The Individual Processes: Personality | Commerce & Accountancy Optional Notes for UPSC PDF Download

Introduction

"Personality" can be defined as a dynamic and organized set of characteristics possessed by a person that uniquely influences his or her cognitions, emotions,interpersonal orientations motivations, and behaviors in various situations. The word "personality" originates from the Latin persona, which means mask.

Personality Theories

• Shared Similarities, Unique Differences: Personality study is based on the idea that while everyone has similarities, each person is unique. People share some commonalities but differ in various aspects.
• Learning Differences: Using the example of learning, everyone learns, but individuals learn different things, in distinct ways, and to varying degrees.
• Definition of Personality: Most contemporary psychologists agree on defining personality as the distinctive pattern of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that sets one person apart from another. This pattern remains consistent over time and across different situations.

Trait Theories

• Definition: According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association, personality traits are enduring patterns of perceiving, relating to, and thinking about the environment and oneself, observed in various social and personal situations.
• Theorists' Assumptions:
  • Stability Over Time: Personality traits are generally assumed to be stable over time.
  • Individual Differences: Traits vary among individuals; for example, some may be outgoing, while others are more reserved.
  • Influence on Behavior: Traits play a role in influencing behavior.
• Trait Descriptions in People:
  • People often describe others using traits to define their overall personality.
  • Traits are relatively constant, meaning they don't typically change.
  • Traits are bipolar, existing on a continuum between extremes (e.g., friendly vs. unfriendly).
• Common Trait Models:
  • Most models incorporate three to five broad dimensions or factors to describe personality traits.
  • Two foundational dimensions in trait theories are extraversion and neuroticism, rooted in historical theories like Hippocrates' humoral theory.

Gordon Allport's Trait Theory

• Types of Traits: Gordon Allport, a personality theorist, identified different kinds of traits or dispositions.
• Central Traits:
  • Basic traits that form the core of an individual's personality.
  • They are fundamental to understanding who a person is.
• Secondary Traits:
  • Less central and more peripheral aspects of personality.
  • These traits are not as defining but still contribute to understanding someone's behavior.
• Common Traits:
  • Traits recognized within a specific culture.
  • These traits can vary from one culture to another.
• Cardinal Traits:
  • Traits that are extremely prominent and distinctive for an individual.
  • They strongly characterize and identify a person.
• Significance in Personality Psychology:
  • Allport's work, particularly his book "Personality: A Psychological Interpretation" in 1937, marked the establishment of personality psychology as a recognized intellectual discipline.
  • This also introduced the first modern trait theories, laying the foundation for understanding and studying personality.

Raymond Cattell's Personality Structure

• Two-Tiered Structure:
  • Cattell's research proposed a personality structure with two tiers.
  • The structure consists of sixteen "primary factors" known as the 16 Personality Factors and five "secondary factors."
• Extensive Career Contributions:
  • Cattell's lengthy career included:
  • Authoring 50 books.
  • Publishing 500 journals.
  • Developing 30 standardized tests.
• Definition of Personality:
  • Cattell defined personality based on behavioral prediction.
  • Personality, according to him, is "that which permits a prediction of what a person will do in a given situation."
• Primary Factors:
  • The 16 Personality Factors represent fundamental characteristics influencing behavior.
• Secondary Factors:
  • The five secondary factors complement the primary factors, providing a comprehensive understanding of an individual's personality.
• Focus on Behavioral Prediction:
  • Cattell's emphasis was on predicting behavior in specific situations, making his approach highly practical and focused on real-world applications.

John Gittinger's Personality Assessment System (PAS)

• Foundation on Wechsler Intelligence Tests:
  • Gittinger's theory and PAS utilize the Wechsler intelligence tests.
  • These tests are well-established, standardized, and objective tools, differing from subjective self-report assessments.
• Objective Measurement:
  • Gittinger's approach focuses on objective and standardized instruments, ensuring a reliable and consistent evaluation.
• Personality Traits Factorization:
  • PAS factors out personality traits, specifically primitivity, using a systematic approach.
• Two Additional Levels:
  • Gittinger's model introduces two additional levels beyond personality traits - Basid and Surface.
  • These levels represent adaptations influenced by environmental pressures and learning.
• Multivariate Personality Descriptions:
  • Gittinger's system provides comprehensive personality descriptions.
  • Over 500 data-based outcome descriptions are utilized, offering a detailed and nuanced understanding of an individual's personality.
• Emphasis on Environmental Influences:
  • The model acknowledges the impact of environmental factors on personality development, contributing to a more holistic assessment.

