THEORIES OF

PERSONALITY
MS. LISHEL B. GONZALES
Why do people behave as they do?
• Choice?
• What accounts for similarities and differences?
• What makes people act in predictable ways? Why
are they unpredictable?
• Do hidden, unconscious forces control people's
behavior?
• What causes mental disturbances?
• Is human behavior shaped by Heredity or
environment?
What is Personality ?
• word stems from
“persona” latin for “mask”.
• Personality defined the enduring
or lasting patterns of behavior
and thought (across time and
situation)
What is personality?
Sigmund Freud – It is largely unconscious, hidden and
unknown
Carl Rogers – It is an organized consistent pattern of
perception of the “I” or “me” that lies at the heart of an
individual’s experiences.
Gordon Allport – It is something real within an
individual that leads to characteristic behavior and
thought.
B.F Skinner – It is an unnecessary construct.
Personality Types and Traits
• A personality type - is a discrete category into
which a person can be sorted.
• A personality trait - is an enduring personal
characteristic that underlies a person's reaction to
a variety of situations.
• Traits
- consistency over time
- individual differences in behavior
-stability across situations
• Characteristics are unique qualities of an
individual that include such attributes as (e.g.
temperament, physique and intelligence.)
Theory
• Refers to the act of viewing, contemplating or
thinking about something.
• A theory is a set of abstract concepts
developed about a group of facts or events in
order to explain them.
Theory
• Refers to the act of viewing, contemplating or
thinking about something.
• A theory is a set of abstract concepts developed about
a group of facts or events in order to explain them.
• Theory is a set of related assumptions that allows
scientists to use logical deductive reasoning to
formulate testable hypotheses.
Hypothesis
• Educated guess or prediction
specific enough for its validity
to be tested.
Reasoning
• Deductive Reasoning
• Going general to specific
Ex. The first lipstick I pulled from my bag is red. The second lipstick I pulled from my bag is red. Therefore, all the
lipsticks in my bag are red.

• Inductive Reasoning
• Going from specific to general
Ex. The first lipstick I pulled from my bag is red. All lipsticks in my
bag are red. Therefore, the second lipstick I pull from my bag will
be red, too.
• Therefore, a theory of personality is an organized
system of beliefs that helps us to understand human
nature.

Theory and Its Relatives

Philosophy Broader than theory
Speculation Must be tied to empirical data and Science
Hypothesis Specific guess that can be tested using scientific
method
WHY DIFFERENT THEORIES?
Different Personal Background
•Childhood experiences
•Interpersonal relationships

Different philosophical Orientations

Unique Ways of looking at the world
Data Chosen to observe is different
 WHO AM I?
What it means to become
a person
 Theorists’ Personalities and their Theories
of Personality
Psychology of Science
- the empirical study of scientific thought and
behavior (including theory construction) and scientist.
The Personalities and Psychology of different theorists
influence the kinds of theories that they develop.
John B. Watson – Study of Behavior
Wilhelm Wundt – First laboratory in Psychology
Sigmund Freud – Study of unconscious
 Theorists’ Personalities and their Theories
of Personality

Wilhelm Wundt – Father of

Psychology
- Introspective observation or self
-examination

•Watson criticized on mental processes.

He suggested to concentrate on overt
behavior.
 Philosophical Assumptions
1. Freedom vs Determinism (control over their
behavior or external forces)
2. Optimism vs. Pessimism (doomed to live
miserable or change and grow into psychologically healthy,
happy)
3. Casuality vs. teleology (past experiences or future
goals or purposes)
4. Conscious vs. Unconscious (aware or unaware)
 Philosophical Assumptions
5. Biological vs. Social influences (Heredity
or environment)
6. Uniqueness vs Similarities (different or common)
7. Proactivity vs. Reactivity (act on own initiative or
primarily react to stimuli)
The Art of Personality Theories
Assessment – evaluation of measurement.
- Validity and reliability
•Psychometric Tests – carefully designed questionnaires
•Projective Tests – the participant expresses personal
attitudes, values, needs and feelings.
Research
•Clinical – intensive interviews and observation of the
participant. (Case History)
•Psychometric – use of mathematical and statistical tools to
measure personality (correlation)
•Experimental – cause and effect relationship between two
factors.
Independent variable - the experimenter manipulates (i.e.
changes) – assumed to have a direct effect on the dependent
variable.
Dependent variable (DV): the experimenter measures, after
making changes to the IV that are assumed to affect the DV.
Psychotherapy
• Therapy comes from the greek word therapeia, which
means “attending” and “healing”

Goals of Psychotherapy
Scholarly - considers therapy as a means of understanding
the self and human nature. Ex. Psychoanalysis
Ethical – means helping the individual to change, improve,
grow and better the quality of life. Ex. Carl Rogers
Curative – aims directly at eliminating troublesome
symptoms and substituting more suitable behavior.
Studying Personality
Academic Psychology
• Study of personality focused
on uncovering general
principles of personality
through research methods
• Typically conducted in an
academic setting
• Precursor: Wilhelm Wundt
Clinical Practice
• Study of personality
primarily through research
on individuals by way of
methods such as case
histories
• Conducted in a
Psychotherapeutic or
clinical environment
• Precursor: Sigmund Freud
THE PSYCHOANALYTIC
APPROACH
FREUD: PSYCHOANALYSIS
• Sigmund
Freud
(sex and
aggression)
determinants of
why people act
as they do
 FREUD: PSYCHOANALYSIS
• Origin: Anna O. 21 year old patient
with hysteria
• Hysteria – paralysis or improper
functioning of parts of the body. An illness
in which there were physical symptoms but
no physiological basis.
• Talking cure leads to development of free
association and psychoanalytic techniques.
• Josef Breuer taught Freud about “catharsis”
– the process of hysterical symptoms through “talking
them out” or “emotional release”
• Unconscious memories were influencing the present
behavior
• Resistance – some events prevented the patient from
becoming aware of them and kept memories
unconscious.
LEVELS OF MENTAL LIFE
• Contribution to Personality Theory is
his exploration with unconscious &
his insistence that people are
motivated primarily by instinctual
forces / no awareness.
UNCONSCIOUS
• Drives, urges, or instincts beyond our
awareness but that nevertheless
motivated by our words, actions,
feelings. Resulted to repression.

