SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PERSONALITY SCIENCE

Social Psychological and Personality Science (SPPS) is a new, unique short reports journal in social and personality psychology. It publishes cutting-edge, peer –reviewed, short reports of single studies, or very succinct reports of multiple studies, and is geared toward a speedy review and publication process to allow groundbreaking research to be quickly available to the field.

Personality is defined as a person´s unique behavioral and cognitive patterns; OR, a person´s unique consistent pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting. In describing personality, theorists attempt to answer the following questions

•          Freedom versus Determinism:

Are our behaviors determined by forces we cannot control or are we free to control our own behaviors?

•          Heredity versus Environment:

Is our personality shaped solely by genetics, the environment we grow up in, or both?

•         Uniqueness versus Universality:

Are people unique or similar in comparison with one another?

•        Active versus Reactive:

Do we choose behavior on our own volition or do people simply react to their environment?

•      Optimistic versus Pessimistic:

Can people change their personalities or do they have to accept themselves the way they are and remain the same?

Key Figures & Theories

 

                Gordon Allport 

Gordon Allport was an American psychologist who focused on individuals personalities. Allport is sometimes referred to as the founder of personality psychology. He believed that the study of personality could be characterized in 2 ways. The first, nomthetic, refers traits and rule of personality that can be generalized to large amounts and types of people. The second, indiographic psychology, states that there are characteristics that are unique to the individual.Thus, Allport attempted to explain personality be answering the question of uniqueness versus universality.

Allport developed the trait theory of personality. He did this by looking through a dictionary and writing down any terms that described a person´s personality. He then divided these terms into 3 types of traits; cardinal, central and secondary.

•         Cardinal trait- This refers to a trait dominates the individual´s life, personality and behaviors. This type of trait is uncommon because people usually have more than 1 trait that shapes their lives.

•          Central trait-These are traits that everyone has to one degree or another.

•          Secondary trait-These characteristics are unique to the individual. Allport also coined the words genotype and phenotype. Genotype is a trait that a person has within themselves that determines their behaviors with others. Phenotypes are observable aspects of how the individual relates to the world. For example, genotypes can be values, likes or dislikes. A phenotype for someone with a personality disorder is a pattern of disturbed r inappropriate relationships with others.

Carl Jung

Carl Jung was a Swiss psychologist who was most notable for dream analysis, but he also illustrated a theory of a personality. Like Allport, Jung also answers the questions of uniqueness versus universality in his theory.

Jung believed that everyone had particular unlearned yearnings or archetypes. For example, the mother archetype has a yearning or need to nurture others. In other words, an archetype is a model, prototype, or stereotype that is used as a structural component to a developing personality. Some examples of Jung´s archetypes were:

•          The Mother : feeding , soothing and nurturing

•         The Self: spiritual connection to the universe

•          The Shadow:dark,unknown and mysterious part

•          The Persona : public mask

•          The Child: birth and beginnings

•         The Trickster: deceiving

•         The Scarecrow: outcast

•        The Sage: knowledge and guidance

•         The Hero:rescuer,champion

Sigmund Freud

Freud developed the model of the psyche or personality composed of the Id, Ego, and Superego. The Id works on the pleasure principle- it seeks to avoid pain and increase pleasure at any cost. It drives us to search for food when hungry, rest when tired, and other basic impulses that ensure our survival.

The Superego acts as the moral police, and demands that we act in a moral and socially appropriate manner, no matter the circumstance. It works in direct contradiction to the Id.

The Ego works as the executive of the psyche, striving to find a balance between the Id´s hedonism and the Superego´s moralism.

Freud also believed that personalities were influenced by material held in the unconscious. His treatment consisted of helping individuals make the unconscious-conscious to understand their motives behind their emotions and behaviors. His expectation was that once people were truly aware of themselves, they could make changes to improve their functioning.

Alfred Adler

Alfred Adler was an Austrian psychologist who believed personality was not only developed due to internal processes but external processes. One of the external processes Adler believed had a significant impact on a developing personality was birth order. For example, the oldest child may have leadership capabilities, the youngest child is often overindulged and the middle child may feel squeezed-out or ignored.

Adler proposed a model of personality that defined particular patterns of behaviors. These patterns were name getting / leaning, avoiding, ruling / dominant, and socially useful. The getting / leaning type are selfish personalities who take but never or rarely give back. The avoiding type of personality does not take risks and does not enjoy much social interaction. The ruling / dominant personality will do anything to get their way and can be very manipulative. Finally, the socially useful personality is outgoing and wants to do things for the good of others.

Robert Cloninger

Robert Cloninger characterized personality by three dimensions of temperament and three types of traits. He also developed the tridimensional personality questionnaire (TPQ) to measure these dimensions in individuals.

