PSY 100 – General Psychology
Lecture Guide 14: Personality
Michael L. Thomas, PhD
1 Introduction and Learning Objectives
2 What is Personality?
Personality refers to the consistent patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving that distinguish individuals from one another. It is generally viewed as shaped by multiple forces, including both genetic factors and environmental influences. Various theories explain the structure and development of personality in different ways, but all agree that personality plays a key role in determining behavior. Personality theory is central to one of psychology’s biggest debates: how much of our behavior is shaped by who we are (personality psychology) versus what is happening around us (social psychology).
Personality also relates to psychopathology–the scientific study of mental disorders–which will be the topic of our next lecture. However, the study of personality typically focuses on the range of human behavior that is considered typical or normal (often defined statistically based on the normal distribution). Put another way, personality psychology examines patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving that do not fall within the scope of psychological disorders. There is significant ongoing debate about when personality traits cross the line into symptoms of a disorder. Regardless of how these patterns are classified—whether as features of personality or as aspects of a disorder—there’s no question that they have a major impact on psychological health, well-being, and daily activities. We’ll often blur the lines between personality theory and psychopathology over the next two lectures.
3 Psychodynmic Theories of Personality
3.1 Freud’s Theory of Personality
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) had an approach to studying personality that had many shortcomings as a scientific theory. However, it remains one of the most comprehensive and influential personality theories ever developed. While some aspects of his theory have received little support over the years (e.g., his explanations of female sexuality), some of his major ideas have endured—such as the general concept of the unconscious mind and the influence of early childhood experiences on adult behavior.
Freud famously believed that the human mind resembles an iceberg. The small part visible above the water represents our conscious and preconscious—the information, experiences, and thoughts we can bring to mind on demand. The much larger portion submerged beneath the water symbolizes the unconscious, a storehouse for impulses, wishes, and inaccessible memories that influence our thoughts and behaviors.
Typically, neither individuals nor their therapists can directly access the unconscious. However, Freud believed that unconscious mental processes could be revealed through techniques such as free association—a method in which a patient is instructed to say everything that comes to mind, no matter how trivial or embarrassing. Freud thought consistent themes in a person’s free associations were manifestations of unconscious wishes and fears. He also believed that dreams and childhood memories could be analyzed to study the unconscious.
According to Freud, there are three parts of the human psyche that interact to shape personality and behavior:
Id: The Id is the most primitive part of personality and the source from which the ego and superego later develop. The id is present from birth ad consists of our basic biological impulses and drives—such as the need to eat, drink, eliminate waste, avoid pain, and seek sensual pleasure. The Id operates on the pleasure principle, continually striving to obtain pleasure and avoid pain, regardless of external circumstances.
Ego: The Ego acts as the executive of the personality. As a child learns that certain needs can only be met in socially acceptable ways (e.g., waiting for food, using the bathroom appropriately), the ego develops to obey the reality principle. The ego mediates the competing demands of the Id, reality, and the superego.
Superego: The Superego represents the internalized values and morals of society, acting as a conscience to judge whether actions are right or wrong. Initially, the superego is shaped by external rewards and punishments, but over time it internalizes parents’ and society’s standards. An excessively harsh superego can result in excessive guilt or anxiety.
In Freud’s view, the Id, Ego, and Superego are often in conflict. A well-balanced personality results when the Id’s desires are kept in check by the ego, guided by reality and the moral standards of the superego.
Freud was influenced by principles from physics, such as the conservation of energy, which states that the total amount of energy in a closed system remains constant, although it can change forms.
He proposed a similar concept for psychic energy, primarily associated with the life instinct (eros) or libido (Latin for “lust” or sexual energy). Freud believed that if certain libidinal energies of the Id are not satisfied, they might be redirected into other behaviors. For example, to use a modern example, an aggressive or sexually frustrated individual might channel their energy into activities like buying a supercharged car for street racing.
💡 Fun Fact: In Greek mythology, Eros (Ἔρως) was the primordial god of lust, love, and intercourse. The Romans referred to him as Cupid.