Hans Eysenck's Personality Traits

• Three Core Traits:
  • Eysenck proposed that just three traits—extraversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism—were sufficient to describe human personality.
• Differences with Cattell:
  • Variances in viewpoints between Cattell and Eysenck emerged due to their preferences for different types of factor analysis.
  • Cattell used oblique rotation, while Eysenck opted for orthogonal rotation when analyzing factors derived from personality questionnaires.
• Big Five Factors Emergence:
  • Contemporary research, building on the foundations of Cattell and others, has supported the emergence of the Big Five personality factors, backed by substantial empirical evidence.
• Eysenck's Independence Belief:
  • Eysenck, along with J. P. Guilford, believed that trait factors obtained from factor analysis should be statistically independent.
  • This independence means the factors are uncorrelated or orthogonal, emphasizing distinct and separate dimensions of personality.

Major Personality Models Overview

• Lewis Goldberg's "Big Five" Model:
  • Openness to Experience: Imaginative, independent, and interested in variety vs. practical and routine.
  • Conscientiousness: Organized, careful, and disciplined vs. disorganized and impulsive.
  • Extraversion: Sociable, fun-loving, and affectionate vs. retiring, somber, and reserved.
  • Agreeableness: Softhearted, trusting, and helpful vs. ruthless, suspicious, and uncooperative.
  • Neuroticism: Calm, secure, and self-satisfied vs. anxious, insecure, and self-pitying.
• Personality Trait Theories:
  • Focus on enduring patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that distinguish individuals.
  • Gordon Allport's delineation includes central traits, secondary traits, common traits, and cardinal traits.
  • Raymond Cattell's two-tiered structure incorporates 16 primary factors and 5 secondary factors.
• Trait Theories Evolution:
  • John Gittinger's Personality Assessment System (PAS) utilizes Wechsler intelligence tests, emphasizing objectivity.
  • Hans Eysenck's three-trait model (extraversion, neuroticism, psychoticism) differs from Cattell's due to factor analysis preferences.
  • The Big Five factors gain prominence in contemporary research, building on earlier models.
• Diverse Perspectives in Organizational Behavior:
  • Organizational studies encompass multiple viewpoints: modern, symbolic, and postmodern.
  • Micro-level focuses on individual and group dynamics, while macro-level explores strategic management and organizational theory.
  • Recent integrations include anthropology, leadership understanding, ethics, and aesthetics.
• Organizational Behavior Critiques:
  • Organizational behavior plays a crucial role in development but faces criticism for potential ethnocentrism and pro-capitalist biases.
  • Ongoing efforts aim to revitalize organizational theory, offering better conceptualizations of organizational life.
• Personality and Individual Processes:
  • Personality, defined as dynamic characteristics influencing thoughts, emotions, motivations, and behaviors.
  • Various personality theories attempt to capture the uniqueness and commonalities among individuals.
  • The study of personality has evolved, incorporating trait theories and their various dimensions.
• Ongoing Research and Critiques:
  • The Big Five factors are widely accepted, backed by empirical research, but ongoing debates explore additional personality dimensions.
  • Some researchers suggest factors like excellent/ordinary and evil/decent, although definitive conclusions remain elusive.

Type Theories

• Definition:
  • Personality types refer to the psychological classification of different people based on their distinctive characteristics.
• Vs. Personality Traits:
  • Different from personality traits, types categorize people into distinct groups, while traits exist on a spectrum or continuum.
• Introverts and Extroverts:
  • According to type theories, people are classified into two broad types: introverts and extroverts.
• Trait Theories Perspective:
  • In contrast, trait theories view introversion and extroversion as points on a continuous scale, with many individuals falling in the middle.
• Origin of Psychological Types:
  • The concept of psychological types originated with Carl Jung and William Marston, explored in Dr. Travis Bradberry's Self-Awareness.
  • Jung's foundational 1921 book, Psychological Types, laid the groundwork for understanding personality differences.
• Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI):
  • During World War II, Isabel Briggs Myers and Katharine C. Briggs expanded on Jung's ideas.
  • They developed the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), a widely used tool for delineating personality types based on preferences and tendencies.

