Unit V

PERSONALITY
The term “personality” stems from the Latin word persona, which was the name given to the
masks actors wore and the characters they portrayed. The meaning of the word personality
in practice has changed little since classical time for it is still quite common to hear the
comments such as “I do not know what he sees in her, she has a very poor personality“, or
“look at that young man, what a fine personality he has”. Remarks like this make us believe
that personality is thing or quality that is possessed by all of us and we can paste such labels
as fine, good or poor on it on the basis of the physical make up, manner of their walking,
talking, dressing and a host of other similar characteristics possessed by individuals.
However what is believed in this way is quite wrong as the psychological concept of
personality goes far beyond and deeper than mere appearance or outward behavior.

DEFINITION
According to Eysenck, “personality is the more or less stable and enduring organisation of a
person’s character, temperament, intellect and physique which determine his unique
adjustment to the environment”.
The definition given by Eysenck has very strong points in its favor:
• First, it tries to provide personality a physiological base and gives a balanced
consideration to the role of heredity and environment in building one’s personality.
• Second, it gives a complete picture of the behavior by involving all of its aspects
conative, cognitive and affective.
• Third, it stresses the need for integrating and organisation of the behavioral
characteristics and last it aims at making personality somewhat measurable and
assessable and thus gives it a scientific base.
However, on the other hand, it does have some weak points in the sense that human
personality need not be necessarily supposed to possess a physiological base and moreover
we cannot think personality is so static and fixed as advocated by this definition. It is true that
personality should be evaluated on the basis of generality of the behavior but on the other
hand, changes cannot be denied. The person who is an extrovert may turn introvert
depending upon so many intervening factors.

THEORIES OF PERSONALITY: TYPE THEORY

Type theories of personality examines certain broad categories of personality and then groups
individuals based on the similarity with the group. So, this grouping or sets of types are called
as typologies. A type is simply a class of individuals who share a common collection of

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characteristics. For example people who are shy, socially withdrawn, quite are often
categorised as introverts and people who are talkative, sociable, outgoing are classified as
extraverts.

Different Type Theories of Personality: In psychology many theorists have proposed their
Type theory of personality. The following are some of the important type theories of
personality:

1. Hippocrates Type Theory of Personality:

The Greek physician, Hippocrates proposed first theory of personality about 400 BC.
According to Hippocrates the human body consists of four types of humors of fluids – blood,
yellow bile, phlegm (mucus) and black bile. The predominance of one of these four types of
fluids in one’s body gives him unique temperamental characteristics leading to a particular
type of personality summarised by specific behavioral features:
• Sanguine (blood): Cheerful, vigorous, light hearted, hopeful and confidently
optimistic.
• Choleric (yellow bile): Hot-tempered, irritable, angry but passionate and strong with
active imagination.
• Phlegmatic (mucus): Cold, slow-moving or sluggish, calm, indifferent and unexcitable.
• Melancholic (black bile): Bad tempered, pessimistic, deplorable, self-involved and
sullen.

2. Sheldon’s Type Theory of Personality

William Herbert Sheldon proposed a personality type based on body build and temperament.
These typologies are quite famous in psychology. Sheldon called these types as person’s
somatotypes, and also classified them into following:
• Endomorphic: They are fat, soft and round. By temperament they are relaxed,
sociable, peaceful, comfort-loving and tolerant.
• Mesomorphs: They have strong musculature, rectangular and with a strong body
build. By temperament, they are active, assertive, energetic and courageous.
• Ectomorphs: They are thin, long and fragile in body builds. By temperament, they are
brainy, artistic and introvert.
These body type are more like stereotypes which people hold. They are also simple and
limited in predicting behavior.

3. Friedman and Rosenman’s Type Theory of Personality

Friedman and Rosenman were studying the psychosocial risk factors, when they discovered
the following types of personality:
• Type A: People with type A personality are high motivation. They have a feeling that,
time is running out. So, they are always in hurry. They lack patience and also always
feel like being burdened with work. People with type A personality are at high risk of
developing hypertension and Coronary Heart Disease (CHD). They also find it difficult,
to slow down and relax.

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 • Type B: Type B personality is opposite of type A. They not only are relaxed, but can
also be characterised by the absence of all type A traits.
• Type C: Morris has suggested the type C personality type. People with this personality
love details, so use their time to find out how things work. They are cooperative,
unassertive and patient. They also, suppress negative emotions such as anger and
show compliance to authority. People with this personality are prone to cancer.
• Type D: People with type D personality are pessimistic. Therefore, are prone to
depression.

