1. Theories Of Personality
By:
Harleen Kaur
Kanika Seokhand
Shobitash Jamwal

2. The Nature of Personality
•
•
Personality is “an individual’s unique arrangements
of consistent behavioral traits”.
A personality trait is “a durable disposition to
behave in a particular way in a variety of situations”.
– Common personality traits include:
• Honest
• Moody
• Impulsive
• Friendly

3. The Nature of Personality
•
Robert McCrae and Paul Costa (1987, 1997, 1999) state
that there are five “higher-order” traits that are known as
the “Big Five” :
1. Extroversion (or positive emotionality)
2. Neuroticism (or negative emotionality)
3. Openness to experience
4. Agreeableness
5. Conscientiousness
•
However, this is but one of many perspectives on human
personality.

4. The Big Five

5. Psycho dynamic Perspectives
•
•
•
Psycho dynamic theories include a variety of
theoretical models derived from the work of Sigmund
Freud.
All focus on unconscious mental forces that shape our
personalities.
Well known psycho dynamic theorists include:
– Freud
– Jung
– Adler
– Sheldon

7. Myers Briggs Type Indicator
Identify basic types and preferences as used by Carl
Jung in the type indicator

Recognize common behaviors related to each type to
enhance team communication

Uncover hidden stereotypes regarding preferences as
a means of building trust, understanding, and respect
among team members

Analyze the strengths of the team and potential areas
of growth to improve the team’s overall functioning.


8. Katherine
Cook Briggs
Lyman
Briggs
Isabel
Briggs
Myers
“I dream that long after I am gone my work will go on helping people.”
Isabel Briggs Myers, 1979

9. Four MBTI Dichotomies
• Where we get our energy?
Extroversion
E
• How we take in information?
Sensing
S
• How we make decisions?
Thinking
T
• How we organize our world?
Judging
J
Introversion
I
Intuition
N
Feeling
F
Perceiving
P

10. E-I
Extroversion
Draws energy
from the external
world
Introversion
Draws energy
from the internal
world
F
O
U
R
D
I
C
H
O
T
O
M
I
E
S

11. S-N
Sensing
1
2
Intuition
3
Taking in and
presenting information
in a sequential way
F
O
U
R
D
I
Taking in and
C
presenting information
H
in a snap shot big
O
picture way
T
O
M
I
E
S

12. T-F
Thinking
Making decisions by
stepping back from the
situation, taking an
objective view
Feeling
Making decisions by
stepping into the
situation, taking an
empathetic view
F
O
U
R
D
I
C
H
O
T
O
M
I
E
S

13. J-P
Judging
Perceiving
Timeline
Just in Time!
Deadline
A planned approach
to meeting the
deadline in a
scheduled way
Deadline
A Spontaneous
approach to meeting
the deadline with a
rush of activity
F
O
U
R
D
I
C
H
O
T
O
M
I
E
S

14. Sixteen Types
ISTJ
ISFJ
INFJ
INTJ
ISTP
ISFP
INFP
INTP
ESTP
ESFP
ENFP
ENTP
ESTJ
ESFJ
ENFJ
ENTJ

15. Sigmund Freud
Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6
May 1856 – 23 September
1939) was an Austrian
neurologist who became
known as the founding father
of psychoanalysis.

16. Psycho dynamic Perspectives
Freud’s Psychoanalytic theory of personality is
somewhat controversial and is based on three main
assumptions:
1. Personality is governed by unconscious forces that
we cannot control.
2. Childhood experiences play a significant role in
determining adult personality.
3. Personality is shaped by the manner in which
children cope with sexual urges.

17. Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory
Freud argued that personality is divided into three structures:
1. The id is “ the primitive, instinctive component of
personality that operates according to the pleasure
principle”.The two major drives under Id are- Eros and
Thanatos.
2. The ego is “the decision-making component of
personality that operates according to the reality
principle”.
3. The superego is “the moral component of personality
that incorporates social standards about what represents
right and wrong”.

18. Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory
The id, ego and superego are arranged into different layers
of awareness including:
1. The conscious layer – this includes thoughts or
feelings we are fully aware of.
2. The preconscious layer – this includes information
just beneath the surface of our awareness.
3. The unconscious layer – this includes thoughts,
memories, feelings and desires that we are not aware
of, but that greatly influence our behavior.

20. Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory
•
•
•
Freud believed that behavior is the result of ongoing
internal conflict among the id, ego and superego.
Conflicts stemming from sexual and aggressive urges
are especially significant.
Such conflicts arouse anxiety and we use defense
mechanisms – “largely unconscious reactions that
protect a person from painful emotions such as anxiety
and guilt”.

21. Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory
Personality development:
– Freud believed that the basic elements of adult
personality are in place by age five and result from
the outcome of five psycho sexual stages.
– In each stage, children must cope with distinct
immature sexual urges that influence adult
personality.
– Fixation results if the child fails to move forward
from one stage to another, and is usually caused by
excessive gratification, or frustration of needs at a
particular stage.

22. Sheldon Theory



In the 1950’s, William Sheldon (b. 1899) became
interested in the variety of human bodies.
He built upon earlier work done by Ernst
Kretschmer in the 1930's. Kretschmer believed that
there was a relationship between three different
physical types and certain psychological disorders.
His research, although involving thousands of
institutionalized patients, was suspect because he
failed to control for age and the schizophrenics were
considerably younger than the bipolar patients, and so
more likely to be thinner.

23. Classification According to Sheldon
Theory
Few of the classifications given by Sheldon Theory
are as follows:

Endomorph.

Mesomorph.

Ectomorph.

24. Endomorph
Chubby people, tending to “pear-shaped.”
Viscerotonic: Sociable types, lovers of food and physical comforts.

25. Mesomorph
Stockier people, with broad shoulders and good musculature.
Somatotonic: Active types, physically fit and energetic.

26. Ectomorph
Slender, often tall, people, with long arms and legs and fine features.
Cerebrotonic: Nervous types, relatively shy, often intellectual.

27. Carl Jung
Carl Gustav Jung 26 July
1875 – 6 June 1961), often
referred to as just C. G. Jung,
was a Swiss psychiatrist &
psychotherapist who founded
analytical psychology.[2]
Jung proposed and developed
the concepts of extraversion
and introversion; archetypes,
and the collective
unconscious.

28. Psycho dynamic Perspectives
Jung’s Analytical Psychology.
• Jung also focused on the role of the unconscious
in shaping personality.
• However, he argued that the unconscious is
comprised of two layers:
1. The personal unconscious (this contains the
same material as Freud’s unconscious layer),
and
2. The collective unconscious – this contains
traces of memories, shared by the entire
human race, inherited from our ancestors.

29. Jung’s Analytical Psychology
•
•
The collective unconscious does not contain memories
of distinct, personal experiences.
Rather, it contains archetypes – “emotionally charged
images and thought forms that have universal
meaning”.

31. Jung was also the first to describe the:
– Introverted (inner-directed), and the
– Extroverted (outer-directed) personality types.

32. Alfred Adler
Alfred W. Adler (February 7,
1870 – May 28, 1937) was an
Austrian medical doctor,
psychotherapist, and founder of
the school of individual
psychology.His emphasis on
the importance of feelings of
inferiority—the inferiority
complex—is recognized as
isolating an element which
plays a key role in personality
development.

33. Psycho dynamic Perspectives
Adler’s Individual Psychology.
• Adler believed that the most important human drive
is not sexuality, but our drive for superiority.
• Adler stated that we use compensation - “efforts to
overcome imagined or real inferiorities by
developing one’s abilities”.
• If we are unsuccessful, we may develop an
inferiority complex – “exaggerated feelings of
weakness and inadequacy”.
• Adler also believed that birth order may contribute
to personality.

34. Evaluating Psycho dynamic
Perspectives
Psycho dynamic theory contributed the following
important ideas:
1. Unconscious forces may contribute to
personality.
2. Internal conflict may play a key role in
psychological distress.
3. Early childhood experiences can influence
adult personality.
4. People may rely on defense mechanisms to
reduce unpleasant emotions.

35. Evaluating Psycho dynamic
Psycho dynamic theory has also been criticized on the
following grounds:
1. Poor testability – it is too vague to subject to
scientific tests.
2. Inadequate evidence – the theories depend too
much on case studies of clients whose recollections
may have been distorted to fit the theory.
3. Sexism – the theories have a male-oriented bias and
do not adequately address women’s issues.

36. Thank You
Any Queries?