PSYCHOLOGY – SSC 210

Lahore School of Economics

Hirra Rana
 Personality (contd.)
Theories of Personality development
Personality: A person’s unique and relatively
stable patterns of thinking, emotions, and
behavior(Burger,2011;Ewen,2009).
Personality trait:
A stable, enduring quality that a person shows in
most situations (Matthews,Deary,Whiteman,
2009).

Personality type: A style of personality defined

by a group of related traits.
Allport suggested that there are three
fundamental categories of traits: Cardinal,
Central, and Secondary (Allport,1961,1966).

Cardinal trait: A personality trait so basic that all

of a person’s activities relate to it.

For instance, compassion was an overriding trait of

Mother Teresa’s personality. Likewise, Abraham
Lincoln’s personality was dominated by the
cardinal trait of honesty.
Central traits: The core traits that characterize an individuals
personality.

For example:
When college students were asked to describe someone they
knew well, they mentioned an average of seven central traits
(Allport,1961)

Secondary traits:
Secondary traits are more superficial personal qualities, such
as food preferences, attitudes, political opinions, musical
tastes, and so forth.

For instance, Love of modern art would be considered

secondary traits (Nicholson,2003;Glicksohn&Nahari, 2007).
In Allport’s terms, a personality description
might therefore include the following items:

 Name: Jane
 Age: 22
 Cardinal traits: None
 Central traits: Possessive, autonomous,
artistic, dramatic, self-centered, trusting
 Secondary traits: Prefers colorful clothes,
likes to work alone, politically liberal,
always late
Carl Rogers, another well-known humanist,
emphasized the human capacity for inner
peace and happiness (Elliott & Farber,
2010).

The fully functioning person, he said, lives in

harmony with his or her deepest feelings and
impulses.
Such people are open to their experiences,
and they trust their inner urges and
intuitions (Rogers,1961).
 Rogers’ theory emphasizes :

The self, a flexible and changing perception of

personal identity.

Self-image is a total subjective perception of

your body and personality.)

For example, people who think of themselves as

kind tend to be considerate in most situations.
 Thus, a person who thinks she is kind but
really isn’t, is in a state of incongruence.

Incongruence: Incongruence A state that exists

when there is a difference between one’s
experiences and self-image or between one’s
self-image and ideal self.

This creates a gulf between the self-image

and reality (Ryckman,2013).
Positive self-regard, to use Rogers’ term:
Thinking of oneself as a good, lovable,
worthwhile person.

 Rogers felt, when children (or adults) receive

unconditional positive regard (unshakable
love and approval) from others.

That is, when they are “prized” as worthwhile

human beings, just for being themselves
 How is personality “measured”?

 Psychologists use interviews, observation,

questionnaires, Rating scales and projective
tests, Personality Questionnaires to assess
personality

 Personality Questionnaires

Personality questionnaires are paper-and-pencil

tests that reveal personality characteristics.
 Questionnaires are more objective than
interviews or observation.
 One of the best-known and most widely used
objective tests is the

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-

2 (MMPI-2) (Butcher, 2011).

The MMPI-2: is composed of 567 items to

which a test taker must respond “true” or
“false.”
Items include statements such as the
following:
 Everything tastes the same.
 I like birds.
 I usually daydream in the afternoon.
 Mostly I stay away from other people.