Freud thought that individuals who have an urge to do something forbidden will feel anxiety. One way to deal with this anxiety is through the use of defense mechanisms—strategies for preventing or reducing anxiety. The defense mechanisms are:
- Repression: Pushing a forbidden thought out of conscious awareness and into the unconscious.
- Rationalization: Assigning logical or socially desirable motives to what we do so that we seem to have acted rationally.
- Reaction formation: Concealing a motive in ourselves by expressing the opposite motive.
- Projection: Assigning our own undesirable qualities to others in exaggerated amounts.
- Intellectualization: Trying to gain detachment from a stressful situation by dealing with it in abstract, intellectual terms.
- Denial: Denying that an unpleasant event actually exists.
- Displacement: Directing a motive that cannot be gratified in one form into another channel.
Defense mechanisms are one area of Freud’s theory that is received quite well by psychotherapists who discount many of Freud’s other theories. However, research has been much less supportive. For example, repression seems not to occur very often, if at all. However, forgetting, avoidance, and memory gaps following trauma do seem to be real phenomena.
3.2 Modifications of Freud’s Theories: Neo-Freudians
Several psychologists who initially followed Freud eventually developed their own ideas, modifying his theories in significant ways. One of the most influential was Carl Jung (1875-1961), who disagreed with Freud on several core issues. Jung proposed that, in addition to each individual’s personal unconscious, there exists a collective unconscious shared by all humans. This collective unconscious, inherited from our ancestors, contains universal archetypes—primordial images or themes such as the mother, father, hero, and god—that shape how people experience the world. Unlike Freud, who focused heavily on sexual drives, Jung believed psychic energy was more general and could be directed toward creativity, personal growth, or spirituality. He was also the first to introduce the concepts of introversion and extraversion, which remain central in personality psychology today.
Another important neo-Freudian was Karen Horney (1885-1952), a German-born psychodynamic psychologist who immigrated to the United States. Horney strongly criticized Freud’s ideas about female psychology, particularly his notion of penis envy (Freud’s controversial idea that during development, girls experience unconscious anxiety and feelings of inferiority because they lack a penis, which he believed symbolized power and social status). She argued that any envy women felt was rooted not in biology but in their lower social status and lack of opportunities compared to men. Horney instead proposed the idea of womb envy, suggesting that some men unconsciously envy women’s capacity for pregnancy and childbirth. She focused more on social and cultural factors in shaping personality and neurosis, emphasizing the role of basic anxiety—a deep feeling of being isolated and helpless in a hostile world. To cope with this anxiety, Horney described how individuals adopt different interpersonal strategies: moving toward others to seek approval, moving against others in hostility and competition, or moving away from others to maintain independence and avoid conflict.
3.3 Projective Tests
One reason psychoanalytic theory became so popular in the first half of the 20th century was the development of projective tests—assessments that present ambiguous stimuli to which individuals can respond freely. In the 1930s, the invention of the CT scan allowed internal images of the brain to be photographed. Proponents of projective tests borrowed this metaphor, describing these assessments as a kind of psychological photograph or psychological X-ray.
It was widely believed (and still is, to some extent) that people often either are unwilling to share what they’re truly thinking, or don’t fully understand or know their own thoughts. Psychoanalysts proposed that individuals’ responses to tests like the Rorschach (10 cards featuring complex inkblot patterns) and the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) (20 ambiguous pictures depicting people and scenes) could reveal hidden psychological conflicts and themes, much like those Freud sought to uncover through free association.
Many psychologists today view projective tests with skepticism—considering them, at best, indicators of obvious psychological conflict and, at worst, pseudo-scientific tools that have misled the public for decades.
Projective tests have repeatedly shown low reliability and validity in structured research studies. It may be that only highly trained experts possess the skill to interpret these tests effectively, if at all.
4 Humanistic Perspective
Humanistic psychologists, growing frustrated with Freud’s emphasis on pathology and dysfunction, took a very different perspective. Rather than focusing on sick people and unconscious drives, they emphasized the positive potential inherent in every human being.