4. Jung’s Type Theory of Personality

Jung has proposed a very recognised typology of personality. He divided people into the
following types:
• Introverts: They are quiet people, who like to spend time alone. Introverts do socialise
and talk with people, but they then need time alone, to recharge. They may also seem
to be shy.
• Extroverts: Extroverts are sociable and outgoing people. So, they like to draw
attention to themselves. And also, choose profession in which they directly have to
deal with people.

TRAIT THEORY
The trait theory of personality suggests that people have certain basic traits and it is the
strength and intensity of those traits that account for personality differences. According to
the American Psychological Association, a human personality trait is a stable internal
characteristic presented through behaviors, habits, and attitudes. Personality traits help
summarise what a person is like and help predict a person's choices.

There are many different theories and methods regarding identifying personality traits.
Individuals will vary in their personalities. Extraversion, when a person seeks pleasure from
external stimuli, and introversion, which seeks pleasure internally, are two famous
personality traits. Trait theory is focused on identifying and measuring these individual
personality characteristics.
For example, if someone asked you to describe a close friend's personality, what kind of things
would you say? A few things that might come to mind are descriptive terms such as
"outgoing," "kind" and "even-tempered." All of these represent traits.

A. Allport’s Trait Theory

In 1936, psychologist Gordon Allport found that one English-language dictionary
contained more than 4,000 words describing different personality traits. He categorised
these traits into three levels:
a. Cardinal Traits
According to Allport, cardinal personality traits are the leading factors that
determine an individual's personality. They will have a strong pull over an

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 individual's thoughts, feelings, and actions. Overall, cardinal traits are considered
rare. Not every person has a cardinal trait. These traits may dominate one’s
personality to such an extent that the person becomes known for those traits only.
Usually, a person has multiple traits that make up their personality. For people
with a cardinal trait, that personality trait will form the majority of the individual's
personality.

When a person does have a cardinal trait, they may be known for displaying that
personality trait. They can often impact other people and how other people
perceive that person. Mother Teresa is a famous example of a person who had a
cardinal personality trait. She was known for her deep altruism. Hitler was known
for his merciless personality. Gandhi was known for his peaceful presence.

b. Central Traits
They come second in the hierarchy. According to Allport, every person possesses
7-8 central traits in varying degrees. These are also called the building blocks of
personality. These general characteristics form basic personality foundations.
While central traits are not as dominating as cardinal traits. To cite an example, a
person being outgoing, sociable, etc. In other words, central traits are those
tendencies that a person often expresses.

People around the person can easily notice these kinds of traits. Are responsible
for shaping personality. When a person describe someone, they are likely to use
words that refer to these central traits: aristocratic, street smart, intelligent, loyal,
dependable, timid, aggressive, shy, etc. One of these is indeed dominant while
others do dominate but do not have the overriding influence on the person’s
behavior.

c. Secondary Traits
Secondary traits are sometimes related to attitudes or preferences. They often
appear only in certain situations or under specific circumstances. Some examples
include public speaking anxiety or impatience while waiting in line.

B. Cattell’s 16-Factor Personality Model

People have long struggled to understand personality, and numerous theories have been
developed to explain how personality develops and how it influences behavior. One such
theory was proposed by psychologist Raymond Cattell. He created a taxonomy of 16 different
personality traits that could be used to describe and explain individual differences between
people's personalities.
Raymond Cattell analysed Allport's list and whittled it down to 171 characteristics, mostly by
eliminating terms that were redundant or uncommon. He then used a statistical technique
known as factor analysis to identify traits that are related to one another. With this method,
he was able to whittle his list to 16 key personality factors.

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According to Cattell, there is a continuum of personality traits. In other words, each person
contains all of these 16 traits to a certain degree, but they might be high in some traits and
low in others.