The dimensions of temperament are:

•        Harm Avoidance :anxious, pessimistic vs. outgoing, optimistic

•        Novelty Seeking: impulsive, quick-tempered vs. cold, aloof

•          Persistence, which is persevering, ambitious vs. easily discouraged (NOTE: this 4^th    dimension was added later)

                 The three types of traits are:

•         Self-Directedness: reliable, purposeful vs. blaming, aimless

•          Cooperativeness: tolerant, helpful vs. prejudiced, revengeful

•          Self-Transcendence: self-forgetful, spiritual vs. self- conscious, materialistic

Han Eysenck

Han Eysenck was British psychologist who studied intelligence and personality. His model of personality included two dimensions, extraversion (E) and neuroticism (N). He used these two dimensions on a graph to classify personality. With these two factors, the possibilities of personality can be classified into 4 types.

• High N and High E= Choleric type

• High N and Low E = Melancholic type

• Low N and High E = Phlegmatic type                                                                                                                                                                                 
 

                                       Later,a third dimension of psychoticism was added.

Eysenck proposed that introverts were move internally stimulated than extroverts. Therefore extroverts seek out more external stimulation than introverts to balance their system whereas introverts try to stay away from additional stimulation so they will not become overloaded.

Raymond Cattell

Raymond Cattell was a British and American psychologist who proposed a 16 factor theory of personality. These 16 factors are outlined in the following table.

Descriptors of Low Range	Primary Factor	Descriptors of High Range
Impersonal, distant, cool, reserved, detached, formal, aloof ( Schizothymia)	Warmth                 (A)	Warm, outgoing, attentive to others, kindly, easy-going, participating, likes people (Affectothymia)
Concrete thinking, lower general mental capacity, less intelligent, unable to handle abstract problems ( Lower Scholastic Mental Capacity)	Reasoning                 (B)	Abstract-thinking, more intelligent, bright, higher general mental capacity, fast learner (Higher Scholastic Mental Capacity)
Reactive emotionally, changeable, affected by feelings, emotionally less stable, easily upset ( Lower Ego Strength)	Emotional Stability                 (C)	Emotionally stable, adaptive, mature, faces reality calmly  ( Higher Ego Strength)
Deferential, cooperative, avoids conflict, submissive, humble, obedient, easily led, docile, accommodating   ( Submissiveness	Dominance                  (E)	Dominant,forceful,assertive,aggressive, competitive, stubborn, bossy (Dominance)

Serious, restrained, prudent, taciturn, introspective, silent ( Desurgency)	Liveliness               (F)	Lively, animated,  spontaneous, enthusiastic, happy go lucky, cheerful, expressive, impulsive (Surgency)
Expedient, nonconforming, disregards rules, self indulgent (Low Super Ego Strength)	Rule –    Consciousness             (G)	Rule-conscious, dutiful, conscientious ,conscientious, conforming, moralistic, staid, rule bound (High Super Ego Strength)
Shy, threat-sensitive, timid, hesitant, intimidated (Threctia)	Social Boldness             (H)	Socially bold, venturesome, thick skinned, uninhibited (Parmia)
Utilitarian, objective, unsentimental, tough minded, self-reliant, no-nonsense, rough (Harria)	Sensitivity                (I)	Sensitive, aesthetic, sentimental, tender minded, intuitive, refined (Premsia)
Trusting, unsuspecting, accepting, unconditional, easy (Alaxia)	Vigilance                (L)	Vigilant, suspicious, skeptical, distrustful, oppositional (Protension)
Grounded, practical, prosaic	Abstractedness	Abstract, imaginative, absent

Solution oriented, steady, conventional (Praxernia)	(M)	Minded, impractical, absorbed in ideas (Autia)
Forthright, genuine, artless, open, guileless, naïve, unpretentious, involved ( Artlessness)	Privateness             (N)	Private, discreet, nondisclosing, shrewd, polished, worldly, astute, diplomatic (Shrewdness)
Self-Assured, unworried, complacent, secure, free of guilt, confident, self satisfied (Untroubled)	Apprehension           (O)	Apprehensive, self doubting, worried, guilt prone, insecure, worrying, self blaming  (Guilt Proneness)
Traditional, attached to familiar, conservative, respecting traditional ideas ( Conservatism)	Openness to        Change                (Q1)	Open to change, experimental, liberal, analytical, critical, free thinking, flexibility  ( Radicalism)
Group-oriented, affiliative, a joiner and follower dependent (Group Adherence)	Self-Reliance           (Q2)	Self-reliant, solitary, resourceful, individualistic, self sufficient  (Self Sufficiency)

Tolerates disorder, unexacting,
flexible,undisciplined,lax self-              Perfectionism             Perfectionistic,organized,compulsive,self-
conflict,impulsive,careless of                   (Q3)                       disciplined,socially precise,exacting will
social rules,uncontrolled                                                        power,control,self-sentimental.
(Low Integration)                                                                   (High Self-Concept Control)


Relaxed,placid,tranquil,torpid,              Tension                          Tense,high energy,impatient,driven
patient,composed low drive                     (Q4)                            frustrted,over wrought,time driven
(Low Energic Tension)                                                              (High Ergic Tension )



Primary Factors and Descriptors in Cattell´s 16 Personality Factor Model (Adapted From Conn & Rieke,1994).