Edit with the Docs app

Make tweaks, leave comments, and share with others to edit at the same time.

NO THANKS USE THE APP

Theories of Personality

PSYCHOLOGY CIRC

LE
ONLINE COACHING
 PERSONALITY
PERSONALITY
Syllabus:
 Determinants of personality: Biological and socio-cultural
 Approaches to the study of personality: Psychoanalytical, Neo-Freudian, Social
learning, Trait and Type, Cognitive, Humanistic, Existential, Transpersonal
psychology.  Other theories: Rotter’s Locus of Control, Seligman’s Explanatory
styles, Kohlberg’s theory of Moral

development.
Personality
● Derived from Latin word “persona”, meaning “mask”
● Based on this derivation, we may conclude that personality refers to the
external and visible characteristics, in account to the aspects of ourselves that
other people can see. ● Enduring characteristics
● Personality could be defined as, the unique, relatively enduring internal and
external aspects of a person’s character that influence behavior in different
situations.
DEFINITIONS
● Personality as the dynamic organization within the individual of
those psychophysiological systems that determine his/her
characteristics, thoughts and action (Gordon W Allport)
● Personality permits a prediction of what a person will do in a given
situation. (Cattell, R.B., 1970)
● Personality as a person's unique pattern of traits. (Guilford, JP., 1959)
● Personality is the sum of activities that can be discovered by actual
observation of behaviour over a long period of time to give reliable
information. (John B. Watson, 1920)
 PERSONALITY
● Personality consists concretely of a set of values or descriptive
terms which are used to describe the individual being studied
according to the variables or dimensions which occupy a central
position within the particular theory utilized. (Hall and Lindzey,
1964).
● Personality as more or less stable and enduring organisation or a
person's character, temperament, intellect and psychique, which
determine' his unique adjustment to the environment. (Eysenck,
1953)
● Personality is the integration of all of an individual's characteristics
into a unique organisation that determines, and is modified by his
attempts as adaptation to his continuously changing environment.
(Krech and Crutchfield, 1969)

● The 'unique' organisation of enduring attributes of the individual.

(Sanford and writsman, 1970)
● Personality is the totality of individual psychic qualities, which
includes temperament, one‘s mode of reaction and character, and
two objects of one‘s reaction. (Fromm, 1974)
DETERMINANTS OF PERSONALITY
Each person composes a different personality, and there are different
factors that contribute to it, which is called ‘determinants of personality’
or ‘factors of personality’.
(Initial debate of Heredity Vs Environment)
● Environmental factors and Social factors
The environment, which an individual belongs to, may establish
attitudes, values, norms and perceptions in an individual. It includes the
social circle that a person belongs to, neighborhood, school, workplace,
etc. The process involves the following,
■ Socialization Process: According to P. Mussen,
Socialisation is the process by which an individual
infant acquires, from the enormously wide range of
behavioural potentials that are open to him at birth, those behaviour patterns

PERSONALITY
that are customary and accepted according to the standards of his family
 and social group. It initially starts with the contact with mother and later on
the other members of the family and the social group plays an influential
role in shaping an individual's personality.
■ Identification Process: Identification process occurs when a person tries to
identify himself with some person whom he feels ideal in the

family.
Generally a child in the family tries to behave like his father or mother, or
primary caregiver. Identification behaviour can be examined from 3
perspectives.
1. Identification can be viewed as the similarity of behaviour
(including feelings and attitudes) between child and model.
2. Identification can be looked as the child‘s motives or desires to be
like the model
3. The process through which the child actually takes on the attributes
of the model.
● Biological factors of personality:
It involves hereditary factors, physical factors and brain composition.
■ Hereditary factors of personality: Heredity factors are the ones that are
determined at the time of conception. These factors not only affect the
physical features of a person, but the intelligence level, attentiveness,
gender, temperament, various inherited diseases and energy level, all get
affected by them. For example, many children behave exactly how their
parents do. Similarly, twin siblings also have a lot of things in common.
■ Constitutional factors/Physical Factors: The physical factors include the
overall physical structure of a person: his height, weight, colour, sex, beauty
and body language, etc. Most of the physical structures change from time
to time, and so does the personality, as part of evolution.

PERSONALITY
■ Chemical or glandular bases: The nervous system,
the glands, and the blood chemistry largely
determines the characteristics and habitual modes
of behaviour.
■ Brain: Role of brain in one’s personality development
is significant. Though researchers propose it as an
important aspect in contributing to
 influence in personality, psychologists are unable to prove it

empirically.
The most recent work done with electrical stimulation of brain (ESB) and
split brain psychology, gives an indication that better understanding of
human personality and behaviour might come from the study of the brain.
● Situational Factors:
The situational factors can be commonly observed when a person
behaves contrastingly and exhibits different traits and characteristics. For
example, a person‘s behaviour will be totally different when he is in his
office, in front of his boss, when compared to his hangout with old friends
in a bar.
● Cultural Factors:
It is considered one of the major determinants of personality. The
culture within a person is brought up, is very important
determinant of behaviour of a person. Culture is complex of these
beliefs, values, and techniques for dealing with the environment
which are shared among contemporaries and transmitted by one
generation to the next. Culture required both conformity and
acceptance from its members. According to Mussen, each culture
expects, and trains, its members to behave in the ways that are
acceptable to the group. In spite of the importance of the culture of
the culture on personality, researchers were unable to establish a
linear relationship between these two concepts, personality and
culture. The personality of an individual to a marked extent is
determined by the culture in which he is brought up.

PERSONALITY
● Family Factors:
Family has the most significant impact on early personality development. It
is the family, and later the social group, which selects, interprets and
dispenses the culture. A substantial amount of empirical evidence
indicates that the overall home environment created by the parents, in
addition to their direct influence, is critical to personality development.
 APPROACHES TO STUDY PERSONALITY

PSYCHOANALYTIC APPROACH:
It is the earliest approach to the formal study of personality.
Psychoanalysis as Sigmund Freud conceived it emphasized
unconscious forces, biologically based drives of sex and aggression,
and unavoidable conflicts in early childhood. These were considered the
rulers and shapers of our personality. Major components of the
approach is as follows,
● Instincts: In Freud’s system, mental representations of
internal stimuli, are the basic elements of the personality, or
the motivating forces that drive one’s behavior and
determine its direction. Freud’s German term for this
concept is Trieb, which is best translated as a driving force
or impulse. The instinct is not the bodily state; rather, it is
the bodily need transformed into a mental state, a wish.
Freud’s theory can be called a homeostatic approach
insofar as it suggests that we are motivated to restore and
maintain a condition of physiological equilibrium, or
balance, to keep the body free of tension.
○ Type of instincts- Life Instinct & Death Instinct.
Life instinct refers to the instincts that serve the purpose of survival
of the species, which is oriented towards growth and development. (eg:
food, water, air, and sex). The psychic energy manifested by the life
instincts is the libido. The libido can be attached to or invested in objects, a
concept Freud called cathexis. Freud considered sex as most important life
instinct for personality. (it doesn’t solely meant for erotic, but broadly in
terms of experience of pleasure).According to Freud, erotic wishes arise
from the body’s erogenous zones: the mouth, anus, and sex organs. He

PERSONALITY
identifies people predominantly as pleasure-seeking
beings. Hence much of his personality theory
revolves around the necessity of inhibiting or
suppressing our sexual longings.
On other hand Freud defines Death instincts, as the unconscious
drive toward decay, destruction, and aggression.
Freud has proposed that people have an
 unconscious wish to die. One component of the
death instincts is the aggressive drive, described as
the wish to die, turned against objects other than the
self. Freud identifies aggressive drive as another
compelling part of human nature as sex.

The concept of the death instincts achieved only limited acceptance,

even among Freud’s most dedicated followers. One
psychoanalyst wrote that the idea should be
“relegated to the dustbin of history” (Sulloway, 1979,
p. 394).
● Levels of Personality:
Freud has divided personality into three levels.
● Conscious: Sensations and experiences we are
aware of at any given moment. Freud considered
the conscious a limited aspect of personality
because only a small portion of our thoughts,
sensations, and memories exists in conscious
awareness at any time. He has described mind in
comparison with an iceberg, in which the conscious
is the portion above the surface of the water; merely
the tip of the iceberg.
● Unconscious: it is the larger, invisible portion below
the surface. This is the focus of psychoanalytic
theory. Its vast, dark depths are the home of the
instincts, those wishes and desires that direct our
behavior. The unconscious contains the major
driving power behind all behaviors and is the
repository of forces we cannot see or control.
● Preconscious: It lies between the levels of conscious
and unconscious. This is the storehouse of
memories, perceptions, and thoughts of which we
are not consciously aware at the moment, but that
we can easily summon into consciousness.

PERSONALITY
● Structure of personality:
 ■ Id: The id corresponds to Freud’s earlier notion
of the unconscious (although the ego and
superego have unconscious aspects as well).
The id is the reservoir for the instincts and libido (the psychic energy
manifested by the instincts). The id is a powerful structure of the
personality because it supplies all the energy for the other two
components.

● The id operates in accordance with what Freud called the

pleasure principle; through its concern with tension
reduction, the id functions to increase pleasure and avoid
pain.
● The id is a selfish, pleasure-seeking structure, primitive,
amoral, insistent, and rash.
● The only ways the id can attempt to satisfy its needs are
through reflex action and wish-fulfilling hallucinatory or
fantasy experience, which Freud labeled primary-process
thought.
■ Ego: It is the rational master of the personality.
The aim of Ego is not to prevent the impulses
of the id, but to help the id obtain the
tension reduction it craves. Because it is aware of reality, the ego
decides when and how the id instincts can best be satisfied. It
determines appropriate and socially acceptable times, places, and
objects that will satisfy the id impulses.
● Ego perceives and manipulates the environment in a
practical and realistic manner and so is said to operate in
accordance with the reality principle.
● The growing child is taught to deal intelligently and
rationally with the outside world and to develop the powers

PERSONALITY
of perception, recognition, judgment, and memory; the
powers adults use to satisfy their needs. Freud called these
abilities secondary-process thought.
■ Superego: It is the moral aspect of personality;
the internalization of parental and societal
values and standards. The basis of this moral
 side of the personality is usually learned by the age of 5 or 6

and
consists initially of the rules of conduct set down by our parents.
Through praise, punishment, and example, children learn which
behaviors their parents consider good or bad.
● Those behaviors for which children are punished form the
conscience.
● The second part of the superego is the ego-ideal, which
consists of good, or correct, behaviors for which children
have been praised.
■ Tripartite Theory of Personality
● Anxiety
Freud made anxiety an important part of his
personality theory, asserting that it is fundamental to the
development of neurotic and psychotic behavior. He
suggested that the prototype of all anxiety is the birth
trauma, a notion elaborated on by a disciple, Otto Rank.
The fetus is most secure and stable in its mother’s womb,
having every needs satisfied without any delay. However at
the time of birth, it is thrust into a hostile environment,
requiring to begin adapting to reality because it's instinctual
demands may not always be immediately met. The
newborn’s nervous system, immature and ill prepared, is
bombarded with diverse sensory stimuli. Consequently, the
infant engages in massive motor movements, heightened
breathing, and increased heart rate. This birth trauma, with
its tension and fear that the id instincts won’t be satisfied, is
a human being’s first experience

PERSONALITY
with anxiety. According to Freud, the pattern of reactions
and feelings that will occur whenever we are exposed to
some threat in the future, are created as a result of that.
According to Freud, anxiety is a feeling of fear and
dread without an obvious cause: reality or objective anxiety
is a fear of tangible dangers; neurotic anxiety involves a
conflict between id and ego; moral anxiety involves a
conflict between id and superego. Freud has proposed
three types of anxiety: Reality anxiety; Neurotic anxiety &
Moral anxiety.

Reality anxiety, otherwise called Objective anxiety,

is the first type from which other anxieties are formed. This
involves a fear of tangible dangers in the real world. Reality
anxiety serves the positive purpose of guiding our behavior
to escape or protect ourselves from actual dangers. Our
fear subsides when the threat is no longer present.
Neurotic anxiety has its basis in childhood, in a
conflict between instinctual gratification and reality. Children
are often punished for overtly expressing sexual or
aggressive impulses. Therefore, the wish to gratify certain id
impulses generates anxiety. This neurotic anxiety is an
unconscious fear of being punished for impulsively
displaying id-dominated behavior. This fear is not of the
instincts, but of what may happen as a result of gratifying
the instincts. The conflict becomes one between the id and
the ego, and its origin has some basis in reality.
Moral anxiety results from a conflict between the id
and the superego. In essence, it is a fear of one’s
conscience. Moral anxiety is a function of how well
developed the superego is. A person with a strong
inhibiting conscience will experience greater conflict than a
person with a less stringent set of moral guidelines. Like
neurotic anxiety, moral anxiety has some basis in reality.
Children are punished for violating their parents’ moral
codes, and adults are punished for violating society’s moral
code. The shame and guilt feelings in moral anxiety arise
from within; it is our conscience that causes the fear and
the anxiety. Freud believed that the superego exacts a
terrible retribution for violation of its tenets.

PERSONALITY
Anxiety is a signal that impending danger, a threat
to the ego, must be counteracted or avoided. The ego must
reduce the conflict between the demands of the id and the
structures of society or the superego. The Ego uses few
 strategies in order defend itself against the anxiety
provoked by conflicts of everyday life. Defense
mechanisms involve denials or distortions of reality.
● Repression: Involves unconscious denial of the existence of
something that causes anxiety
● Denial: Involves denying the existence of an external threat

or
traumatic event
● Reaction Formation: Involves expressing an id impulse that is the
opposite of the one truly driving the person
● Projection: Involves attributing a disturbing impulse to someone
else
● Regression: Involves retreating to an earlier, less frustrating period
of life and displaying the childish and dependent behaviors
characteristic of that more secure time
● Rationalization: Involves reinterpreting behavior to make it more
acceptable and less threatening
● Displacement: Involves shifting id impulses from a threatening or
unavailable object to a substitute object that is available
● Sublimation: Involves altering or displacing id impulses by
diverting instinctual energy into socially acceptable behaviors
● Psycho-sexual stages of personality Development.
According to Freud, a person’s unique character type
develops in childhood largely from parent–child
interactions. The child tries to maximize pleasure by
satisfying the id demands, while parents, as
representatives of society, try to impose the demands of
reality and morality. He believed childhood experiences
firmly shape adult personality, and is crystallized by the fifth
year of life. Freud identified strong sexual conflicts in the
infant and young child, conflicts that seemed to revolve
around specific regions of the body. He noted that each
body region assumed a

PERSONALITY
greater importance as the center of conflict at a different
age. From these observations he derived the theory of the
psychosexual stages of development; each stage is
defined by an erogenous zone of the body
Sometimes a person is unable to move from one
stage to the next as the conflict has not been resolved
properly or because the needs have been so supremely
satisfied by an indulgent parent that the child doesn’t want
to move to the next stage. In that case the child is said to
be fixated on that stage. Fixation is a condition in which a
portion of libido remains invested in one of the
psychosexual stages because of excessive frustration or
gratification.