The following personality trait list describes some of the descriptive terms used for each of
the 16 personality dimensions described by Cattell:
1. Abstractedness: Imaginative versus practical
2. Apprehension: Worried versus confident
3. Dominance: Forceful versus submissive
4. Emotional stability: Calm versus high-strung
5. Liveliness: Spontaneous versus restrained
6. Openness to change: Flexible versus attached to the familiar
7. Perfectionism: Controlled versus undisciplined
8. Privateness: Discreet versus open
9. Reasoning: Abstract versus concrete
10. Rule-consciousness: Conforming versus non-conforming
11. Self-reliance: Self-sufficient versus dependent
12. Sensitivity: Tender-hearted versus tough-minded
13. Social boldness: Uninhibited versus shy
14. Tension: Inpatient versus relaxed
15. Vigilance: Suspicious versus trusting
16. Warmth: Outgoing versus reserved

C. Eysenck’s 3 Dimensions of Personality / Type and trait theory of personality

British psychologist Hans Eysenck developed a model of personality based on just three
universal traits.
a. Introversion/Extraversion
Introversion involves directing attention to inner experiences, while extraversion
relates to focusing attention outward, onto other people and the environment. A
person high in introversion might be quiet and reserved, while an individual high in
extraversion (often spelled "extroversion") might be sociable and outgoing.

b. Neuroticism/Emotional Stability
This dimension of Eysenck’s trait theory is related to moodiness versus even-
temperedness. A stable person’s nervous system will generally be less reactive to
stressful situations, remaining calm and level headed.
Someone high in neuroticism on the other hand will be much more unstable, and
prone to overreacting to stimuli and may be quick to worry, anger or fear. They are
overly emotional and find it difficult to calm down once upset.

c. Psychoticism
Later, after studying individuals suffering from mental illness, Eysenck added a
personality dimension he called psychoticism to his trait theory. Individuals who are

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 high on this trait tend to have difficulty dealing with reality and may be antisocial,
hostile, non-empathetic, and manipulative.

DYNAMIC THEORY
The Structure of Personality
a. Id: The most primitive part of personality
• According to Freud’s psychoanalytic theory of personality, the id is the
personality component made up of unconscious psychic energy that works to
satisfy basic urges, needs, and desires.
• The id operates based on the pleasure principle, which demands immediate
gratification of needs.
b. Ego: The organised, rational, and planning part of personality.
• The ego is the mediator between the demands of the Id and the restrictions of
the real world.
• The Reality Principle is what postpones instant gratification of the Id until the
appropriate time in the real world.
• The ego prevents us from acting on our basic urges (created by the id) but also
works to achieve a balance with our moral and idealistic standards (created by
the superego).
c. Superego: The internal voice representing parental and societal values
• The superego is the component of personality composed of our internalised
ideals that we have acquired from our parents and from society.
• The superego operates on morality principle that works to suppress the urges
of the id and tries to make the ego behave morally, rather than realistically.

BEHAVIORAL THEORY
The behavior perspective, or behaviorism, is the belief that personality is the result of an
individual’s interactions with their environment, including the decisions they make and the
actions they take. Psychologists can pinpoint and connect habits and behavior to predict how
a person’s personality was shaped.
Take John B. Watson’s famous quote on behavior and personality:
“Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up
in and I’ll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist
I might select—doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief and, yes, even beggar-man and thief,
regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his
ancestors.”

How would he do that? Through behaviors. John. B Watson never took a dozen healthy infants
and transformed them into the people he listed, but his beliefs in behaviors were solid. The

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experiences of one infant may lead them down the path toward art, while separate
experiences led another infant down the path of becoming a thief.
The interactions that may form the path of life and the shape of personality include:
• Traumatic life experiences
• Lessons from parents and teachers
• Lessons from movies, TV, and other forms of media
• Relationships

All of the things that we have observed contribute to how we will later behave. Taking every
single interaction that a person has with the world into account can feel overwhelming.
According to behaviorism, these types of conditioning shape all of our later decisions and
ultimately our personality.

Psychologists have categorised behaviorism into two different processes: classical

conditioning and operant conditioning.

Classical Conditioning
Classical conditioning, typically attributed to Ivan Pavlov, focuses on the responses of an
individual to a particular stimulus in the environment. The response is considered automatic
on the part of the individual, with no cognitive interpretation of the stimulus or internal
debate regarding how to respond. Watson, one of the first pioneers of behaviorism, further
studied this form of stimulus-response learning.
In the classical conditioning paradigm, a previously neutral stimulus comes to elicit a response
by serving as a signal for another stimulus that normally elicits that response. Pavlov
conditioned the response of salivation in dogs to the sound of a tone by repeatedly preceding
the presentation of food with the sound of the tone. The tone, originally a neutral stimulus,
became a signal for the food, and thus elicited salivation similar to the actual presentation of
the food.

