Theoretical constructs of the Development of Integrated Model of Personality

The current, existing personality profilers available in the market use one or two theories to predict human differences. Using one or two theories is akin to one or two blind men trying to guess what an elephant is like. Assuming that the elephant is our personality, we could see only one or two windows of our personality. Even though the theories are validated, they would not be able to predict our personality comprehensively as they could only see the partial picture of human personality. The integrated model of personality profiler integrates the six schools of personality theories to enable us to see a more complete picture of the elephant thus enabling us to see a more complete and comprehensive picture of our personality to predict human difference

Genetic theory
Behavioral genetics focused their studies on the way inherited genes can influence patterns of behavior. It examines the way our genes influence our personality traits. The basic methodology of behavioral genetics is to determine the influence of heredity and environment on individual differences in personality, ability, and interests. It compares similarities in personality between individuals who are and are not genetically related, or who are related to different degrees. Loehlin & Nichols, attempted to predict human behavior in their study of 850 pairs of twins to determine the influence of heredity and environment on individual differences. They attempted to explain the following: 1. 2. 3. 4. How twins are similar to or different from non twins. How identical twins are similar to or different from fraternal twins. How the personalities and interests of twins reflect genetic factors. How the personalities and interests of twins reflect early environmental factors

They explored the above implications to address how heredity and environment influence the development of psychological characteristics. They found that humans are highly similar to each other genetically. About 90% of human genes are identical from one individual to another. Approximately 10% of the human genome does vary. Behavioral genetics, like trait psychology, focus exclusively on aspects of personality that differ from one individual to another. The inheritance of specific trait or traits that all humans share is examined later in evolutionary psychology.

Evolutionary Theory (Darwins theory of evolution)

The genetic evolutionary theory posits that human personality is a function of our genes that are inherited from the members of the family tree of our ancestors. We are what we are by nature and nurture. The former is through the evolution processes of natural selection of genes from all generations for the survival of the fittest and the later is from the influence of the environmental factors. People differ in behavior because they inherited different genetic traits and characteristics besides personal experiences and observable learning. We do as what our genes and experiences dictate, for example, if we are hot-tempered, probably we might have inherited the hot-tempered gene from one of the members of our family tree, such as our grandfather, or we might have been brought up in an aggressive environment. An important principle of natural selection is that individuals have the capacity to exhibit variations in behavioral characteristics in diverse situations. Such individuals with behavioral characteristics which are most adaptive for survival will be more likely to survive and pass on their characteristics from one generation to another. Human personality can be partially understood as the process of evolution throwing up variations of the human psyche which allows the most adaptive personalities to survive more often and procreate. The genetic evolutionary theorists believe that every personality is unique as human beings behave differently even though they may be identical twins, with the exact same genes, and fraternal twins, with half of the same genes growing up in the same environment. The integrated model of personality profiler concurs with the genetic evolutionary theory that the major portions of traits inherited are similar. Only a minor portion of traits inherited are different. It believes the minor portion of traits that vary with the diverse situations for survival must be taken into account to predict human differences. It developed the Manipulative dimension based on its premise that Human personality lie on the continuum from the static to the dynamic areas to address this issue. Psychodynamic theory Sigmund Freuds theory structured personality into the id, the ego and the superego. The id is at the unconscious level. It acts as the reservoir of all the psychological processes of motivation; thoughts, feelings, and urges outside the conscious awareness. The id stores the repressed desires, needs, drives, wants and motives. It is driven by the motivation of seeking pleasures which strives for immediate gratification of all desires, wants, and needs. If these needs are impeded and not satisfied, it would cause a state of anxiety or tension. The ego represents I part of personality at all levels of conscious, preconscious and unconscious that deal with reality. It develops from the id and ensures that the motivation of the id can be expressed appropriately in the real world. The ego assesses pros and cons of the id before deciding to act or abandon the id at the appropriate time and place.