Stages:
○ Oral: It is the first stage of development in Freud’s
theory. It covers babies up to about the age of one
and a half years. The driving force during this stage
is interest and pleasure in activities involving the
mouth (hence the term oral), such as sucking and
biting. Adult oral personality traits that derive from
the oral stage include anything to do with the mouth,
such as smoking, overeating, or biting the nails, and
anything that is baby-like, such as being naïve
(“swallowing” anything you are told) or being
dependent on others.
There are two ways of behaving during this
stage: oral incorporative behavior (taking in) and
oral aggressive or oral sadistic behavior (biting or
spitting out). The oral incorporative mode occurs first
and involves the pleasurable stimulation of the
mouth by other people and by food. Adults fixated at
the oral incorporative stage are excessively
concerned with oral activities, such as eating,
drinking, smoking, and kissing.
The second oral behavior, oral aggressive or
oral sadistic, occurs during the painful, frustrating
eruption of teeth. As a result of this experience,
infants come to view the mother with hatred as well
as love. Persons fixated at this level are prone to
 excessive pessimism, hostility, and aggressiveness.
They are likely to be argumentative and sarcastic,
making so-called biting remarks and displaying
cruelty toward others. They tend to

PERSONALITY
be envious of other people and try to exploit and manipulate
them in an effort to dominate.
○ Anal: This stage centers on toilet training, beginning
around the age of 18 months or two years and
extending up to preschool, about age three. The term
anal, of course, refers to the anus, the rear end. Freud
believed that this stage is crucial in planting the seeds
for a number of adult personality traits. Freud believed
that the experience of toilet training during the anal
stage had a significant effect on personality
development. Defecation produces erotic pleasure for
the child, but with the onset of toilet training, the child
must learn to postpone or delay this pleasure. For the
first time, gratification of an instinctual impulse is
interfered with as parents attempt to regulate the time
and place for defecation. As any parent can attest,
this is a time of conflict for all concerned. The child
learns that he or she has (or is) a weapon that can be
used against the parents. The child has control over
something and can choose to comply or not with the
parents’ demands. Error! Filename not specified.
In the anal stage the child is being toilet trained and is learning to
hold in and to let out at appropriate times. Therefore, Freud
proposed that personality traits related to either holding in or
letting out were formed during the anal stage. The following
traits are known as anal-retentive (finding pleasure from holding
in): neatness, orderliness, punctuality, cleanliness,
compulsiveness, perfectionism, and stinginess. The following
are called anal-expulsive (finding pleasure from letting out):
being undisciplined, messy, disorderly, late, impulsive, and
overly generous.
○ Phallic stage: A new set of problems arises around
the fourth to fifth year, when the focus of pleasure
shifts from the anus to the genitals. Again the child
faces a battle between an id impulse and the
demands of society, as reflected in parental
expectations. Children at the phallic stage display
considerable interest in exploring and manipulating
the genitals, their own

PERSONALITY
and those of their playmates. Pleasure is derived
from the genital region not only through behaviors
such as masturbation, but also through fantasies.
The child becomes curious about birth and about
why boys have penises and girls do not. The child
may talk about wanting to marry the parent of the
opposite sex.
■ The Oedipus complex in boys. The basic
conflict of the phallic stage centers on the
unconscious desire of the child for the parent
of the opposite sex. Accompanying this is the
unconscious desire to replace or destroy the
parent of the same sex. Out of Freud’s
identification of this conflict came one of his
best-known concepts: the Oedipus complex.
Its name comes from the Greek myth
described in the play Oedipus Rex, written by
Sophocles in the fifth century B.C. In this
story, young Oedipus kills his father and
marries his mother, not knowing who they
are. Error! Filename not specified.
■ The Electra complex in girls. During the phallic stage
(ages 4 to 5), the unconscious desire of a girl for her
father, accompanied by a desire to replace or destroy
her mother. Like the boy’s, the girl’s first object of love
is the mother, because she is the primary source of
food, affection, and security in infancy. During the
phallic stage, however, the father becomes the girl’s
new love object. Freud wrote: “girls feel deeply their
lack of a sexual organ that is equal in value to the
male one; they regard themselves on that account as
inferior and this envy for the penis is the origin of a
whole number of characteristic feminine reactions”
(Freud, 1925, p. 212). Thus, a girl develops penis
envy, a counterpart to a boy’s castration anxiety. She
believes she has lost her penis; he fears he will lose
his.
Phallic conflicts and their degree of resolution
are of major importance in determining adult
relations with and attitudes toward the opposite sex.
Poorly resolved conflicts can cause lingering forms
of

PERSONALITY
castration anxiety and penis envy. The so-called
phallic character or personality type evidences
strong narcissism
 Freud described the male phallic personality as
brash, vain, and self assured. Men with this
personality try to assert or express their masculinity
through activities such as repeated sexual
conquests. The female phallic personality, motivated
by penis envy, exaggerates her femininity and uses
her talents and charms to overwhelm and conquer
men.
○ Latency Stage: After resolving the Oedipal conflict
through identification (at about the age of six),
children enter a stage during which sexual urges are
dormant or resting. The term latent means that
something is present or has potential without being
active or evident. During this stage, sexual urges are
taking a recess; they are at a minimum. From about
the ages of 6 to 12, boys typically stick together and
say that they do not like girls, or they act squeamish
around girls. Similarly, girls during this stage are
highly critical of boys, are shy around them, and
avoid them. Apparently, the demands of the
previous stage and the Oedipal drama were so
overwhelming that the unconscious needs a bit of a
rest Error! Filename not specified.
To Freud, Latency is the period from
approximately age 5 to puberty, during which the
sex instinct is dormant, sublimated in school
activities, sports, and hobbies, and in developing
friendships with members of the same sex.
○ Genital stage: This final of the psychosexual stages
arises during adolescence when teenagers begin
again to show sexual interests. This stage leads to
adult affection and love. If all has gone well in the
previous stages, Freud theorized, interest during
adolescence is on heterosexual relationships. This
is a time of exploring pleasure through more mature
love and affection.
The body is becoming physiologically mature,
and if no major fixations have occurred at an earlier
stage of development, the individual may be able to
lead a normal life. Freud believed that the conflict
during

PERSONALITY
this period is less intense than in the other stages. The adolescent must
conform to societal sanctions and taboos that exist concerning sexual
expression, but conflict is minimized through sublimation. The sexual
energy pressing for expression in the teenage years can be at least partially
satisfied through the pursuit of socially acceptable substitutes and, later,
 through a committed adult relationship with a person of the opposite sex.
Stages Approximate Ages Main Features Oral Birth–1 1/2 or 2 Mouth
dependency Error! Filename not specified.
Anal 1 1/2–3 Toilet training, give and take
Phallic 3–6 Oedipus complex, identification, superego
Latency 6–12 Repression of sexuality
Genital 12–Adulthood

● Assessment in Freud’s theory

Development of normal sexuality
■ Free association: A technique in which the
patient says whatever comes to mind. In
other words, it is a kind of daydreaming out
loud. Freud’s development of the technique
of free association owes much to Josef
Breuer, a Viennese physician who befriended
Freud during Freud’s early years in private
practice. In treating a young woman who
showed symptoms of hysteria, Breuer found
that hypnotizing her enabled her to remember
repressed events. Recalling the events; in a
sense, reliving the experiences; brought relief
of the disturbing symptoms.

PERSONALITY
Freud used the technique with some
success and called the process catharsis,
from the Greek word for purification.
Catharsis is the expression of emotions that
is expected to lead to the reduction of
disturbing symptoms. Seeking a technique
other than hypnosis for helping a patient
recall repressed material, Freud asked the
person to lie on a couch while he sat behind
it, out of sight. He encouraged the patient to
relax and to concentrate on events in the
past. The patient was to engage in a kind of
daydreaming out loud, saying whatever came
to mind. He or she was instructed to express
spontaneously every idea and image exactly
as it occurred, no matter how trivial,
embarrassing, or painful the thought or
memory might seem. The memories were not
to be omitted, rearranged, or restructured.
The material revealed by patients in free
association was predetermined, forced on
 them by the nature of their conflict. Error!
Filename not specified.
In free association, a blockage or
refusal to disclose painful memories is called
Resistance.
■ Dream Analysis: According to Freud,
symbolically dreams represent the repressed
fears, desires and conflicts, which is surfaced
during sleep. In his technique of dream
analysis, Freud has mentioned regarding two
aspects - Manifest content & Latent content.
Manifest content refers to the actual event of
the dream & Latent content refers to the
symbolic meaning of the dreams' events. (For
example, steps, ladders, and staircases in a
dream represented sexual intercourse.
Candles, snakes, and tree trunks indicated
the penis, and boxes, balconies, and doors
signified the female body). However having
some universality in symbolization, some are
specific to the person undergoing analysis,
and can have different meaning to others.

PERSONALITY
In both the techniques, psychoanalyst deals with the
repressed content which is expressed in a symbolized manner.
Hence the therapist is needed to interpret or translate the material
to the patient concerned.
EXTENSIONS OF FREUDIAN THEORY
The theorists who accepted Freud’s basic assumptions and tried
to expand and elaborate on his views. The aim was to counteract what
were seen as weaknesses or omissions in the Freudian psychoanalytic
system. Error! Filename not specified.
● EGO PSYCHOLOGY (Anna Freud): Unlike Freud, who worked with
adults with attempt to reconstruct their childhood by eliciting their
recollections and analysing their fantasies and dreams, Anna
Freud has worked with children only. Anna Freud substantially
revised orthodox psychoanalysis by expanding the role of the ego,
arguing that the ego operates independently of the id. This was a
major extension of the Freudian system, one that involved a
fundamental and radical change. She proposed further
refinements in The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defense,
published in 1936, in which she clarified the operation of the
defense mechanisms. The book received widespread praise and
is considered a basic work on Ego Psychology.
● OBJECT RELATIONS THEORY: Outgrowths of psychoanalytic
theory that focus more on relationships with the objects (such as
the mother) that satisfy instinctual needs, rather than on the needs
themselves. Although drive satisfaction is important, it is
secondary to the establishment of interrelationships. This primary
emphasis on personal relations, over instinctual needs tells us that
unlike Freud, object relations theorists accept social and
environmental factors as influences on personality. Object relation
theorist emphasis on the mother-child relationship, suggesting that
the core of personality is formed in infancy, at a younger age.
Although they differ on specifics, object relations theorists tend to
agree that the crucial issue in personality development is the
child’s growing ability to become increasingly independent of its
primary object: the mother. These theorists also

PERSONALITY
see as critical the emergence in the early years of a strong sense
of self and the maturing of relations with objects other than the
mother.
Major proponents of object relations theory are Heinz
Kohut; Melanie Klein; and Margaret Mahler.
o Heinz Kohut: He has emphasised on Nuclear Self, foundation for
becoming an independent person, capable of taking initiative
and integrating ambitions and ideals. According to him the
nuclear self is developed through the relation of infant with self-
object in the environment. These self-objects are people who
play vital role in our life, and as infants we believe that they are
our own parts. Primarily the self-object of the infant is mother.
Kohut suggested that her role is to gratify not only the child’s
physical needs but also the psychological needs. To do this, the
mother must act as a mirror to the child, reflecting back on the
child a sense of uniqueness, importance, and greatness. By
doing so, the mother confirms the child’s sense of pride, which
becomes part of the nuclear self. If the mother rejects her child,
thus mirroring a sense of unimportance, then the child may
develop shame or guilt. In this way, all aspects of the adult self
(the positive and the negative) are formed by the child’s initial
relations with the primary self-object. Kohut did not view his self-
psychology as a deviation from Freudian psychoanalysis but
rather an expansion or extension of it (Siegel, 2001). Error!
Filename not specified.
o Melanie Klein: She emphasized the first 5 to 6 months of a
child’s life, in contrast to Freud’s stress on the first 5 years.
She assumed babies are born with active fantasy lives that
harbour mental representations (images) of Freudian id
instincts, which the images temporarily satisfy. For
example, a hungry baby can imagine sucking at the
mother’s breast and so, for a time, assuage the hunger.
These fantasies in infancy, which Klein called inner objects,
are real and vivid, because infants lack the ability to
distinguish between the real and the fantasy world. As a
 result, infants come to believe that every frustration, every
thwarting of an instinct, is a personal attack inflicted by a
hostile world. Infants relate, initially, only to parts of objects,
and the first such part-object for babies is the mother’s
breast. The breast either gratifies or fails to gratify an id
instinct, and the infant comes to judge

PERSONALITY
it as good or bad. Infants relate to whole objects rather
than part- objects as they grow up. For example, to the
mother as a person rather than solely a breast. The infant
derives pleasure from this whole person (the mother) and
this increases self confidence and the power to perceive
and relate to other people. Thus, all other relationships
develop out of the basic object relationship that began with
the mother’s breast. The adult personality, then, is based
on the relationship formed in the first few months of life.
o Margaret Mahler: (Margaret Mahler, primarily a paediatrician,
observed the relationship that developed between infant and
mother and became a psychoanalyst to learn more about it.).
According to her an infant is incapable of distinguishing
between self and everything else that is not themselves. Hence
initially they identifies mother as part of self. A child’s separate
sense of self develops in three stages: normal autism, normal
symbiosis, and separation individuation. Error! Filename not
specified.
▪ First stage; Normal autism stage: first month of life.
The child is more tended towards caregiver, infant’s
needs are met by the caregiver. For the needs to be
satisfied infant is not needed to exert much effort.
According to Mahler, this normal autism stage is one
of complete narcissism or self
absorption
▪ Second stage; Normal symbiosis: lasts until the age of 4 or 5
months. The infant becomes aware of the objects that
satisfy needs. The primary need satisfying object is mother.
The child is needed to send signals or cues to the mother or
caregiver to meet the needs, feeling hunger, discomfort or
pleasure. The child starts to recognize the mother’s face
and then able to distinguish between self and other objects
in his/ her environment.
▪ Third stage; Seperation-Individuation: last
approximately upto the age of 3. This stage involves
full scale development of the sense of self. The child
begins to separate itself psychologically from the
mother and to form a personal identity. This
separate self becomes the basis for establishing
healthy relationships with other people in adulthood.
 There is a similarity between Mahler’s developmental
stages and Sigmund Freud’s psychosexual stages, in that
identification or meeting the needs from one stage to

PERSONALITY
the next will influence future personality development. The
major difference is that Freud’s stages involve sexual
energy and goals whereas Mahler’s stages involve
investing psychic energy in interpersonal or object
relationships.
Critical Evaluation on Freud’s Theory:
One of the major criticism was on Freud’s research
method, case study, which does not rely on objective observation.
It is not controlled and systematic, nor is it amenable to
duplication and verification. Freud’s data are not quantifiable, may
be incomplete and inaccurate, and were based on a small and
unrepresentative sample. Error! Filename not specified.
Personality theorists criticize Freud for placing too much
emphasis on biological forces, sex, aggression, emotional
disturbances, and childhood events. They also criticize his
deterministic image of human nature, his negative views of
women, and the ambiguous definitions of some of his concepts.
NEO-FREUDIAN APPROACHES
It also known as Neo-Psycho analytic Approach. Neo Freudian
approach emerged in the period of non-classical philosophy. They
agreed upon the Freud’s concepts of the importance of early childhood
and the unconscious mind, but rejected large number of other concepts.
Major proponents of Neo-Freudian approach are Carl Jung, Alfred Adler,
Karen Horney, Eric Fromm, Henry Murray.
CARL JUNG’S ANALYTICAL PSYCHOLOGY
Jung’s theory of personality, called as Analytical psychology
differed considerably from the orthodox psychoanalytical theory. Jung had
disagreements over three major concepts of Freud, such as the role of
sexuality, forces that influence personality and on unconscious.
o PSYCHIC ENERGY:
One of the major concept Jung had disagreement over Freud was the nature
of libido. He has redefined libido. According to him libido is
a general psychic energy which is not just limited to sexual
energy.