Briggs and Myers' Personality Dimension Addition

• New Personality Dimension:
  • Briggs and Myers expanded their personality type indicator by introducing another dimension.
  • This additional dimension aims to measure whether a person prefers making judgments or keeping options open when interacting with the external world.
• Judging vs. Perceiving:
  • The new questions in the indicator help identify if an individual tends to come to conclusions quickly (judgment) or prefers to keep possibilities open and flexible (perception).
• Enhanced Understanding:
  • This addition offers a more comprehensive understanding of how individuals engage with the external world.
  • It highlights differences in decision-making styles, whether someone leans towards decisiveness or flexibility in their approach.
• Broader Personality Assessment:
  • The original personality types (e.g., introversion/extroversion) are complemented by this dimension.
  • The combined assessment provides a richer portrayal of an individual's preferences, behaviors, and interactions with the world.

Understanding Personality Typology

• Traits and Fixed Characteristics:
  • This personality typology shares traits with traditional models, explaining behavior based on opposite fixed characteristics.
• Sensing/Intuition Preference:
  • The typology's foundation is the sensing/intuition preference, categorizing individuals into "N" (intuitive) or "S" (sensing) personality types.
• Basic Divisions:
  • "N" types are further divided into "NT" (scientist, engineer) or "NF" (author, humanitarian) temperaments.
  • "S" types are divided into "SJ" (guardian, traditionalist) or "SP" (performer, artisan) temperaments.
• Primary Considerations:
  • These four divisions are considered fundamental, with other factors (including extraversion/introversion) viewed as less crucial.
• Critiques and Stereotypes:
  • Critics note strong stereotypes associated with professions in this traditional view.
  • Myers and Keirsey didn't engage in stereotyping, but categorization for career guidance could lead to stereotypes.
• Five-Factor View Emergence:
  • Criticisms prompted the emergence of the five-factor view, focusing less on work conditions and more on personal and emotional circumstances.
• MBTI's Design:
  • The MBTI is designed to measure the "shoes-off self" rather than the "work self."
  • Critics propose different dimensions or entirely new theories to enhance personality understanding.

Type A and Type B Personality Theory

• Origin in the 1950s:
  • Developed by Meyer Friedman and colleagues in the 1950s, the Type A and Type B personality theory classifies individuals based on behavior patterns.
• Type A Personality:
  • Describes individuals as intense, hard-driving, and competitive.
  • Type A personalities are often perceived as "stress junkies" due to their high-stress lifestyles.
• Type B Personality:
  • Characterizes individuals as relaxed, less competitive, and generally lower in risk.
  • Type B personalities tend to approach life in a more laid-back manner.
• Coronary Disease Risk:
  • The theory suggests that Type A personalities face a higher risk of coronary disease due to their stress-prone nature.
  • Type B individuals, with their more relaxed approach, are considered to have a lower risk.
• Type AB Mixed Profile:
  • The theory also acknowledges a Type AB mixed profile, indicating a combination of Type A and Type B traits.
  • This mixed profile adds nuance to the classification, recognizing that individuals may exhibit a blend of both behavior patterns.
• Focus on Stress and Competition:
  • Type A's emphasis on intensity and competition is associated with a potential negative impact on health.
  • Type B's focus on relaxation and lower competition is seen as a protective factor against certain health risks.
• Application to Health Research:
  • The Type A and Type B theory has been applied in health research, particularly in understanding the link between personality traits and the risk of coronary diseases.

John L. Holland's RIASEC Vocational Model (Holland Codes)

• Overview:
  • Holland's vocational model categorizes individuals into six personality types, commonly known as the Holland Codes.
• Hexagonal Representation:
  • Represented as a hexagon, the model indicates that adjacent personality types are more closely related than those farther apart.
• Application in Vocational Counseling:
  • Widely used in vocational counseling to help individuals identify suitable career paths based on their personality types.