The superego at the conscious, preconscious and unconscious levels the mind represents the ego ideal and conscience of the personality. The former includes the standards and rules for good behaviors and the later is the feelings of guilt and remorse for bad behaviors. It is the part of the personality that deals with the moral obligations acquired from both parents and society. The superego ego enables the ego I to differentiate between what is right or wrong. It provides the egoI to make judgments when dealing with reality. The superego suppresses the urges and motivations of all unacceptable ids. It acts to develop and ensures behaviors are conforming to the idealistic standards accepted by the society. The integrated model of personality profiler attempts to incorporate the theoretical concepts of Sigmund Freud in developing its profiler. It endeavors to measure the motivation of the id; the repressed desires, needs, drives and motives. Repressed id represents the latent behavior also known as our inner states. These inner states become the motivational forces that affect behavior and states of mind. Inner states represent the latent behaviors that are covert, intangible and unobservable. Once they are energized by the environmental stimuli, they become overt, tangible and observable. In other words, when the inner states are energized, the motivation of the ego I to satisfy the id becomes overt behavior; tangible and observable. For example, a car represents the id (want, need or desire). The ego I could not afford it. Since ego I doesnt have the money the id is suppressed at the unconscious mind. The ego I would look for a means to satisfy the id. The Superego comes in to weigh the pros and cons of getting the means that is to work hard for a promotion or to rob somebody. If the superego is stronger than the id, the ego I would opt to work hard for a promotion. If the id is stronger than the superego, the ego I would opt to rob somebody. Once the ego I have the means, behavior becomes overt, tangible and observable as the ego I will be shopping for a car. Assuming the Ego I can afford to buy any car, KYKO profiler predicts the types of car the Ego I will buy by looking into the magnitude of the five dimensions. For example: A high security personality would buy a conventional car with safety features. A low security personality would buy a racing, sports car. A high Egocentric personality will buy a branded car. A low egocentric personality will buy a small sedan car. A high socio-centric personality would buy a seven-seater MPV.

A low socio-centric personality may buy a two-seater sedan car. A high self-actualizing personality would consider the cost and buys a car that meets his or her needs. A high manipulative personality would calculate the cost and benefits of purchasing a car. A low manipulative personality would purchase any car he or she likes upon his or her first visit to a car outlet. The decision of Ego I to buy a car depends on the magnitude of the five dimensions. For example, a high security, sociocentric and egocentric personality would look for a branded, seven-seater, conventional car with safety features.

Behaviorism Behaviorism theorists study human behavior by observing and learning how animals and human beings behave in their reactions to the environmental factors ignoring the psyche of the minds consciousness. They have dehumanized human beings to the level of the animal kingdom, believing that human behavior can be studied by observing and experimenting with animal behavior. It all began with Descartes who introduced the concept of stimulus. Behaviorists take it to another level in their studies on the reactions of both humans and animals to understand human patterns of behavior. Numerous experiments using dogs, cats, rats and pigeons were carried out to explain the psychology of human behavior. For example: Pahlov experimented with the digestive system of dogs to develop his theory of classical conditioning. The Little Albert and the white rat by John B Watson validates or provides the empirical evidence of Pahlovs classical conditioning. Thorndike experimented with cats to explain the Law of Effect. B.F. Skinners Operant Conditioning experiments with the rats led to his theory of the law of effect and reinforcement. Despite ignoring the psyche of the mind, they have quite successfully explained the whats of motivation, particularly useful in the area of learning and shaping behavior through the use of positive and negative reinforcers using punishment and reward to develop and

control human behavior. Behaviorists focus their explanations of human behavior using the Stimulus-Response theory based on the principle of pleasure and pain theory. Pleasure begets pleasure while pain begets pain. In other words if you are nice to me I am nice to you, if you are nasty to me I am nasty to you. Such behaviors are often found in human beings who are simple, naive and can be easily influenced.

It assists the integrated model of personality profiler to explain static personality where the behavior patterns of a person are predictable and are consistent and persistent with situations and across time.

