Theories of Personality

Personality Tests

What is Personality?Which of the following helps define the term personality?

A)characteristics that are typical for a person

B) characteristics that make a person unique

C) acting, thinking, and feeling D) all of the above

What is Personality?Personality is a collection of emotional, thought and behavioral patterns unique to a person that is consistent over time

Originates from the Latin persona, which means "mask.“

Personality TheoriesSeveral theoretical perspectives on personality

Trait theoriesA friendly person is likely to act friendly in any situation because of the traits in his personality.

POPULAR MYERS-BRIGGS TYPE INDICATORExtroversion vs. Introversion (outgoing and physical-stimulation-oriented vs. quiet and physical-stimulation-averse).

Intuition vs. Sensing (trust in conceptual/abstract models of reality versus concrete sensory-oriented facts)

Thinking vs. Feeling (thinking as the prime-mover in decision-making vs. feelings as the prime-mover in decision-making)

Perceiving vs. Judging (desire to perceive events vs. desire to have things done so judgments can be made)

POPULAR MYERS-BRIGGS TYPE INDICATOR

Every individual has a primary mode of operation within four categories

Our flow of energy How we take in information How we prefer to make

decisions The basic day-to-day

lifestyle that we prefer

POPULAR MYERS-BRIGGS TYPE INDICATOR Our Flow of Energy defines how we

receive the essential part of our stimulation. Do we receive it from within ourselves (Introverted) or from external sources (Extraverted)? Is our dominant function focused externally or internally?

How we Take in Information deals with our preferred method of taking in and absorbing information. Do we trust our five senses (Sensing) to take in information, or do we rely on our instincts (iNtuitive)?

POPULAR MYERS-BRIGGS TYPE INDICATOR

How we prefer to Make Decisions, refers to whether we are prone to decide things based on logic and objective consideration (Thinking), or based on our personal, subjective value systems (Feeling).

How we deal with the external world on a Day-to-day Basis. Are we organized and purposeful, and more comfortable with scheduled, structured environments (Judging), or are we flexible and diverse, and more comfortable with open, casual environments (Perceiving)

Popular Myers-Briggs Type Indicator16 personality types

ESTJ ISFJ ESFJ ISTP

ESTP ESFP ISFP ENTJ

INTJ ENTP INTP ENFJ

INFJ ENFP INFP ISTJ

INFJ vs INFP - SimilarityIntroverted iNtuitive Feeling Judging/Perceiving

Primary mode of living is focused internally

Operate within themselves on an intuitive basis which is entirely spontaneous

Put a tremendous amount of faith into their instincts and intuitions

Get "feelings" about things and intuitively understand them

INFJ – The differenceIntroverted iNtuitive Feeling JudgingINFJ - sensitive to conflict, and cannot tolerate it very well.

Situations which are charged with conflict may drive the normally peaceful INFJ into a state of agitation or charged anger.

They have strong value systems, and need to live their lives in accordance with what they feel is right

INFP – The difference

Introverted iNtuitive Feeling PerceivingDo not like conflict, and go to great lengths to avoid it

In conflict situations, INFPs place little importance on who is right and who is wrong

They focus on the way that the conflict makes them feel, and indeed don't really care whether or not they're right. They don't want to feel badly.

INFPs make very good mediators, and are typically good at solving other people's conflicts, because they intuitively understand people's perspectives and feelings, and genuinely want to help them

Psychoanalytic TheoriesExplains human behaviour in terms of interaction between the various components of personality

Sigmund Freud was the founder of this school : he proposed the conversion of psychic energy into behaviour

He broke the human personality down to three significant components: the ego, superego, and id.

According to Freud, personality is shaped by the interactions of these three components.

Psychoanalytic TheoriesIn Freud's theory, the ego mediates between the id, the super-ego and the external world

Its task is thus to find a balance between primitive drives, morals and reality

The super-ego is a symbolic internalization of the father figure and cultural regulations

Stands in opposition to the desires of the id

super-ego acts as the conscience, maintaining our sense of morality and the prohibition of taboos

Psychoanalytic TheoriesId: Reservoir of need-gratification impulses such as the primitive instinctual drives

Drives of the id are said to work according to the pleasure principle

The id, the ego, and the super-ego collaborate to serve the needs of the body and to control the conduct of the person

Behaviorist TheoriesBehaviorists explain personality in terms of reactions to external stimuli

Analysis of behavior based on this model: Stimulus - Response - Consequence

The critical question is "under which circumstances or antecedent "stimuli" does the organism engage in a particular behavior or "response," which, in turn, produces a particular "consequence."

Behaviorist TheoriesAristotle : "When two things commonly occur together, the appearance of one will bring the other to mind."

