Personality theories in education

Abstract

Personality theories are rooted in the field of psychology. Personality theory is rich in complexity and variety. The classical approaches to personality theory are psychoanalytic theory as developed by Sigmund Freud, Alfred Adler, and Carl Jung; trait theory as developed by Gordon Allport, Abraham Maslow, and Raymond Cattell, and the Big Five approach; behavioral theory as developed by John B. Watson, B. F. Skinner, and Ivan Pavlov; and social cognition as developed by Albert Bandura, George Kelly, and Norman S. Endler and David Magnusson.

Keywords Architectonic; Behaviorist Theory; Defense Mechanisms; Denial; Factor Analysis; Hedonist; Humanism; Humanist Psychology; Idiographic Approach; Individuation; Nomothetic Approach; Personality Theory; Personality Traits; Projection; Psychoanalytic; Rationalization; Reaction Formation; Repression; Social Cognition; Sublimation; Tabula Rasa; Thematic Apperception Test; Trait

Overview

"Oh, don't worry about him, he just isn't himself today."

What is the self? How does one use personality to come to understand a person? Can personality theory be used to predict what a person will do? How do we come to even know what a personality is? Researchers have developed theories describing what contributes to the personality, yet many of the theorists disagree with each other.

To discuss theories of personality, one must first consider what the words personality and theory mean. A theory is generally a model created to describe, explain, understand, or predict (and some say to control) a phenomenon or concept of life. The concept of personality is abstract and refers to how the habits, thought processes, motivations, defense mechanisms, and emotional states are woven together to form a view of a person. So, in a simplistic sense, theories of personality are models created to help describe, understand, predict, or control the habits, thought processes, motivations, coping mechanisms, and emotional states of a person. Some personality theorists take an ideographic approach; meaning they attempt to delineate differences in people by trying to establish what is unique or different to a specific person. Other theorists take a nomothetic approach, meaning they try to identify commonalities in individuals and then measure how much or how little each person possesses of the common characteristics. A change in approach will often add to the depth of knowledge regarding a theory—or it can work to refute the conclusions that have been drawn about that theory.

Roots in Psychology

Most theories of personality were based on hypotheses created by psychologists who were working with patients in need of some type of therapy (Fakouri & Hafner, 1984). The cycle of theory building necessitates the use of experimentation to create support for hypotheses. Hence, specific types of therapies and research methods have been tied to the various theories. This is why many people will refer to theories of personality as the primary architectonic of all psychology topics.

The various approaches to studying the personality were led by psychologists who are familiar names to students of psychology and counseling. One of the best known of all personality theorists was Sigmund Freud. He and his followers believed the secrets to personality could only be unlocked by an awareness of consciousness brought about by psychoanalysis. Gordon Allport developed the trait approach: a theory that relies on classifying personal dispositions to describe one's personality. He believed a personality is comprised of dispositions and behaviors that may be inborn, conveyed by society, or developed by circumstance. For Allport and his followers personality is based partly on who one is, partly on with whom one lives, and partly on which needs are being met. The behaviorists B. F. Skinner and John B. Watson theorized personality could best be described through rational, scientific observation of actual, observed behaviors. Albert Bandura started out as a behaviorist but set the foundations for theories of social cognition when he noted that personality tends to be an interactive construct: a person's world affects behavior and a person's behavior affects that person's world and a person's perceptions of the world is affecting both.

The Psychoanalytic and Neoanalytic Approaches

Sigmund Freud

"Who I am is determined by the interaction of my id, ego, and superego. Only through guided introspections will I be capable of really getting in touch with who I am."

Sigmund Freud assumed people are pulled by conflicting hedonistic desires to avoid pain while pursuing pleasure. He developed a well-known structural model to describe how people mediate their internal conflicts arising from their desire for an object and their concomitant need to do the right thing. He explained how a healthy superego works like a parent, balancing the needs of a person's drive to pursue events that give pleasure (the id) and a person's self-reflection that is reality-based and constantly working to keep the person responsible and societally acceptable (the ego) (Seward, 1938). He also articulated a number of defense mechanisms people use to cope with disappointment and feelings of inadequacy; namely,

• Repression

• Projection

• Displacement

• Rationalization

• Reaction Formation

• Denial

• Sublimation (Boeree, 2006; Myers, 2006).

