Introduction

The word ‘personality’ derives from the Latin word ‘persona’ which means
‘mask’. The study of personality can be understood as the study of ‘masks’
that people wear. These are the personas that people project and display, but
also includes the inner parts of psychological experience which we
collectively call our ‘self’.All people, including you and me, have a
personality, and every person each has a unique personality. It is what makes
us the person we are. Our personalities control our behavior, thoughts,
emotions and even our unconscious feelings. It makes it possible to predict
how a person will act or react under different situations.

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 Review of literature

Personality psychology consists of two related activities.

• personality theory is a semi-philosophical attempt to conceptualize

human nature;
• a personality assessment is a practical exercise that uses
psychometric procedures to:
 predict significant life outcomes (occupational performance)
 provide people with feedback to assist their personal and
professional development. Here we trace the history of
personality psychology from the early theorists to its
emergence as a force in the world of business.

Personality psychology begins with the development of psychiatry in France

and Germany in the 19th century: prominent names include Jean-Martin
Charcot (known as the Napoleon of the Neuroses) and Sigmund Freud
(founder of psychoanalysis). Psychiatry set the tone for personality
psychology until after W.W. II. That is, for about 70 years personality theory
concerned the origins of dysfunctional behavior, and personality assessment
concerned efforts to forecast or diagnose dysfunctional behavior (the
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory MMPI, became the most
widely used personality measure in the world).

After W.W. II, stimulated by humanistic psychology (Abraham Maslow,

Carl Rogers, and Gordon Allport), personality theory increasingly focused
on the origins of maturity. Stimulated by the development of factor analysis
and high speed computers, personality assessment became increasingly

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focused on analyzing the structure of normal personality. Hogan Assessment
Systems is a continuation of these trends. Socioanalytic theory is our effort
to provide a conceptual account of individual differences in career success
(i.e., in the ability to get along and get ahead). The suite of Hogan
Assessment Systems' assessments is designed to forecast career success and
to provide people with developmental feedback so as to enhance their
careers.

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 Objectives

Aim of this project are :

• To know about personality and how the environment effect individual
personality.
• To find out different factor which effect the personality of individual
• To analyse different theory given by different researcher’s .
• To find out various disorders of personalityand how to overcome those
disorder
• To know that how a person can test his personality
• To distinguish between two real personality

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 Methodology

Methodology refers to the overall approach to research process, from the

theoretical underpinning to the collection and analysis of data.

Primary data:- The data which are collected at first hand specially for the
purpose of study is called primary data.

Secondary data:- Any data which have been gathered from some other
sources is called secondary data.

For the completion of this project, Secondary data has been used.

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 Limitation

The limitation of this project are :

• The source of data is secondary so the relevance is not guaranteed.

• The reliability of data searched from the internet is not known.

• The time for working of project was limited so there may be some
error while manipulation.

• The journals used for secondary data was of very old edition.

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 Analysis and interpretation

What is personality ?

Personality is deeply fixed, consistent, distinctive and characteristic patterns

of our thoughts, feelings and behavior that define a person's own style of
interacting with the physical and social environment. It is the tendency to
behave in a certain way under different circumstances and across time.
Personality is shown in many ways through behavior, thoughts and feelings.
It must be noted, however, that feelings, thoughts and behavior does not
make up personalities. Personality is actually the true nature that lies behind
these elements. Personality signifies the uniqueness of a person, and the
special characteristics that set apart that person from others

Our personality can be molded and affected by many factors. For example,
genes (biological factors) and the environment where a person grows up in
can form one's personality. The factors interact to from one's personality.
Personality is like fingerprints. It emphasizes how we are unique and are
different from each other. However, some of us may also share certain
similarities in personality. Different personalities can be divided into types,
but these can hardly be used to describe a certain person's personality
exactly. Our personalities are often complex mixtures. As Paar Jack once
said, "I'm complicated, sentimental, lovable, honest, loyal, decent,

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generous, likable, and lonely. My personality is not split; it's shredded."
Our personalities can be very complicated and many-sided. But that is what
makes each one of us special. Different people have different personalities.
Each individual is different. But why? What is it that causes these
differences? What is the origin of these differences? This one of the most
fundamental questions that developmental psychologists face. This is also
the base question of behavioral genetics.
Behavioral genetics combines psychology and genetics to study genetic
influences on behavior. These behavioral geneticists study which
psychological characteristics, such as temperament and emotional stability,
are passed on from parent to child. They try to determine what percentage is
related to differences in genes and what percentage is related to
environmental differences. Psychologists say that there are two main factors
which affect the development formation of a person's personality. They are
genetic factors (some call this factor "Nature") and environmental factors
(also referred as "Nurture"). "Nature VS Nurture" indicates that biological
and environmental factors compete against each other to develop a person's
personality.

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Also, one of these two factors may be more dominant than the other.
Scientific discoveries have shown to us that both of these two factors are
needed for a person's personality to develop normal .

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 Factors affecting personality

• Genetic factors

Biological factors such as our hormones and brain structure influence our
behaviour, but our genes do not have programs for specifying our
personality traits. Their actual job is to control the development of our
nervous and endocrine systems, which in turn controls our behaviour.
Therefore, our genes do not have direct control over our personality traits,
but they do have a role in influencing our behaviour. Complex human
behaviour are not determined by single genes.

In human chromosomes, there are six billion base pairs of DNA. But the
most amazing thing is this - of that six billion, only six million of them are
different between individuals! That means 99.9% of the base pairs of DNA
are shared and identical in each and every person. Nonetheless, each of
us still have enough genetic differences to make us different from others.
Even siblings, born of the same mother and father - which means conceived
from the same source of egg and sperm, have two million base pairs of
DNA. Numerous stories of identical twins, separated for a long time since
childhood, suggest that personality is largely inherited. Here is an example.
Jim Lewis and Jim Springer are a pair of identical twins, separated four
weeks after their birth in 1940. They grew up 45 miles apart in Ohio. It was

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not until 1979 that they reunited. They discovered that they both drove the
same model blue Chevrolet, chain-smoked Salems, chewed their fingernails
and owned dogs named Toy. Another pair of identical twin males were
separated at birth, adopted by different parents andraised in different
countries. These two men were both found to be extremely neat. Not only in
tangible aspects - their lives were neat. Their clothes were always clean and
smart. They were always strictly on time. They washed their hands so often
that they were raw and red. Both twins were asked why they were obsessed
about neatness. The first twin answered, "It was because of my mother.
When I was growing up, she always kept the house perfectly ordered. She
insisted on every little thing returned to its proper place, the clocks - we had
dozens of clocks - each set to the same noonday chime. She insisted on this,
you see. I learned from her. What else could I do?" The other twin answered
in quite a different way. He said, "The reason is quite simple. I'm reacting to
my mother, who was an absolute slob." As we can see quite obviously, the
twins' obsession with neatness is not caused by their mothers. The
performance of their mothers had little to do with their need for cleanliness.
It is more likely that it is caused by genetic factors. When people think of
the gene's role in the formation of a person, they usually put more emphasis
on physical appearance. On the other hand, we tend to see personalities of
individuals as the result of experience people lead different lives, have
different sufferings, experience different things, and therefore each person
has a different personality. However, today we can understand more and
more about how genes have a force too. Psychologists have summarized the
results of twin studies that focused on the Big Five personality traits.
Results have shown that identical twins resemble each other in personality
than fraternal twins. This suggests that personality is partly inherited. As

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seen from the above, genetic factors play amajor part in the formation of
personality, but not every personalitycharacteristic is originated from genetic
makeup. We will look at how genetic factors affect environmental factors
and their correlation in personality development later in this section

• Environmental factors

Carl Rogers, a famous psychologist, put a lot of emphasis on how childhood

experiences affect one's personality. The degree of effect of what happens to
a child when he/she is at a developing stage on his/her personality
development depends on when it happens. Many psychologists believe that
there are certain critical periods in personality development, which are
periods when the child will be more sensitive to certain environmental
happenings.