An American psychologist named John B. Watson showed that even emotional responses
could be subject to classical conditioning. He worked with a child known as “Little Albert,” in
whom Watson was able to condition a fear response to a white rat. He exposed the boy to
images of a white rat and other items. Then, he would make a loud and scary noise when the
boy saw the image of the rat. Soon enough, the boy was classically conditioned to react with
fear whenever he saw any image of a white rat.
There is one caveat in this experiment. Moreover, this response generalised to other stimuli
that were white and furry, similar to the rat. Little Albert also began to act in a similar manner
to other white things. Rather than associating his fear and the loud noise with the rat for being
white, Albert made other assumptions and behaved in an unpredictable manner toward other
objects that he personally associated with the rat.

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Operant Conditioning
The second type of conditioning is operant conditioning. The man that many people associate
with operant conditioning is named B.F. Skinner. Skinner originated behavior analytic theory
based on operant principles, and in fact developed a comprehensive approach to personality
based on these same principles. Skinner focused primarily on reinforcement, which he
defined as any consequence that increases the likelihood of a response. Moreover, the
schedule of reinforcement—the frequency and timing of reinforcement for a given
behavior—has ramifications for the frequency of the behavior’s occurrence, and the
likelihood the behavior will continue to occur in the absence of reinforcement. Extinction of
a response occurs when the response is no longer elicited due to a continuing absence of
reinforcement.

Operant conditioning can also promote the development of more complex behaviors through
a process called shaping. Shaping involves the reinforcement of successive approximations of
a complex target behavior. For example, to train a dog to roll over may require first rewarding
the dog for laying down, then for rolling onto one side, then for rolling onto its back, then to
the other side, and finally back onto its belly. Each step of the process is an end unto itself,
earning reinforcement for the individual, and then becomes only the prerequisite for the
reward at the next step, until the entire series of behaviors becomes necessary for the
reinforcement.

HUMANISTIC THEORY
The humanistic theory of personality assumes that people are basically good and want to
become their best selves. This goodness and motivation for self-improvement is innate and
pushes each person to reach their potential. If a person is held back from this goal, it is due
to their environment and not internal causes.
The Humanistic Theory of Personality states that people are intrinsically good, with an innate
drive to make themselves better. The Humanistic theory is built on the premise of a person’s
self-concept, consisting of their real self and their ideal self. People are motivated by a drive
towards self-actualisation, which describes transforming real self into ideal self. This self-
actualising tendency develops best in an unconditionally positive environment. Importantly,
this theory places extra emphasis on the idea of free will, with the ability to change one’s
personality for the better.

The humanistic theory focuses on a person’s tendency to choose good behaviors. The theory
is formed around the belief that people want to achieve self-actualisation and can do that
with the right environment and help around them. The humanistic theory of personality
focuses on the uniqueness of each person and their efforts to be good and achieve self-
actualisation.
For example, many superhero plot lines have humanistic characters. For example, in Spider-
Man, Peter Parker is brought up in a loving family with unconditional positive regard from his

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family. He is brought up with a strong sense of civic duty and a desire to be a better person.
He is inherently good, and ultimately seeks to become his ideal self in his role as Spider-Man.

ASSESSMENT OF PERSONALITY
Assessment of personality is used to evaluate and draw an inference about the personality
or character of an individual based upon their character traits, emotional stability, belief,
values, coping style, attitude, etc. Personality can be analysed at three levels or strata to
understand individuality. After the three levels are well assessed, the results will be predicted
and explained. Understanding the assessment is the most important in any case study.
Although the predicted result can be confirmed, controversy can be seen in rare cases
requiring more precision. Different personality tests are available if someone wants a clearer
and more elaborate explanation.
Assessment is an end result of gathering information. It contributes to furthering of research
in the area and also helps in making appropriate decisions in regard to which type of test to
be applied and in what manner. Assessment is based on the assumption that each individual
differs from another in regard to the personality traits. Even if they possess the same traits
their behavior will vary in terms of their experiences to different situations and thus a
personality assessment will make this very clear as to what actually contributes to this
difference and what are typical of a particular person’s personality.
Personality assessment serves two purposes – theoretical and practical. Theoretically
personality assessment provides knowledge about different dimensions and aspects of
personality development and provides information about its nature. It provides impetus to
research on personality and help develop new theories about personality.
Practical purposes of personality assessment is to know the strength and weaknesses of a
person. It tells which traits in a person are lacking and what are its implications for his
adjustment with the environment? It provides help in developing intervention program for
persons who need help to overcome some of their personality based difficulties. For example,
if a person is extremely shy and refuses to move with others even though in all other aspects
the person behaves well, it would be worth the while to know what is it in the person that
makes the person so shy that the individual avoids all relationships. For this a personality
assessment will be helpful to understand the fact as to where the problem lies and through
which kind of counseling one can help the person overcome the problem.
Personality assessment is conducted through behavioral observations, paper‐and‐pencil
tests, and projective techniques. To be useful, such assessments must be constructed using
the established criteria of standardisation, reliability, and validity. The information can be
used in several areas, including clinical work, vocational counseling, education, and research.