PERSONALITY
Jung used the term libido in two ways: first, as a
diffuse and general life energy, and second, from a
perspective similar to Freud’s, as a narrower psychic
energy that fuels the work of the personality, which he
called the psyche. It is through psychic energy that
psychological activities such as perceiving, thinking,
feeling, and wishing are carried out. When a person invests
 a great deal of psychic energy in a particular idea or
feeling, that idea or feeling is said to have a high psychic
value and can strongly influence the person’s life.
Jung drew on ideas from physics to explain the
functioning of psychic energy. He proposed three basic
principles: opposites, equivalence, and entropy (Jung,
1928). Error! Filename not specified.
▪ Principle of Opposition: Jung’s idea that conflict between opposing
processes or tendencies is necessary to generate psychic
energy. Like the physical energy has its opposites or polarities
(eg: heat Vs cold, creation versus decay), psychic energy also
has opposites, every feeling and wish has its opposites. This
opposition or antithesis (conflict between polarities), is the
primary motivator of behaviour and generator of energy. Indeed,
the sharper the conflict between polarities, the greater the
energy produced
▪ Principle of Equivalence: The continuing redistribution
of energy within a personality; if the energy
expended on certain conditions or activities
weakens or disappears, that energy is transferred
elsewhere in the personality. Jung has related the
principle of conservation of energy in physical
principle to psychic energy. He stated that energy
expended in bringing about some condition is not
lost, but rather is shifted to another part of the
personality. Hence if the psychic value in a particular
area weakens or disappears, that energy is
transferred elsewhere in the psyche. The word
equivalence implies that the new area to which
energy has shifted must have an equal psychic
value; that is, it should be equally desirable,
compelling, or fascinating. Otherwise, the excess
energy will flow into the unconscious.
▪ Principle of Entropy: it is a tendency towards
equalization or equilibrium of energy. Ideally an equal
distribution of psychic energy across all

PERSONALITY
structures and aspects of personality. However this ideal
situation is never attained. If perfect balance or
equilibrium were attained, then the personality would
have no psychic energy because, as per the opposition
principle, it requires conflict for psychic energy to be
produced.
o SYSTEMS OF PERSONALITY:
According to Jung, psyche is composed of several systems
or structures which can influence one another. The three
 major systems are, Ego; Personal Unconscious &
Collective Unconscious Error! Filename not specified.
 THE EGO:
● Ego: It is the center of consciousness, which is concerned with
perceiving, thinking, feeling and remembering.
● Attitudes: Jung identifies two opposing mental attitudes,
extraversion and introversion; which determines much of our
conscious perception and reaction to our environment.
o Extraversion: An attitude of the psyche characterized by an
orientation toward the external world and other people. They
are mostly more sociable, open and more connected to the
external world.
o Introversion: An attitude of psyche more directed and
oriented towards self; towards own thoughts and feelings.
They are mostly shy, withdrawn from the external world
As per Jung, humans have the capacity of both attitudes, but
only one becomes dominant in a person; and it tends to direct
person’s behaviour and consciousness.
 Psychological Functions: These functions refer to
different and opposing ways of perceiving or
apprehending both the external real world and our
subjective inner world. (Jung, 1927).
o Jung posited four functions of the psyche:

PERSONALITY
 sensing,
 intuiting,
 thinking, and
 feeling
Sensing and intuiting are grouped under non-
rational functions, as they don’t use
reasoning process. Thinking and feeling is
grouped under rational functions, as they use
reasoning, judgments and evaluations about
environment. Error! Filename not specified.
 Psychological types: Jung has identified 8 psychological
types. It is based on the interaction of 4 psychological
functions and two attitudes. o Extraverted thinking type:
They live strictly in accordance with society’s rules, tend to
repress feelings and emotions; dogmatic in opinion and
thoughts; perceived rigid and cold. More in logical nature.
o Extraverted feeling type: They tend to be high
on emotional and feeling aspect and tends to
repress the thinking mode. They tend to
conform to the moral codes and values the
have been taught. They are sensitive;
emotionally responsive and makes friends
 easily. As per Jung it is more typical of
women than in men.
o Extraverted sensing type: Tend focus more on pleasure,
happiness and on seeking new experiences. They tend
to be more oriented towards the real world and are
adaptable to changing environment. Tend to be more
outgoing with high capacity in enjoying life.
o Extraverted intuiting type: They tend to be
more creative and are attracted by new
ideas. They generally finds success in politics
and business, due to their keen ability to
exploit opportunities. They are more likely to
inspire others to achieve and accomplish,
and motivate others.
o Introverted thinking type: They have difficulty in
getting along with others and has difficulty in
communicating. They tend to focus

PERSONALITY
more on thought rather than feelings, and generally have poor
practical judgment.
o Introverted feeling type: They tend to repress
the rational thought. They are generally
capable of deep emotion but avoid any
outward
expression of it. They seem mysterious and inaccessible and tend to
be quiet, modest, and childish. They seem to be more
reserved. o Introverted sensing type: They tend to be
passive, calm and mostly detached from the external world.
They are aesthetically sensitive, Error! Filename not
specified.
expressing themselves in art or music, and tend to repress their
intuition.
o Introverted intuiting type: They are more
concerned with the unconscious than with
everyday reality. These people are
visionaries and daydreamers; aloof, unconcerned with practical
matters, and poorly understood by others. They tend to have
difficulty in planning for future, and has difficulty coping with
changes in external world.
 THE PERSONAL UNCONSCIOUS:
Jung’s concept of personal unconscious is similar to
Freud’s Pre conscious. The reservoir of material that
was once conscious but has been forgotten or
suppressed, because it trivial or disturbing.
o Complexes: According to Jung, as we get
more experiences in personal unconscious,
we tend to group them as ‘complexes’. A
 complex is a core or pattern of emotions, memories, perceptions,
and wishes organized around a common theme. Complexes may be
conscious or unconscious. Those that are not under conscious
control can intrude on and interfere with consciousness. Some
complexes may be harmful, but some are useful.

PERSONALITY
 THE COLLECTIVE UNCONSCIOUS
The deepest level of the psyche containing the
accumulation of inherited experiences of human and pre-human
species. It is powerful and controlling repository of ancestral
experiences. Experiences that are repeated relatively unchanged
by each generation; become part of our personality.
 Archetypes: The ancient experiences contained in the
collective unconscious are manifested by recurring
themes or patterns Jung called
archetypes (Jung, 1947). Jung has also used the term primordial
images. Error! Filename not specified.
There are many such images of universal experiences, as many as there are
common human experiences. Among the archetypes Jung proposed are the
hero, the mother, the child, God, death, power, and the wise
old man. The major Archetypes are;
 Persona: The word persona means ‘mask’. Jung used the term
to imply that, the persona archetype is a mask, a public face we
wear to present ourselves as someone different from who we
really are. According to Jung it has good effects as well as it can
be also. In the process of wearing a ‘persona’ we may tend to
believe that it reflects our true nature, and it affects the
development of other aspects of personality. Jung describes the
condition of inflation of the persona; i.e the ego may come to
identify with the persona rather than with the person’s true
nature.
 The anima &animus: The anima and animus archetypes refer
to Jung’s recognition that humans are essentially bisexual. On
the biological level, each sex secretes the hormones of the other
sex as well as those of its own sex. On the psychological level,
each sex manifests characteristics, temperaments, and attitudes
of the other sex by virtue of centuries of living together.
Feminine aspects of the male psyche is called ‘anima’. The
masculine aspects of the female psyche is the ‘animus’. Jung
proposed that both the anima and the animus has to be expressed.

PERSONALITY
In other words, a man must exhibit his feminine as well as his
masculine characteristics, and a woman must express her
masculine characteristics along with her feminine ones.
Otherwise, these vital aspects will remain dormant and
undeveloped, leading to a one-sidedness of the personality.
  The shadow: According to Jung it is the strongest of all
archetypes. It contains the basic, primitive animal instincts and
therefore has the deepest roots of all the archetypes. All theError! Filename
not specified.
aspects of personality that society consider evil or immoral
resides in ‘shadow’. We must restrain, overcome, and defend
against these primitive impulses. Shadow is not just source of
evil, but it is also the source of vitality, spontaneity, creativity,
and emotion. Hence if shadow is suppressed totally, psyche will
be dull and lifeless; the personality will be flat. As per Jung, it’s
the ego’s function to repress the animal instincts and allow
sufficient expression of the instincts to provide creativity and
vigor.
 Self-Archetype: To Jung, the archetype that represents the unity,
integration, and harmony of the total personality. . In the self
archetype, conscious and unconscious processes become
assimilated so that the self, which is the center of the personality,
shifts from the ego to a point of equilibrium midway between
the opposing forces of the conscious and the unconscious
DEVELOPMENT OF PERSONALITY:
Jung believed we develop and grow regardless of age and are
always moving toward a more complete level of self-realization.
Jung has proposed specific periods in the overall developmental
process.

PERSONALITY
Developmental stage Characteristics/ Properties
Childhood Ego development begins when the child distinguishes between self
and others
Puberty to Young Adulthood Adolescents must adapt to the growing
demands of reality. The
focus is external, on
education, career, and family. The conscious is
dominant.
Middle Age

A period of transition when the focus of the personality shifts from external to internal in an
attempt to balance the unconscious with the conscious.
Childhood: The ego begins to develop in early childhood, initially
in a primitive way as the child has not yet formed a unique identity.
At this stage it is little more than a reflection of the personalities of
their parents. Parents can have a great impact on the
development of child’s personality. They can enhance or impede
personality development by the way they behave toward the child.
Sometimes, parents might try to impose their personality on
children, wanting them to be their extension, sometimes
pressuring or expecting them to develop different of theirs as a
way of seeking vicarious compensation for their deficiencies. Ego
begins to form largely when the child differentiates between self
and others. Error! Filename not specified.
Puberty to Young Adulthood: It is during puberty, psyche assumes
a definite content and form. This stage has been called as psychic
birth, which is marked by difficulties and need to adapt. From
teenage years to young adulthood – focus should on building
career and family life and accomplishments. Focus of an
individual during these years is external, conscious is dominant,
and a person’s primary conscious attitude is that of extraversion.
The aim of life is to achieve goals and establish a secure,
successful place for themselves in the world.

PERSONALITY
Middle age: It is a period of critical personality changes, and
personal crisis. At this stage success has been achieved, but is
left with feelings of despair, loneliness, emptiness. All the energy
which is left has to be channelized to other interests or hobbies.
Middle age is a natural time of transition in which the personality is
supposed to undergo necessary and beneficial changes.
Ironically, the changes occur because middle-aged persons have
been so successful in meeting life’s demands. These people had
invested a great deal of energy in the preparatory activities of the
first half of life, but by age 40 that preparation was finished and
those challenges had been met. Although they still possess
considerable energy, the energy now has nowhere to go; it has to
be rechanneled into different activities and interests. Turning more
towards the subjective world, becoming spiritual, begin the
process of actualizing the self. If an individual is successful in
integrating the unconscious with the conscious, they are in a
position to attain a new level of positive psychological health, a
condition Jung called individuation. Error! Filename not specified.
Individuation: A condition of psychological health resulting from
the integration of all conscious and unconscious facets of the
personality. It will be helped or hindered by environmental forces,
such as one’s educational and economic opportunities and the
nature of the parent– child relationship. In the middle age, a
person is no longer ruled by either consciousness or
unconsciousness, by a specific attitude or function, or by any of
the archetypes. All are brought into harmonious balance when
individuation is achieved. Of particular importance in the midlife
process of individuation is the shift in the nature of the archetypes.
The first change involves dethroning the persona. Although we
must continue to play various social roles if we are to function in
the real world and get along with different kinds of people, we
 must recognize that our public personality may not represent our
true nature. Further, we must come to accept the genuine self that
the persona has been covering. A greater awareness of both the
destructive and the constructive aspects of the shadow will give
the personality a deeper and fuller dimension, because the
shadow’s tendencies bring zest, spontaneity, and vitality to life.

PERSONALITY
ASSESSMENT:
 Word association test: A projective technique in which a
person responds to a stimulus word with whatever word
comes to mind.
 Symptom analysis: Similar to catharsis, the symptom
analysis technique focuses on the symptoms reported by
the patient and attempts to interpret the patient’s free
associations to those symptoms.
 Dream analysis: A technique involving the interpretation of
dreams to uncover unconscious conflicts. Error! Filename
not specified.
 The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator - assessment test based on
Jung’s psychological types and the attitudes of introversion
and extraversion.
ALFRED ADLER’S INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY
Alfred Adler focused on the uniqueness of each person and denied the
universality of biological motives and goals suggested by Sigmund Freud.
According to Adler an individual is primarily a social being. Our
personalities are shaped by our unique social environments and
interactions, not by our efforts to satisfy biological needs. According to
him ‘the conscious’ is at the core of personality, one is actively involved in
creating oneself and directing their future.
Background: Alder was brought up having inferior feeling due to his
physical condition. He suffered from rickets (a vitamin D deficiency
characterized by softening of the bones), which kept him from playing
with other children. Adler was jealous of his older brother, who was
vigorous and healthy and could engage in the physical activities and
sports in which Alfred could not take part. He felt inferior to this brother
and to other neighborhood children, who all seemed healthier and more
athletic. As a result, he resolved to work hard to overcome his feelings of
inferiority and to compensate for his physical limitations. Gradually he
won his victory and achieved a sense of self-esteem and social
acceptance. In his personality theory, Adler emphasized the importance
of the peer group and suggested that childhood relationships with
siblings and with children outside the family were much more significant.
In 1912, Adler founded the Society for Individual Psychology.