Most experts believe that child's experiences in the family are important for
is/her personality development. These include whether a child's basic needs
are well met and how a child is brought up, which could leave an enduring
mark on the child's personality. For example, children who are toilet trained
too early or have their toilet training carried out too strictly may become

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rebellious; by identifying with their same-sex parent, children can learn
appropriate behaviour to their sex especially when there is a good
relationship with that parent; children are also affected by siblings. How
about culture and society then? Does the culture and the society we are
brought up in affect our personality? An American anthropologist Margaret
Mead has shown how social and cultural factors has an important influence
in personality development. Members of two New Guinea tribes are of the
same racial store and live in the same area. However, one group is peaceful,
friendly and cooperative and the other is group is, on the contrary, assertive,
hostile and competitive. Researchers, when comparing cultural groups in
specific aspects of personality, have found some interesting differences.
Northern European countries and the USA have individualistic cultures that
put more emphasis on individual needs and accomplishments. Asian,
African, Central American, and South American countries have collectivist
cultures that focus on belonging to a larger group, such as a family, tribe, or
nation. In these cultures, people believe cooperation is more important than
competition. Individualistic cultures and collectivist cultures are very
different. Two examples of these differences would be "locus of control"
and "self-monitoring". Studies have shown that in general, Western cultures
gave a more internal locus of control as compared to Asian cultures. It has
also shown that people from industrialized places are generally more internal
than people from developing places. Cross-cultural studies of self-
monitoring has shown that those from the US and Australia score higher in
self-monitoring than people from Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong and Korea.
Professionals have also done some comparison on the American and Asian
ideas of self. Their studies indicate that American parents teach their
children to be independent, to feel good about themselves and to see

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themselves as special individuals. Children are encouraged to do well in
competitive activities and to become outstanding. American children learn to
value themselves by their credits, abilities, ccomplishments and by what
they own. Those carrying out this study conclude that the American culture
encourages an "independent view of the self". American youngsters tend to
exaggerate how unique they are and overestimate their skills and
capabilities. Asian cultures, on the other hand, encourage an "interdependent
view of the self". This view focuses more on the basic bonds between
people, and how each connection relates to each person. Parents may teach
their children that they can rely on family and friends. Asian children are
taught to be modest about personal achievements, and to see themselves as a
fraction of a larger whole. Children are taught to try to fit in with others and
not to stand out from the group.The researchers thus conclude that typical
Asian children learn to place value of themselves in terms of the group they
belong to - their relations with others and group achievements. And because
of this, they do not need to exaggerate how unique or capable they are.
Asians tend to see themselves as similar to their friends than Americans and
they put less emphasis on personal achievement than Americans may.

As seen from the above, the environment we grow up in, including the home
environment with the influence of parents and siblings, and the culture and

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society plays an important role in personality development too. Now we will
look at the interaction and correlation of genetic and environmental fact

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 Interaction of nature and nurture

Most psychologists today agree that not only does both heredity and the
environment play a role in the development of personality, but also that
these two interact to influence the development of personality. A person's
temperament is formed both by genes and environment. Researchers state
that the continuity and discontinuity of temperament is resulted from the
interaction between the inherited characteristics of the individual and the
environment. They especially believe that in order to have a healthy
development, there must be a goodness of fit between the individual's
temperament and the home environment. When parents of a difficult child
give him/her a happy, comfortable and stable home life, the child's negative
behaviors will improve as he/she grows older. Most behavioral traits are
multifactorial, which means they depend on more than one genetic or
environmental factor. Even from the moment of birth, biological factors and
environmental factors are interacting to form a person's personality. Parents
not only pass on their genes to their offspring, but also provides them with a
home environment to live in, both of which are results of the parents' genes.
There is a correlation between the child's inherited characteristics, which is
called genotype, and the environment. Here is an example to illustrate.
Intelligent parents will have a higher chance of giving birth to intelligent
children. At the same time, intelligent parents will be more likely to provide
their children with a good learning environment, one which is intellectually
stimulating, by teaching their children themselves and giving them books,
lessons, activities and so on. Environmental influences outside the family
environment, such as school and friends, are often more important to the
development of personality. However, these apparent "outside influences"

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may have more to do with genes than it would seem at first. People seek out
or even create environments to which they are genetically predisposed. For
example, a combative person is more likely than a peace-loving person to
find an environment in which arguments are likely to take place, or to create
such an environment by starting fights. As seen from the above, an
individual's genotype and the environment are not just independent sources
of influence that add together to form an individual's personality. The
genotype is in correlation with the environment. An individual's genotype
also shapes the environment. Interaction and influence of heredity and
environment with each other form a person's personality.

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 Myers briggs personality types

There are four mutually exclusive pairs of Myers Briggs personality

types.

1-Extroverts vs. Introverts (E1)

2- Sensing vs. Intuitive (SN)
3- Thinking vs. Feeling (TF)
4- Judgers vs. Perceivers (JP)

Extroverts vs. Introverts (EI)

First two mutually exclusive patterns tell where you prefer to get
energized. If you are stimulated by the environment, you are an
Extrovert (E). This personality type likes to be more social, expressive
and outward. However, if you are stimulated by your inner
imaginations, thoughts and ideas, you will be classified as an introvert
(I). This psychological type prefers solitude, quietness and
concentration over gatherings.
• Sensing vs. Intuitive (SN)
These two patterns reveal what resources you preferably utilize to
process a piece of information. If you primarily use your five senses, you
are sensing (S) type. However, if you preferably rely upon your intuition,
unconscious and insights, your type is intuitive (N). The former type is
more practical, and analyzes what is real, factual and experienced. The
latter one is more imaginative, and looks for new possibilities, novelties
and potentials.

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Thinking vs. Feeling (TF)
These two patterns tell what kind of reasons you count for to make a
decision. If you prefer logics, analysis, and facts, you are a thinking
(T) type. Your decisions would be more objective. However, if you
prefer emotions, instincts and motivations, you are a feeling (F) type.
Your decisions would be more subjective and value-oriented.
Judging vs. Perceiving (JP)
The last two patterns reveal how much organization you prefer in your
life. If you prefer to be structured, organized and decisive, you are a
judger (J). You would most probably love to control flow of your
activities. You prefer to decide in advance what to do, what to say and
where to go. However, if you prefer to be flexible with unfolding of
events, you are a perceiver (P). You would most probably be more
curious, adaptable and open. You prefer to delay your decisions for
the last minute crucial information.

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 Big five model

The Big Five factors and their constituent traits can be summarized as
follows:
Openness - appreciation for art, emotion, adventure, unusual ideas,
curiosity, and variety of experience.
Conscientiousness - a tendency to show self-discipline, act dutifully, and
aim for achievement; planned rather than spontaneous behavior.
Extraversion - energy, positive emotions, urgency, and the tendency to seek
stimulation in the company of others.
Agreeableness - a tendency to be compassionate and cooperative rather than
suspicious and antagonistic towards others.
Neuroticism - a tendency to experience unpleasant emotions easily, such as
anger, anxiety, depression, or vulnerability; sometimes called emotional
instability.
When scored for individual feedback, these traits are frequently presented as
percentile scores. For example, a Conscientiousness rating in the 80th
percentile indicates a relatively strong sense of responsibility and
orderliness, whereas an Extraversion rating in the 5th percentile indicates an
exceptional need for solitude and quiet.Although these trait clusters are
statistical aggregates, exceptions may exist on individual personality
profiles. On average, people who register high in Openness are intellectually
curious, open to emotion, interested in art, and willing to try new things. A
particular individual, however, may have a high overall Openness score and
be interested in learning and exploring new cultures. Yet he or she might
have no great interest in art or poetry. Situational influences also exist, as

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even extraverts may occasionally need time away from people.The most
frequently used measures of the Big Five comprise either items that are self-
descriptive sentences or, in the case of lexical measures, items that are single
adjectives

Openness to Experience
Openness is a general appreciation for art, emotion, adventure,
unusual ideas, imagination, curiosity, and variety of experience. The
trait distinguishes imaginative people from down-to-earth,
conventional people. People who are open to experience are
intellectually curious, appreciative of art, and sensitive to beauty.
They tend to be, compared to closed people, more creative and more
aware of their feelings. They are more likely to hold unconventional
beliefs.People with low scores on openness tend to have more
conventional, traditional interests. They prefer
theplain,straightforward, and obvious over the complex, ambiguous,
and subtle. They may regard the arts and sciences with suspicion,
regarding these endeavors as abstruse or of no practical use. Closed
people prefer familiarity over novelty. They are conservative and
resistant to change.
Conscientiousness Conscientiousness
is a tendency to show self-discipline, act dutifully, and aim for
achievement. The trait shows a preference for planned rather than
spontaneous behavior. It influences the way in which we control,
regulate, and direct our impulses. Conscientiousness includes the
factor known as Need for Achievement (NAch).The benefits of high
conscientiousness are obvious. Conscientious individuals avoid

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 trouble and achieve high levels of success through purposeful
planning and persistence. They are also positively regarded by others
as intelligent and reliable. On the negative side, they can be
compulsive perfectionists and workaholics.
Sample Conscientiousness items :
I am always prepared.
I am exacting in my work.
I follow a schedule.
I get chores done right away.
I like order.
I pay attention to details.
I leave my belongings around. (reversed)
I make a mess of things. (reversed)
I often forget to put things back in their proper place. (reversed)
I shirk my duties. (reversed)

Extraversion
Extraversion is characterized by positive emotions, surgency, and the
tendency to seek out stimulation and the company of others. The trait
is marked by pronounced engagement with the external world.
Extraverts enjoy being with people, and are often perceived as full of
energy. They tend to be enthusiastic, action-oriented individuals who
are likely to say "Yes!" or "Let's go!" to opportunities for excitement.
In groups they like to talk, assert themselves, and draw attention to
themselves.Introverts lack the exuberance, energy, and activity levels
of extraverts. They tend to be quiet, low-key, deliberate, and less
involved in the social world.Their lack of social involvement should

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 not be interpreted as shyness or depression. Introverts simply need
less stimulation than extraverts and more time alone.