NEED

• A career counselor administers an inventory in order to help a person choose a career.

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 • A psychologist wants to look at symptoms to possibly diagnose a disorder.
• A school counselor implements inventors to see if a student is suffering from academic
problems.
• An employment counselor uses inventories to see if an individual meets the right
requirements and performance.
• A neurophysiologist administers an inventory to determine the extent of a possible
brain injury.

Methods of personality assessment can be categorised under three headings:

1. Personality Inventories,
2. Projective Techniques, and
3. Observational methods.

RATING SCALE
Rating scales involve recording judgment about the personality traits in some categories.
These categories may be numerical or graphic. Each category has a specific meaning and the
rater expresses his reaction about the traits of the person being assessed through these
categories. These ratings are then statistically analysed and a conclusion about the
personality of the person is reached.

Rating scale is a device for recording the extent to which a person is perceived to have a
defined attribute. It is little more difficult and technical in its construction. The rating may be
self – rating or rating of a particular trait by others. Sometimes, rating may also be done by
team of experts. The rating scales helps us to know the degree or magnitude of a particular
trait of personality present in a given individual.
Usually the rating scales will have three degrees or seven degrees. They are called three-point
scale or five-point scale or seven-point scale. For example, question – do you spend more
money on others or on yourself? This can be assessed on a three-point rating scale – 1. Always
2. Sometimes 3. Never. Five-point rating will have – 1. Always 2. Often 3. Sometimes 4. Rarely
5. Never. Thus a trait can be assessed on seven-point scale also.
However, assessment of personality through rating scales depends on the following factors:
a. Rating scale being used should be sound and each category included in it should
be defined clearly besides the rater should have exact knowledge of it.
b. Rater should know the person being assessed or rated.
c. Rater should have the ability to avoid halo effect and other sorts of biases which
sway the judgment in one direction (positive or negative).

QUESTIONNAIRES /PERSONALITY INVENTORIES

In order to study personality a number of questionnaires or inventories are developed and
standardised by psychologists. Rather than testing general knowledge or specific skills,
personality inventories ask people questions about themselves. These questions may take a

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variety of forms. They are used to study some particular traits like neuroticism, prejudices,
attitudes, etc. Questionnaire method is very easy to administer and to collect data from a
large number of people at a time and this facility is not found in any other method. They
questionnaire (inventory) consists of a set of questions meticulously prepared on the problem
under study. Each question is followed by either by underlining or encircling or putting a right
mark on the answer, which applies to him. In other words, if the trait implied in the question
is found in him, he has to make a mark on the answer YES and if it is not found in him, he has
to make a mark in the answer NO. Thus he has to answer all the questions on the
questionnaire. Some of the popular questionnaires which are widely used are:
• Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)
• Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI)
• Bell’s Adjustment Inventory (student form)
• Cyclothyme – Schizothyme Questionnaire
• Mysore Personality Inventory (MPI)
• Woodworth Psychoneurotic Inventory etc.

• Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory

This is the most popular of all the personality inventories. It consists of 550 statements. The
client has to classify the statements into three categories – True, False and Cannot say. This
classification will have to be made with reference to the self. For example, (1) It makes me
nervous to have to wait. (2) I wish could be as happy as others seem to be. (3) Sexual things
disgust me.
Each item is related to one of the nine clinical scales like Hypochondriasis (HS), Depression
(D), Hysteria (HY), Psycho-pathetic deviate (Pd), Masculinity or Femininity (Mf), Paranoia (Pa),
Psychosthenia (PT), Schizophrenia (Sc), and Hypomania (Ma). Each clinical scale was devised
by first locating a group of psychiatric patients with a specific diagnosis of the disorder. For
example, the item placed in Schizophrenia scale are statistically differentiated from clinically
normal group. The unique feature of MMPI is, that the scale is designed to yield an indication
of its validity for a particular individual. A scale is also designed to assess the extent of
falsification of answers (lie scale). A person who denies the particular behavior is assumed to
be lying.

• Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI)

This inventory has 57 questions. Each question has two alternative answers. The client has to
read each question and indicate his answers by encircling either of the two options. There is
no right or wrong answer, but he has to answer as quickly as possible without spending much
time over any question. He should not take more than a few minutes and no question should
be left out unanswered.
Out of 57 questions 24 questions refer to extroversion – introversion dimension. Another 24
questions refer to neurotic dimension. The remaining 9 questions belong to lie scale. For
example, once in a while do you loose your temper and get angry? Yes. No. If the client answer
is ‘no’ it amounts to a lie.

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• H.M. Bell’s Adjustment Inventory (student form)
This inventory consists of 140 questions. Of these 35 questions refer to home adjustment and
they are designated as a. 35 questions refer to health adjustment and they are designated as
b. Another 35 questions refer to social adjustment and they are designated as c. Finally, the
remaining questions refer to emotional adjustment and they are designated as d. Thus the
questionnaire assesses this adjustment of the individual in four different areas. Each question
is followed by two answer and a question mark namely Yes No ? The client has to read each
question and indicate one of the two answers by encircling it. When he is sure that he cannot
indicate Yes or No answer, he has to encircle the question mark. There are no right or wrong
answers but whatever the answer given honesty is important.

• Cyclothyme – Schizothyme Questionnaire

This questionnaire was developed and standardised by Prof. B. Krishnan of Mysore University.
It consists of 80 questions. Each question involves only two answers either Yes or No. There
is no implication of right or wrong in any of the questions. The client has to read each question
and indicate his answers by encircling either of the two options. No question should be left
unanswered.
The standard answers consists of only Cyclothymic answers (extrovert). The answers are
checked with reference to the key and the number of Cyclothymic and Schizothymic answers
are to be worked out to determine the index of personality. The index of personality is the
number of Cyclothymic (minus) and Schizothymic answers. (1) If the index of personality is
positive (more of Cyclothymic answers) and the difference is 0 to 25, the client is said to be
an ambivert. (2) If the index of personality is positive but lies between 26 to 80, the client is
said to be an extrovert. (3) If the index of personality is negative (more of Schizothymic)
answers and lies between 4 and below the client is said to be an introvert.

PROJECTIVE TECHNIQUES

These methods are based on the principle of projection (a defense mechanism) in which a
person projects his her own inner conflicts, frustration, fears and motives. Projective
techniques assess personality by presenting ambiguous stimuli and requiring a subject to
respond, projecting his or her personality into the responses.

Projective tests are categorised under five headings:

i. Association tests.
ii. Construction tests.
iii. Completion tests.
iv. Choice or ordering tests and
v. Expressive tests.

1. Association tests: Involve presentation of vague and unstructured stimulus and the
person is required to respond what he sees and with what he associates that stimulus.
Word association test and Rorschach test are the two main types of this association test.

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 i. Word association tests: In this test some pre-decided stimuli are presented
one by one to the subject and the subject is required to say the first word that
comes to mind after hearing the stimulus word. For example, when the word
“chair” is pronounced the subject is supposed to say the first word coming into
his mind on hearing this. Freud and Jung are credited with the use of this
technique for personality assessment. Response given by the person are
analysed in terms of the symbolic meaning of the response and the time taken
to respond. Such tests were successfully used by Jung to study emotional
conflict of the individuals.
ii. Rorschach test: This test was developed by Swiss psychiatrist Herman
Rorschach. It contains 10 cards bearing inkblots of varied shapes on them. Five
of the ten cards are in black and white, while the remaining five are colored.
All the cards are presented to the subject one by one. Subject is free to hold,
move and twist the card in the manner he likes. The subject is then asked to
tell what he sees in the card, whether it is part of the card or whole of the card.
All the responses are recorded and analysed according to letter symbols which
are as given below:
a. Location: It tells if the response of the subject is determined by the part or
whole of the blot, W is used to denote the whole of card, D is used to denote
if the response is determined by half of the blot and more, and Dd is used for
response determined by some small details and out of the small portion of the
card. S is used to denote for response determined responding to certain spaces
in between the figures etc.
b. Determinants: It tells which feature of the card is responsible for response. For
example, the subject responds “butterfly”. Now it has to be decided which
feature of the card i.e. form, color, or movement is responsible for the
response. 24 letter symbols are used for this purpose. F for instance is used for
form, C for color, M for human movement and FM animal movement.
c. Content: It tells about the content of the response. If the content is human
then H is used and A is used for animal content.
d. Original response and organisation: Original response means a response
frequently given by people to that card and is called popular response denoted
by the letter P. Once this process of letter assigning is complete, the symbols
are analysed and interpreted. For example, prominence of W responses
indicates that the person has high intelligence and power for abstract
reasoning. D is indicative of ability to see and understand things in a clear
manner. Dd should not be more than five percent of the total responses. A Dd
higher than this is indicative of symptoms of schizophrenia (a psychological
disease).