Many students are fascinated by Freud's use of an underlying sexual nature to delineate the psychosexual developmental stages of human personalities. The oral stage (infancy) is associated with childhood behaviors of nursing and being weaned. If this stage does not go well, Freud hypothesized the child would grow up to be orally fixated (e.g., verbal, overweight, a chronic gum chewer, etc). The anal stage (toddlerhood) is associated with toilet training and control. If this stage does not go well, the child is thought to grow up to be stingy, compulsively neat, or very messy. The phallic stage (describing Freud's Oedipus and Electra complexes) alleges children must fall in love with their opposite-sex parent on their journey to sexual individuation. Once in love, the child will mimic the activities and adopt the values of the same-sex parent in an attempt to steal away the love of the opposite-sex parent. If this stage does not go well, Freud assumed that the child would grow up minus the traditional gender values. The latency stage is the short period in which a preadolescents' sexuality is thought to hibernate for a time, and, lastly, the genital stage in which the now mature person can seek out adult love relationships (Garcia, 1995; Myers, 2006).

Freud believed there was therapeutic value in exploring one's unconscious, internal conflicts if a person was to really get in touch with the true personality. He developed a therapeutic technique called psychotherapy to aid patients in reaching into the depths of their subconscious. It entailed out-loud reflections of the patient guided by introspective questions posed by the psychotherapist and included exercises such as free association, dream interpretation, projective tests (e.g., the Thematic Apperception Test), and hypnosis (Myers, 2006). If you have ever had a slip of the tongue, Freud would encourage you to examine that slip for its underlying message, theorizing that your subconscious was trying to tell you something.

Alfred Adler

Two of Freud's followers, Alfred Adler and Carl Jung, later added to Freud's theories and models, sometimes challenging the foundations of his theory. Adler was best known for his works on inferiority and birth order. Adler's theory begins with the notion that all people are born with feelings of inferiority that must be overcome. He posited that the inferiority complex is based on personal weaknesses and that each person must learn how to compensate for these weaknesses by building upon other personal strengths, eventually overcoming some of the feelings of inferiority to emerge with a healthy personality (or, conversely, the person will become clinically neurotic). It is at this juncture that Adler disagreed with Freud's theory; he posited that fear, not sex, is really the driving force behind psychological development (Bagby, 1923; Vaughan, 1927). He also conducted research showing how one's birth order has a direct effect on the development of personality. His resultant theory of psychosocial dynamics suggests that children growing up in the same home are often going through vastly different experiences based on their location within the family unit—and these experiences have a direct effect on personality (Fakouri & Hafner, 1984).

Carl Jung

Jung was a contemporary of Freud's and was considered to be his theoretical heir. However, Jung's work began to diverge sharply from Freud's as Jung developed his theory that the psyche is comprised of three specific layers:

• The Self: The seat of the consciousness of self as well as the persona presented to the outside world;

• The Personal Unconscious: This layer is filled with attitudes that the Self has chosen to ignore (i.e., the shadow) and the counter-self-image (i.e., anima/animus) carried by each person, which are often projected onto someone else as they are too painful to be accepted; and

• The Collective Unconsciousness: The archetypal stories and myths by which one creates values and ethics based on the experiences of earlier generations.

He believed the Self to be the center of personality while Freud's concept of the ego was only the seat of consciousness (Aldridge & Horns-Marsh, 1991).

Jung is best known for his typology of personality describing how various orientations (e.g., introversion or extroversion) and four stylistic preferences of each person (i.e., sensing, thinking, intuiting, and feeling) work to shape how each person perceives and interacts with the environment. The Myer-Briggs Type Indicator is a currently popular test based on Jung's theory of personality (Boeree, 2006).

The Trait Approach

"I wonder who I am? I think I will take a test and see what it can tell me. I am starting to suspect that who I believe I am is often based on the situation I find myself in." Trait theorists believed it would better to develop theories of personality based on stable patterns of behavior a person exhibits over time and across a variety of situations. They relied on self-report, developing personality inventories (such as the 16 Personality Factor test, Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, California Personality Inventory, etc.) to aid in describing the construct, personality.