Sample Extraversion items :

• I am the life of the party.

• I don't mind being the center of attention.
• I feel comfortable around people.
• I start conversations.
• I talk to a lot of different people at parties.
• I am quiet around strangers. (reversed)
• I don't like to draw attention to myself. (reversed)
• I don't talk a lot. (reversed)
• I have little to say. (reversed)

• Agreeableness

Agreeableness is a tendency to be compassionate and cooperative rather

than suspicious and antagonistic towards others. The trait reflects
individual differences in concern for social harmony. Agreeable
individuals value getting along with others. They are generally
considerate, friendly, generous, helpful, and willing to compromise their
interests with others. Agreeable people also have an optimistic view of
human nature. They believe people are basically honest, decent, and
trustworthy.Disagreeable individuals place self-interest above getting
along with others. They are generally unconcerned with others’ well-
being, and are less likely to extend themselves for other people.

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 Sometimes their skepticism about others’ motives causes them to be
suspicious, unfriendly, and uncooperative.

Sample Agreeableness items :

• I am interested in people.
• I feel others’ emotions.
• I have a soft heart.
• I make people feel at ease.
• I sympathize with others’ feelings.
• I take time out for others.
• I am not interested in other people’s problems. (reversed)
• I am not really interested in others. (reversed)
• I feel little concern for others. (reversed)
• I insult people. (reversed)
• I like being isolated. (reversed)

Neuroticism

Neuroticism is the tendency to experience negative emotions, such as anger,

anxiety, or depression. It is sometimes called emotional instability. Those
who score high in neuroticism are emotionally reactive and vulnerable to
stress. They are more likely to interpret ordinary situations as threatening,
and minor frustrations as hopelessly difficult. Their negative emotional
reactions tend to persist for unusually long periods of time, which means
they are often in a bad mood. These problems in emotional regulation can
diminish a neurotic's ability to think clearly, make decisions, and cope
effectively with stress.At the other end of the scale, individuals who score

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low in neuroticism are less easily upset and are less emotionally reactive.
They tend to be calm, emotionally stable, and free from persistent negative
feelings. Freedom from negative feelings does not mean that low scorers
experience a lot of positive feelings. Frequency of positive emotions is a
component of the Extraversion domain.

Sample Neuroticism items :

• I am easily disturbed.
• I change my mood a lot.
• I get irritated easily.
• I get stressed out easily.
• I get upset easily.
• I have frequent mood swings.
• I often feel blue.
• I worry about things.
• I am relaxed most of the time. (reversed)
• I seldom feel blue. (reversed

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 Behaviour consistency

By now we should know that personality is the fairly fixed patterns of our
thoughts, emotions and behavior under different circumstances. Our
ersonality makes us act in certain ways-- it gives us a consistent tendency to
behave in a certain manner. Therefore, consistency is a core concept of
personality. But how stable is our behavior? Different psychologists have
different opinions. There has been a lot of research on stability of behavior
over time and across situations, which is behavioral consistency. There has
been research on the study of stability of children's behavior, however, there
has been different interpretations on the results because some

behaviors and some phases in development are more stable than the others.
An example of a reasonably stable behavior pattern is aggression. Children
who appear to be aggressive may grow up to be aggressive adults.Generally,
children's behavior become more stable as they become older. To make
matters even more complicated, some characteristics may be shown in
different ways at different ages. Here are two examples:

A child is aggressive. In kindergarten, the child may hit others. As he/she

becomes older, the physical attacks may turn into verbal ones, like insults

and criticism.

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A child who is sociable may take the initiative in inviting other children to

play. When he/she grows older, he/she may display this sociability by

hanging out with friends or talking on phone often.

And because of this, psychologists examine the stability of a child's behavior

by comparing his/her different expressions of different personality

characteristics (eg. aggression and sociability) at different ages.

Next comes the matter of consistency across situations. Do people behave in

certain ways only under particular situations ? Or is it true that people have

traits that show up in a wide range of settings ? So the main question is—

which controls behavior: the person's traits or the situation ?

The answer is that BOTH of them do. They work together to make a certain

person behave in a certain way under a certain situation. Some people may

side more with the situational factors, believing that individuals will show

little consistency except when the environment remains consistent. Others

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who stress on the domination of personality will expect individuals to

display consistency and stability. Therefore, a consistency paradox appears.

By stressing the influence of situational factors on behavior, the common

assumption of cross-situational consistency in behavior is challenged.

Recent research in social psychology supports how behavior may change

under different circumstances. Researchers have revealed some biases and

shortcomings about our ability to make correct judgments about consistency

made from the data we receive through every day experiences. Here are six

of the reasons.

1. Our preconceived notions of how people behave may lead us to generalize

beyond our actual observations. We may fill in the missing data according to

our implicit personality theories of which traits and behaviors go together.

Moreover, research shows that when we expect two behaviors to be

correlated, we tend to see them as correlated even when they are not.

Stereotypes of how a gay person, a librarian, or an athlete behaves may

cause us to attribute greater consistency to a person's actions than actual

observations warrant.

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2. Many features of an individual remain fairly constant -- physical

appearance, manner of speaking, expressive gestures, and so on. These

constancies help to create an impression that the personality is consistent as

well.

3. Our presence can cause people to behave in certain ways. Thus, our

acquaintances may appear to behave consistently because we are present as a

stimulus during every observation we make. They may behave quite

differently when we are not there.

4. Because the actions of another person are such a salient feature of any
scene, we tend to

overestimate the extent to which behaviour is caused by personality

characteristics and underestimate the importance of situational forces that

may cause the person to act as he or she does. If we observe someone

behaving aggressively, we assume that the person has an aggressive

disposition and will behave similarly in other settings, even though the

situational factors may be quite different. This tendency to underestimate

situational influences on behaviour has been called the fundamental

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attribution error.

5. The set of situations in which we observe most individuals is usually more

limited than we realize. For example, we are so familiar with the warm,

sincere personalities of the network news anchors on the national nightly

newscasts that we would be shocked if we learned that one of the cheated on

a spouse or kicked the family poodle. Because we see them so often, we

mistakenly assume that we also see them in a variety of situations. As a

result we feel we know them well and readily generalize about their

behavior, assuming a consistency that is unwarranted. This example is

particularly telling, because the behavior of news anchors is so severely

constrained and so situationally determined that it could not possibly convey

very much about their personalities. If they deviated even slightly from their

prescribed role -- if they uttered an obscenity or stood up to stretch for

example -- they would soon be off the air.

6. Our language entices us to think about human behavior in trait terms.

There are about 18 000 trait terms in the English language, nearly 5 percent

of the entire lexicon. In contrast, we have an impoverished and awkward

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vocabulary for labelling situations. But language is not only a cause

of how we think, it is also the result of how we think. The fact that the

English language is so unbalanced in this way probably indicates that we

have always found it more important to classify persons rather than

situations.

Therefore, it is possible that people's behavior may not be as consistent and

stable as we instinctively believe it to be. Some theorists have responded

that

some correlations are higher when individual observations of behavior are

combined in the same way that responses to items on a personality test are

added together. Theorists have argued that the low correlations show

only that individuals are not consistent in the same way, no that they are

inconsistent with themselves. There is another third response that states that

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because people in everyday life select and shape the situations which they

will be in, they will be more consistent than they would be in an

experimental study, which randomly assigns persons to conditions.

