1.1.6 Personality
Personality: Derivation of Nomothetic and Idiographic Theories
‘Personality refers to the enduring characteristics and behaviour that comprise a person’s unique adjustment to life, including major traits, interests, drives, values, self-concept, abilities, and emotional patterns.’ (Anaya and Pérez-Edgar, 2019).
Multiple theories elucidate the structure and development of personality in diverse ways. All these theories come to an agreement that personality helps determine behaviour.
Psychologists generally follow either the Nomothetic approach or the Idiographic approach.
Nomothetic theory:
The nomothetic theory looks for generalizations across groups of people. Traits and dimensions that are universal to all of us. The term “nomothetic” arises from the Greek word “nomos”, meaning law, and the root “thetes”, which means to establish or to place. So, the nomothetic approach can be thought of as the approach that looks for general laws. Psychologists who follow a nomothetic approach tend to emphasize the similarities between people, as opposed to the differences. Moreover, to make deductions and predictions about general human behaviour psychologists more often rely on scientific methods, experiments, statistical analyses, the use of group averages and other quantifiable data (Kleinberg, et al., 2018). This approach has been very successful in uncovering general laws of human behaviour. However, it focuses on generalities without consideration of individual differences. Moreover, it relies on experiments, which do not work in all circumstances.
Idiographic theory:
The idiographic theory, on the contrary, focuses on individual differences, qualitative data, and individual experiences. The term “idiographic” originates from the Greek word “idios” meaning “private”. There have been several different approaches that lie under the category of idiographic psychology (Beck and Jackson, 2020). These include phenomenology, hermeneutics, and case study methods. All these approaches share the common goal of understanding behaviour from the perspective of the individual, even though each of them has a different focus. An advantage of this approach is that it allows for a more in-depth understanding of behaviour, as well as being able to study rare events. However, it is costly and also makes it hard to generalize the findings of research to the population as a whole.
The main proponents of the idiographic theory were Gordon Allport, Carl Rogers, George Kelly, and Abraham Maslow. They stated that personalities can be changeable, with no fixed traits defining the individual.
Trait and Type Approaches and Elementary Personal Construct Theory
Personality theories that describe individual variations in behaviour have developed in clinical, psychometric and experimental traditions for many years (Ferguson, 2013). They generally explore the differences in individual behaviours in what appear to be similar situations.
Hans Eysenck’s Trait theory is based on the social cognitive perspective. It was developed from the experimental tradition to individual differences and which are seen as rigid ways in which people can differ from each other (Kassin, 2003). The objective of trait theory is to search for commonplace dimensions from a wide variety of people, which would then aid theorists to foresee the behaviour of an individual in certain circumstances (Fleeson and Jayawickreme, 2015). This theory asserts that personality is fixed and genetically derived. Following this, Eysenck and Rachman added that personality is not about absolute categories (e.g. introvert) but of dimensions (‘more/less strongly introverted). The Eysenck’s Personality Inventory is used to produce scores through experimental methods. This inventory produces psychometric inventories to measure traits.
Eysenck identified three dimensions when classifying personality. This theory is commonly referred to as the ‘Gigantic Three’. Each dimension is seen to have a biological basis.
A strength of trait theory is how finely its methods suit its aims. Plotting an individual with the help of a score makes it possible to classify how people may act in particular situations.
Trait theory has been around for more than a century. It has its disadvantage like traits are determined subjectively by the creator of the list, rather than the individual. There is still no agreement about which or the number of traits most suitably describe personality. It has received much critique, unlike the Personal construct theory (Butt, 2012).
George Kelly’s ‘Personal construct theory’ emphasizes that personality not being fixed. He adds that a modification in personality is conceivable though not easily attained. Personal construct theory is a form of phenomenology which looks at how individuals appear dissimilar to each other (Butt, 2012). George Kelly emphasized individual differences and regarded personality as an individual experience (Stevens, 2007). Based on the phenomenological perspective, which emphasizes how things (particularly other people) appear dissimilar to each individual, personal construct theory helps to understand how a person uses their subjective experiences to form a set of personal constructs which then aid them to give the logic of the world and to take into consideration the difference of each individuals personality (Butt 2012).
One of the weaknesses of the personal construct theory is how Kelly was unable to explore where constructs arise from and how different individuals form different systems of construction.