PERSONALITY
Elements/components of Adler’s theory:
Inferiority feelings: According to Adler inferiority feelings are always
present as a motivating force in behavior. “To be a human being means
to feel oneself inferior,” Adler wrote (1933/1939, p. 96). Adler proposed
that inferiority feelings are the source of all human striving. Individual
growth results from compensation, which refers to our attempts to
overcome our real or imagined inferiorities, to strive for higher levels of
development. According to Adler, inferiority begins in infancy – as child
cannot resist or overpower elders around them. Hence feels, inferior.
Adler felt, inferiority feelings are inescapable, but more important, they
are necessary because they provide the motivation to strive and grow.
Error! Filename not specified.
The Inferiority Complex: A condition that occurs when a person is not
able to overcome inferiority feelings or compensate those, leads to the
development of an inferiority complex. According to Adler, people with an
inferiority complex have a poor opinion of themselves and feel helpless
and unable to cope with the demands of life. Inferiority complex can arise
from three sources;
 Organic inferiority: Defective parts or organs of the body shape
personality through the person’s efforts to compensate for the
defect or weakness (For example, a child who is physically weak
might focus on that weakness and work to develop superior
athletic ability.)
 Spoiled child: Over pampering, every need being satisfied. When
attention is not given, and are confronted to overcome difficulties
on own, they believe they may have some personal deficiency that
is thwarting them; hence, an inferiority complex develops.
 Neglected child: Lack of love and security because their parents are
indifferent or hostile. As a result, these children develop feelings
of worthlessness, or even anger, and view others with distrust.
Superiority complex: If the person overcompensates for the complex it
leads to superiority complex. It involves an exaggerated opinion of one’s
abilities and accomplishments. Such a person may feel inwardly self-
satisfied and superior and show no need to demonstrate their superiority
with accomplishments. Persons with superiority complex are
characterized with boasting, self
centeredness, belittling others etc.

PERSONALITY
Striving for Superiority: Adler proposed that we have an urge toward
perfection or completion which motivates each of us. Adler described his
notion of striving for superiority as the fundamental fact of life (Adler,
1930). Superiority is the ultimate goal toward which we strive. Striving for
superiority is not an attempt to be better than everyone else, nor is it an
arrogant or domineering tendency or an inflated opinion of our abilities
and accomplishments. What he meant was drive for perfection. Adler
suggested that we strive for superiority in an effort to perfect ourselves,
to make ourselves complete or whole. It is oriented towards the future.
Adler saw human motivation in terms of expectations for the future. He
argued that instincts and primal impulses were insufficient as explanatory
principles. Error! Filename not specified.
Fictional finalism: Adler used the term finalism to the idea that we have
an ultimate goal, a final state of being, and a need to move toward it.
According to him, we strive for ideals that exist in us subjectively. For
example, if we believe that behaving a certain way will bring us rewards
in a heaven or an afterlife, we will try to act according to that belief. Adler
believed that our goals are fictional or imagined ideals that cannot be
tested against reality. We live our lives around ideals such as the belief
that all people are created equal or that all people are basically good.
These beliefs influence the ways we perceive and interact with other
people. Adler formalized this concept as fictional finalism, the notion that
fictional ideas guide our behavior as we strive toward a complete or
whole state of being. We direct the course of our lives by many such
fictions, but the most pervasive one is the ideal of perfection.
According to Adler, to strive for superiority one needs to invest lot of
energy and effort, a condition quite different from equilibrium or a
tension-free state. It is manifested both by the individual and by society.
Eg: We try to achieve the perfection of our culture. According to Adler,
human beings perpetually strive for the fictional, ideal goal of perfection,
which is attained through the style of life. To attain the goal of perfection,
we work through different behavior patterns. We develop a unique
pattern of characteristics, behaviors, and habits, which Adler called style
of life. The set of behaviours that we acquire in the childhood to
compensate for inferiority feelings constitute our style of life.
Creative power of self: Adler believed that the individual creates the style
of life. We create ourselves, our personality, our character; these are all
terms Adler used interchangeably with style of life. We are not passively
shaped by childhood experiences. Adler argued that neither heredity nor
environment provides a complete explanation for personality
development. Instead, the way

PERSONALITY
we interpret these hereditary and environment forms the basis for the
construction of our attitude toward life. Once the style of life is created,
we carry it throughout our lives.
Universal Problems and basic styles of life:
Adler has identified several universal problems and categorized into 3;
 Problems involving our behavior toward others
 Problems of occupation
 Problems of love Error! Filename not specified.
He has identified 4 basic styles of life in order to deal with these problems;
 The dominant type: Ruling attitude, with little social awareness,
behaves without regard of others, extreme of this type could be
sadists, delinquents, sociopaths etc.
 The getting type: it is the most common human type. Expects to
receive satisfaction from other people and so becomes
dependent on them.
  The avoiding type: makes no attempt face life’s problems, avoids
the difficulties inorder avoid the chances of failure.
(According to Adler the above three styles are not able to cope
with problems of daily life, they lack what Adler came to call social
interest.)
 The socially useful type: it cooperates with others and acts in
accordance with their needs. Such persons cope with problems
within a well-developed framework of social interest.
Social Interest: Adler has proposed the concept of ‘social interest’ which
he defined as the individual’s innate potential to cooperate with other
people to achieve personal and societal goals. It develops innately as per
his view, which goes back to childhood experiences. Adler, says, the
quality of child’s interaction with the mother, can either encourage and
empower social interest or suppress it. It is only when the child feels
connected with other social beings, he will be able to cope with life
demands with courage.
Birth order:
It is viewed as the most significant contribution of Adler, which states that
order of birth is a major social influence in childhood, one from which we
create our style of life. Being older or younger than one’s siblings and
being exposed to differing parental attitudes create different childhood
conditions that help determine personality.

PERSONALITY
 The First-Born Child: Adler believed all first-borns feel the shock of
their changed status in the family, but those who have been
excessively pampered feel a greater loss. Also, the extent of the
loss depends on the first-born’s age at the time the rival appears.
In general, the older a first-born child is when the second child
arrives, the less dethronement the first
born will experience. He believed that first born are characterized
by maintaining order and authority; good organizers, conscientious,
authoritarian and conservative in attitude.  The Second-Born Child:
They always has the example of the older child’s behavior as a
model, a threat, or a source of competition. Adler believed that the
competition with the first-born may serve to motivate the second-
born. They may strive to become competitive or ambitious. Or it can
be less beneficial too, by not being able to surpass the first born, they
may become underachiever or tend to perform below their
abilities. Error! Filename not specified.
 The Youngest Child: Driven by the need to surpass older siblings,
youngest children often develop at a remarkably fast rate. Last-
borns are often high achievers in whatever work they undertake
as adults. However it can also be less beneficial if pampered too
much, they tend to become dependent.
 The Only Child: Only children are likely to experience difficulties
when they find that in areas of life outside the home, such as
school, they are not the center of attention. They can neither
 share nor compete. If their abilities do not bring attention and
recognition they feel disappointed.
Assessment:
Adler assessed the personalities of his patients by observing
everything about them: the way they walked and sat, their manner of
shaking hands, even their choice of which chair to sit in. He suggested
that the way we use our bodies indicates something of our style of life.
 Early recollections: A personality assessment technique in which
our earliest memories, whether of real events or fantasies, are
assumed to reveal the primary interest of our life.  Dream Analysis:
Adler also utilized dream analysis as a major technique for
understanding each patient’s personality. Unlike Freud, however, he
did not focus on sexual interpretations of manifest dream content.
Instead, he believed that a person’s dreams are determined by their
goal of superiority. According to Adler, dreams reflect the individual’s

PERSONALITY
unconscious attempts to achieve personal goals in accordance
with their unique style of life.
 Birth Order Analysis: Adler’s another technique for understanding the patient’s
personality was birth-order analysis. Adler believed that a correct analysis of
the effects of patients’ birth positions on their subsequent behavior would help
win their confidence.
KAREN HORNEY’S SOCIAL AND CULTURAL PSYCHOANALYSIS:
Karen Horney's psychoanalytic social theory assumes that social and
cultural circumstances, especially throughout childhood, have a powerful
effect on later personality. Her theory was influenced by her gender and
personal experiences as well as by social and cultural forces that differed
from Freud. Thus Horney, like Adler, placed a greater emphasis than
Freud on social relationships and interactions as significant factors in the
formation of personality. Her personality theory describes how a lack of
love in childhood fosters anxiety and hostility, another example of a
theory developed initially in personal and intuitive terms. Error! Filename
not specified.
Major components of Horney’s theory:
The Childhood Need for Safety: Horney agrees with Freud that childhood
experiences shape the personality, but, it is the social forces, not
biological forces, influence personality development. Horney focused on
social relationship between the child and their parents is the key factor.
Horney believed childhood is dominated by safety need, which defines
the need for security and freedom from fear. Whether the infant
experiences a feeling of security and an absence of fear is decisive in
determining the normality of his or her personality development. A child’s
security depends entirely on how the parents treat the child. The major
way parents weaken or prevent security is by displaying a lack of warmth
and affection for the child. Parents can act in various ways to undermine
their child’s security and thereby induce hostility. These parental
behaviors include obvious preference for a sibling, unfair punishment,
erratic behavior, promises not kept, ridicule, humiliation, and isolation of
the child from peers. In short, child’s security depends entirely on how
the parents treat the child. Situations mentioned by Horney, where a child
represses their hostility is as follows,

PERSONALITY
 Horney placed great emphasis on the infant’s helplessness.
Children’s sense of helplessness depends on their parents’
behavior. If children are excessively kept in a dependent state,
then helplessness will be encouraged.
 The more helpless children feel, the less they dare to oppose or
rebel against the parents. This means that the child will repress
the resulting hostility, saying, in effect, “I have to repress my
hostility because I need you.”
 The more frightened children become, the more they will repress
their hostility. In this instance, the child is saying, “I must repress my
hostility because I am afraid of you.”  Love can be another reason for
repressing hostility toward parents. Which means, parents Error!
Filename not specified.
tell their children how much they love them and how greatly they
are sacrificing for them, but the warmth and affection the parents
profess are not honest. As per Horney, children are aware that
these verbalizations are unsatisfactory substitutes of love, still
they will have to repress their hostility, because it is what is
available. The child must repress his or her hostility for fear of
losing even these unsatisfactory expressions of love.
Horney says, this repressed hostility, weakens the childhood need for
safety, and is manifested in the condition called basic anxiety.
Basic Anxiety (foundation of neurosis): It is defined as a pervasive feeling
of loneliness and helplessness in a hostile world.
 “Insidiously increasing, all-pervading feeling of being lonely and
helpless in a hostile world” (Horney, 1937, p. 89).
It is the foundation on which later neuroses develop, and it is inseparably
tied to feelings of hostility. Regardless of how we express basic anxiety,
the feeling is similar for all of us. In childhood we try to protect ourselves
against basic anxiety in four ways (self-protective mechanisms):
o Securing affection and love: “If you love me, you will not hurt
me.” o Being submissive: “If I give in, I will not be hurt.”
(complying with others wishes) o Attaining power: Tend to believe
if they have power, no one will harm them (compensate for
helplessness and achieve security)
o Withdrawing: Psychologically withdrawing from other people.
They try to achieve independence with regard to internal or
psychological needs by becoming aloof

PERSONALITY
from others, no longer seeking them out to satisfy emotional needs. By
renouncing the needs, the withdrawn person guards against being hurt by other
 people. These four mechanisms has a single need, to defend against basic
anxiety. As per Horney suggests, neurotics search for safety and security, by
using more than one of these mechanisms and the incompatibility among the four
mechanisms can lead to more severe conflicts.
Neurotic Needs & Trends: The self-protective mechanisms can become
a part of the personality that it assumes the characteristics of a need in
determining the individual’s behavior. Horney termed them as neurotic
needs because they are irrational solutions to one’s problems. Horney’s
neurotic needs could be generally defined as ten irrational defenses
against anxiety that become a permanent part of personality and that
affect behavior.
1. Affection and approval Error! Filename not specified. 2. A dominant partner Error!

Filename not specified. Error! Filename not specified.