Theories of personality

1) Sigmund Freud's Personality Theory

Psychoanalytic theory was created by Sigmund Freud in the twentieth

century. The theory of Sigmund Freud remains the most comprehensive and

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influential theory of personality created till present. He discovered that the
method of free association, in which a patient is instructed to say everything
that comes to mind, regardless of how embarrassing it may seem. Through
recalling dreams and early childhood memories, he detected that there were
signs of unconscious wishes and fears. Later on, Freud compared human
mind to an iceberg, which is divided in to three parts: conscious (the small
part that shows above the surface of water which represents our current
awareness), preconscious (a small part below the surface of water which
represents informationwhich is present but not currently used, e.g. the name
of a U.S. president) and unconscious (the much larger mass of the iceberg
below the water which represents a storage of impulses, wishes and
inaccessible memories that affect our thoughts and behavior).

Freud divided personality into three systems which interact to govern human behavior:
the id, the ego and the superego. The id is the oldest system of the personality, from
which the ego and the superego develop. It provides the energy of the mind for all three
systems. It is already present since birth and only knows the inner world of opinions and

33
feelings, and it operates by the pleasure principle which attempts to obtain pleasure and
to avoid pain, regardless of the external circumstances, and the primary process, for
example, the need to eat, to drink, to eliminate wastes, etc. The ego represents reasonable
and sensible thinking. A child soon learns that their impulses cannot always be fulfilled
immediately. Hitting someone may be result in being punished by a parent. Relieving
bladder pressure must be delayed until he reaches the toilet. The ego tries to make the id's
mental pictures to be more to the reality and based on facts rather than thoughts and
opinions. It also decides what actions are appropriate and in what

situation the id's impulses may be satisfied. The ego operates by the reality principle and
the secondary process. The superego represents moral standards. Its sense of right and
wrong punishes wrong behaviors, and its ego ideal rewards right behaviors. The

child's parent controls his behavior directly through rewards and

punishments. The parent is building the superego in the child. The child
soon can control his own behavior, for the superego tells them what is right
or wrong. Acting against the superego's standards for fulfilling the id's
impulses, will cause the child to feel anxious, which may be experienced as
guilt.

2) Hans Eysenck's personality theories

Hans J Eysenck is somewhat difficult to identify or classify. He supports a

model of personality characterized by types and traits because he firmly
beliefs that the most fundamental personality characteristics are inherited.
His equally strong belief that both heredity and environment determine
behavior supports his active verbal support of learning theory and the
behavior therapies. Eysenck says, taxonomy, or the classification of
behavior, is an important first step toward the measurement of behavior. And
factor analysis is the best means of classifying behavior. Eysenck has used

34
questionnaires, or self-ratings; ratings by others; objective behavioral tests;
assessments of physique; physiological measurements; and the biographical
and other historical information as means of obtaining personality data. He
believes that all kinds of data are useful in attempting to understand the
organism. He also believes that because each method of obtaining data
collection has its weaknesses (e.g., self-ratings are biased by subjects' views
of themselves; objective tests carried out in a traditional experimental
manner may tap too little of the total organism they are intended to
understand), one should assemble "all and every type of factual and
objective information which can be used to support or refute hypothesis
under investigation".
Eysenck suggests that personality is:
The sum-total of the actual or potential behavior-patterns of the organism, as
determined by heredity and environment; it originates and develops through
the functional interaction of the four main sectors into which these behavior-
patterns are organized: the cognitive sector (intelligence), the conative sector
(character), the affective sector (temperament), and the somatic sector
(constitution). Eysenck's inclusion of the "somatic sector" underlines his
interest in relating the behavoural aspects of personality to underlying
physiological structure and function. Although like Sheldon he has given
some attention to the relations between physique and personality, Eysenck's
major effort has gone into probing the possible relations between observable
behavior and the functioning of various parts of the brain. For Eysenck,
personality consists of acts and dispositions organized in a hierachical
fashion in terms of their level of generality.

35
Behavioral acts and dispositions
Levels Generality Example
Specific Least A person may buy food, telephone a friend, or move
response General furniture
Habitual Less A person may give a lot of parties, and each time he
Response general does so he may go shopping for food and drinks,
telephone friends to invite them, and rearrange his
furniture to accommodate a crowd.
Trait More Someone not only gives a party frequently but is often
general seen with groups of people, is the campus salesperson
for The New York Times and is planning a career in
career of sociability, inasmuch as he appears to choose
activities that involve his with other people
Type Most A person's sociability is combined with tendencies to
General be venturesome, lively, and the like, we might further
hypothesize that he is on the extravert side of the
extraversion-introversion dimension

Enduring aspects of personality

At the level of the type, Eysenck proposes three other broad dimensions:
neuroticism, psychoticism, and intelligence. He is careful to point out that no
one is ever a pure anything-a neurotic person's not neurotic all the time, for
example, and quite clearly one cannot be intelligent and nothing else. Still,
our typical levels of behavior do differ, so that each of us reflects a
distinctive combination of these four dimensions and their many sub
dimensions. Thus the in , if it were to represent the person described
properly, would have to be greatly expanded so as to include each type that

36
contributes to this individual's personality, together with each type's
subsidiary traits and habitual specific responses.
Physiologial correlates of personality dimensions

Introversion - Extraversion
Introversion: tender Extraversion: tough
mindedness; introspectiveness; mindedness; impulsiveness;
seriousness; performance tendency to be outgoing; desire
interfered with by excitement; for novelty; performance
easily aroused but restrained; enhanced by excitement;
inhibited; preference for solitary preference for vocations
vocations; sensitivity for pain involving contact with other
people; tolerance for pain
Neuroticism
Below-average emotional control, will-power, capacity to exert
self; slowness in thought and action; suggestibility; lack of
persistence; tendency to repress unpleasant facts; lack of
sociability; below average sensory acuity but high level of
activation
Psychoticism
Poor concentration; poor memory; insensitivity; lack of caring for
others; cruelty; disregard for danger and convention; occasionally
originality and/or creativity; liking for unusual things; considered
peculiar by others

The major dimensions are independent of one another: for example, normal
behavior may take introverted or extraverted forms, as may neurotic
behavior. The above table describes some components of introversion(I),

37
extraversion(E), and neuroticism(N), and depicts combinations of these
dimensions and accompanying sets of traits. As you can see, for example,
the normal extravert tends, among other things, to be lively and responsive,
the normal introvert reliable and thoughtful. The neurotic extravert may be
touchy and aggressive, whereas the neurotic introvert may be anxious and
pessimistic. The third major dimension, along which people vary, Eysenck
proposes, is normality-psychoticism. Note that psychoticism (P) is not
equivalent to psychosis as, for example, in schizophrenia-although a
schizophrenic person would be expected to score high on psychoticism. The
high-P person tends to be hostile and unconventional and considered
"peculiar" by acquaintances. Eysenck has devoted a great deal of study to
intelligence. One of his major concerns, the heritability of intelligence
focuses on the controversy surrounding this topic
How are personality charachteristics acquired ?
Neurotic behavior is learned: traumatic events can produce particularly
strong neurotic reactions in people who have inherited tendencies
toneuroticism. Conditioned fears come to be elicited not only by the original
events that triggered them but similar events. Learned neurotic behaviors can
be unlearned, through behavior therapies.

3)Raymond B. Cattell's personality theories

Raymond B. Cattell offers only the very general statement that "personality
is that which permits a prediction of what a person will do in a given
situation". He does, however, add that personality is concerned with all
behavior, including what is concrete and observable and what may only be
inferred, and he reminds us that the meaning of small segments of behavior

38
can be fully understood only when seen within the framework of the entire
functioning person. Like Gordon Allport, Cattell grounds his theory on the
concept of trait; like William Sheldon, he strongly emphasizes the biological
basis of behavior; and like Henry Murray, he explicitly gives a formal place
in his scheme to both person variables and environment variables
Personality as a structutre of traits
Personality is made up of traits, inferred mental structures that account for
the consistency of behavior. Surface traits can be inferred from observed
behavior. Source traits can be identified only by means of factor analysis, a
statistical technique for detecting underlying order in a number of variables
Source traits are constitutional, residing within the person, or environmental-
mold, deriving from experience. L data, ratings by others, Q data, self-
ratings, and T data, objective test results, provide the material from which
three types of source traits are derived. Dynamic traits are concerned with
setting the person in motion toward a goal. Temperament traits describe the
manner in which the person moves towards the goal. Ability traits describe
the effectiveness with which the person moves toward the goal. Chains of
subsidiation link the three types of dynamic traits: attitudes serve sentiments
and ergs; sentiments, organized structures of attitudes, serve ergs and other
sentiments. Ergs are constitutional source traits and correspond roughly to
drives. Attitudes and sentiments are largely environmental-mold source
traits.