Six General Occupational Themes

• Conventional ("Organizers"):
  • Interest in problem-solving through organization.
  • Enjoy clear, orderly activities and are detail-oriented, logical, and structured.
  • Examples: Accountant, Credit Manager, Air Traffic Controller.
• Realistic ("Do-ers"):
  • Interest in problem-solving through hands-on activity.
  • Enjoy working with machines, tools, and physical activities.
  • Examples: Law Enforcement Officer, Engineer, Athletic Trainer.
• Investigative ("Thinkers"):
  • Interest in abstract problem-solving.
  • Methodical, original, and logical; enjoy researching and exploring ideas.
  • Examples: Psychologist, Chiropractor, Software Developer.
• Artistic ("Creators"):
  • Interest in problem-solving through creativity and innovation.
  • Enjoy being original, self-expressive, and innovative.
  • Examples: Librarian, Artist, Public Relations Director.
• Social ("Helpers"):
  • Interest in problem-solving by helping others.
  • Perceptive, emphatic, and enjoy working with people.
  • Examples: Social Worker, Minister, Occupational Therapist.
• Enterprising ("Persuaders"):
  • Interest in problem-solving by persuading and motivating.
  • Assertive, outgoing, and goal-oriented.
  • Examples: Chef, Human Resources Manager, Travel Consultant.

Eduard Spranger's Personality Model

• Origin and Basics:
  • Created by Eduard Spranger, this model defines six (or sometimes 6 + 1) basic types of value attitudes.
• Described in "Types of Men":
  • Presented in Spranger's book "Types of Men," originally in German (Lebensformen, 1914).
• Six Basic Types:
  • The model categorizes individuals into six fundamental types based on their value attitudes.
• Application and Revision:
  • Used to understand and categorize individuals based on their core values.
  • Some revisions introduce an additional type, making it 6 + 1.
• Foundational Text:
  • Spranger's work has been translated into English, making it accessible to a broader audience for understanding personality types.

Behaviorist Theories

• Explanation of Personality: Behaviorists focus on how external stimuli impact behavior to explain personality.
• Shift from Freudian Philosophy: Represents a radical departure from Freudian philosophy in understanding personality.
• Key Figure - B. F. Skinner: Developed by B. F. Skinner, who emphasized the mutual interaction of the individual with their environment.
• Model Emphasis: Skinner's model highlights the reciprocal relationship between the person and their surroundings.
• Behavior Formation Example: Skinner proposed that children engage in certain behaviors, like crying, to gain attention, which serves as a reinforcer.
• Operant Conditioning Influence: According to behaviorism, people's behavior is shaped by processes such as operant conditioning.
• Three-Term Contingency Model: Skinner introduced the "three term contingency model," analyzing behavior through the "Stimulus - Response - Consequence Model."
• Critical Question: Focuses on understanding the circumstances or antecedent stimuli that lead to a particular behavior, producing specific consequences.
• Richard Herrnstein's Extension: Herrnstein expanded the theory by considering attitudes and traits, linking them to stable response strengths in the presence of stimuli.
• Traits and Genetics: Herrnstein acknowledged traits having a genetic or biological component in line with modern behaviorist thinking.
• Influence of Ivan Pavlov: Pavlov, known for classical conditioning experiments with dogs, laid the foundation for behaviorism through physiological studies.
• Classical Conditioning Impact: Pavlov's work on classical conditioning significantly contributed to shaping behaviorist theories in understanding personality.

Social Cognitive Theories

• Explanation of Behavior: Cognitive theory explains behavior as guided by thoughts, especially expectations about the world and other people.
• Emphasis on Cognitive Processes: Cognitive theories of personality highlight cognitive processes like thinking and judging in understanding behavior.
• Key Figure - Albert Bandura: Albert Bandura, a social learning theorist, introduced the idea that memory and emotions, along with environmental influences, shape behavior.
• Bobo Doll Experiment: Bandura's famous "Bobo Doll experiment" demonstrated how children imitated aggressive behavior they witnessed, highlighting observational learning or modeling.
• Forces at Play: Bandura emphasized the interplay of memory, emotions, and external influences in shaping an individual's behavior.
• Early Examples of Cognitive Style: Early examples of cognitive style development include Witkin's work on field dependency, Gardner's study on consistent preferences for categorization, and Block and Petersen's research on confidence in line discrimination judgments.
• Baron's Connection to Ego Psychology: Baron connects the early development of cognitive approaches in personality to ego psychology, providing a framework for understanding cognitive aspects of behavior.
• Central Contributions: Significant contributions to the cognitive theory of personality include studies on field dependency, consistent categorization preferences, and confidence in judgments related to cognitive style.