For example, as discurssed in a previous lecture, Abraham Maslow proposed his famous hierarchy of needs, which we discussed in an earlier lecture. His hierarchy describes how basic physiological and safety needs must be met before individuals can pursue higher-level psychological needs like belongingness, esteem, and ultimately, self-actualization. The final stage—self-actualization—is the process of fulfilling one’s unique potential and becoming the best version of oneself.
Building on Maslow’s ideas, Carl Rogers developed a humanistic theory that placed even greater emphasis on the individual’s personal growth and inherent goodness. Rogers believed that people are naturally inclined toward growth and fulfillment—a process he also described as self-actualization—but this potential can be thwarted by environmental influences, particularly by a lack of genuine acceptance from others.
According to Rogers, healthy personal development requires an environment marked by genuineness (being open and honest about one’s feelings), acceptance (receiving unconditional positive regard from others), and empathy (being deeply understood by others). When people experience these conditions, they’re more likely to become their true selves and achieve personal fulfillment. Rogers also emphasized the importance of congruence—that is, the alignment between a person’s self-concept and their experiences. When there’s a significant gap between who someone thinks they are and how they actually feel or behave, psychological distress often results.
Despite its inspirational outlook, the humanistic approach has been criticized for being difficult to test scientifically, as many of its concepts (like self-actualization) are somewhat vague and subjective. Critics also argue that it may paint too rosy a picture of human nature, underestimating people’s capacity for destructive or harmful behavior.
Nevertheless, humanistic theories made a lasting impact by shifting psychology’s focus toward personal growth, subjective experience, and the belief that all individuals have the potential for positive change.
5 Trait Perspective
Gordon Allport (1897–1967) was a young psychology student, only 22 years old, when he met Sigmund Freud in Vienna. Feeling nervous, Allport tried to break the ice by recounting how, on his train ride to Vienna, he had encountered a young boy who was afraid of getting dirty. The boy refused to sit near anyone who looked unclean, despite his mother’s reassurances. Allport suggested to Freud that perhaps the boy had learned this dirt phobia from his mother, who seemed to be a very neat and rather domineering person. After studying Allport for a moment, Freud asked, “And was that little boy you?”
Allport was taken aback by Freud’s apparent preoccupation with unconscious motives. He came away from the encounter believing that psychoanalysts placed too much emphasis on unconscious explanations for personality. Instead, Allport argued that some people simply have traits—characteristic patterns of behavior and conscious motives that shape how they think and act.
Over the next fifty or so years, psychologists worked to identify and describe the fundamental traits that humans possess. A popular approach for doing this was the statistical technique known as factor analysis, which we discussed earlier when exploring intelligence. Factor analysis is a method for reducing large amounts of data by identifying clusters of related items. In the context of personality, it allows researchers to boil down numerous personality descriptors into a smaller number of underlying primary traits. For example, traits like enjoying excitement, liking jokes, and loving parties might all cluster together under the broader factor of extraversion.
5.1 The Five Factor Model (FFM)
One of the most popular frameworks for understanding core personality traits is the Five Factor Model (FFM), which describes personality using five primary dimensions. People high in Openness tend to appreciate art, emotion, adventure, unusual ideas, imagination, curiosity, and a variety of experiences. Conscientiousness reflects a person’s tendency to be self-disciplined, dutiful, and achievement-oriented, preferring planned behavior over spontaneity. Extraversion captures energy, positive emotions, sociability, and the desire for stimulation and company. Agreeableness is marked by compassion and cooperativeness rather than suspicion and antagonism toward others. Finally, Neuroticism—sometimes referred to as emotional instability—describes the tendency to experience unpleasant emotions easily, including anxiety, anger, depression, or vulnerability.
| Factor | Low End Traits | High End Traits |
|---|---|---|
| Factor 1: Neuroticism | Calm | Worrying |
| Even-tempered, unemotional | Temperamental, emotional | |
| Hardy | Fragile | |
| Factor 2: Extraversion | Reserved | Affectionate |
| Loner | Joiner | |
| Quiet | Talkative | |
| Factor 3: Openness to Experience | Down-to-Earth | Imaginative |
| Unconventional, uncreative | Original, creative | |
| Prefer routine | Prefer variety | |
| Factor 4: Agreeableness | Antagonistic | Acquiescent |
| Ruthless | Softhearted | |
| Suspicious | Trusting | |
| Factor 5: Conscientiousness | Lazy | Hardworking |
| Aimless | Ambitious | |
| Quitting | Persevering |
Note: This table summarizes typical traits at the low and high ends of each personality factor. These descriptors are general tendencies and may vary across individuals.
