subjective unlike the other methods. The third group of theories are the Trait theories of personality. These theories focus on personality traits in shaping personality type. It encompasses theories such as William Sheldons Constitutional Psychology. This theory talks about the nature of an individual body type and its relationship to personality characteristics, Gordon Allports personalism theory creates an initial look at the concept of a trait and attempts, and Raymond Cattells Factor theory. His theory is an attempt to use elaborative and controversial technique in the study of personality. According to Fehr, assessments in this area are the MMPI, The 16 personality factor questionnaire, The California Psychological Inventory and the single trait Inventory. While the assessment techniques of psychodynamic and phenomenological theories may involve numerical scoring, the trait assessment relies more on an objective, statistical, psychometric approach toward assessment. The forth collection of theories and psychologist is the Behavioral theories of personality. Within the behavioral approach, B. F Skinners Radical Behaviorism theory, speaks to shaping behavior with the use of operant conditioning. He rejects the view of Freud unconscious notion which guide behavior and introduced the claim that behavior should be viewed as being symptomatic or symbolic of hidden problem. He believes that behavior should be studied as behavior. In addition to B.F Skinners theory, Albert Banduras social learning theory again maintains that learning does not have to take place in the presence of direct reinforcement; rather, an individual can learn by observing the behavior of another person. Within the behavioral assessment methods, each technique begins with an assumptions that psychologist should be concerned with the behavior of the individual and ignore any underlying traits,

unconscious processes or psychic structures for understanding personality. The assessment process focus mainly on the characteristics of the person and the stimulus conditions that caused this behavior. Behavioral psychologist utilizes the observation techniques, behavioral interview, inventories and the sampling technique along with behavioral therapy and modification. Even though there are a lot of critics with regards to behavioral assessment and therapy, these methods are still said to be high in validity and reliability. In the final analysis even though some theories are criticized for not being valid or reliable it is safe to say that personality psychologist has a set of stable theories and valid and reliable ways in which data are collected. They do contribute to the field of personality psychology through the creation and development of the behavioral, trait, cognitive and humanistic approaches and theories of personality psychology along with their objective data gathering technique.

References Fehr, L. A. (1983). Introduction to Personality (pp. 39-177). New York, NY: Macmillian. Hall, C. S., & Lindzey, G. (1978). Theories of personality (3rdrd ed.). New York, NY: John Wiley and sons inc Schultz, D., & Schultz, S. (2009). Theories of personality (ninth ed., pp. 45-345). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learing