Gordon Allport

Gordon Allport is often identified as the father of trait theory (and one of the original founders of humanist psychology). His theory postulates that each person's personality is composed of several different trait subsystems. The most notable of the subsystems are:

• Individual: Traits unique to a person

• Common: Traits held in common by many people (most likely based on community mores)

• Cardinal: A trait that is unchangeable and dominates the overall personality and behavior of the person (not everyone develops one of these)

• Central: The dispositions that are used to describe a person (e.g., happy, depressed, sweet, bitter, dumb, smart, etc.)

• Secondary: Traits that create a consistency but do not define the core personality of the person (e.g., she loves shoes, she has a hard time adapting to change, she is passionate about gymnastics).

Each person is a unique mix of different trait subsystems. Allport later changed the word trait to the phrase personal disposition, in an attempt to clarify what he was measuring—the unique characteristics of a person (Boeree, 2006).

Allport is not as well known as other personality theorists, yet his theory tends to be the one behind many of the personality tests available today in popular magazines by readers curious about themselves and taken by students in the public K-12 system to help them identify appropriate career tracks based on interests. Allport's trait theory created the foundation for research conducted by other researchers such as Maslow and Cattell. Factor analysis was also used to create the currently popular taxonomy called the Big Five structure.

Abraham Maslow and Raymond Catell

Abraham Maslow is best noted for his theory creating a hierarchical order of needs (and is also noted as one of the original founders of humanist psychological thought). He postulated that people will always be interested in their most immediate needs, taking actions that they hope will lead to the fulfillment of those needs. Needs are divided into two types: deficit (the person is seeking something that is required for survival, such as shelter, safety, a sense of belonging, or self-esteem) and growth (the person is moving forward in efforts toward self-actualization, knowledge, and understanding) (Maslow, 1943). His works became seminal to studies on motivation theory.

Raymond Cattell, taking the work of Allport one step further, took a nomothetic approach. He concluded that all traits are either surface traits (the traits people observe to draw conclusions regarding one's personality) or source traits (the underlying traits that are responsible for the manifestation of the surface traits). He constructed 171 bipolar scales to describe personality using a trait list developed by Allport (Goldberg, 1990). Some of the primary source traits are temperament, innate motivations, socially constructed motivations, and attitude.

He created the 16 Personality Factor test, introducing a statistical procedure called factor analysis into the study of personality. He noted that research observations can be gathered from self-reports, from information gathered about a person's life, or from results of an actual experiment; and that the information gleaned from each type of information may conflict. Cattell noted that aspects of a personality are based on states (the temporary, changeable characteristics of a person based on the existing culture or environment) as well as traits (the relatively permanent personal disposition of the person) (Hamaker, Nesselroade, & Molenaar, 2007).

Several researchers found that, by applying factor analysis methodology to lists of adjectives describing people, one typically finds five significant factors—the Big Five—which allow researchers to simplify the study of personality theory. These five factors cluster the adjectives under five categories:

• Extroversion

• Agreeableness

• Conscientiousness

• Neuroticism

• Openness to experience.

Each category is a scale variable (meaning each factor has many highly interrelated adjectives built into the variable). Although the research can be easily replicated using only one-word adjectives, researchers have not yet had similar success when working to fit many-word phrases from personality inventories on the same frame. If this simplification holds up under research scrutiny, personality theorists may be able to learn more about personalities and how they are molded or affected by the five factors (Goldberg, 1990).

The Behavioral Approach

"To determine who I am, I only need to objectively observe my quantifiable actions and behaviors. Problem is, I can't really see myself!"

Psychologists such as J. B. Watson and B. F. Skinner disagreed with the psychoanalytic and trait researchers. They strongly believed one did not need to fuss with the mental processes and structures to create a theory of personality. That which manifests as personality could be defined as a collection of response tendencies that a person uses when faced with specific stimulus situations. Each person is born a "tabula rasa" (blank slate) and responses are learned through life experience. Thus, it is the environment that shapes, molds, and defines one's personality. And that personality is easily observed; motives, thoughts, and introspection are not relevant to the discussion. The behaviorists began promoting observational research and were always careful to describe a behavior without attributing any intent behind it.