Humanistic theories Humanistic theories view existence as a process of learning, growing, becoming and being a better person. The joy of living is to be open for experiencing and to progress towards higher levels of functioning. Humanist psychologists emphasize learning from ones subjective past experiences to develop and actualize ones potentials. Humanistic theories stress that people are born good with a need to achieve their full potential. The basic needs to live like a decent human being and the need to grow ones potentials must be present for human beings to remain good. When both these needs are deprived the result is tensions and anxieties. In the process people become unhealthy in their mental and psychological dispositions. Humanistic theory postulates that psychologically healthy people would take responsibility for themselves, whether the person's actions are positive or negative. Deprivation of existence and growth needs is the underlying cause of people being psychologically unhealthy. They have the tendency not to take responsibility for themselves or turn bad. Humanistic theory views human beings having the capacity of selfdetermination guided by conviction, intentionality and ethical values. It acknowledges that the mind is strongly influenced by constructive and destructive forces in society that influence human behavior. It also emphasizes the autonomy, dignity and self-worth of human beings and their conscious ability to develop competence and self respect. Humanistic theory emphasizes that people are responsible for their lives. Given reasonable and conducive life conditions, they will be positively motivated to actualize their potentials.

Carl Roger
Carl Rogers theory of humanism focused on helping people to change and improve their lives and to ensure that the developmental process leads to healthier, positive and more creative personality. He posits that people have self-actualizing tendencies, the ability to change for the better on condition that the basic needs for existence and living a decent life are satisfied. He conceives self-actualization as a stage when one reaches the peak of

human development and becomes a fully functioning person. Carl Rogers greatest contribution is in the development of human beings. He emphasized that the environment plays an important aspect in the self-actualizing tendency. In a favorable environment, human beings tend to self-actualize and change for the better while in an unfavorable environment human beings tend to de-actualize and change for the worse.

Abraham Maslow
Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a motivation theory to explain human personality. He organizes the human needs in a form of a pyramid to describe the different levels of human growth. At the bottom are the physiological need that is vital for existence and survival, for example, food, water, air and sleep. Upon satisfying the physiological needs, human beings progress to the next level; safety and security needs, for example, a steady job, protection from harm and danger, some savings in the bank account and an insurance policy. When the physiological and safety needs are met, human beings move to the next level, the need for love and belongingness, for example, friendship, companionship and social interactions and acceptance. Upon satisfying the three needs, human beings move to the next level, the esteem needs, for example, self-worth, status, image and recognition. Human beings reach the highest level when all the rest of the needs are satisfied to a certain extent. At this level, the motivation becomes intrinsic in the sense that human being will become more concerned with personal growth, fulfillment and becoming more and more what one is, to become everything that one is capable of becoming.

Clayton Aldefer
Alderfer reduces the five hierarchies of Maslow by reducing the number of levels to three. The letters ERG represent these three levels of needs: 1. Existence refers to our concern with basic material existence motivators; 2. Relatedness refers to the motivation we have for maintaining interpersonal relationships; 3. Growth refers to an intrinsic desire for personal development.

Like Maslow's model, the ERG motivation is hierarchical, and creates a pyramid or triangular appearance. Existence needs motivate at a more fundamental level than relatedness needs, which, in turn supersedes growth needs.

Henry Murray
In 1938 Henry Murray developed a system of needs to describe personality. He established a list of psychogenic needs. He believes and that everyone has unique varying dispositional tendencies towards a level for each need. In other words, a specific need is

more important to some than to others. Murray places each need on its own. He also states that needs are interrelated in some ways. Some behaviors meet several needs at once. An example of this is performing a difficult task for your fraternity. This meets the needs of achievement and affiliation. Below a list of Murray psychogenic needs:

Ambition needs

Achievement: Success, accomplishment, and overcoming obstacles. Exhibition: Shocking or thrilling other people. Recognition: Displaying achievements and gaining social status.

Materialistic Needs

Acquisition: Obtaining things. Construction: Creating things. Order: Making things neat and organized. Retention: Keeping things.