Personality as a structutre of traits

Cattell's 16 personality Factors

39
 LETTER SYMBOL AND LOW
HIGH SCORER
FACTOR NAME SCORER
A
Outgoing Reserved
Affectia-Sizia
B
More intelligent Less Intelligent
Intelligence
C
Stable Emotional
Ego Strength
E
Assertive Humble
Dominance-Submissiveness
F
Happy-go-lucky Sober
Surgency-Desurgency
G
Conscientious Expedient
Superego strength
H
Bold Shy
Parmia-Threctia
I
Tenderminded Tough-minded
Premsia-Harria
L
Suspicious Trusting
Protension-Alaxia
M
Imaginative Practical
Autia-Praxernia
N
Shrewd Forthright
Shrewdness-Artlessness
O
Apprehensive Placid
Guilt-proneness-Assurance
Q1
Experimenting Traditional
Radicalism-Conservatism

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 Q2
Self-sufficient Group-tied
Self-sufficiency-Group adherance
Q3
Controlled Casual
High self-concept-Low integration
Q4 Relaxed
Tense
Ergic tension

The 16 Personality Factor Questionnaire assesses people on 16 factors, or

traits, most of which are temperament factors. Traits derived by factor
analysis from raw data are known as first-order factors. Refactoring a group
of these factors can produce second-order factors, broader and more
inclusive categories under which the first set are grouped. Some first-order
factors derived from T data align with second-order factors derived from L
and Q data, which may suggest that the different sets of data tap different
levels of organization in the personality. A behavioral specification equation,
which incorporates trait variables and situational variables, makes it possible
to predict how a particular person will behave in a particular situation.
Including variables for state, role and zet in the equation may enhance
accuracy in prediction. A specification equation can also be used to assess
conflict among ergs and sentiments
The development of personality
Boundary studies compare personality factors at different age levels. In
general, similar factors are found from 4 years of age to adulthood. MAVA
(multiple abstract variance analysis) is a statistical technique designed to
examine the relative contributions of heredity and environment to particular
personality variables. MAVA studies twins and nontwin and adoptive

41
siblings and tells not only whether the influence of heredity is present but to
what extent it is expressed within and between families. Negative
correlations between heredity and environment suggest a law of coercion to
the biosocial mean in the personality domain. Syntality is essentially the
personality of the group. It is inferred from group behavior, as personality is
inferred from individual behavior.
4) Albert Bandura's personality theory
According to social learning theory, human behavior is mostly developed,
and learning principles are sufficient to explain the development and
maintenance of human behavior. Bandura thinks that human beings are not
simply pawns of the environment; they think and regulate their own
behavior. To him, a theory of personality must take account of the social
contexts in which behavior is acquired and maintained. Reciprocal
determinism is the continuous mutual interaction among the person's mind,
the person's behavior, and the external environment. The self system refers
to structures concerned with acquisition of knowledge and sub functions
involved in perception, evaluation, and the regulation of behavior. The self
system regulates behavior through self-observation, judgmental processes,
and self-response. The impression of how well one can function in a given
situation is self-efficacy. Persistence and hard work are led to by strong
efficacy expectations and realistic outcome expectations. Altering the
expectation of personal efficacy can change behavior. Efficacy expectations
can be altered by four kinds of experience: enactive, or performance;
vicarious; persuasive; and physiological information experience. Coping and
adaptive behaviors in persons with a variety of behavioral problems can be
improved by changing personal efficacy expectationsThe anticipation of
future outcomes and the expectation of success based on experience in

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setting and reaching successive subgoals are the two sources of motivation.
When subjects have an opportunity to set such subgoals and to evaluate their
performance, performance tends to improve. Observation and vicarious
reinforcement or no reinforcement at all may lead to the acquisition of
learning. It is the expectation of reinforcement that leads to the performance
of learning. The expectation of reinforcement can develop from observing
the consequences either of others' behaviors or of our own behaviors.
Human behavior is guided largely and is kept consistent by anticipation of
self-approval or self-criticism, both of which evolve out of personal
standards of behavior that are based on the standards of socializing agents,
like parents and peers. New responses can be learned vicariously and
without either actual or vicarious reinforcement. Human beings' cognitive
skills enable them not only to reproduce observed behaviors but also to
create new and original behaviors out of combined observations. Responses
already in an observer's repertoire may be strengthened by modeled
behaviors. Modeled behaviors may also strengthen or weaken an observer's
inhibitions against performing socially unacceptable behavior, depending on
whether the model is rewarded or punished. Symbolic modeling as in
television and movies, can have strong effects on observers' behavior. The
observer's attention, an important factor in learning, is determined by the
consequences of a model's behavior for the model and the personal
characteristics of both model and observer. Personal characteristics of model
and observer often interact to determine whether a model will be imitated.
An emotional response can be classically conditioned by vicarious means.
Undesirable behaviors can be extinguished both directly and vicariously.
The basic problem in anxiety or fear reaction is not emotional distress but
the belief that one cannot cope effectively with a particular situation.

43
Participant modeling, the most effective technique for extinguishing
undesirable behavior, enables people to become progressively more and
more dependent on their own efforts, increasing their sense of self-efficacy.
5) B. F. Skinner's theory of behavior
Skinner's theory is based on operant conditioning, which means when the
organism is operating on the environments, the organism will encounter a
special kind of reinforcing stimulus or simply a reinforcement. A behavior
followed by a reinforcing stimulus results in an increased probability of that
behavior occurring in the future. A behavior no longer followed by the
reinforcing stimulus results in a decreased probability of that behavior
occurring in the future. Punishment may end an undesirable behavior, but
ending the reinforcement of such behavior and replacing it with a desirable
behavior (by means of positive reinforcement) is more effective. By shaping
(giving direction or assistance), we can make a living thing produce
behaviors it would never have produced if it were to do as it wishes. To stop
a unrestrained behavior, the behaviors which are closer and closer to the
desired behavior can be rewarded, and in the end, the desired behavior will
appear. The most common schedules of reinforcement are continuous, fixed
interval, variable interval, fixed ratio, and variable ratio. Continuous
reinforcement is the most effective way to reinforce a behavior; and variable
reinforcement is the least effective way. Primary reinforcers, like food and
water, are reinforcing without any earlier training. Secondary reinforcers,
come to have a reinforcing effect by association with primary reinforcers,
like: imagining food and water, which makes you feel satisfied. By stimulus
generalization, the organism learns to make a particular response in
situations that are very similar to the situation in which the response was
learned. By stimulus discrimination, the organism learns not to make a

44
particular response in situations that are different from the one in which the
response was learned. Operant and respondent conditioning procedures can
treat abnormal behavior. An example is flooding, which involves
encouraging a person with, say, a phobia, to get into and stay in a situation
that arouses fear until the fear drops to a lower level.The " Skinner box" has
been very useful in pharmacological research, where the effects on an
animal of a particular drug can be closely controlled and monitored
Behavioral techniques have been used with considerable success on mental
wards and with the developmentally disabled and autistic child. In a token
economy, people earn tokens when they have a good behavior, which
theythen exchange for desired goods or activities. Skinner's approach has
been applied to a wide variety of practical problems, in education, industry,
the helping professions, and animal training. The lawfulness of his findings
is unparalleled in psychology, and his schedules of reinforcement are
important to both learning theorists and the personality investigators. But
because Skinner refuses to infer any observable mechanisms or processes, he
has difficulty in using known facts as the starting point from which to draw
conclusions in completely new situations. Holistic psychologists feel that
Skinner's approach ignores the complexity of human behavior, and other
critics point out that the simple situations Skinner studies never occur
outside the laboratory. Other critics object to behavioral laws that so not
explicitly take species differences into account.

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 Personality testing

• Self-report are personality tests which as the person to answer a series of

questions about their characteristic behavior and how they react in certain
situations and are used to measure a specific personality trait. For
example, they are told to state that they agree or disagree with sentences
such as "I like most people I meet". Self-report inventories are structured
interviews that can be easily scored. Each person answers to the same set
of questions. Each item contributes to the final score on each personality
trait. For example, in an inventory designed to measure the Big Five, the
item, "I like most people I meet" is on the Extraversion scale. Each item
in an inventory is designed to relate with each trait of a certain theory.