J. B. Watson

Watson drew his working hypotheses from his studies of animals. He is known for stating that, if he could be given twelve infants, he could apply his behavior-based training techniques to produce different types of adults from those infants. He did not believe that what a person thought or felt was germane to how personality is developed. Drawing from his own work and Ivan Palov's experiments in classical conditioning he defined and studied conditioned reflexes and noted that people, like animals, could be taught to provide reflexive responses to artificial stimuli. Pavlov had noted a phenomenon he referred to as classical conditioning based on an experience he had with dogs he kept in his lab to pursue various experiments. The dogs were fed every day when the five o'clock bell sounded. Pavlov noticed the dogs (who had previously salivated at the sight of their food) began salivating when the bell rang. He quit providing food when the bell rang and noted the dogs continued to salivate at the sound of the bell. His theory of classical conditioning goes like this: to create a specific response (e.g., salivation), first pair the naturally triggering event with a neutral event (e.g., food and a bell respectively). The subject will begin to mentally pair both events with the desired response. After the response has been reinforced several times, remove the natural event and the desired response will continue to present itself any time the artificial event is initiated (Myers, 2006). Watson believed that personality is created in a similar manner.

Watson tested Pavlov's theory of classical conditioning in humans by experimenting with a boy who has come to be known as Albert (an eleven-month-old boy who was being raised in a hospital environment). Watson exposed Albert to a variety of objects including a white rat, various masks, a rabbit, a dog, etc. Albert did not show fear at the sight of any of the objects. Next, Albert was allowed to interact with each of the objects yet every time the white rat was presented to him (i.e., the artificial, or conditioned, stimulus) a loud noise was generated (natural, or unconditioned, stimulus) which startled Albert and made him cry and fuss. After the white rat and the loud noise had been paired several times, the experimenters again brought the white rat to Albert without creating the loud noise. Albert continued to begin crying at the sight of the white rat. Thus Albert effectively demonstrated how fear had become the response to the white rat even after the two stimuli were uncoupled (Watson & Raynor, 2000).

B. F. Skinner

Taking the idea of conditioning a step further, Skinner used related experiments to develop his theory of operant conditioning. Skinner is best known for his studies in which he taught rats to push a bar to obtain food. Hungry rats were placed in a box that contained a lever. The rat would run around the cage in search of food and never find any. Eventually the rat would bump against the lever and be rewarded with a pellet (the reinforcer). In time, the rat would learn through a series of consistent reinforcers that, if he were hungry, he needed to push the bar to obtain his food. Skinner's theory suggests people are similarly conditioned to behave in specific ways in anticipation of reinforcers (the consequences the behavior brought about in the past). In other words, people have been conditioned to provide responses to specific stimuli. The composite of their resultant behavior is what we can observe and use to scientifically describe behavior (and, hence, personality). Operant conditioning is also seen as a wonderful way to control behavior and, thus, the development of personality. Reinforcements are powerful and can be both negative (punishment) and positive (reward) (Boeree, 2006; Myers, 2006).

The Social Cognition Approach

Albert Bandura

Albert Bandura, who had been working with theories of behaviorism, came to the conclusion that the environment initiates behaviors and, conversely, behaviors work to shape the environment. He also introduced the notion that a person will create a mental image to indirectly determine what might constitute success. This is the point at which he broke ranks with the behaviorists to become the father of the cognitive school of thought (Bandura, 2006).

The importance of social cognition on personality comes into focus when examining how a person groups and classifies life experiences—the characteristic way a person chooses to perceive life experiences (i.e., personal constructs) is the manifestation of personality (e.g., pessimistic vs. optimistic view of life). This is why different people will present differing perceptions of the same event. Constructs become the lens through which one views life and predicts the outcomes of events and are composed of polar opposites (e.g., smart-stupid, kind-cruel, ugly-beautiful, etc.). A personality change is most likely to come about when one alters the perception of these constructs—the altered view will alter the interactions with the environment because of the concomitant changes in behavior (Kelly, 1955). Endler and Magnusson (1976) built upon Kelly's work to develop and test an interactional model of personality. Their research results suggest psychodynamic and trait theories were constrained in their ability to create robust models of personality because they failed to account for the interaction of the causal factors located in situation dynamics.

