Personality Psychology
,Introduction & history - lec1/ch1
What is personality
The set of psychological traits and mechanisms within the individual that is organized and relatively
enduring and that influences his or her interactions with, and adaptations to the environment. (incl. the
intrapsychic, physical and social environment
“The set of psychological traits…”
● traits = tendenciesto act, think and feel in certain ways
● using traits is a way to reduce the complexity of human personality and only look at dimensions
● eg.: Big5
● most important dimensions
○ universal
○ relate to important life outcomes(eg.: longevity)
● link to causes
○ genes
○ evolution
● link to consequences → life outcomes → eg.: health, divorce
“...and mechanisms…”
● = strategies for information processing
● essential parts of information processing
○ input→ something observed in the environment (objective)
○ rule→ personality → influence→ interpretation
■ rules can be activated
○ output→ expressed behavior
“...within the individual…”
● we take personality from situation to situation
● differences between individuals
“...that are organized and relatively enduring…
● consistency over time and situations
● tendency to feel somehow frequently
“...that influences his or her interactions with…”
● social context is also relevant
● personality affects people’s mind, thinking, feeling and choices
“...and adaptations to the environment.”
● some dysfunctional behaviors are adaptive in reality
● intrapsychic domain → within the person
,Personality determines
● how we behave
● how we feel
● how we perceive ourselves and others
● which environmentswe select
Personality is complex → we divide it into specific domains and approaches
A brief history of personality psychology
● Ancient China (2200 B.C.)
○ earliest reports of psychological testing → fitness for office
● Ancient Greece (450 B.C.)
○ Hippocrates → humoral theory
■ physiology affects personality
■ humors cause traits
○ Plato → “individuals’ personality development starts from childhood”
● China, 1370 → written exams
● 19th century
○ renewed interest
○ Measurements of individual differences
■ Galton → eugenics, fingerprint identification
■ Cattell → “ psychology cannot attain the certainty and exactness of physical scienes,
unless it rests on a foundation of experiment and measurement”
● improvement → applying a large series of mental tests to a large number of
individuals
● Binet
○ 1905 - standardized scale of intelligence
○ individual differences in higher-order processes
○ role in the base of personality tests
● Studying individual differences in character
○ James and Freud → ideas but no empirical research
■ James: theory of self-consciousness
■ Freud: psychodynamic approach, unconscious drives that explain human behavior
○ WW I.
■ recruitment
■ assessment of combat stress = shell shock (PTSS)
■ measure of sensitivity to combat stress related to today’s neuroticism
● 1930 - Personality psychology arose
● start of an organized scientific discipline
○ 1932 - first scientific journal: Character and personality
○ 1937 - publication of personality - Allport, Personality: a psychological interpretation
Levels of personality
All human beings are like all others (human nature level), like some others (individual & group
differences)and like no other (individual uniqueness)
1, human nature level
● traits and mechanisms possessed by nearly everyone
● eg.: capacity for language, need to belong etc.
, 2, individual and group differences
3, individual uniqueness
● qualities not shared by another person
Domains of knowledge
dispositional domain
identify and measure ways in which individuals differ (+ origin and development of these)
biological domain
biological systems affecting our behavior and their functional aspect from an evolutionary perspective
intrapsychic domain
unconscious mental mechanisms
modern research on motives, power and achievement
origins: Freud’s psychoanalysis
cognitive-experiential domain
cognition and subjective feelings
eg.: self-concept, intelligence, goal-orientation
adjustment domain
how we cope and adapt
social and cultural domain
personality affects and is affected by cultural context
Types of research
idiographic
in-depth exploration of one person
case studies, biographies
nomothetic
characteristics distributed in the population
statistical comparisons applied to identity
universal characteristics and individual and group differences
Mind map
,Introduction & history - lec1/ch1
What is personality
The set of psychological traits and mechanisms within the individual that is organized and relatively
enduring and that influences his or her interactions with, and adaptations to the environment. (incl. the
intrapsychic, physical and social environment
“The set of psychological traits…”
● traits = tendenciesto act, think and feel in certain ways
● using traits is a way to reduce the complexity of human personality and only look at dimensions
● eg.: Big5
● most important dimensions
○ universal
○ relate to important life outcomes(eg.: longevity)
● link to causes
○ genes
○ evolution
● link to consequences → life outcomes → eg.: health, divorce
“...and mechanisms…”
● = strategies for information processing
● essential parts of information processing
○ input→ something observed in the environment (objective)
○ rule→ personality → influence→ interpretation
■ rules can be activated
○ output→ expressed behavior
“...within the individual…”
● we take personality from situation to situation
● differences between individuals
“...that are organized and relatively enduring…
● consistency over time and situations
● tendency to feel somehow frequently
“...that influences his or her interactions with…”
● social context is also relevant
● personality affects people’s mind, thinking, feeling and choices
“...and adaptations to the environment.”
● some dysfunctional behaviors are adaptive in reality
● intrapsychic domain → within the person
,Personality determines
● how we behave
● how we feel
● how we perceive ourselves and others
● which environmentswe select
Personality is complex → we divide it into specific domains and approaches
A brief history of personality psychology
● Ancient China (2200 B.C.)
○ earliest reports of psychological testing → fitness for office
● Ancient Greece (450 B.C.)
○ Hippocrates → humoral theory
■ physiology affects personality
■ humors cause traits
○ Plato → “individuals’ personality development starts from childhood”
● China, 1370 → written exams
● 19th century
○ renewed interest
○ Measurements of individual differences
■ Galton → eugenics, fingerprint identification
■ Cattell → “ psychology cannot attain the certainty and exactness of physical scienes,
unless it rests on a foundation of experiment and measurement”
● improvement → applying a large series of mental tests to a large number of
individuals
● Binet
○ 1905 - standardized scale of intelligence
○ individual differences in higher-order processes
○ role in the base of personality tests
● Studying individual differences in character
○ James and Freud → ideas but no empirical research
■ James: theory of self-consciousness
■ Freud: psychodynamic approach, unconscious drives that explain human behavior
○ WW I.
■ recruitment
■ assessment of combat stress = shell shock (PTSS)
■ measure of sensitivity to combat stress related to today’s neuroticism
● 1930 - Personality psychology arose
● start of an organized scientific discipline
○ 1932 - first scientific journal: Character and personality
○ 1937 - publication of personality - Allport, Personality: a psychological interpretation
Levels of personality
All human beings are like all others (human nature level), like some others (individual & group
differences)and like no other (individual uniqueness)
1, human nature level
● traits and mechanisms possessed by nearly everyone
● eg.: capacity for language, need to belong etc.
, 2, individual and group differences
3, individual uniqueness
● qualities not shared by another person
Domains of knowledge
dispositional domain
identify and measure ways in which individuals differ (+ origin and development of these)
biological domain
biological systems affecting our behavior and their functional aspect from an evolutionary perspective
intrapsychic domain
unconscious mental mechanisms
modern research on motives, power and achievement
origins: Freud’s psychoanalysis
cognitive-experiential domain
cognition and subjective feelings
eg.: self-concept, intelligence, goal-orientation
adjustment domain
how we cope and adapt
social and cultural domain
personality affects and is affected by cultural context
Types of research
idiographic
in-depth exploration of one person
case studies, biographies
nomothetic
characteristics distributed in the population
statistical comparisons applied to identity
universal characteristics and individual and group differences
Mind map