46
 The responses of the tested person will be a analyzed to see which trait
scale he belongs to. Self-report inventories are use for clinical,
counseling, and personnel work.
• Projective test
A projective test presents an ambiguous stimuli to the person, and the
person may respond whatever he wishes. The good points about
projective tests are that they do not demand a specific respond, so the test
taker will be more likely to reveal something about himself when he
responds. If detailed guidelines are given, he/she might have the tendency
to answer according to what he thinks will give a impression to the tester.
Two of the most widely used projective techniques are the Rorschach
Test and the Thematic .
• Apperception test
Rorschach Test The Rorschach Test is developed by Psychiatrist
Hermann Rorschach is the early 1920's. It contains ten cards with
complex inkblots on them, made by dropping ink on to a piece of white
paper and folding it. The inkblots will become a unique and symmetrical
picture. After making thousands of these inkblots, Rorschach chose ten of
them. Five were black and gray, two were black, gray and red, and three
were in pastel colors. The person is asked to tell what is seen in either
part of the ink blot or the whole of it. He will not be given any other clues
of what he should say. After seeing all the ten cards, the examiner will go
over each response, including non-verbal communications such as facial
expressions and the length of time used to respond. The examiner will
then ask the person to clarify some of the responses. He might also ask
the person what part of the blot gave him a certain impression. The
responses are scored in a few different ways. The main categories are

47
location (where on the blot was the percept located: whole, common
detail or unusual detail), determinant (what feature of the inkblot
determined the responses: (F)form, movement, color, shading), form
quality (to what extent did the percept match the stimulus properties of
the inkblot), content (what was the percept: human, animal or nature) and
popular-original (whether their answers were popular among other
esponses popular answers are the same as around one-third of the
responses) But there are also problems in the Rorschach test. Many
psychologists may interpret the responses according to their own
impression of the client. Not enough studies have successfully evaluated
the test's effectiveness.

Problems in personality testing

• Personality tests can help clinical psychologists and therapists dealing

with a patient who wants to improve his life situation and actions. It
can help others to understand their personality and, where
appropriate, to change it. Before deciding that a patient can be
released from the hospital, the patient's recovery must be evaluated,
sometimes by personality types. As we can see, personality testing is
very important to the studying and research of personality, but there
are many questions that testers need to keep in mind. Are the test
results upsetting the test taker? Are the respondents pretending to be
good when taking tests? Does it affect the accuracy of the results?

48
 What techniques of investigating personality are likely to invade
privacy? Other than these, there are many other factors affecting
personality testing.
• Stability of personality
Changes in life circumstances can change one's personality and
behavior greatly, and this will affect the validity of personality tests.
A long-term study was conducted to demonstrate the stability or
personality of normal teens. In the end it was found that there were
both consistency and change in personality of different people.
Reassessed at age 40, some of them had fairly the same personality
when compared with those recorded in their early teens, but other had
changed a lot from the earlier personality.
• Problems in self-report
The self-report is presented by the person himself. Honest answers
can be hoped for when the tester is trying help the test taker solve his
problems, but even then, it is natural for the test taker to give answers
that will be judged favorably insofar as they can guess the tester's
standards for judgment. This will greatly affect the results of tests.
This problem is observable from this incident: Health questionnaires
were given to some industrial workers, and the filled-out
questionnaires were sent to the company medical department to assist
the department in improving the workers' health. Another pile of
identical questionnaires were given to another group of industrial
workers and the responses were mailed directly to a research team at
a university. The workers listed far more symptoms on the second
questionnaires than the first one, although an honest report to the

49
 medical department can bring them medical help while the second
questionnaire would not.
• Limitations of inventory responses
Even when the respondent wants to cooperate, not all questionnaire
responses are sufficient in telling the tester the right information. One
of the problems is that questions cannot be fully specified. For
example, even when the question is simple "Do you make friends
easily”? But it is hard to say what is meant by "easily". What does
"friend" mean - intimate companionship? Pleasant interaction without
emotional involvement? Or is it something in between? If the person
regards himself as the type who makes friends easily - he marks YES.
Another equally popular respondent applying a different standard
marks NO. This will also affect the accuracy of personality testing.

• Response sets
Response sets can limit the answers to several often ambiguous
choices. This can prove to be a problem. Similar people may have
different results because they may set the boundary between different
answers such as "like" and "indifferent". Also, people often have a
bias toward saying "like", "yes", "often" or "indifferent" and this can
be a problem in personalitymeasurement. Furthermore, because of the
limitation in answers, the test may be ineffective in diffrentiating
different personality types.
• Problems with projective tests
Projective tests have not been researched enough to prove its
effectiveness in accessing personality, except the Rorschach test and

50
 the Thematic Apperception Test. Even so, the results of research
indicate that the reliability of the Rorschach test is poor because the
interpretations of the responses are too depended on the clinician's
judgment, since it is true that two different clinicians might interpret
the same responses quite differently The results of the test might
contradict with the person's actual behavior. A person who makes up
aggressive stories may not be aggressive in real life. Defenders of the
two tests state point out that it is unfair to expect accurate prediction
from the two tests; they are useful as light additional information,
example the person's life history and observations of behavior.
Rorschach interpretations should be used as tentative hypotheses.
These hypotheses should be seen as valid when comfirmed by other
sources of data.

• Faking
A structured question dealing with emotional health, responsibility,
or interpersonal relations typically has one answer option that the
culture considers good, and the majority of the respondents are likely
to pick that "good" option. A person who consistently gives desirable
responses may be admirable. It is also possible that he is deceiving
himself. On the other hand, a respondent may exaggerate symptoms
to gain sympathy and attention. A class of students was told to
pretend that they are applying for the position of salesman in a large
industrial organization and was given a confidence test by the
employment manager. The situation was that they have been
unemployed for some time, have a family to support, and want very

51
 much to land this position. The next week, pretending that the
students were applying for the position of librarian in a small town,
the same inventory was filled out. The Results was that most of the
students had much higher self-confident scores in the salesman
questionnaire than the librarian one.

Personality disorders

Personality disorders are long-standing patterns of maladaptive behavior,

which significantly impairs the individual's ability to function in important
areas, for example, the person's work, family and social life. They will cause
the person to solve problems in an immature and inappropriate way, and will
lead to clinically significant distress, either to the person or to others.
Personality disorders are of long duration and are usually observable by teen
years and may continue through adulthood. Personality disorders are not due
to the direct physiological effects of a substance (e.g. a drug of abuse, a
medication) or a general medical condition (e.g. head trauma).
Causes

52
During times of increased stress or external pressures, the symptoms of the
personality disorder will gain strength and will develop into a full-blown
personality disorder. There are biological, psychological and social factors to
most personality disorders. However, studies say that they are unlikely to
develop unless they are also exposed to environments that promote these
behaviors. There are many causes of personality disorders, and each case is
unique from the others. It may be a result of frequent rejection or
punishment from others, lack of parental supervision, or genetic influence
from parents .

The ten personality disorders

The DSM-IV is one of the most popularly used manuals for psychiatric
diagnosis. Here is a brief outline of the diagnostic criteria used for
diagnosing the 10 personality disorders classified in DSM-IV.

Cluster A

• Paranoid Personality Disorder

• Schizoid Personality Disorder
• Schizotypal Personality Disorder

Cluster B

• Antisocial Personality Disorder

• Borderline Personality Disorder
• Histrionic Personality Disorder
• Narcissistic Personality Disorder

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Cluster C

• Avoidant Personality Disorder

• Dependent Personality Disorder
• Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder

Symptoms
Cluster A

• Paranoid personality disorder

A person with paranoid personality disorder has a pattern of distrust
and suspiciousness of others such that their motives are interpreted as
malevolent, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of
contexts and lasts through a long time.

0.5% to 2.5% of the general population has paranoid personality disorder.