3. Power
4. Exploitation
5. Prestige
6. Admiration
7. Achievement or ambition
8. Self-sufficiency 9. Perfection Error! Filename not specified.
10. Narrow limits to life
Error! Filename not specified.Gaining affection Error! Filename not specified.
Being submissive Error! Filename not specified.
Error! Filename not specified.Error! Filename not

specified.Error! Filename not specified.Attaining power

Error! Filename not specified.Withdrawing

PERSONALITY
These needs possess four ways of protecting ourselves against anxiety.
Horney noted that the needs become neurotic when we tend to focus on
only one need and compulsively seek its satisfaction in all situations. She
later revised neurotic needs to neurotic trends. Which refers to three
categories of behaviors and attitudes toward oneself and others that
express a person’s needs. It evolve from and elaborate on the self-
protective mechanisms, it might be seen similar to self-protective
mechanisms. Neurotics are compelled to behave in accordance with at
least one of the neurotic trends.
NEEDS TRENDS
 Affection and approval
Movement toward other people (the compliant personality)
 A dominant partner
 Continuous need for affection and approval, an urge to be loved, wanted, and
protected. Error! Filename not specified.
 manipulate other people, particularly their partners, to achieve their goals (dominant)
 live up to others’ ideals and expectations
 subordinate their personal desires; never being assertive, critical, or demanding
 attitude toward themselves - consistently one of helplessness and weakness.
 Power  Exploitation  Prestige  Admiration  Achievement
Movement against other people (the aggressive personality)  According to them, everyone
is hostile; only the fittest and most cunning survive
 Have no regard for others
 They judge everyone in terms of the benefit they will receive from the relationship.
 Argue, criticize, demand, and do whatever is necessary to achieve and retain superiority
and power.
 Self-sufficiency  Perfection

PERSONALITY
 Drive themselves hard to become the best; therefore, they may actually be highly
successful in their careers.
Movement away from other people (the detached personality)  An intense need for privacy.
 Narrow limits to life
 They must not love, hate, or cooperate with others or become involved in any way. To
achieve this total detachment, they strive to become self-sufficient.  Cannot be
influenced Error! Filename not specified.
 They believe their greatness should be recognized automatically, without struggle or effort
on their part.  Detached personalities suppress or deny all feelings toward other people,
particularly feelings of love and hate.
As per Horney, The dominant neurotic trend is the one that determines
the person’s behaviors and attitudes toward others. In other words, one
of the trend would be dominant, and other two are present in lesser
degree, or the other two are repressed actively. Any indication that a
repressed trend is pushing for expression causes conflict within the
individual. Conflict is referred to as incompatibility of the three neurotic
trends, and this this conflict is identified as core of neurosis.
Idealized self-image: Horney proposed that, people, normal or neurotic,
construct a picture of ourselves that may or may not be based on reality.
In normal people it is constructed on a realistic appraisal of our abilities,
potentials, weaknesses, goals, and relations with other people. Neurotic
persons, who experience conflict between incompatible modes of
behavior, have personalities characterized by disunity and disharmony.
They tend to construct an idealized self-image to unify the personality
same as normal persons do. But their attempt is doomed to failure
because their self-image is not based on a realistic appraisal of personal
strengths and weaknesses; instead, it is based on an illusion, an
unattainable ideal of absolute perfection.
To attempt to realize their unrealistic idealized self, neurotic
people engage in the tyranny of the shoulds; (for example: they should
be the best or most perfect student, spouse, parent, lover,

PERSONALITY
employee, friend, or child.). They then tend to deny their real selves and
try to become what they think they should be or what they need to be to
match their idealized self-image. Although the neurotic or idealized self-
image does not coincide with reality, it is real and accurate to the person
who created it. The neurotic’s self-image is an unsatisfactory substitute
for a reality-based sense of self-worth.
Neurotics attempt to defend themselves against the inner conflicts
caused by the discrepancy between idealized and real self-images
through externalization; a way to defend against the conflict caused by
the discrepancy between an idealized and a real self-image by projecting
the conflict onto the outside world. This process may temporarily alleviate
the anxiety caused by the conflict but will do nothing to reduce the gap
between the idealized self-image and reality. Error! Filename not
specified.
Seven defenses:
Horney described seven defenses used by neurotics to help them cope
with their inner conflicts and with disturbances in their interpersonal
relationships (Horney, 1945) 1. Blind spots: Neurotics seem to have
blind spots, areas in which obvious contradictions are blotted out or
ignored. The reason, according to Horney, is that neurotics are often
inordinately numb to their own experiences.
2. Compartmentalization: It involves the separation of beliefs or
actions into categories (compartments), so that they do not appear
inconsistent with one another. 3. Rationalization: It uses plausible
excuses to justify one’s perceived weaknesses or failures. It is a kind
of self-deception.
4. Excessive self-control: compulsive need to restrict expression of
emotions 5. Arbitrary rightness: they attempt to settle all disputes by
declaring dogmatically that they are correct.
6. Elusiveness: they deny ever having made the statement or
claim that the other person misinterpreted their meaning.
7. Cynicism: involves a denying and deriding of moral values.
They believe that people are not to be trusted, and that they
can do whatever they please as long as they are not caught.

PERSONALITY
Other important concepts:
 Feminine psychology, 1922: To Horney, a revision of
psychoanalysis to encompass the psychological conflicts inherent in
the traditional ideal of womanhood and women’s roles  Womb envy:
The envy a male feels toward a female because she can bear
children and he cannot. Womb envy was Horney’s response to
Freud’s concept of penis envy in females.
Her position on this issue was based on the pleasure she had
experienced in childbirth  Assessment methods involve; Dream
analysis and free association
ERIC FROMM: Error! Filename not specified.
Erich Fromm's humanistic psychoanalysis looks at people from the
perspective of psychology, history, and anthropology. In contrast to
Freud’s biological orientation, Fromm developed his theory from a social
orientation. He viewed human beings as basically social beings who
could be understood in terms of their relationship with others. He argued
that psychological qualities such as growth and realization of potentials
resulted from a desire for freedom, and striving for justice and truth.
Fromm believed that humans have been torn absent from their
prehistoric union with nature and left with no powerful instincts to adapt to
a changing world. But because humans have acquired the skill to cause,
they can think in relation to their isolated condition-a situation Fromm
described the human dilemma.
Human needs: Fromm believed our human dilemma can only be
addressed through fulfilling our uniquely human needs, an
accomplishment that moves us toward a reunion with the natural world.
He has identified 5 human or existential needs – Basic psychological
needs;
1. Relatedness: First is relatedness, which can take the form of
(1) submission, (2) power, and (3) love. Love, or the skill to
unite with another while retaining one's own individuality and
integrity, is the only relatedness need that can solve our basic
human dilemma.
2. Transcendence: Being thrown into the world without their
consent, humans have to transcend their nature through
destroying or creating people or things. Humans can destroy
through malignant aggression, or killing for reasons other than
survival, but they can also make and care in relation to their
creations.
3. Rootedness: Rootedness is the need to establish roots and to
feel at home again in the world. Productively, rootedness
enables us to grow beyond the security of our mother

PERSONALITY
and establish ties with the outside world. With the
nonproductive strategy, we become fixated and afraid to move
beyond the security and safety of our mother or a mother
substitute.
4. Sense of Identity: The fourth human need is for a sense of identity, or an
awareness of ourselves as a separate person. The drive for a sense of
identity is expressed nonproductively as conventionality to a group and
productively as individuality.
5. Frame of Orientation: Through frame of orientation, Fromm
meant a road map or constant philosophy through which we
find our method through the world. This need is expressed
nonproductively as a striving for irrational goals and
productively as movement toward rational goals. Error!
Filename not specified.
Burden of freedom: Fromm has described humans as "freaks of the
universe." According to him, historically, as people gained more political
freedom, they began to experience more isolation from others and from
the world and to feel free from the security of a permanent place in the
world. As a result, freedom becomes a burden, and people experience
basic anxiety, or a feeling of being alone in the world.
  Mechanisms of Escape: To reduce the frightening sense of isolation
and aloneness, people may adopt one of three mechanisms of
escape:
1. Authoritarianism, or the tendency to provide up one's independence and to
unite
with a powerful partner;
2. Destructiveness, an escape mechanism aimed at doing absent with other
people
or things;
3. Conventionality, or surrendering of one's individuality in order to
meet the wishes of others.
 Positive Freedom: The human dilemma can only be solved through
positive freedom, which is the spontaneous activity of the whole,
integrated personality, and which is achieved when a person
becomes reunited with others.
Personality Development in Childhood: According to Fromm, the history
of the species is repeated in the childhood of each human being. As
children grow, they achieve increasing freedom and independence from
their parents. Infants know little freedom but are secure in their
dependent

PERSONALITY
relationship. However, the less dependent children become, especially on
the primary ties with the mother, the less secure they feel. Because the
normal maturation process involves some isolation and helplessness,
children will attempt to regain the security of infancy and escape their
growing freedom. The nature of the parent–child relationship determines
the mechanism the child employs. Fromm proposes three forms of
interpersonal relatedness between parent and child:
1. Symbiotic relatedness: A childhood mechanism for
regaining security in which children remain close to and
dependent on their parents.
2. Withdrawal-destructiveness: A childhood mechanism for
regaining security in which children distance themselves
from their parents Error! Filename not specified.
3. Love: A form of parent–child interaction in which parents
provide respect and a balance between security and
responsibility.
Fromm agreed with Freud that the first 5 years of life are important, but
Fromm did not believe that personality is fixed by the age of 5. Instead,
he asserted that later events could also influence personality.
The Productive and Nonproductive Character Types:
Fromm proposed a number of character or personality types that underlie
human behavior and describe how we relate or orient ourselves to the
real world. Pure forms of these types are rare; most personalities are a
combination of types, although one is usually dominant. People relate to
the world through acquiring and using things (assimilation) and through
relating to self and others (socialization), and they can do so either
nonproductively or productively.
 Nonproductive orientations: they are unhealthy ways of relating to
the world. Fromm recognized four nonproductive strategies that
fail to move people closer to positive freedom and self-realization.
The nonproductive orientations in his original formulation are the
 Receptive: they consider that the source of all good
lies outside themselves and that the only method
they can relate to the world is to receive things,
including love, knowledge, and material objects
 Exploitative: consider that the source of good lies
outside themselves, but they aggressively take what
they want rather than passively getting it.

PERSONALITY
 Hoarding: try to save what they have already obtained, including their
opinions, feelings, and material possessions.
 Marketing type: see themselves as commodities and value themselves
against the criterion of their skill to sell themselves.
 The productive type or orientation is the ideal state of human
development. Psychologically healthy people work toward positive
freedom through productive work, love, and reasoning. Productive
love necessitates a passionate love of all life and is described
biophilia. Error! Filename not specified.
Fromm later proposed 4 additional character types.
 Necrophilous (a nonproductive orientation) - A character type
attracted to inanimate objects and to things associated with death.
 Biophilous (a productive orientation) - A character type congruent
with the productive orientation; this type is concerned with
personal growth and development.
 Having (a nonproductive orientation) - A character type in which the
definition and meaning of one’s life lies in possessions, in what one
has rather than what one is.  Being (a productive orientation) - A
character type in which people define themselves in terms of what
they are, not in terms of what they have; their self-worth comes from
within, not from comparing themselves with others.
Fromm’s image of human nature is optimistic. We have the ability to shape our
personality and society. Life’s ultimate, innate goal is the realization of our
potentialities and capacities.
ERIK ERIKSON’S PSYCHOANALYTIC EGO PSYCHOLOGY
Erikson’s position represents a systematic extension and
liberalization of Freud’s view of the role of the ego in personality
functioning. Erikson proposed that the ego often operates independently
of id emotions and motivations. In his view, portions of the ego are
neither defensive in nature nor concerned with the control of biological
urges. Instead, the ego often functions to help individuals adapt
constructively to the challenges presented by their surroundings. It
provides a more positive view of personality, in which the ego has
 organizing and synthesizing functions that help people resolve inner
conflicts as well as environmental challenges. Ego psychology, according
to Erikson emphasizes the integration of biological and psychosocial
forces in the

PERSONALITY
determination of personality functioning. It gives special attention to the
unique interpersonal, cultural, and historical context within which people
face a common series of developmental crises. According to him, each
culture has evolved unique ways of helping individuals resolve their
crises so that their egos can be strengthened.
The Epigenetic principle:
Erikson has proposed that human development is governed by
epigenetic principle; that development occurs in a series of stages,
universal to humankind, that unfold in a predetermined sequence.
Erikson has placed greater emphasis on the growth and positive
functioning of the ego (ego development occurs throughout the life time).
Error! Filename not specified.
Stages of Psychosocial Development:
Each of the eight stages of development is marked through a conflict
flanked by a syntonic (harmonious) element and a dystonic (disruptive)
element, which produces a basic strength or ego quality. Each stage,
according to Erikson, is marked by a particular psychosocial crisis, or
turning point; a crucial period in which a decisive turn one way or another
is unavoidable (Erikson, 1964). Crises are moments of decision between
progress and regression in development.
Erikson optimistically believed that the general tendency in human
nature is toward the resolution of crises in a way that moves people
toward a strong self-identity. Whether these crises are resolved
satisfactorily depends to a considerable degree on the quality of the
individual’s psychosocial experiences. An inability to resolve a crisis at a
given stage reduces the chances of successful adaptation during
succeeding stages. Thus, the stages are interrelated and interdependent
(Erikson, 1963).
In describing ego strength, Erikson used the term virtue, meaning
“inherent strength or active quality.” Virtues are human qualities or
strengths that emerge from successful resolution of the crises associated
with various developmental stages (Erikson, 1964)

PERSONALITY
Stage Estimated age Ego crisis Ego Strength
1. Oral-sensory Birth–1 Basic trust vs. Hope
mistrust
2. Muscular-anal 2–3 Autonomy vs. shame Will
and doubt
3. Locomotor
4–5 Initiative vs. guilt Purpose
genital Error! Filename not specified.
 4. Latency 6–12 Industry vs. Competence
inferiority
5. Adolescence 13–19 Identity vs. role Fidelity
confusion
6. Young adulthood 20–24 Intimacy vs. isolation Love
7. Middle adulthood 25–64 Generativity vs. Care
stagnation
Wisdom
8. Late adulthood
65–death Ego integrity vs.
despair

(Source: Erikson, 1963.)

Assessments:
 Play Constructions: A personality assessment technique for
children in which structures assembled from dolls, blocks, and
other toys are analyzed.
 Psycho historical analysis: Erikson combined the methods of
psychoanalysis and historical research to study many
personalities, most notably Gandhi and Luther. In both cases, the

PERSONALITY
central figure experienced an identity crisis that produced a basic
strength rather than a core pathology.
 Anthropological studies: Erikson's two most significant
anthropological studies were of the Sioux of South Dakota and the
Yurok tribe of northern California. Both studies demonstrated his
notion that culture and history help shape personality.
TRAIT THEORIES
Trait theory is one of the major approaches to the study of human
personality. In the framework of this approach, personality traits are
defined as habitual patterns of behaviour, thought, and emotion that are
manifest in a wide range of situations. The most important features of
traits are relative stability over time, different degrees of expression in
different individuals, and influence on behaviour. Error! Filename not
specified.
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 these broad
dispositions. Unlike many other theories of personality, such as psychoanalytic
or humanistic theories, the trait approach to personality is focused on
differences between individuals. The combination and interaction of various
traits form a personality that is unique to each individual. Trait theory is focused
on identifying and measuring these individual personality characteristics.
 GORDON ALLPORT:
 Gordon Allport was a pioneer in the study of personality traits, which
he referred to as dispositions. Allport considered personality traits to
be predispositions to respond, in the same or a similar manner, to
different kinds of stimuli. In other words, traits are consistent and
enduring ways of reacting to our environment. He summarized the
characteristics of traits as follows (Allport, 1937);
1. Personality traits are real and exist within each of us.
They are not theoretical constructs or labels made up to
account for behavior.