Principles Underlying Psychoanalytic, Social Learning, Cognitive Neuroscience and Humanistic Approaches
According to Sigmund Freud, psychoanalysis is defined as
- a theory of mind or personality,
- a means of investigating the unconscious processes,
- and a method of treatment.
At present, it is most appropriate to categorize psychoanalytic perspectives on personality prototypically and not through any set of defining features. Psychoanalytic approaches take as obvious the importance of unconscious cognitive, affective, and motivational processes; conflicting mental processes; compromises among competing psychological tendencies that can be negotiated on the unconscious level; defence and self-deception; the impact of the past, directly or in interaction with genetic predispositions, on current functioning; the enduring impacts of interpersonal patterns established in childhood; and the effect of sexual, aggressive, attachment-related, self-esteem, and other wishes and fears on thought, feeling, and behaviour, whether or not the person is aware of it (Westen, Gabbard, and Ortigo, 2008).
The Social learning theory focuses on the significance of observation and modelling. Some of the processes that establish outcomes of observed behaviour include attention, retention, motor reproduction, and motivation (Whitney, 2015).
The cognitive neuroscience of long-term memory is embedded with the hypothesis that a certain task measures a single cognitive process. Each cognitive process is mediated by a single brain area. However, these assumptions are crude and hamper the understanding of the true mechanisms of memory (Scott, 2012).
The humanistic approach in psychology developed in the 1960s and 70s brought in a new perspective. The focus was that the study of psychology should focus not only on the purely mechanistic aspects of cognition but purely on the effect of the environment on behaviour. It was proposed instead that the emphasis of psychological study should be on the particulars of human experience. The humanistic approach focuses on the personal worth of the human, the centrality of human values, and the creative, active nature of individuals. The approach is optimistic and has its focuses on the noble human ability to beat hardship, agony and despair (Joseph, 2012).
Whether human behaviour comes from heredity factors (nature) or is a product of the environment (nurture) is a question psychologists are confronted with today. Heredity and the environment do not act independently and both nature and nurture are essential for almost all behaviour (Davids and Baker, 2007). Therefore, instead of defending extreme nativist or environmentalist views, most investigations are now directed towards the ways in which nature and nurture interact. The Interactionist approach is the view that both nature and nurture work together to determine human behaviour.
Psychoanalytical defence mechanisms and development:
| Philosopher/Psychologist | Concept |
| Sigmund Freud | Three-part structure: id, ego and superego. Described development of personality through different psychosexual developmental stages (the oral, the anal, the phallic, the latent, and the genital). He also introduced the concept of ‘defence’, which his daughter Anna Freud defined with the first nine defence mechanisms that are employed by the ego to protect itself from anxiety or danger. |
| Carl Jung | Described the collective unconscious as having a biological base and reflective of themes and ideas that are universal. Jung spoke about a collective unconscious containing archetypes: anima, animus and shadow. Anima is usually related to the emotional, empathetic, and sensitive aspects, while Animus is related to the active, intellectual, exploring side of the personality. |
| Erik Erikson | Developed psychosocial development into 8 development stages. |
Freud’s psychosexual developmental stages:
Erikson’s psychosocial development stages:
Construction and Use of Inventories, Rating Scales, Grids and Q-Sort
To study human behaviour, surveys are perhaps the most used methodological tool among academic researchers. Self-administered survey questionnaires (and guided interviews) are now used widely to bring forth behaviours, attributes, beliefs, and attitudes among populations. Researchers, however, must be aware of the research objectives when constructing items consisting of a summated rating scale (Shane, 2005).