Power Needs

Abasement: Confessing and apologizing. Autonomy: Independence and resistance. Aggression: Attacking or ridiculing others. Blame Avoidance: Following the rules and avoiding blame. Deference: Obeying and cooperating with others. Dominance: Controlling others.

Affection Needs

Affiliation: Spending time with other people. Nurturance: Taking care of another person. Play: Having fun with others. Rejection: Rejecting other people. Succorance: Being helped or protected by others.

Information Needs

Cognizance: Seeking knowledge and asking questions. Exposition: Education others.

The integrated model of personality profiler uses the compatible concepts of the humanistic theorists to develop its five dimensions. Unlike Abraham Maslow where the five needs have to progress from one level to another, it posits that all the five needs can be energized depending on the circumstances and the priority of human beings to choose which are important for their personal growth and survival. Traits Theories The traits theory posits that personality is made up of a number of broad traits. It focuses on the description of human of traits to identify human differences. A trait is basically a relatively stable characteristic that causes an individual to behave in certain ways. Traits are defined as the habitual pattern of behavior that is relatively stable and consistent as evidenced in the persistent manifestation of same traits time after time in our reactions. Traits are either inherited or learned. The traits theorists posit that though we share some traits, there are also traits that are unique to an individual. It implies that every human being has internalized a collection of traits. No two human beings have the same collection of traits. Every human being is unique even though they are identical twins growing in the same environment due to genetic differences and their coping mechanisms in dealing with reality. Gordon Allport (1936), the pioneer of the trait theory found 4,000 words in the lexicon of an English dictionary describing different personality traits. He categorized these traits into three levels: 1. Cardinal traits: These are dominant traits that are persistent in an individuals whole life. People with such personalities often become so known for these traits that their names are associated with these qualities. 2. Central Traits: These are the general traits that form the core of our personality. They are major traits you might use to describe another person. For example, traits such as being intelligent, honest, courageous, and greedy are considered central traits.

3. Secondary Traits: These are the traits that are sometimes related to attitudes or preferences and often appear only in certain situations or under specific circumstances. Some examples would be getting tense when speaking in public or impatient while waiting for an appointment.

Raymond Cattell (b. 1905) is famous for developing the 16 personality factors to establish the basic dimensions of personality. He relied heavily on the previous development of thousands of traits and a list of personality descriptors by Allport and Odbert in 1936, and Baumgarten (1933) to develop the dimensions of human personality. Catell made extensive use of factor-analysis to establish the 16 personality factors by constructing a common taxonomy of traits using a lexical approach to narrow natural language to standard applicable personality adjectives. In 1990, R. R. McCrae and P. T. Costa, Jr., further used the factor analysis of Catells 16 personality factors to develop their version, called The Five Factor Theory. The "big five" are broad categories of personality traits. While there is a significant body of literature supporting this five-factor model of personality, researchers don't always agree on the exact labels for each dimension. However, these five categories are usually described as shown below:

Extraversion vs. introversion

Extraversion

adventurous assertive frank sociable talkative

Introversion

quiet reserved shy unsociable

Agreeableness

altruistic gentle kind sympathetic warm

Conscientiousness

competent dutiful orderly responsible thorough

Emotional stability (Norman) vs. neuroticism (Costa and McCrae)

Emotional stability

calm relaxed stable

Neuroticism

angry anxious depressed

Openness to Experience (Costa and McCrae)

cultured esthetic imaginative intellectual open

The integrated model of personality profiler uses Allports theory to identify a list of psychological traits from the lexicon of a dictionary. Raymond Catell provides the factoranalysis approach to explore the dimensions of personality. It uses its approach to identify and classify the personality factors relevant to each of the five dimensions based on its definition. Each dimension represents a cluster of traits. For example, the security dimension consists of a cluster of security traits; the self-actualization dimension consists of a cluster of self-actualization traits and so on. The cluster of traits is then organized into a list of personality factors. Items are then constructed for the measurement of these traits under each of the factors. From the responses to these items, a confirmatory factor analysis may be run to confirm the identified factors are indeed orthogonal factors that represent each dimension.