PERSONALITY
2. Traits determine or cause behavior. They do not arise only in response to
certain
stimuli. They motivate us to seek appropriate stimuli, and they interact with the
environment to produce behavior.
3. Traits can be demonstrated empirically. By observing behavior over time, we
can infer the existence of traits in the consistency of a person’s responses to
the
same or similar stimuli.
4. Traits are interrelated; they may overlap, even though they represent
different
characteristics. For example, aggressiveness and hostility are distinct
but Error! Filename not specified.
related traits and are frequently observed to occur together in a person’s
behavior.
5. Traits vary with the situation. For example, a person may display the trait of
neatness in one situation and the trait of disorderliness in another situation.
Earlier, Allport has proposed two types of traits; individual and common.
 Individual traits are unique to a person and define his or her character.
 Common traits are shared by a number of people, such as the members of a
culture. Common traits are also likely to change over time as social
standards and values change, which is subject to social, environmental and
cultural differences.
Later he realized that calling both concepts as traits, can cause
confusions. He then revised the terminologies, and relabeled common
traits as traits and individual traits as personal dispositions.
Personal Dispositions: Traits that are peculiar to an individual, as opposed to
traits shared by a number of people. According to Allport, our personal
dispositions do not all have the same intensity or significance. They may be
cardinal traits, central traits, or secondary traits.
o Cardinal traits: The most pervasive and powerful human
traits. They tend to define a person to such an extent that
their names become synonymous with their
personality. Allport described it as a “ruling passion,” a powerful force that
dominates behavior. He offered the examples of sadism and
chauvinism.

PERSONALITY
 o Central traits: The handful of outstanding traits that describe
a person’s behavior. These general characteristics form
basic personality foundations. While central traits are not
as dominating as cardinal traits, they describe the major
characteristics you might use to describe another person.
Terms such as "intelligent," "honest," "shy," and "anxious"
are considered central traits.
o Secondary traits: The least important traits, which a person
may display inconspicuously and inconsistently. 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. Error!
Filename not specified.
Functional Autonomy of motives: proposes that the motives of
mature, emotionally healthy adults are not functionally connected
to the prior experiences in which they initially appeared. Forces
that motivated us early in life become autonomous, or
independent, of their original circumstances. Similarly, when we
mature, we become independent of our parents. Allport has put
forward two levels of functional autonomy;
 Perseverative functional autonomy: The level of functional
autonomy that relates to low-level and routine behaviors, or habitual
ways of performing some everyday task
 Propriate functional autonomy: The level of functional autonomy
that relates to our values, self-image, and lifestyle; which is essential
to the understanding of adult motivation.
Personality Development:
o According to Allport, personality development centers on the
concept of the self. Allport chose the term proprium for the
self or ego. He rejected the words self and ego because of
the diversity of meanings ascribed to them by other
theorists. Allport used it to mean a sense of what is
“peculiarly ours,” including “all aspects of personality that
make for inward unity” (Allport, 1955).
o According to him, proprium, or self, develops continuously
from infancy to death and moves through a series of
stages.

PERSONALITY
o Allport described the nature and development of the
proprium over seven stages from infancy through
adolescence.
o Before the proprium begins to emerge, the infant
experiences no self consciousness, no awareness of self.
There is not yet a separation of “me” from everything else.
 o Allport described infants as pleasure seeking, destructive,
selfish, impatient, and dependent. He called them
“unsocialized horrors.”
Error! Filename not specified.Error! Filename not specified.

PERSONALITY
Psychologically Healthy Personality/ Healthy Adult personality: As
per Allport reports, people are motivated through both the need to
adjust to their environment and to grow toward psychological
health; that is, people are both reactive and proactive. The healthy
personality changes from being a biologically dominated organism
in infancy to a mature psychological organism in adulthood.
Nevertheless, psychologically healthy persons are more likely to
engage in proactive behaviors. Allport has proposed six criteria for
the normal, mature, emotionally healthy, adult personality; 1. An
extension of the sense of self Error! Filename not specified.
2. Warm relationships with others
3. Emotional security or self-acceptance
4. A realistic view of the world
5. Insight and humor (self-objectification; an
understanding of or insight into the self)
6. A unifying philosophy of life (directing the personality
toward future goals) Successfully meeting these criteria, adults
can be described as emotionally healthy and functionally
autonomous, independent of childhood motives.
CATTELL’S STRUCTURE-BASED SYSTEMS THEORY: Cattell’s
structure-based systems theory considers personality as a system in
relation to the environment, and seeks to explain the complicated
transactions between them as they produce change and sometimes
growth in the person.
 Cattell’s approach to theory building was to begin with
empirical observation and description and, on this basis, to
generate a tentative rough hypothesis. From this
hypothesis is derived an experiment for testing it
empirically. The resulting observations, or experimental
data, are used to generate a more precise hypothesis, from
which the investigator deduces a new experiment to test it.
New data are collected, and the process begins again.
Cattell called this process the inductive
hypothetico-deductive spiral.
 To study multiple-variable problems, Cattell relied heavily on
factor analysis; defined as highly complicated statistical
procedure used to isolate and identify a

PERSONALITY
limited number of factors that underlie a larger group of observed, interrelated
variables. Factor analysis has a number of forms, but most of Cattell’s work
relied
 on two of them: the R technique and the P technique.
o R technique: most common form of factor analysis; usually involves giving
large groups of study participants a variety of personality tests and then
intercorrelating their scores.
o P technique: designed to discover the unique trait structure of a single
individual (Cattell, 1961). It involves testing the individual repeatedly
over Error! Filename not specified.
a period of time on a number of personality traits
 Cattell defined personality as “that which tells what [a
person] will do when placed in a given situation” (Cattell,
1965)
o R = f (S, P)
The behavioral response (R) of a person is a function (f) of the situation (S)
confronted and the individual’s personality (P)
Traits-categorization:
Cattell has defined traits, as relatively permanent and broad reaction
tendencies and serve as the building blocks of personality. He has
categorized traits in different ways. 1. Common Traits and Unique
Traits:
a. Common traits: Traits possessed in some degree by all persons. Eg:
Intelligence, extraversion, and gregariousness. Everyone has these
traits, but some people have them to a greater extent than others.
b. Unique traits: Traits possessed by one or a few persons. Unique
traits are particularly apparent in our interests and attitudes. For
example, a liking for politics or an interest in baseball
2. Ability, Temperament, and Dynamic Traits
a. Ability traits: Traits that describe our skills and how efficiently we
will be able to work toward our goals.
b. Temperament traits: Our emotions and feelings (whether we are
assertive, fretful, or easygoing, for example) help determine how we

PERSONALITY
react to the people and situations in our environment. General
responding style.
c. Dynamic traits: Traits that describe our motivations and interests.
Driving forces of behaviour.
3. Surface Traits and Source Traits (classified based on their stability and
permanence)
a. Surface traits: Traits that show a correlation but do not constitute a
factor because they are not determined by a single source (For Error!
Filename not specified.
example, several behavioral elements such as anxiety, indecision,
and irrational fear combine to form the surface trait labeled
neuroticism.)
b. Source traits: Stable, permanent traits that are the basic factors of
personality, derived by the method of factor analysis.
4. Constitutional Traits and Environmental-Mold Traits (classified based on
their origin)
 a. Constitutional traits: Source traits that depend on our physiological
characteristics. (eg: behaviors that result from drinking too much
alcohol)
b. Environmental-mold traits: Source traits that are learned from social
and environmental interactions; behaviors that result from the
influence of our friends, work environment, or neighborhood.
Source Traits: The Basic Factors of Personality (primary factors):
According to Cattell, any attempt to discover the major source traits or
primary factors of personality must begin with an adequate inventory of
all the personality traits that can be used to describe individuals. He
called this total domain of personality traits the personality sphere.
Cattell, analyzed 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

PERSONALITY
analysis to identify traits that are related to one another. With this
method, Cattell identified 16 source traits as the basic factors of
personality (Cattell, 1965). These factors are best known in the form in
which they are most often used, in an objective personality test called the
Sixteen Personality Factor (16 PF) Questionnaire.
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 Error! Filename not
specified.
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
In Cattell’s system, source traits are the basic elements of personality
just as atoms are the basic units of the physical world. He argued that
psychologists cannot understand or generate laws about personality
without describing precisely the nature of these elements.

PERSONALITY
Cattell’s source traits (factors) of personality
Error! Filename not specified.Error! Filename not specified.Error!
Filename not specified.
Dynamic Traits: The Motivating Forces
Cattell’s concept of dynamic traits are concerned with motivation. According to
him a personality theory that failed to consider the impact of dynamic, or
motivating, forces is incomplete. It contains, attitudes, ergs, and sems;
 Attitudes: An attitude refers to a specific course of action, or desire
to act, in response to a given situation. Motivation is usually quite
intricate, so that a network of motives, or dynamic lattice, is
ordinarily involved with an attitude. In addition, a subsidiation
chain, or an intricate set of sub goals, underlies motivation.
 Ergs: Ergs are innate drives or motives, such as sex, hunger,
loneliness, pity, fear, curiosity, pride, sensuousness, anger, and
greed that humans share with other primates.
 Sems: Sems are learned or acquired dynamic traits that can satisfy
many ergs at the same time. The self-sentiment is the most
significant seem in that it integrates the other sems.

PERSONALITY
The Dynamic Lattice: The dynamic lattice is an intricate network of attitudes, ergs,
and sems underlying a person's motivational structure.
Subsidiation: To Cattell, the relationships among ergs, sentiments, and
attitudes, in which some elements are subordinate to others
Stages of Personality Development:
Cattell proposed six stages in the development of personality covering the entire

life span. Error! Filename not specified.Error! Filename not specified.

Assessment:
 Life records (L-data): Life-record ratings of behaviors observed in
real-life situations, such as in the classroom or office.
 Questionnaires (Q-data): Self-report questionnaire ratings of our
characteristics, attitudes, and interests.
 Personality tests (T-data): Data derived from personality tests that
are resistant to faking. The T-data technique involves the use of
what Cattell called “objective” tests, in which a person responds
without knowing what aspect of behavior is being evaluated.

PERSONALITY
HANS EYSENCK:
Eysenck defined personality as a more or less stable and
enduring organization of a person’s character, temperament, intellect,
and physique, which determines his unique adjustment to the
environment.
 Character denotes a person’s more or less stable and
enduring system of conative behavior (will)
 Temperament, his more or less stable and enduring
system of affective behavior (emotion) Error! Filename
not specified.
  Intellect, his more or less stable and enduring system of cognitive
behavior (intelligence)
 Physique, his more or less stable and enduring system of
bodily configuration and neuroendocrine endowment
Eysenck’s typology is hierarchically organized, and consists of types,
traits, and habits. Types are most abstract, followed by traits, and then
habits. Specifically, each of the type concepts is based on a set of
observed intercorrelations among various traits. Each trait, in turn, is
inferred from intercorrelations among habitual responses. Habitual
responses, in turn, are based on specific observable responses
The Eysencks (Eysenck, 1990, 1992; Eysenck & Eysenck, 1963) viewed
people as having two specific personality dimensions:
extroversion/introversion and neuroticism/stability.  According to their
theory, people high on the trait of extroversion are sociable and outgoing,
and readily connect with others, whereas people high on the trait of
introversion have a higher need to be alone, engage in solitary
behaviors, and limit their interactions with others.
 In the neuroticism/stability dimension, people high on
neuroticism tend to be anxious; they tend to have an
overactive sympathetic nervous system and, even with low
stress, their bodies and emotional state tend to go into a
flight-or-fight reaction. In contrast, people high on stability
tend to need more stimulation to activate their flight-or-fight
reaction and are considered more emotionally stable.

PERSONALITY
Based on these two dimensions, the Eysencks’ theory divides
people into four quadrants. These quadrants are sometimes compared
with the four temperaments described by the Greeks: melancholic,
choleric, phlegmatic, and sanguine.
Error! Filename not specified.Error! Filename not specified.
Later, the Eysencks added a third dimension: psychoticism versus
superego control (Eysenck, Eysenck & Barrett, 1985).
 In this dimension, people who are high on psychoticism tend to be
independent thinkers, cold, nonconformists, impulsive, antisocial,
and hostile, whereas people who are high on superego control
tend to have high impulse control—they are more altruistic,
empathetic, cooperative, and conventional (Eysenck, Eysenck &
Barrett, 1985).
In short, the three major personality dimensions proposed are as
follows; E—Extraversion versus introversion
N—Neuroticism versus emotional stability
P—Psychoticism versus impulse control (or superego functioning) Once
he had identified the three primary dimensions, Eysenck proceeded to
construct a paper-and pencil test to measure them. The most recent
version of the test is the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ)
(Eysenck & Eysenck, 1975).
 PERSONALITY
Error! Filename not specified.ROBERT McCRAE AND PAUL COSTA:
THE FIVE-FACTOR MODEL: Error! Filename not specified.
Working at the Gerontology Research Center of the National Institutes of
Health in Baltimore, Maryland, Robert McCrae (1949) and Paul Costa
(1942) embarked on an extensive research program that identified five
so-called robust or Big Five factors (McCrae & Costa, 1985b, 1987).
These factors are:
o Neuroticism
o Extraversion
o Openness
o Agreeableness
o Conscientiousness
The factors were confirmed through a variety of assessment techniques including
self-ratings, objective tests, and observers’ reports. The researchers then
developed a personality test, the NEO Personality Inventory, using an acronym
derived from the initials of the first three factors.
Error! Filename not specified.(OCEAN)

PERSONALITY
TRIGUNA MODEL OF PERSONALITY:
Indian philosophical school has six principal Hindu darshans samkhya,
yoga, Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Mimamsa, and Vedanta. Triguna model is
being proposed in sankhya darsana. Sankhya Philosophy (sankhya
meaning ‘jnana’/ knowledge ), aims to know the knowledge of reality for
ending all the pains and sufferings and attain liberation.
o Dualistic realism : Purusha and Prakriti, sankhya philosophy gave
importance to dualistic realism, where Purusha is consciousness
and Prakriti is Nature. o Prakriti is made up of 3 gunas. Gunas has
it’s roots in Atharva veda, has later added Samkhya darasana.
‘Guna’ simply means quality or nature. In Sankhyan philosophy;
Guna means Constituent (part or component). Error! Filename not
specified.
o Trigunas – Tri dimensional personality
 Sattva is the guna whose key elements are purity
and fineness. It is a constituent (part) related to
lightness, brightness and pleasure. Sattva is
associated with ego, mind and intelligence. Its connection with the
consciousness is the strongest. (Balanced)
 Rajas is the guna whose key elements are action,
restlessness and passion. It is a constituent (part)
related to actions of objects. Rajas is associated
with
activity and motion in material things and object. Motion and action are
caused by rajas. (Passionate)
 Tamas is the guna whose key elements are
ignorance, dullness and inertia. It is a constituent
 (part) related to laziness and inaction.it opposes
motion
and activity in all material things and objects. In living beings it is
associated with coarseness, negligence, carelessness, and inactivity. It is
present in man as ignorance, insensitivity and inaction.
(Dull) Dominance of Guna determines the personality. Samyoga or
Effective contact of purusha and prakriti creates and unbalance in
gunas, and evolution starts as a result of gunas mixing with one
another.