The Biological Approach

Hans Eysenck

Psychologist Hans Eysenck began researching the genetic determinates of personality in the 1950s. By the 1970s, the field of behavioral genetics became increasingly prominent, with researchers working to differentiate the genetic and environmental influences on various personality traits. Eysenck held that genetics are the primary factor in determining an individual's personality traits, with environmental influences having only a secondary effect. He proposed a hierarchical model of personality traits, in which a few genetically determined traits give rise to a larger array of secondary personality traits. For example, Eysenck proposed that introverted individuals are genetically predisposed to having higher levels of physiological arousal, causing them to develop shyness as a personality trait. Long-term studies of temperament have found that people's temperaments are fairly stable from infancy to adolescence, although environmental factors and trauma can have a significant impact on an individual's temperament. With the advent of electroencephalography (EEG), positron emission tomography (PET), and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technologies, as well as vast improvements in the scientific understanding of the human genome, researchers in the twenty-first century are exploring the biological, neurological, and genetic factors of personality more in depth.

Terms and Concepts

Architectonic: The overall structure and design used in the scientific systematization of knowledge.

Defense Mechanisms: Strategies used by the ego to safeguard one against inappropriate or unwanted thoughts and impulses.

Denial: Threatening events or facts are psychologically blocked by one's refusing to recognize or believe them (Myers, 2006).

Factor Analysis: A form of multivariate analysis which groups a large number of variables into factors (or clusters of similar variables) that can be used to create a more succinct explanation of the interrelations among the variables or objects.

Hedonist: A doctrine or philosophy that the seeking of pleasure is the sole or chief good in life - seek pleasure and avoid pain (Webster, 2001).

Humanist Psychology: A school of thought that developed in reaction to behaviorism and psychoanalytic branches of psychology. It took a more holistic view of what constitutes the personality and follows five basic tenets: humans cannot be reduced to components; humans are uniquely human (as differentiated from animals); human consciousness includes an awareness of oneself in the context of others' perceptions; humans have choices and are also subject to imposed responsibilities; and humans are intentional and engage in meaning making activities, value clarification, and creative thinking (Bugental, 1964).

Idiographic Approach: People have unique personality structures and the cardinal traits are most important in understanding the personality.

Individuation: The act of recognizing oneself as separate and individual from others - most usually referring to children creating a self identity which is separate from that of mother or father (Myers, 2006).

Nomothetic Approach: People's unique personalities can be understood as them having relatively greater or lesser amounts of traits that are present in all people to some degree.

Projection: Attributes (or blames) one's personal feelings, thoughts, or intentions on others (Myers, 2006).

Rationalization: Coping with disappointment or anxiety by explaining it away with reasonable (though dishonest) explanations or justifications (Myers, 2006).

Reaction Formation: A conscious decision to engage in an exaggerated response or activity to block the original forbidden impulse (Myers, 2006)

Repression: Prevents thoughts that create discomfort and anxiety from entering the consciousness (Myers, 2006).

Sublimation: Inappropriate impulses or thoughts are diverted into advantageous activities that benefit the person (Myers, 2006).

Tabula Rasa: The idea that each person is born without any innate or pre-existing mental content.

Thematic Apperception Test: A projective test of personality comprised of 31 picture cards which are shown to the subject one at a time. The subject then tells a story about what is happening in the picture. The test administrator uses those stories to identify dominant themes, drives, emotions, complexes, sentiments, and conflicts in the subject's life.

Trait: Concrete, easily recognized consistencies in a person's behaviors (Boeree, 2006).

Bibliography

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Suggested Reading

Bandura, A. (1976). Social learning theory. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Bandura, A. (1985). Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Dolnick, E. (1997). Madness on the couch: Blaming the victim in the heyday of psychoanalysis. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.

Frankl, V. (2000). Man's search for meaning. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.

Freberg, L. A. (2015). Discovering behavioral neuroscience: An introduction to biological psychology. 3rd ed. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.

Haan, N. (1965). Coping and defense mechanisms related to personality inventories. Journal of Consulting Psychology, 29, 373–378.

Harris, B. Whatever happened to Little Albert? American Psychologist, 34 , 151-160.