People with paranoid personality disorder will have a majority of the
following symptoms:
suspect others for harming them without of a justified reason

• filled with doubt for their friends loyalty and

trustworthiness

54
 • unwilling to be open to others because they fear that the
information will be used to harm themselves
• interpret kind words into threatening and humiliating
meanings
• cannot forgive injuries and insults

• quick to counter-attack when they think that someone is

trying to ruin their character or reputation
• continuously suspicious about their partners' loyalty
without justification

• Schizoid personality disorder

A person with schizoid personality disorder has a long-time pattern of

detachment from social relationships and a restricted range of expression
of emotions in interpersonal settings, beginning by early adulthood and
present in a variety of contexts. "Uncommon" to 7.5% of the general

55
population has schizoid personality disorder. People with schizoid
personality disorder will have a majority of the following symptoms:

• dislike intimate relationships or being a part of a family

• enjoys a few (if any) solitary activities

• little interest in sexual experiences

• lack close friends
• indifferent when praised or criticized

• shows coldness and detachment

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• Schizotypal personality disorder
A person with schizotypal personality disorder has a consistent
pattern of social and interpersonal insufficiencies shown in intense
discomfort with, and reduced capacity for, close relationships as well
as by distortions in perceptions and eccentricities of behavior,
beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts.
About 3% of the general population has schizotypal
personalitydisorder. People with schizotypal personality disorder will
have a majority of the following symptoms:

• are superstitious and suspicious

• have odd beliefs, thinking, speech and behavior which
may be stereotyped or over-elaborate

• have magical thinking that affects behavior

• inconsistent with sub cultural standards
• have unusual perceptual experiences (e.g. physical
illusions)
• lack close friends
• have excessive social anxiety
• connected to unreasonable fear

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 Cluster B

• Antisocial personality disorder

A person with antisocial personality disorder has a pattern of disregard for

and violation of the rights of others occurring since age 15 years that spreads
through a long period of time. Differing from ordinary people who
understand that sometimes one needs to give up their own preferences to
care others, people with antisocial personality disorder are only concerned

about their own needs and will constantly and repeatedly ignore and violate
other people's rights. They seem to have little sense of responsibility,
morality or concern for others and constantly have trouble with the law. This
behavior will occur since the age of 15 but only adults 18 years old or above
are considered to be diagnosed with this personality disorder. These people
are often intelligent, competent and attractive people, and are good at
deceiving others. They can get promising jobs because they are good at
manipulating others, and their words can sound sincere, but their impulsive
behavior lead them into doing actions that reveals their true self – they
increase debts, waste company money or commit crimes. When caught, they
can promise to repent in such a convincing way that they can easily get away
with punishment and are given another chance. But they seldom keep these

58
promises, for what they say has little to do with what they actually think or
do. 3% of the males in the general population have antisocial personality
disorder. 1% of the females in the general population have antisocial
personality disorder. People with antisocial personality disorder will have a
majority of the following symptoms:

• lack of concern for others

• lack of shamefulness and guilt
• do not as strongly dislike punishment as an average person
• have the ability of repeatedly lying and tricking others for their own
benefit
• good at manipulating others
• have little respect for laws (e.g. repeatedly perform crimes)
• irritable and aggressive (get into physical fights)

• seek stimulation through dangerous acts

• do not think about safety of themselves and others irresponsible and
has little sense of duty at work

• Borderline personality disorder

A person with borderline personality disorder has a long-time pattern
of instability of interpersonal relationships, self-image, and affects,
and marked impulsivity beginning by early adulthood and present in

59
a variety of contexts. People with borderline personality disorder are
unstable. Their moods are unstable. They can suddenly feel
extremely depressed, anxious or anger without much reason. The way
they view themselves is unstable too. One day they can feel a lot of
self-importance, the next day they may feel doubtful about
themselves. Also, their personal relationships are unstable. They can
greatly admire a person, and suddenly hate them without a reason.
They see others as either "all good" or "all bad". These people often
feel empty and desperate, and they will go searching for a new friend
or a therapist to fill the emptiness. It is researched that they are
constant visitors of mental health services. A person with borderline
personality disorder is very sensitive to rejections. They are often
oversensitive and become angry or depressed when they believe that
they are rejected.Since people with borderline personality disorder
are unstable with their moods, self-concepts and personal
relationships, they tend to develop self-damaging behavior, such as
burning or cutting oneself, or even suicide. Studies of people
diagnosed with this personality disorder indicate that six percent of
them die of suicide. Finally, people with borderline personality
disorder feel unreal, loose track of time and may even forget who
they are. 2% of the general population has antisocial personality
disorder. It is researched that more women than men are diagnosed
with this disorder. People with borderline personality disorder will
have a majority of the following symptoms:

• unstable personal relationships

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 • perform potentially self-damaging acts, such as substance
abuse, reckless
• driving and binge eating.
• self-damaging or suicidal behavior
• unstable self-image
• frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined rejection
• instability due to frequent change of mood
• feel empty inside

• frequent physical fights and displays of anger, anxiety

and depression

• Histrionic personality disorder

A person with antisocial personality disorder has a pervasive pattern
ofexcessive emotionality and attention seeking, beginning by early
adulthood and present in a variety of contexts.

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2% to 3% of the general population has histrionic personality disorder.
People with dependent personality disorder will have a majority of the
following symptoms:

• need to be the center of attention

• display sexually seductive or provocative behavior
• lack depth when expressing their emotions
• constantly use their outward appearance to attract
attention
• have impressionistic speech

• exaggerates expression of emotion, shows self-

dramatization
• easily influenced by others or situations
• imagine that their relationships are more intimate than
they actually are.

• Narcissistic personality disorder

People with narcissistic personality disorder has a long-time
pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration,
and lack of empathy, beginning by early adulthood and present in a
variety of contexts. Their minds are so filled with the fantasies of

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success and the desire for self-importance and attention, that they
become insensitive to other people's needs and might exploit
others. Less than 1% of the general population has histrionic
personality disorder. People with narcissistic personality disorder
will have a majority of the following symptoms:

• show a great sense of self-importance, boasts and

exaggerates their talents and achievements, and expects others
to admire them although they have not achieved anything
remarkable.
• expects others to see them as a superior person
• believes that they are unique and special, and that only
people of high-status people can understand them.
• needs a lot of admiration and praise.
• their minds are occupied with their dreams of power,
success, beauty and they need to be the center of attention.

• have unreasonable expectations others to treat them with

exceptionally favorable treatment.
• take advantage of others to fulfill their purposes
• unwilling to recognize other's needs and feelings
• often jealous of others and thinks that others are also
jealous of them

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 • displays conceited behavior

Cluster C

• Avoidant personality disorder

A person diagnosed with avoidant personality disorder has a
pervasive pattern of social inhibition, feelings of inadequacy, and
hypersensitivity to negative evaluation, beginning by early
dulthood and present in a variety of contexts. 0.5% to 1% of the
general population has avoidant personality disorder. People with
avoidant personality disorder will have a majority of the following
symptoms:

• extreme fear of rejection, disapproval and criticism

• avoid careers that involve interpersonal contact

• unless they are sure that they are liked, they are unwilling
to get involved with others

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 • have a barrier between their close ones due to fear of
being shamed or jeered at
• have difficulty beginning a new relationship because they
feel insecure
• their minds are filled with fears of being criticized or
rejected in social situations
• think that they are unappealing to other people
• refuse to be involved in any new activity or to take
personal risks

• Dependent personality disorder

A person with dependent personality disorder has a pervasive and
excessive need to be taken care of, that leads to submissive and
clinging behavior and fears of separation, beginning by early
adulthood and present in a variety of contexts. While ordinary
adults have the ability to make their own decisions, people
diagnosed with dependent personality disorder do not. They have a
passive orientation to life, need continuous support from others,
refuse totake up responsibilities, and tend to be look down on
themselves and disapprove of themselves. People with dependent
personality disorder will have a majority of the following
symptoms: unable to make decisions without a great amount of
reassurance and advice from others expect others to be responsible
for most areas of their lives

• need an excessive amount of approval and support, and

have difficulty expressing objections due to fear of loss of
support

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 • their minds are filled with unrealistic fear of being left to
take care of themselves

• feel helpless and miserable when alone

• might do things that they do not want to do to gain
support and care from others
• when a close relationship ends, they seek desperately for
another source of support and care

• Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder

A person diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive personality
disorder has a pervasive pattern of preoccupation with orderliness,
perfectionism, and mental and interpersonal control, at the expense
of flexibility, openness, and efficiency, beginning by early
adulthood and present in a variety of contexts. People with
obsessive-compulsive personality disorder will have a majority of
the following symptoms:

• occupied with rules, details, lists, order, organization and

schedules to the extent that the main point of the whole thing is
lost

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• are perfectionists, cannot complete a task if their
standards are not met
• over-working to the extent that they have no time for
friendships and leisure

