Introduction to psychology

Trait, Behavioral and Learning Perspectives of Personality

 Agenda
01 1) • Psychodynamic Approach
After studying this topic students will be able to:

02 2) Trait Approaches in Personality

.

03 3 Learning Approaches to Personality

04 4) • Humanistic Approaches
 Trait

• A trait can be thought of as a relatively stable characteristic that

causes individuals to behave in certain ways.

• The trait approach to personality is one of the major theoretical

areas in the study of personality.

• The trait theory suggests that individual personalities are composed

of the broad dispositions.
.
Trait theory
It is a dimension of personality used to categorize people according
to the degree to which they manifest a particular characteristics. ...

Unlike many other theories of personality, such as psychoanalytic

or humanistic theories, the trait approach to personality is focused
on
differences between individuals
Gordon Allport’s Trait Theory
Gordon Allport found that one English language dictionary alone
contained more than 4,000 words describing different personality
traits. He categorized these traits into three levels

Cardinal traits: most dominant, but also the rarest. the person
becomes almost synonymous with those qualities. (brilliance)
Central traits: much more common and serve as the basic building
blocks of most people’s personality (smart)
Secondary traits that tend to present themselves in certain situations.
(anxious)
The 5-Factor Theory of Personality
Cattell’s and Eysenck’s theories.
Cattell focused on too many traits, while Eysenck focused on too few.
As a result, a new trait theory often referred to as the "Big Five“
theory emerged.
This five-factor model of personality represents five core traits that
interact to form human personality.
The following are described most commonly:
Agreeableness Conscientiousness Extraversion Neuroticism
Openness
 The humanist approach to personality
Developed by famous theorists like Rogers, Kelly and Maslow.

The connection between humanistic perspective and personality is

relatively modern as compared to cognitivist and behaviorist views.

Rogers stated that the organism has one basic goal: self-
actualizationHe expressed his extremely optimistic approach when
he explained
that all of us have the tendency to grow until we reach
“actualization". According to him, we exist because we need to
gratify this need.
 Hierarchy of Needs
One of the most common models used in psychology, the Hierarchy
of Needs was the result of Abraham Maslow’s research on the basic
motivations of animals and humans. Maslow explained the huma
needs in a pyramid-like figure

Maslow believed that our ultimate life goal is self actualization

 Personality and Kelly

• The theory developed by George Kelly was grounded in the thinking that
• We have various ways of interpreting and predicting circumstances, and
that this leads to our individual differences.
• These differences he dubbed as “personal constructs" are the tools we use
in acquiring information from the outside world and processing them
inside our minds.
• When we interact with our environment and within ourselves, this
manner of interacting is, for Kelly, our personality.
. The Learning Approach to Personality

Behaviorism
• External forces – not traits or conflicts – shape
• people’s preferences and behaviors (Watson – the conditioned emotional
response
Social-Learning Theory
• Albert Bandura – focuses on importance of learning by observation
• People act intentionally to influence the environment – not just at the
mercy of the environment
• Observation and the role of cognitive processes
• Learning is purposeful
 Social cognition by Walter Mischel (1968) .

• Stated that it is people's understanding of the cognitive and social

aspects of their situation which determines their personality.
• Rather than assuming that their behavior is symptomatic of
underlying dispositions or traits.
• Mischel focused on how people react to the different stimuli in
their environment.
Reference Books / Chapters
1.Ref. Evolutionary Psychology.(2018). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. First
published Fri Feb 8, 2008; substantive revision Wed Sep 5, 2018

Ref: Colin P. Silverthorne.(2016).Organizational Psychology in Cross-Cultural

Perspective.Newyork University Press.

Saundra K. Ciccarelli.(2015). Psychology. Gulf Coast State College J. Noland

White .Georgia College. fourth edition. Boston.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcsc_EsJmsA Personality
https://youtu.be/dcsc_EsJmsA
Thank you