What is Personality?

Personality refers to an individual’s characteristic patterns of thought, emotion, and behavior, together with the psychological mechanisms-hidden or not-behind those patterns.

Personality psychology is organized around 5 major approaches to understanding personality.

The trait approach focuses on individual differences in people.

The biological approach focuses on the inheritability and evolutionary history of behavioral patterns, on genetics, and on the brain and nervous system.

The psychoanalytical and psychodynamic approach focuses on the unconscious mind, on childhood developmental issues, on anxiety, conflict, and defense mechanisms.

The humanistic approach focuses on immediate conscious awareness, free will, and choice.

Learning and cognitive approaches focus on how rewards and punishments in the environment shape behavior, and how behavior is a funciton of the situation in which it occurs. Cognitive approaches emphasize perception, motivation, thought, and the cluster of memories called the self.

question 1: Do you agree with the video? Does personality change? What aspects of your personality have changed over time? Please note that this and all discussion assignments will be viewed by all students in the class

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzpLE0hxSd1jZE1va…

question #2 Just think about it….Suppose you wanted to get to know someone’s personality quickly, what would you want to know? What five questions would you ask that person?

question #3 The text quotes “Some people are uncomfortable with the practice of personality assessment because they see it as undignified or unfair. However, because people inevitably judge each other’s personalities, the real issue is whether personality assessment should be based on informal intuitions or formalized techniques.”

Consider a job search. Some people resist the idea of using a personality screening test to find an applicant that best fits the job, stating that they fear a question may be intrusive into their personal lives. Yet, most employers hire applicants based only upon a face to face interview with a potential boss, certainly a subjective appraisal at best.

If you were being considered for a job you badly wanted, would you prefer the decision to be based on a personality test score or the employer’s subjective judgment of you? why?

4. The Thematic Apperception Test is a projective tests, designed to gain insight into one’s unconscious thoughts, feelings, and conflicts. It is primarily used to gain insight into one’s feelings about social situations. As a projective test, there is no one right or wrong answer. Rather, each person’s answer will differ, because it is their own unique perspective.

The directions are simple. “Tell me a story about the picture. For instance, what might be going on? What might the people in the picture be thinking, feeling, and doing?”

Follow the link to view the TAT cards. Using the directions above, make up a story about the first picture, the picture of the little boy sitting in the doorway.https://www.google.com/search?q=&tbm=isch&tbs=rimg:CYkeHOpH5cpvIgiJHhzqR-XKbyoSCYkeHOpH5cpvEZDAab5rkIVUYZDAab5rkIVU&tbo=u&ved=2ahUKEwiFp9aiiszmAhUtU98KHYC_AA0QiRx6BAgBEA0&ictx=1&uact=3

question #5 The Rorschach test is a projective test which can provide insight one’s perspective on the world, perceptual processes, information processing, problem solving, analysis and synthesis skills, etc. It can be an excellent tool to screen for organic brain impairment and psychotic processes among other applications. The test consists of a series of 10 inkblots. The directions are simple: tell me what you see.

Use the link below to see the images of the inkblots used in the original Rorschach test. Using the second inkblot listed on the site, tell me what you see. https://www.google.com/search?q=original+rorschach+images&rlz=1C1KMZB_enUS571US590&oq=rorschach+images+&aqs=chrome.5.69i57j0l7.15872j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8