Pavlov’s conditioningIn this process, a subject comes to respond in a desired manner to a previously neutral stimulus, by associating it with an unconditioned stimulus that elicits the desired response.

Personality - As we grow and learn, most of us develop the ability to function well in realms which are not native to our basic personalities.

In the trials and tribulations of life, we develop some areas of ourselves more thoroughly than other areas.

With this in mind, it becomes clear that we cannot box individuals into prescribed formulas for behavior.

However, we can identify our natural preferences, and learn about our natural strengths and weaknesses within that context

Our native Personality Type indicates how we are likely to deal with different situations that life presents, and in which environments we are most comfortable

Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument

Designed to assess an individual’s behaviour in conflict situations.

Conflict situations are situations in which concerns of two people appear to be incompatible.

In such situations we can describe a person's behaviour along two basic dimensionsAssertiveness – the extent to which the individual attempts to satisfy his/her own concerns

Cooperativeness – the extent to which the individual attempts to satisfy the other person’s concerns

Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument

Uncooperative Cooperative

Unassertive

Assertive

Competing

Avoiding Accommodating

Collaborating

Compromising

How to Interpret Your Results

Your “dominant” conflict management style is predicted by the style with the highest score.

The “strength” of your preference (that is, your willingness to stay or move from one style to the next) is predicted by the difference between the scores of the styles

If the difference is high, resistance is high. If the difference is low, you may move from one style to the other with ease.

Competing – Assertive and UncooperativeAn individual pursues their own concerns at the other person’s expense.

This is a power oriented mode, one uses whatever power seems appropriate to in one’s rank, economic sanctions

Might mean- standing up for your rights or simply trying to win

Places prime importance on personal goals to the exclusion of any concerns for the relationship

Accommodating – Unassertive and CooperativeOpposite of competingYou believe that self-sacrifice and placing the importance of continued relationship above one’s own goals is necessary for solving conflict

It reflects a need for affiliation and acceptance, interest in appeasing others

Since personal objectives are set aside by the user, the cost of this style lends itself to exploitation and can become incredibly burdensome in the long term

Avoiding – Unassertive and UncooperativeThe individual does not immediately pursue their own concerns or those of the other other person.

They do not address the conflictAvoiding might take the form of diplomatically sidestepping an issue, postponing an issue until a better time, or simply withdrawing from a threatening situation

Collaborating – Assertive and CooperativeOpposite of AvoidingInvolves an attempt to work with the other person to find some solution, which fully satisfies the concerns of both the persons.

It means digging into an issue to identify underlying concerns

Collaborating – Assertive and CooperativeYou believe that conflict itself is neither good nor bad, but usually a symptom of tensions in relationships and should be treated accordingly

Differences may be resolved and serve to strengthen relationships rather than divide

Conflict cannot be ignored and requires problem-solving often of the type that goes beyond the superficial issues

Compromising – Intermediate in both assertiveness and CooperativenessYou believe that differences between people should be treated in light of the common good and that party’s need to “win a little, lose a little”

This style tries to soften and make more tolerable the effects of losing by limiting the gains

Attempt to serve the “common good” Addresses an issue more directly than avoiding but doesn’t explore it in as much depth as collaborating

Interpreting your resultsThere are no right answersAll five conflict handling modes are useful in some situations – each represents a set of useful social skills

Two heads are better than one (Collaborating)

Kill your enemies with kindness (Accommodating)

Split the difference (Compromising)Leave well enough alone (Avoiding)Might makes right (Competing)

Interpreting your resultsNone of us can be characterized as having a single rigid style of dealing with conflict

Any individual uses some modes better than others and hence relies on those modes more heavily than others (temperament or practice)

It is important to emphasize that we have the ability to change our dominant style and our response hierarchy

CompetingWhen quick decisive action is vital, e,g emergencies

Enforcing unpopular rules, disciplineTo protect yourself against people who take advantage of noncompetitive behavior

CollaboratingTakes time and energyTrivial problems don’t require optimal solutions

Not all personal differences need to be hashed out

Trust and openness maybe taken advantage of

CompromisingWhen goals are moderately important but not worth the effort of disruption

Labor management bargainingTo achieve temporary settlements to complex issues

As a backup mode when collaboration or competition fails

AccommodatingWhen you realize that you are wrong – to learn from others and show that you are reasonable

When the issue is much more important to the other person than to yourself

When you are outmatched and losingWhen avoiding disruption are especially important

To allow subordinates to experiment and learn from their own mistakes

AccommodatingWhen you realize that you are wrong – to learn from others and show that you are reasonable

When the issue is much more important to the other person than to yourself

When you are outmatched and losingWhen avoiding disruption are especially important

To allow subordinates to experiment and learn from their own mistakes