Punishment & suppression often create

feelings of anxiety & turn into stimulate
repression to defend pain against anxiety.
Psychoanalytic Method
• Free Association – person relaxes and says whatever
comes to mind, no matter how trivial or
embarrassing.
• Dreams and Slips
Dream Analysis
• Manifest content – conscious description
given by the dreams. (narrative story)
• Latent – unconscious description. (meaning
or motive underlying within the manifest
dream.
PROVINCES OF THE MIND
• ID – Pleasure principle. Seeks gratification of needs without
regard for what is possible & what is proper.
(never matures)
• EGO – contact with reality. Governed by reality principles.
(controls, governs and regulate personality)
• SUPEREGO – begin to learn what they should & should not
do; moralistic & idealistic principles. (good or bad)
 DYNAMICS OF PERSONALITY
• According to Freud repressed and desires is erotic (sexuality)
• Libido – sexual energy, source of motivation
• Instincts – drive or impulse
2 Basic groups of impulses
• Eros – life impulses or drives, maintain life processes and ensure reproduction of the species
• Thanatos – encompassing death impulses or drives, aggressiveness and reflects the ultimate resolution
of all life’s tension is death
Anxiety
- Is a feeling of fear that results from repressed feeling,
memories, desires experiences that emerge to the
surface of awareness.
-function of anxiety is to warn impending danger
•Neurotic Anxiety –fear that your decision will go out of
hand and you’ll be punished
•Realistic Anxiety – fear to the external world
•Moral Anxiety – fear of one’s own conscience
Defense Mechanism
• Defense mechanism is to protect
our ego. The ego is fragile &
defense mechanisms serve the
purpose of diverting anxiety away
from ego to protect it.
Defense Mechanism
• Denial – is the refusal to acknowledge something that causes
anxiety. Closing one’s eyes to reality
• Projection – is the attributing of one’s own problems to
others.
• Reaction Formation – acting in an opposite way from
what you feel.
• Regression – involves retreating to an earlier stage of
development in the face of anxiety. Clinging to immature or
inappropriate behavior
• Sublimation – is substituting a socially acceptable urge to an
unacceptable one.
• Repression – keeping it to oneself, removing the
painful , bad hurtful memories from the past
• Displacement– people can redirect their
unacceptable urges unto a variety of people or objects
so the original impulse is concealed.
• Introjection – taking in and swallowing the values
and standards of others
• Rationalization – Justify specific behaviors and aids
in softening the blow connected to disappointments
• Identification – Identifying oneself with successful
causes, organization or people in the hope that you
will perceived as worthwhile.
• Compensation – masking perceived weaknesses or
developing certain positive traits to make up for
limitations.
• Fixation – permanent attachment to a particular level.
• Undoing – to do away with unpleasant experiences as if it
never happened
• Isolation – block out the affect.
FREUD’s PSYCHOSEXUAL STAGES
 • ORAL
• ANAL
• PHALLIC
• LATENCY
• GENITAL
Stages of Psychosexual Development
Oral Stage (Ages 0-1)
•Most of Infant’s pleasure comes from stimulation of the
mouth
•If a child is overfed or frustrated, oral traits will develop.
•Oral Dependent Personality
• Gullible, passive and need lots of attention
Fixations create oral-aggressiveness adults who like to
argue and exploit others
Erogenous zone: Mouth (oral) gratification is gained by
oral stimulation (Breastfeeding)
Anal Stage (Ages 1-3)
•Attention turns to process of elimination. Child can gain
approval or express aggression by letting go or holding
on. Ego develops.
•Harsh or lenient toilet training can make a child either
•Anal Retentive : Stubborn, stingy, orderly or
compulsively clean
•Anal Expulsive: Disorderly, messy, destructive or cruel
•Erogenous zone : Anus
•Pleasure is gained by being able to control feces (Potty-
training)
Phallic Stage (ages 3-6)
•Awakening of sexuality
•Oedipus Conflict: for boys only. Boy feels Rivalry
with his father for his mother’s affection. When a male
child wants to kill his father with his mother (from the
Greek tragedy “Oedipus Rex” by Sophocoles)
•Electra Conflict : Girl loves her father and competes
with her mother. Girl identifies with her mother more
slowly because she already feels castrated
Latency (Ages 6- Puberty)
•Psychosexual development is dormant. Same sex
friendships and play occur here.
•Pleasure is gained through same-sex peer friendship
Genital Stage (12+ Puberty –on)
•Realization of full adult sexuality occurs here; sexual
urges re-awaken.
•Pleasure is gained through sexual intercourse with non-
relatives

Effects of the Psychosexual stages

Fixation – permanent attachment to a particular level.
Transference
• Transferred feeling towards the therapist.
The Analytic Process
• Patient lies on a couch and the analyst sits behind, out
of view. The patient is instructed to verbalize
whatever comes to mind regardless of how irrelevant,
absurd or unpleasant it may seem.
Terminating sessions
• When client and therapist mutually agree that they
have resolved symptoms and core conflicts that were
amenable to resolution
• Understood the historical roots of difficulties
• Have insights on how environment affect them and
how they affect environment
• Achieved reduced defensiveness
• Achieving more stable coping patterns