• inflexible and stubborn

• unable to discard objects with no sentimental value

• refuse to work with others unless they completely follow
their ideas
• stingy, for they believe that money should be saved for
future misfortunes

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 Treatment for disorder

• Treatment for antisocial personality disorder

Psychotherapy is nearly always chosen as the treatment for this
disorder. However, effective psychotherapy treatment for this
disorder is also limited. Although medications may be used to
stabilize mood swings, there is no research that supports the use of
medications to treat antisocial personality disorder directly

 Psychotherapy
Most of the people diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder lack
of connection between feelings and behaviors. Helping the client to

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 connect the two may be beneficial to the patient. People diagnosed
with antisocial personality disorder often have little or no significant
relationships that supports their emotional needs in their lives. A
relationship between the therapists and the patient can be the first
ones. The content of therapy should focus on the patient's emotions.
The patient will likely be unfamiliar with carious emotional states,
one of the first may be depression. It is important that the clinician is
supportive and empathetic to the patient, so that he/she will learn to
associate with depression. Other modalities of psychotherapy, such as
group and family therapy, can be helpful. Family therapy can be
helpful to increase education and understanding among family
members. Psychotherapy is nearly always chosen as the treatment for
this disorder. However, effective psychotherapy treatment for this
disorder is also limited. Although medications may be used to
stabilize mood swings, there is no research that supports the use of
medications to treatantisocial personality disorder directly.

 Hospitalization
Inpatient care is rarely appropriate or necessary for antisocial
personality disorder. Since inpatient programs are usually more
intensive and expensive, they are rarely sought out by the patients
themselves.
 Medications
Medications should only be given to treat clear, acute and serious
Axis I concurrent diagnoses. No research suggested that any
medication is effective in the treatment of antisocial disorder.

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 Self-help
Although self-help methods are often neglected, they are probably
helpful to treating antisocial personality disorder, especially self-help
groups that are designed for antisocial personality disorder.
Individuals will feel more at ease when sharing their feelings to their
peers in this type of supportive modality. Once they overcome their
initial fears and hesitation to join in the group, it can be very
beneficial to most people with this disorder.
 Treatment for avoidant personality disorder
As with most personality disorders, the treatment of choice is
psychotherapy. While individual therapy is usually the preferred
modality, group therapy can be useful if the client can agree to attend
enough sessions. Because of the basic components of this disorder,
though, it is often difficult to have the individual attend group therapy
early on in the therapeutic process.
 Psychotherapy
A person diagnosed with avoidant personality disorder has very poor
self-esteem and avoids social interactions. A solid relationship
founded with good rapport and listening between the therapist and the
client is important to the therapist's effectiveness, and successful
therapy also reinforces the possibility of other new relationships.
However, forming a solid relationship with a person diagnosed with
this disorder is not easy. Once rapport is formed, therapy is usually
quite stable.
 Medications
Medications should only be given to treat clear, acute and serious
Axis I diagnoses. Anti-anxiety agents and antidepressants should be

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 prescribed only when there is a clear Axis I diagnosis in conjunction
with the personality disorder. Physicians should prevent over
prescribing to someone with this disorder, because they will probably
end up complaining about being anxious in social situations or feel of
disconnected with their feelings. In this way, it is clear that their
anxiety is related to the medication and this might even affect the
effectiveness of psychotherapy.
 Self-help
Self-help groups are unlikely to be effective because a person with
avoidant personality disorder will probably avoid attending such
sessions, due to increased anxiety and difficulty interacting socially.

• Treatment for dependent personality disorder

People who suffer from this disorder want attention, valuation, and
social contact. Because of this, they may be one of the easiest to
meet regularly in therapy, but also the most difficult because of the
extreme need of support and assurance. While rapport and a close,
therapeutic relationship must be established, the boundaries in
therapy must also be constantly and clearly outlined.

 Psychotherapy
Like all personality disorders, psychotherapy is chosen to treat
dependent personality disorder. The most effective psychotherapeutic
approach is to concentrate on solving the client's life problems that he
is experiencing at present. Long-term, which is ideal for most
personality disorders, is not suitable for patients with dependent
personality disorder, because it reinforces a dependent relationship
upon the therapist.

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 Medications
As with all personality disorders, medication should only be
prescribed for specific problems suffered by the patient. Sedative drug
abuse and overdose is common in this population and should be
prescribed with additional caution. Anti-anxiety agents and
antidepressants should be prescribed only when there is a clear Axis I
diagnosis in conjunction with the personality disorder. Physicians
should prevent over prescribing to someone with this disorder,
because they will probably end up complaining about being anxious in
social situations or feel of disconnected with their feelings. In this
way, it is clear that their anxiety is related to the medication and this
might even affect the effectiveness of psychotherapy.
 Self-help
As with all personality disorders, medication should only be
prescribed for specific problems suffered by the patient. Sedative drug
abuse and overdose is common in this population and should be
prescribed with additional caution. Anti-anxiety agents and
antidepressants should be prescribed only when there is a clear Axis I
diagnosis in conjunction with the personality disorder. Physicians
should prevent over prescribing to someone with this disorder,
because they will probably end up complaining about being anxious in
social situations or feel of disconnected with their feelings. In this
way, it is clear that their anxiety is related to the medication and this
might even affect the effectiveness of psychotherapy.

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 Comparing personality of Clinton and Obama

According to “Unit for the Study of Personality in Politics at the College of

St. Benedict and St. John’s University” to gain a better understanding of
Clinton and Obama personality they generated personality profiles using a
standard assessment procedure
The profile revealed that Clinton has a highly ambitious and somewhat self-
serving, dominant and controlling, conscientious, dutiful personality.
Highly ambitious personalities have supreme self-confidence, though this
tendency may sometimes shade into overconfidence and a sense of
entitlement. Nonetheless, these individuals often make effective leaders, due
to their bold, competitive nature.
Dominant personalities are strong-willed, commanding, and assertive.
Although this is typically regarded as a leadership strength, a potential

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problem for Clinton is that for some voters these traits may feed into
negative stereotypes of women, contributing to her high negatives in the
polls.
Conscientious personalities are highly organized, diligent, and attentive to
detail; however, they can also be rigid thinkers who find it difficult to make
a mid-course correction when a well-made plan falters in its execution. By
the same token, as candidates they may seem excessively programmed,
which undermines their efforts to inspire voters.
The profile revealed that Obama, like Clinton, is ambitious and dominant,
though not to the same degree. On a personal level, the primary distinction
between Obama and Clinton is that where Clinton is conscientious, Obama
is outgoing and congenial, which makes it easier for him to inspire followers
and connect with people.
Clinton, as a strong-willed, confident personality, can be expected to
articulate and defend her policies personally rather than relying on others.
The equally confident Obama will be similarly inclined.
There may, however, be a slight distinction in the sense that the more
outgoing Obama would probably show a stronger preference for directly
engaging the public, whereas the more conscientious, less extraverted
Clinton would be less likely to enjoy this aspect of governing and
therefore give senior administration officials a larger role in articulating and
defending her policies.

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 Conclusion

Throughout the whole Project “Personality ” I have gone through a no. of

phases of study from various places by gathering data. Activities during this
project benefited me immensely in sharpening my research and analyzing
skills. I’ve taken various consideration while doing this project Some people
are quiet and passive; others are loud and aggressive.When we describe
people in terms of charachteristics such as quiet, aggressive ,ambitious, loyal
or sociable, we’re categorizing them in terms of personality traits. An
individual’s personality therefore is the combination of psychological traits
we use to classify that person.Personality is affected by social and
environment factors. Biological factors also effect in personality
development. Many theories has been written by Psychiatrist for knowing
individual personality .Researchers has done so many researches on this
topic so that they can easily differntiate an individual personality.By
research we can easily find an individual personality and by which we can
also find what exactly the personality of an individual is.As now a days

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because of busy schedule, life of an individual is becoming hectic day by
day which effect an individual’s behavior which makes the changes in an
individual’s personality. Myers Briggs type indicator is most waidely used
personality assessment instrument in the world.There are different
personality disorder which can be overcome by using the right method at
right time such as medications ,pshycotherapy .

Bibliography

Books:

Stephen P.Robbins - Organizational Behavior ,8th Edition

Robbins(S.P.) - Essential Of Organizational Behavior ,8th Edition

Web Sites:

www.google.com

www.wikipedia.org

www.That's Me! - A Guide To Personality.htm

www.personality Theories.htm

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