Attributional Style Theory

• Explanation of Events: Attributional style theory focuses on how people explain events in their lives, considering factors like locus of control, stability, variability, and global or specific causes.
• Extension of Locus of Control: It builds upon the concept of locus of control but goes further by examining whether individuals attribute events to stable or variable causes, and to global or specific causes.
• Assessment Scales: Various scales have been developed to assess attributional style and locus of control, including the Attributional Style Questionnaire, Expanded Attributional Style Questionnaire, Attributions Questionnaire, Real Events Attributional Style Questionnaire, and Attributional Style Assessment Test.

Achievement Style Theory

• Focus on Locus of Control: Achievement style theory identifies an individual's locus of control tendency, evaluating whether they have an internal or external locus of control.
• Impact on Academic Performance: Internal control tendencies, associated with persistence, are linked to better academic performance, contributing to an achievement personality.
• Counseling and Educational Impact: Counseling efforts encourage setting ambitious goals, emphasizing hard work and persistence, leading to positive achievement styles in students across various settings like education, workplaces, or justice programs.

Walter Mischel's Cognitive Approach

• Cognitive Affective Units: Walter Mischel's cognitive approach to personality involves "Cognitive Affective Units," considering factors such as stimulus encoding, affect, goal-setting, and self-regulatory beliefs.
• Integration of Affect and Cognition: Mischel's approach integrates both affect (emotions) and cognition (thinking), recognizing their combined influence on personality, emphasizing how individuals process information and regulate their emotions.

Cognitive-Affective Units

• Encoding Strategies: Refers to how individuals categorize information from external stimuli based on their unique ways of processing and understanding.
• Competencies and Self-Regulation: Involves intelligence, self-regulatory strategies, self-formulated goals, and self-produced consequences, contributing to individuals' abilities and self-control.
• Expectancies and Beliefs: Focuses on people's predictions regarding the outcomes of different behavioral options, shaping their expectations and beliefs about potential consequences.
• Goals and Values: Provides consistency in behavior by considering individuals' overarching objectives and personal values that guide their actions.
• Affective Responses: Encompasses emotions, feelings, and physiological reactions accompanying behavior, highlighting the emotional aspect of individuals' responses.

Cognitive-Experiential Self-Theory (CEST)

• Two Processing Systems: CEST proposes two independent information processing systems in humans: the experiential system and the rational system.
• Experiential System: Fast and Emotion-Driven: This system operates quickly and is influenced by emotions, shaping rapid decisions and responses.
• Rational System: Slow and Logic-Driven: In contrast, the rational system operates slowly and is influenced by logic, contributing to well-thought-out decisions.
• Interaction of Systems: The two systems interact to determine individuals' goals, thoughts, and behaviors, showcasing the dynamic interplay between emotional and logical processing.

Personal Construct Psychology (PCP)

• Origin and Founder: Developed by American psychologist George Kelly in the 1950s.
• Therapeutic Approach: Led to a psychotherapy approach and a technique called The Repertory Grid Interview, allowing patients to uncover their own "constructs" with minimal therapist intervention.
• Fundamental Postulate: A person's mental processes are guided by how they anticipate events.
• Construction Corollary: Anticipation of events occurs through construing their replications.
• Individuality Corollary: People differ in how they construct and interpret events.
• Organization Corollary: Each person develops a construction system for convenience in anticipating events, involving ordinal relationships between constructs.
• Dichotomy Corollary: A person's construction system consists of a finite number of dichotomous constructs.
• Choice Corollary: Individuals choose alternatives in constructs based on anticipating greater possibilities for system extension and definition.
• Range Corollary: Constructs are convenient for anticipating a limited range of events.
• Experience Corollary: A person's construction system evolves as they construe the replication of events over time.
• Modulation Corollary: Variations in a person's construction system are limited by the permeability of the constructs.
• Fragmentation Corollary: Individuals may use incompatible construction subsystems successively.
• Commonality Corollary: Psychological processes are similar between individuals who employ similar constructions of experience.
• Sociality Corollary: Understanding another person's construction processes allows one to play a role in social processes involving that person.