PERSONALITY
TYPE THEORIES OF PERSONALITY:
 Type is defined as, simply a class of individuals said to share a common
collections of characteristics.
 People are classified into categories according to the characteristics
they share in common.  5 main theories.
Hippocrates’ Theory:
It is earliest of type theory of personality (400 BC). 4 types of fluids or humours Error!
Filename not specified.
• Yellow bile
• Black bile
• Blood
• Phlegm
Prominence of one type of fluid determines the personality of the
person concerned. Each of the fluids is linked to an element in the
universe.
• Black bile, to earth; with cold and dry properties
• Yellow bile, to fire; with dry and warm properties
• Blood, to Air; with moist and warm qualities
• Phlegm, to Water; with moist and cold properties
This theory identifies Mind and Body as a single entity; hence any
sickness or disability is due to unbalanced bodily fluids.
• Dyscrasia: Illness is due to an imbalance of bodily fluids
• Pepsis : Fluids were naturally in proportion
• Eucrasia : It has to be restored to balance or wellness for the person
to be free from illness Hippocrates’ concept was taken over by Galen,
(Greek Physician). And ended up outlining the existence of four
temperaments. It is said that he has attempted to give a comprehensive
typology of temperament in his dissertation Die Temperamentis. -
physiological reasons for different behaviours in humans. It was the first
serious attempt to classify different personality types. The four fluids
were subsequently referred to as the Four Humours (from the Latin
“humor”, meaning “fluid”) but it is not clear when and by whom.
Four corresponding personality types:

PERSONALITY
• Choleric: People with predominance of yellow bile (Fire)
o Irritable, Restless and Hot headed
 • Melancholic: People with high black bile (Earth)
o Sad, Depressed, and Devoid of hope in life
• Sanguinary: High Blood content. (Air)
o Cheerful, active and he is optimistic in life.
• Phlegmatic: Predominance of Phlegm (Water) Error! Filename not specified.
o Calm, quite and usually their behavior is marked by inactiveness The
four humors theory was to become a prevalent medical theory for over a millennium
after Galen’s death.
Avicenna ( 980 -1037): “The Prince of Physicians,”:
• Canon of Medicine: standard medical text throughout Asia
and was the primary medical text in European universities
until the 18th century.
• Avicenna extended Galen’s theory of temperament-based
diseases by elaborating on his temperament descriptions,
including within them emotional aspects, mental
capacity, moral attitudes, self-awareness, movements and dreams.
ERNST KRETSCHMER’S TYPE THEORY:
• German Psychiatrist
• “Physique & Character”, 1925
• A kind of Somatotype theory.
• Based on observation of his patients, classified people into apparently 4
types. o Pyknic Type – Such people are short in height with heavily built
body type. They have short, thick neck. Social and cheerful. They are
happy-go-lucky, they like to
eat and sleep
 “Cycloid”, high probability of falling prey to manic depressive type of
psychopathology.

PERSONALITY
o Asthenic Type – Such persons are tall and thin with
underdeveloped muscles. (Leptosomic). They are also
underweight.
 They are irritable and shirk away from responsibility.
They have the habit of day dreaming and are lost in
the world of fantasy.
 Temperament wise they are categorized as
“schizoid” and may develop disorder of
schizophrenia.
o Athletic Type: These are muscular types and have well-built
muscles and they are neither tall nor short. Stable and calm
nature Able to adjust themselves to changes in the
environment. Error! Filename not specified.
o Dyspalstic Type: This category includes people who do not
exhibit any of the characteristics mentioned above but are
mix of all three types.
 Unproportionate body
 This disproportion is due to hormonal imbalance
 Their behavior and personality are also imbalanced
Despite early hopes that body types might be useful in classifying
personality characteristics or in identifying psychiatric syndromes, the
relations observed by Kretschmer were not found to be strongly
supported by empirical studies.
WILLIAM SHELDON’S TYPOLOGY:
• American psychologist and Physician
• The Varieties of Human Physique (1940) and The Varieties of
Temperament (1942) • Physique – Personality – Delinquency
• Sheldon on the basis of physical constitution categorised
personality into somatotypes • Constitutional theory of personality.
o Constitution : the sum of an individual’s innate characteristics.
• Endomorphs – Such persons are short and fatty with a round shape
of body. Endomorphic people are similar to “pyknic” type
mentioned by Kretschmer. They like to eat and drink and make
merry. They are gregarious by nature and have leisurely attitude
toward life. (“viscerotonia”); characterized by relaxed, comfortable,
extroverted features.

PERSONALITY
• Mesomorphy – These people are muscular types. Muscles and
bones are quite well developed and physically well shaped.
Generally are considered to be toughminded, risk taking, assertive
and aggressive. They like to boss over others. - “somatotonia”
• Ectomorphy – Such people are tall but thin, fine-boned. These
people like to remain away from people. Characterized by
introverted, thoughtful, inhibited, sensitive features. -
“Cerebrotonia”
He later used this classification system to explain delinquent behaviour; finding that
delinquents were likely to be high in mesomorphy and low in ectomorphy.
Mesomorphy’s associated temperaments (active and aggressive but lacking
sensitivity and inhibition) tended to cause delinquency and criminal behaviour.
Subsequent studies of juvenile delinquency, Sheldon argued that mesomorphic
types were more likely to engage in crime, ectomorphs were more likely to commit
suicide, and endomorphs were more likely to be mentally ill. This research was
criticised on the grounds that his samples were not representative and that he
mistook correlation for causation. Sheldon linked physical and psychological
characteristics and concluded that both were the result of heredity. He has failed to
support that conclusion with valid statistical methods. Error! Filename not
specified.
Sheldon Glueck and Eleanor Glueck (Polish-American
criminologist. He and his wife), during the late 1940s and early 1950s,
conducted longitudinal research into juvenile delinquency using control
groups. They added to Sheldon’s list of somatotypes; suggested the
addition of a fourth type they called balanced. They concluded that
participation in delinquency (for which individuals are more likely to get
arrested) may be facilitated by having a mesomorphic body type rather
than an ectomorphic, endomorphic, or balanced body type.
 Biological explanations for behavior lost much of their popularity
during the 1960s with the belief that their inherent implication of inferiority
often was misused to justify prejudice and discrimination. Sheldon’s
typology did not take in to consideration of, social and cultural factors
which are extremely important in the development of personality.
EDUARD SPRANGER:
• German Philosopher and psychologist
• Lebensformen, translated as ‘Types of men

PERSONALITY
• "On a lower level, perhaps, the soul is purely biologically
determined. On a higher level, the historical, for instance, the soul
participates in objective values which cannot be deduced from the
simple value of self-preservation. “
• "Totality of mind is present in every act."
• "Everything is part of everything else”.
• Holism (Whole is important, parts are not independent of whole)
• Spranger explained personality in terms of six ideals or value
orientations; theoretical, economic, aesthetic, social, political and
religious "types" of personality. o Theoretical Type – They are
seekers of truth. They try to understand and make sense of the world
around them through reason and logic. Error! Filename not
specified.
 Discovery of truth
o Economic Type – They are basically utilitarian. They view
things form the point of view of practicality and their
economic value.
 What is Useful
o Aesthetic Type – These people are lovers of nature and
beauty. They lay emphasis on form and harmony and believe
in making life attractive and charming.
 Form and Harmony
o Social type – Such people are gregarious, like to mingle with
people in social gatherings. They reach out for help to
people in distress. They often enjoy good prestige in
society
 Love of people
o Political Type – These are persons who value power and
influence. Such persons rank people on the basis of power
they yield. Their behaviour is oriented toward gaining
power and influence over others.
 Power
o Religious Type – This type of person lays emphasis on the
unity of cosmos. They have spiritual bent of mind and
believe in God.
 Unity
According to him, individuals may not belong exclusively to one type,
instead mixed type exists. Contemporary psychological Point of view,
Stranger’s approach could not be considered scientific. As it is based on
philosophical and intellectual authority.

PERSONALITY
JOHN HOLLAND’S TYPOLOGY:
Latest type theory put forth for the explanation of personality. Personality
is identified as a combination of interests, values and competencies. A
person’s behavior is determined by an interaction between his
personality and the characteristics of his environment.
• Six types: ‘RIASEC’
o Realistic Type – These are practical person who can make
things and operate machinery and many complex
instruments Error! Filename not specified.
o Investigative Type – These are basically scientists,
researchers and such other highly creative and innovative
persons. These are people who gather data, analyse and
interpret them with a view to solve problem.
o Artistic Type – Such persons are actually artists, painters,
designers and soon. They are skilled in designing, creating
new and innovative structures, artistic in their approach
and they are excellent in decoration and they are
dramatists, actors and entertainers.
o Social Type – Such persons are compassionate in their
approach, they like to work for others and bring relief to
people in distress.
o Enterprising Type – These are people who are kind of
entrepreneurs. They are persons who want to contribute to
the society or to their business. They are the ones who
take risks and are ready to take a challenge.
o Conventional Type – These are people who are traditional in their approach.
They go by rules and regulations and will expect others also to follow the same.
Holland’s theory takes a problem-solving and cognitive approach to career
planning. His model has been very influential in career counselling. Most
important criticism of Holland’s theory is that, the prevalence of females to score
in three personality types (artistic, social and conventional). According to Holland
this is because society channels women into female dominated occupations.
Overall Evaluation of Type Theories:
• Categorising (in reality people cannot be categorised of single component);
however dominance of one component could be seen.

PERSONALITY
• Assumption that Person having one characteristic will have all the related
characteristics. • Type theories generally could explain the structure of
personality, however could not explain on its development
HUMANISTIC THEORIES:
Humanism is a system of thought in which human interests and
values are of primary importance. The humanistic approach to
personality is part of the humanistic movement in psychology that
flourished in the 1960s and 1970s and continues to influence psychology
today. The goal of the proponents of this movement was to alter
psychology’s methods and subject matter. Humanistic psychologists
objected to psychoanalysis and to behaviourism, then the two major
forces in American psychology, arguing that these systems presented too
limited and demeaning an image of human nature. Humanistic
psychologists criticized Freud and others following the psychoanalytic
tradition for studying only the emotionally disturbed side of human nature.
They questioned how we could hope to learn about positive human
characteristics and qualities if we focused on neuroses and psychoses.
Instead, humanistic psychologists studied our strengths and virtues and
explored human behaviour at its best, not worst. The humanistic
psychologists thought that the behavioural psychologists were narrow
and sterile in their outlook because they disavowed conscious and
unconscious forces to focus exclusively on the objective observation of
overt behaviour. Error! Filename not specified.
ABRAHAM MASLOW’S HUMANISTIC APPROACH:
Abraham Maslow is considered the founder and spiritual leader of
the humanistic psychology movement. He was strongly critical of
behaviorism and of psychoanalysis, particularly Sigmund Freud’s
approach to personality. According to Maslow, when psychologists study
only abnormal, emotionally disturbed examples of humanity, they ignore
positive human qualities such as happiness, contentment, and peace of
mind. A frequently quoted statement sums up Maslow’s position: “The
study of crippled, stunted, immature, and unhealthy specimens can yield
only a cripple psychology” (Maslow, 1970b, p. 180).
Maslow proposed a hierarchy of five innate needs that activate and direct
human behavior (Maslow, 1968, 1970b). They are the physiological,
safety, belongingness and love, esteem, and self-actualization needs.

PERSONALITY
Error! Filename not specified.Error! Filename not specified.
Maslow described these needs as instinctoid, by which he meant that
they have a hereditary component. However, these needs can be
affected or overridden by learning, social expectations, and fear of
disapproval. Although we come equipped with these needs at birth, the
behaviors we use to satisfy them are learned and therefore subject to
variation from one person to another. The needs are arranged in order
from strongest to weakest. Lower needs must be at least partially
satisfied before higher needs become influential. For example, hungry
people feel no urge to satisfy the higher need for esteem. They are
preoccupied with satisfying the physiological need for food, not with
obtaining approval and esteem from other people. It is only when people
have adequate food and shelter, and when the rest of the lower needs
are satisfied, that they are motivated by needs that rank higher in the
hierarchy. Thus, we are not driven by all the needs at the same time.
In general, only one need will dominate our personality. Which
one it will be depends on which of the others have been satisfied. People
who are successful in their careers are no longer driven by, or even
aware of, their physiological and safety needs. These needs have been
amply taken care of. Successful people are more likely to be motivated
by the needs for esteem or self
actualization. However, Maslow suggested that the order of the needs
can be changed. If an economic recession causes some people to lose
their jobs, the safety and physiological needs may reassume priority.
Being able to pay the mortgage becomes more prized than popularity
with colleagues or an award from a civic organization.

PERSONALITY
Characteristics of Needs
Maslow described several characteristics of needs;
• The lower the need is in the hierarchy, the greater are its strength,
potency, and priority. The higher needs are weaker needs.
• Higher needs appear later in life. Physiological and safety needs
arise in infancy. Belongingness and esteem needs arise in
adolescence. The need for selfactualization does not arise until
midlife. Error! Filename not specified.
• Because higher needs are less necessary for actual survival, their
gratification can be postponed. Failure to satisfy a higher need
does not produce a crisis. Failure to satisfy a lower need does
produce a crisis. For this reason, Maslow called lower needs
deficit, or deficiency, needs; failure to satisfy them produces a
deficit or lack in the individual.
• Although higher needs are less necessary for survival, they
contribute to survival and growth. Satisfaction of higher needs
leads to improved health and longevity. For this reason, Maslow
called higher needs growth, or being, needs.
• Satisfaction of higher needs is also beneficial psychologically.
Satisfaction of higher needs leads to contentment, happiness, and
fulfillment.
• Gratification of higher needs requires better external circumstances
(social, economic, and political) than does gratification of lower
needs. For example, pursuing self-actualization requires greater
freedom of expression and opportunity than pursuing safety
needs.
• A need does not have to be satisfied fully before the next need in
the hierarchy becomes important. Maslow proposed a declining
percentage of satisfaction for each need.