2. Construction test: These are tests which involve presentation of stimulus upon which the
subject is required to construct some story or construct some other thing. TAT (Thematic
Apperception Test) developed by Henry. A Murray and Christina Morgan is the best
example of this category. It is used to reveal repressed aspects of personality, inner drives,

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 motives, conflicts, needs and themes. It is also used to assess interpersonal relations and
cognition.
The test has 31 cards out of which one card is blank while the other 30 cards bear some
picture on it. However, in any case not more than 20 cards are shown to a person. The
test is administered in two sessions. In the first session 10 cards are shown and in the
second session another 10 cards are shown including the blank one. Blank card is shown
at the last. The subject is asked to write a story on each card. As for the blank card the
subject is at liberty to imagine a picture on it and write a story on it. In the end respondent
is subjected to an interview to ascertain whether the source of the story lies in the picture
shown or somewhere else. After this process is complete the analysis and interpretation
starts. Analysis and interpretation is done on the following basis:
a. Hero: It is believed that the central character of the story is hero or heroine.
Further that the respondent identifies him or herself with the central character
and projects his or her personality traits onto the central character.
b. Needs: Each storey reflects certain needs of the central character. Murray
identified 28 human needs like need for affiliation, approval, achievement etc.
c. Press: This means environmental forces operating on the hero by rejecting or
dominating his need fulfilment or by helping the needs to be fulfilled.
d. Theme: This represents the interaction between the needs and the environmental
forces and how they resolve it. Theme tells about the continuity in the personality
of the individual.
e. Outcome: This tells how the story has been ended whether the end of the story is
decisive or indecisive, positive or negative etc. Decisive end is indicative of
maturity and realistic attitude of the person.

3. Completion tests: In this type of test the subject is usually shown a part of the stimulus
(usually a sentence) and other part of the stimulus is blank which is to be completed by
the subject as he thinks fit. The underlying assumption is that the way subject completes
the sentence will reflect his personality. It was first developed by Rohde & Hidreth in 1940.
For example,
• I often think that…………………
• I wish that………………………..
• Very often my parents……………
The above sentences have to be completed by the subject with whatever comes to his mind
first on reading the incomplete sentence. There are a large number of incomplete sentences
blank, of which the more popular one is of Rotter’s Incomplete Sentences Blank. Based on the
matter used by the subject to complete the sentence, the analysis is carried out and the
responses interpreted.
4. Choice or ordering test: This type of test requires the subject to arrange stimuli in a
particular order or he is asked to select stimulus form amongst the given stimuli on the
basis of some dimension or according to his likes and dislikes. The underlying assumption
in it is that the choice made or order of arrangement will reflect the individual’s
personality traits. Szondi test is the most widely used test of this type. It requires the

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 subject to choose two photographs that he likes the most and two photographs that he
dislikes the most out of six packs of photographs. Thus photos selected reveal the
personality of the person.

5. Expressive tests: Such tests allow the person to express himself through some drawing.
Machover, 1949 is credited with the construction of this test. It has two formats – Draw-
a-person test and House-Tree-Person test. From the drawings made by the person the
drawings are analysed and the personality traits are delineated. A slightly different version
of this test is the Kinetic Drawing Test in which the subject is asked to draw what is going
on in the family and later on the subject is asked to tell in imagination or otherwise what
exactly is happening in the drawing or the picture. For instance, if the subject has drawn
a dining hall scenario, the subject is asked to tell who is saying what and what is happening
at the dining table, who is interacting with whom and how the subject himself is being
treated there etc. From the responses the psychologist is able to interpret what is going
on and in turn the personality of the individual and the conflicts that the person is facing
within the family.

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