Humanistic Theories of Personality
Carl Rodgers's theory of self
suggested that there is an inherent tendency of each of us toward
self-actualization. Each of us under
ideal conditions would develop our full capacity that was heredity
available. His paradigm consisted of a
triangle:
Real
self
Congruence results when there is a fit among the
aspects of self. Simplistically, Real, Ideal and Perceived self related to each
other. Problems occur when there is not
a productive relationship.
Abraham Maslow focused on the
study of healthey people and he developed his hierarchy of needs and as the
person developed he or she would attempt to meet these needs. The inability to meet these needs caused
anxiety and self actualization was threatened.
He believed the self actualized person was realistic in their
interaction with the world and made appropriate accommodation when goals were
not attainable.
Behavioral and Social Cognitive theories
B.F. Skinner, a behaviorist, believed that
personality was "learned" ways of behaving. He did not address
drives, inner conflict or identity issues.
Rather he focused on learned behavior and the environment. He injected the idea that we are not free
but rather products of environment.
Albert Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory emphasized the role of observation and
imitation/modeling. He viewed the self
as a set of "cognitive structures" that direct perception, thinking,
and behavior. Actual reinforcement was
not as important as perceived reinforcement. He argued that behavior and the
situation interacted and influenced each other. He called this reciprocal determinism. A person's self worth was derived from adjustments to the
environment and successful realization of goals. Failure resulted in helplessness. A person's personality was the set of behaviors acquired to
successfully or unsuccessfully interact with the environment.
Jullian Rotter proposed that
reinforcement is influential in shaping behavior and personality but
expectations and cognitions were equal or more important. He views "behavioral potential" as the
probability that a particular behavior will happen in a specific
situation. He looked at the concept of
"Locus of Control".
Individuals who perceived that reinforcement as contingent on their
behavior and attributes had Internal Locus of control.
Persons who perceived that reinforcement is independent
of their behavior and was controlled by external forces had External Locus of
control.
Personality Assessment
There are a number of personality tests used by
psychologists. Often a psychologist[s]
will use structured or unstructured interviews, naturalistic observation and use
some form of a rating scale. Self rating
scale may also be used. Objective personality tests are also used.
Some examples are:
Strong Interest Inventory which
was developed in 1927. it matches and
measures a person's interest and activities with those of people in various
occupations.
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory
[MMPI] originally developed in 1940 by Starke Hathaway and Charneley Mckinley. It was used to identify personality
disorders. Currently it is the most
widely used test for general personality assessment. It was revised in 1989 and called the MMPI II it consists of 567 items that are answered
true or false. In 1992 a form of the
MMPI for adolescents was developed, it is call the MMPI-Adolescent. It has 478 true or false items.
California Psychological Inventory
[CPI] was first published in 1956 and
it was developed to measure personality in normal populations. In 1996 the 3rd editions
was completed and consists of 434 true or false items.
Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire [16PF]
Developed by Raymond Cattell in 1949. Using
Cattell's factor analysis it consists of 185 multiple choice questions. It has
been revised 5 times.
NEO Personality Inventory
[NEO-PI] developed by Paul Costa Jr. and Robert McCrae in 1985. it is used to measure five major factor in
adult personality:
Neuroticism, extroversion, openness to experience,
agreeableness, and conscientiousness. It
contains 240 items that are answered on a 5 point scale [strongly agree-
strongly disagree]
Meyer-Briggs Type Indicator
Isabel Briggs Myers and her mother , Katherine Briggs first published this test
in 1921. It utilized Carl Jung's theory
of personality. It was last revised in
1998 and consists of 126 two choice items.
Projective Personality Tests
Projective personality tests present ambiguous
stimuli that allow the subject to respond with projections of his or her own personality.
Rorschach Inkblot Test
is one of the best known projective tests.
It was developed by Hermann Rorschach in 1921. it consists of 10 cards [5 black and white - 5 colored]
containing blots of ink. The subject is asked to describe what he/she
sees. This is compared to a data base
of other responses.
Holtzman Inkblot Technique
[HIT] developed in 1961 used 45 cards in the
assessment of personality.
Thematic Apperception Test
[TAT] uses pictures of people in everyday settings and the subject is to
describe what is going on or to make up a story about the pictures.
Resources
Psychology a
Connectext 4th edition, Terry F. Pettijohn
Discovering Psychology, Don Hockenbury & Sandra Hockenbury