PERSONALITY
Error! Filename not specified.Error! Filename not specified.
In addition to these five conative needs, Maslow identified three other
categories of needs— aesthetic, cognitive, and neurotic.
Aesthetic needs:
  They are not universal, but at least some people in every culture
seem to be motivated by the need for beauty and aesthetically
pleasing experiences (Maslow, 1967).
 People with strong aesthetic needs desire beautiful and orderly
surroundings, and when these needs are not met, they become
sick in the same way that they become sick when their conative
needs are frustrated. People prefer beauty to ugliness, and they
may even become physically and spiritually ill when forced to live
in squalid, disorderly environments (Maslow, 1970).
Cognitive needs – second set of innate needs:
• Maslow also proposed a second set of innate needs, the cognitive
needs—to know and to understand, which exist outside the
hierarchy we have described. The need to know is stronger than
the need to understand. Thus, the need to know must be at least
partially

PERSONALITY
satisfied before the need to understand can emerge. Several
points of evidence support the existence of cognitive needs
(Maslow, 1970)
• The needs to know and to understand appear in late infancy and
early childhood and are expressed by children as a natural
curiosity.
• As the needs are innate, they do not have to be taught, but the actions of
parents and teachers can serve to inhibit a child’s spontaneous curiosity.
• Failure to satisfy the cognitive needs is harmful and hampers the full
development and functioning of the personality Error! Filename not
specified.
Neurotic Needs:
 Neurotic needs lead only to stagnation and pathology (Maslow, 1970)
 Non productive
 They perpetuate an unhealthy style of life and have no value in the
striving for self actualization. Neurotic needs are usually reactive;
that is, they serve as compensation for unsatisfied basic needs.
 A neurotic person may be able to establish a close relationship with
another person, but that relationship may be a neurotic, symbiotic
one that leads to a pathological relationship rather than genuine
love.
Characteristics of Self-Actualizers:
Maslow (1971) held that self-actualizing people are motivated by the
“eternal verities,” what he called B-values. These “Being” values are
indicators of psychological health and are opposed to deficiency needs,
which motivate non-self-actualizers. Maslow termed B-values
“metaneeds” to indicate that they are the ultimate level of needs. Maslow
proposed a list of metaneeds toward which self-actualizers evolve.
Metaneeds are states of being—such as goodness, uniqueness, and
perfection—rather than specific goal objects. Failure to satisfy
 metaneeds is harmful and produces a kind of metapathology, which
thwarts the full development of the personality.

PERSONALITY
Error! Filename not specified.Error! Filename not specified. Maslow says,
inadequate education, improper child-rearing practices, over-protected or
neglected, low self-esteem in childhood, all contribute to one not attaining
self – actualization.
Metamotivation:
Maslow distinguished between ordinary need motivation and the
motives of selfactualizing people, which he called metamotivation. A
distinct type of motivation for self-actualizers (sometimes called B-
motivation or Being). Self-actualizers goal is to enrich their lives by acting
to increase tension to experience a variety of stimulating and challenging
events. Maslow

PERSONALITY
described the motivation of people who are not self-actualizers as a
condition of D-motivation or Deficiency.
Other important concepts:
• Jonah complex - The fear that maximizing our potential will lead to a
situation with which we will be unable to cope.
• Peak experience: A moment of intense ecstasy, similar to a religious or
mystical experience, during which the self is transcended. Error!
Filename not specified.
CARL ROGERS HUMANISTIC APPROACH:
Rogers insisted that current feelings and emotions have a greater impact
on personality. Because of this emphasis on the conscious and the
present, Rogers suggested that personality could only be understood
from our own viewpoint, based on our subjective experiences. Rogers
postulated two broad assumptions—the formative tendency and the
actualizing tendency.
 Formative tendency: Rogers (1978, 1980) believed that there
is a tendency for all matter, both organic and inorganic, to
evolve from simpler to more complex forms. For the entire
universe, a creative process, rather than a disintegrative
one, is in operation. Rogers called this process the
formative tendency
 Actualizing tendency: the tendency within all humans (and
other animals and plants) to move toward completion or
fulfillment of potentials (Rogers, 1959, 1980). This
tendency is the only motive people possess. The need to
satisfy one’s hunger drive, to express deep emotions when
they are felt, and to accept one’s self are all examples of
the single motive of actualization.
o Tendencies to maintain and to enhance the organism
are subsumed within the actualizing tendency.
 o Maintenance needs: It includes such basic needs as
food, air, and safety; but it also includes the
tendency to resist change and to seek the status
quo. The
conservative nature of maintenance needs is expressed in people’s desire to
protect their current, comfortable self-concept. (similar to the lower steps
on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs)

PERSONALITY
o Enhancement need: The need to become more, to develop, and to achieve
growth is called enhancement. The need for enhancing the self is seen in
people’s willingness to learn things that are not immediately rewarding.
The self:
The self is the core of Rogers’s theory of personality. Rogers
believed people are motivated by an innate tendency to actualize,
maintain, and enhance the self. This drive toward self actualization is part
of a larger actualization tendency, which encompasses all physiological
and psychological needs. The actualization tendency begins in the
womb, facilitating human growth by providing for the differentiation of the
physical organs and the development of physiological functioning. Error!
Filename not specified.
The governing process throughout the life span, is called as
organismic valuing process by Rogers. It is defined as the process by
which we judge experiences in terms of their value for fostering or
hindering our actualization and growth. Experiences that we perceive as
promoting actualization are evaluated as good and desirable; we assign
them a positive value. Experiences perceived as hindering actualization
are undesirable and thus earn a negative value. These perceptions
influence behavior because we prefer to avoid undesirable experiences
and repeat desirable experiences.
The Experiential World:
Rogers in his theory has given importance to experiential world in
which we operate daily. This provides a frame of reference or context
that influences our growth. We are exposed to countless sources of
stimulation, some trivial and some important, some threatening and
others rewarding. Experiential world broadens as we grow older. He says
– the way we perceive the environment is important, which may not
always coincide with reality.
Self and its development:
As the child expands their experiential world, he/she separates I, me, and myself from
the rest. This is called ‘’the self or self-concept’’ – i.e distinguishing what is directly
and immediately a

PERSONALITY
part of the self from the people, objects, and events that are external to
the self. The self- concept is also our image of what we are, what we
should be, and what we would like to be.
 • Positive Regard: It is a need which infants develop as the self
emerges. This need is universal. It includes acceptance, love, and
approval from other people, most notably from the mother during
infancy. It is a crucial need as it helps the infant develop their
personality and strive for actualization
o Unconditional positive regard - if positive regard for the infant
persists despite the infant’s undesirable behaviours Error!
Filename not specified.
o Positive self-regard - The condition under which we grant
ourselves acceptance and approval
• Conditions of Worth: Conditions of worth evolve from this
developmental sequence of positive regard leading to positive
self-regard. Positive self-regard is Rogers’s version of the
Freudian superego, and it derives from conditional positive regard.
o Conditional positive regard - Approval, love, or acceptance
granted only when a person expresses desirable behaviors
and attitudes.
o Over the time, the child learns that parental affection is
priced. It comes only when behaved in certain acceptable
ways.
o Conditions of worth – When the child internalizes their
parents’ norms and standards, they view themselves as
worthy or unworthy, good or bad, according to the terms
their parents defined.
• Incongruence – when we evaluate experiences, accept or reject
them, not in terms of how they contribute to the overall
actualization tendency, but in terms of whether they bring positive
regard from others. This leads to incongruence between the self
concept and the experiential world, the environment as we
perceive it. Experiences that are incongruent or incompatible with
our selfconcept become threatening and are manifested as
anxiety. Psychologically healthy people do not have incongruence
as they do not internalize conditions of worth. They proceed to
become a fully functioning person.

PERSONALITY
Fully functioning person: Rogers’s term for self-actualization, for
developing all facets of the self. Fully functioning people are;
• Awareness of all experiences
• open to positive as well as negative feelings
• Freshness of appreciation for all experiences
• Trust in one’s own behavior and feelings
• Freedom of choice, without inhibitions
• Creativity and spontaneity Error! Filename not specified.
• Continual need to grow, to strive to maximize one’s
potential The fully functioning person represents the peak of
psychological development.
ROLLO MAY’S EXISTENTIALISM:
Existentialism in general:
The term existentialism has become popular in academic and literary
circles and is used in so many different ways by philosophers,
psychologists, theologians, novelists, actors, and others that it has
almost lost its meaning. Although philosophers and psychologists
interpret existentialism in a variety of ways, some common elements are
found among most existential thinkers. Existentialism has its roots in the
19th-century writings of Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard. In his
attempts to understand human functioning, Kierkegaard rejected Hegel’s
monumental effort to comprehend reality by identifying it with abstract
thought and logic (May, 1973, p. 263). Kierkegaard, and later Friedrich
Nietzsche, sought to correct the one-sidedness of Hegel’s arguments by
starting with the basic realities of people’s existence, or Dasein. Thus,
existentialism is concerned with ontology, or the study of the nature of
being.
Basic assumptions of Existentialism is as follows,
 Existence takes precedence over essence. Existence means to
emerge or to become; essence implies a static immutable
substance. Existence suggests process; essence refers to a
product. Existence is associated with growth and change; essence
signifies stagnation and finality. Existentialists affirm that people’s
essence is their power to continually redefine themselves through
the choices they make.
 Existentialism opposes the split between subject and object. People
are both subjective and objective and must search for truth by
living active and authentic lives.

PERSONALITY
 People search for some meaning to their lives. They ask (though
not always consciously) the important questions concerning their
being: Who am I? Is life worth living? Does it have a meaning?
How can I realize my humanity?
 Existentialists hold that ultimately each of us is responsible for who
we are and what we become. We cannot blame parents, teachers,
employers, God, or circumstances. As Sartre (1957) said, “Man is
nothing else but what he makes of himself. Such is the first
principle of existentialism”
 Existentialists are basically antitheoretical. To them, theories further
dehumanize people and render them as objects. Authentic
experience takes precedence over artificial explanations. When
experiences are molded into some preexisting theoretical model,
they lose their authenticity and become divorced from the
individual who experienced them. Error! Filename not specified.
Three Modes of Being-in-the-World:
 Umwelt, or biological environment: This is the natural environment
for animals and humans. It is the world that includes biological
needs, drives, and instincts—a world that would still exist if we
had no self-consciousness.
  Mitwelt: This is the world of interrelationships. It includes the
meanings of things that we share with others. Thus, love can
never be totally understood by focusing only on its connections
with the biological world of lust and sex. It also depends upon
such Mitwelt factors as personal decision and commitment to the
other person.
 Eigenwelt: It is the self in relation to itself. Eigenwelt involves self-
awareness and self relatedness. It occurs when I become aware
of the impact that another person has on me, or aware of what a
flower means to me. Without Eigenwelt, the world would be
intellectually arid and impersonal.
According to May, human beings live in all three worlds
simultaneously. Any complete understanding of the personality of the
individual would have to examine all three modes of being-in-the-
world (May, 1983)

PERSONALITY
Healthy Individualism & Unhealthy individualism:
Rollo May proposed a concept of Healthy individualism, which
consisted of self-reliance, competitiveness, and assertiveness. These
qualities helped clear the frontier, ensure economic growth, and
maximize the prosperity of all.
May believed that there was another kind of individualism—
unhealthy individualism— that creates serious mental health
problems for people because it leaves them with no sense of
community (May, 1991) Error! Filename not specified.
May also believed that the unhealthy individualism that
characterizes so much of our society today incorporates an extreme
self-reliance, which keeps many of us from asking for help and
support when we need it most. Furthermore, this corrupted
individualism is manifested in the behavior of many citizens as they
relentlessly pursue personal success and material possessions.
Emptiness and Loneliness:
According to May, the experience of emptiness comes from
feelings of powerlessness in which events seem beyond our control. We
seem unable to direct our own lives, to influence others, or to change the
world around us. As a result, we feel a deep sense of despair and futility.
The danger at this point is that the attempt to defend ourselves against
despair will lead to painful anxiety. If the situation goes uncorrected, the
result is the restriction of our potential to grow as human beings or our
surrender to some destructive form of hostility, violence, and/or
authoritarianism (May, 1953).
May proposed a close association between emptiness and
loneliness. According to him, people adopt an unhealthy communal
orientation; when we do not know what we want or feel, and when we
stand in the midst of a general upheaval and confusion about ourselves
and our values (May, 1953) We may then turn to others in a mindless
attempt to overcome our sense of separateness from others. The more
we attempt to reach out to others to ease our feelings of loneliness, the
more lonely and desperate we become.
According to May, We avoid relying on ourselves, and renounce a
major opportunity that would help us overcome our loneliness in the long
run—the development of a healthy communal Orientation; an attitude
encompassing a strong and sincere concern with the welfare of others.

PERSONALITY
Anxiety:
Anxiety is “the human being’s basic reaction to a danger to his existence,
or to some value he identifies with his anxiety” (May, 1953) . Since
ontological anxiety is a threat to values, no one can escape anxiety, for
no values are unassailable (May, 1967). According to May, the conflict
that generates ontological anxiety is between being and nonbeing.
Anxiety occurs as the individual attempts to realize his or her
potentialities. May clarified the meaning of ontological anxiety further by
dividing it into two components:
 Normal anxiety: anxiety that is proportionate to the threat to our
values. It does not involve repression and can be confronted
constructively on the conscious level. Error! Filename not
specified.
 Neurotic anxiety: reaction that is disproportionate to the threat and
involves repression. Neurotic anxiety develops when we are unable to
address the normal anxiety arising at the time of the actual crisis in our
growth and the threat to our values (May, 1967)
Personality development:
STAGE DESCRIPTION
Innocence  No consciousness of self
Rebellion  Seek to establish our inner strength  Typically takes place
at age 2 or 3 and
again during adolescence
 Rebellion is a necessary step in the
evolution of conciousness, need not be
confused with freedom.
 Rebellion is defiance, an active
rejection of parental and societal rules.
Such behavior is automatic, rigid, and
reflexive.

PERSONALITY
Ordinary consciousness of self  Capable of understanding some of
our errors and of
recognizing some
of our
prejudices
 Capable of learning from our mistakes
and assuming responsibility for our
actions.
 Creative consciousness of self.  Signifies maturity  Transcending the
usual limits of Error!
Filename not
specified.
consciousness, we are able to see the
truth without distortion
 Similar to Maslow’s peak experiences
 We attain maturity and move close to
self-realization, if attained this
moments
BANDURA’S SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY:
Bandura says learning takes place as a result of reinforcement.
His approach is called observational learning ; learning new responses
by observing the behavior of other people. Rather than experiencing
reinforcement ourselves for each of our actions, we learn through
vicarious reinforcement by observing the behavior of other people and
the consequences of that behavior. This focus on learning by observation
or example, rather than always by direct reinforcement, is a distinctive
feature of Bandura’s theory.
Modeling: The Basis of Observational Learning:
Bandura says, human behavior is learned either intentionally or
accidentally. Bandura, proposed the concept of Modelling; a behavior
modification technique that involves observing the behavior of others (the
models) and participating with them in performing the desired behavior.
The classic demonstration of modeling involves the Bobo doll, an
inflatable plastic figure 3 to 4 feet tall (Bandura, Ross, & Ross, 1963).
The research participants in the initial studies were preschool children
who watched an adult hit and kick Bobo. While attacking the doll, the
adult model shouted, “Sock him in the nose!” and “Throw him in the air!”
When the children were left