| Personality test: | Summary: |
| Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) | Personality inventories are completed by the patient/individual rather than the physician.MMPI is the most common. |
| Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) | A psychometric tool that assesses psychological preferences in terms of how an individual perceives their environment/the world and consequently makes decisions. Developed following Carl Jung’s work. |
| Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) | A projective test where patients are presented with pictures and asked to create a story. Alongside this, they are questioned about their thoughts and feelings. The concept is that unconscious themes will emerge, which are then interpreted and explored further. |
| Sentence Completion Test | A projective test that involves an open-ended form. The individual is presented with the first part of an uncompleted sentence and asked to complete it in their own words. |
| Cattell’s 16 PFQ | A multiple-choice personality questionnaire that uses factor analysis and correlation coefficients. It measures the 16 primary traits and the ‘Big Five’ secondary traits. |
| Eysenck Personality Inventory | The Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI) measures two pervasive, independent dimensions of personality, Extraversion-Introversion and Neuroticism-Stability, which account for most of the variance in the personality domain. |
| Draw a Man test | Involves completing three separate drawings; one of a man, one of a woman and a drawing of themselves. Following this, they are requested to draw a whole person without any further instructions. This measures: personality, intelligence, sensory defects, developmental progress and visual-motor coordination. |
| International Personality Disorder Examination (IPDE) | A consistent approach for investigating personality disorders in DSM-5 and ICD-10. Two parts: a self-administered screening questionnaire and a semi-structured interview. |
Q-sort techniques assess personality pathology, mental, and interpersonal issues. They are also utilized in quantifying the psychotherapeutic process. Q-sort methods aid in studying research questions that are clinically relevant, however, they are extremely hard to grasp. They are also used for “dismantling studies” (Löffler-Stastka, 2011).
References:
(1) Anaya, B., and Pérez-Edgar, K. (2019) ‘Personality development in the context of individual traits and parenting dynamics’, New Ideas in Psychology, 53, pp. 37-46.
(2) Beck, E. D., and Jackson, J. J. (2020) ‘Consistency and change in idiographic personality: A longitudinal ESM network study’, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 118(5), pp. 1080-1100.
(3) Butt, T. (2012). ‘Individual differences’. In Langdridge, D. Taylor, S. and Mahendran, K. (Eds.), Critical Readings in Social Psychology (2nd ed., pp45–64). Milton Keynes: The Open University.
(4) Davids, K., and Baker, J. (2007) ‘Genes, environment and sport performance: why the nature-nurture dualism is no longer relevant.’ Sports Medicine, 37(11), pp. 961-980.
(5) Ilan, J., and Walter, D. (2017)‘Biological theories of crime versus psychological theories of crime — Comparison and evaluation of their contributions to our understanding of crime and/or criminal justice. 10.13140/RG.2.2.14740.14726.
(6) Kassin, S. M. (2003) Psychology. USA: Prentice-Hall, Inc.
(7) Kleinberg, J., Lakkaraju, H., Leskovec, J., Ludwig, J., Mullainathan, S. (2018) ‘HUMAN DECISIONS AND MACHINE PREDICTIONS’, The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 133(1), pp. 237-293.
(8) Ferguson, E. (2013) ‘Personality is of central concern to understand health: towards a theoretical model for health psychology.’ Health Psychology Review, 7, S32 – S70.
(9) Fleeson, W., and Jayawickreme, E. (2015) ‘Whole Trait Theory’, Journal of Research in Personality, 1;56, pp. 82-92.
(10) Freud, S. (1987) ‘The origin and development of psychoanalysis. By Sigmund Freud, 1910.’ American Journal of Psychology, 100(3-4), pp. 472-488.
(11) Joseph, S. (2012) ‘How Humanistic Is Positive Psychology? Lessons in Positive Psychology From Carl Rogers’ Person-Centered Approach-It’s the Social Environment That Must Change.’ Frontiers in Psychology, 12.
(12) Löffler-Stastka, H. (2011) ‘Use of Q-sort assessment methods for diagnostic purposes and in treatment evaluation?. Z Psychosom Med Psychother, 57(4), pp. 319-324.
(13) Scott, S (2012) ‘The cognitive neuroscience of memory Introduction’. Cognitive neuroscience. 3, pp. 139-141.
(14) Shane, D. (2005). ‘Construction, Implementation, and Analysis of Summated Rating Attitude Scales’, American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 69.
(15) Stevens, R. (2002) ‘Person Psychology: Psychoanalytic and Humanistic Perspectives’inMiell, D, Phoenix, A. and Thomas, K. (Eds.), Mapping Psychology – Book 2, Chapter 9, Milton Keynes: The Open University.
(16) Westen, D., Gabbard, G. O., and Ortigo, K. M. (2008). Psychoanalytic approaches to personality. In O. P. John, R. W. Robins, & L. A. Pervin (Eds.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research (pp. 61–113). The Guilford Press.
(17) Whitney, D. (2015) ‘Theories of Crime and Criminal Behavior and Their Implications for Security. Security Supervision and Management: Theory and Practice of Asset Protection’: Fourth Edition. 37-49. 10.1016/B978-0-12-800113-4.00003-1.