Personality - the use of the terms: trait, type, and state regarding the construction of psychological tests. Flashcards
The Overall Definition of Personality
it encompasses traits that elicit positive or negative reactions, influence interpersonal dynamics, and shape individual behaviors and preferences
Personality Assessment
the measurement and evaluation of:
* psychological traits,
* states,
* values,
* interests,
* attitudes,
* worldview,
* acculturation,
* personal identity,
* sense of humor,
* cognitive and behavioral styles, and/or
* related individual characteristics
Personality Trait According to Guilford (1959)
- “Any distinguishable, relatively enduring way in which one individual varies from another.”
- ex: a behavior labeled “friendly” should be distinguishable from a behavior labeled “rude”
- The context, or the situation in which the behavior is displayed, is important in applying trait terms to behaviors.
Cross-Situational Consistency of Traits According to Allport
“Perfect consistency will never be found and must not be expected”
Personality Types (definition)
constellation of traits and states that is similar in pattern to one identified category of personality within a taxonomy of personalities
- are more clearly descriptions of people
- “depressed” is different from describing that individual as a “depressed type”
Carl Jung’s Typology (1923)
basis for the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
- people perceive or become aware of—and judge or arrive at conclusions about—people, events, situations, and ideas “corresponding differences in their reactions”
Personality Types by Meyer Friedman and Ray Rosenman
- Type A personality: competitiveness, haste, restlessness, impatience, feelings of being time pressured, and strong needs for achievement and dominance.
- Type B personality: mellow or laid-back.
A 52-item self-report inventory called the Jenkins Activity Survey
Personality States: previously
an inferred psychodynamic disposition designed to convey the dynamic quality of id, ego, and superego in perpetual conflict
used in: free association, word association, symbolic analysis of interview material, dream analysis, and analysis of slips of the tongue, accidents, jokes, and forgetting
Personality States: now
- transitory exhibition of some personality trait; is indicative of a relatively temporary predisposition
They describe how people think, feel, and behave in a given moment.
Trait-Congruent Personality States
in their daily lives, people often behave the way they typically do
Trait-Incongruent Personality States
people occasionally behave differently from how they typically do
Difference Between: Traits, Types, and States
Personality traits are characteristic behaviors and feelings that are consistent and long lasting. Unlike traits, which are stable characteristics, states are temporary behaviors or feelings that depend on a person’s situation and motives at a particular time.
The Type Approach seeks to explain the personality by looking at broad patterns in behaviour.
Applications for Personality Assessment - Traits
- in developmental research (tracking trait development over time)
- uniquely human characteristic such as moral judgment
- in HR departments: hiring, firing, promoting, transferring
- in military: leadership is a sought-after trait, personality tests help identify who has it
- in determining peer response to a team’s weakest link
Applications for Personality Assessment - Types (& Examples of Typologies)
- in categorizing different types of commitment in intimate relationships
- Masculine/Feminine,
- Myers–Briggs,
- The Enneagram,
- astrology,
- DISC,
- Strengths Finder,
- The Human Design System,
- the Lover/Warrior/Magician/King profiles
Personality Assessments / Tests
- the Sensation Seeking Scale (SSS)
- Beck Self-Concept Test
- The Tennessee Self-Concept Scale (TSCS)
- The Piers-Harris Self-Concept Scale
- The Personality Inventory for Children (PIC)