These traits are considered fairly stable over time, though research shows that neuroticism, openness, and extraversion often decline somewhat after college, while agreeableness and conscientiousness tend to increase. The traits are also heritable, with studies suggesting an average heritability of about 0.50. Importantly, the five factors appear to be universal across cultures, suggesting that they capture fundamental aspects of human personality. Beyond describing individuals, the traits are also predictive of significant life outcomes, ranging from how people describe themselves to levels of marital satisfaction and various measures of well-being.
5.2 Eysenck’s Theory of Personality Types
Hans Eysenck (1916-1997) proposed that individual differences in personality could be described along a few broad dimensions, particularly extraversion–introversion and neuroticism–emotional stability. Later, he added a third dimension called psychoticism, which relates to traits like aggressiveness and interpersonal hostility. Eysenck believed these traits had biological bases, suggesting, for example, that introverts have higher baseline levels of cortical arousal than extraverts, making them more sensitive to stimulation. His model aimed to simplify personality into measurable traits that could predict behavior and mental health tendencies.
5.3 Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)
The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) is one of the most widely used and researched self-report personality inventories in psychological assessment. Originally developed in the late 1930s and early 1940s at the University of Minnesota by Starke Hathaway (1903-1984) and J.C. McKinley (1891-1950), it was designed to help clinicians assess mental health conditions and detect symptoms of psychological distress. The MMPI consists of over 500 true-or-false statements covering a broad range of psychological and behavioral topics. A distinctive feature of the MMPI is its inclusion of validity scales, often referred to as “lying scales,” which help identify inconsistent or exaggerated responses and assess the honesty of the test-taker. Over time, the MMPI has undergone significant revisions to improve its psychometric properties and update its content for contemporary populations, resulting in modern versions such as the MMPI-2 and MMPI-2-RF, which continue to play a central role in clinical, forensic, and research settings.
🎥 Watch this before continuing!
Caveat: History, Bias, and Terminology
There is a long and problematic history in medicine and psychology of people’s pain and distress being discounted or blamed on “psychological factors,” especially for women and other marginalized groups. Reports of pain and distress have often been minimized, doubted, or attributed to personality or emotional weakness rather than investigated as legitimate symptoms.
The MMPI Hy scale is historically labeled “Hysteria.” This term is now recognized as sexist and stigmatizing. It comes from the Greek hystera (uterus) and is rooted in the old “wandering womb” idea—the belief that a woman’s uterus could move around her body and cause emotional and physical symptoms. In other words, the very term hysteria is built on the assumption that women’s distress is a kind of uterine problem.
Although the scale name persists for historical reasons for some versions of the test, contemporary practice treats Hy as measuring patterns of somatic concern and stress-related symptoms, not “hysteria” in the old sense. When we discuss patterns like the “conversion V” or interpret elevations on Hy, the goal is not to dismiss or delegitimize pain, but to understand how psychological, social, and biological factors can interact. Any interpretation of test scores must be made cautiously, in context, and with respect for the person.
While we should not ignore the role of personality and other psychological factors in shaping reports of pain and distress, we also should not reduce a person’s reports of pain and distress to being purely psychological in nature.
7 Cross-Cultrual Perspective
Cross-cultural psychology explores how psychological processes vary across different cultural contexts, and one of its most striking findings involves the distinction between individualism and collectivism. Across cultures, people differ in whether they prioritize the independent self or the collective self, and these differences are far from subtle. For example, Americans often emphasize individual accomplishments, personal freedom, and self-expression, encouraging people to “be their own person.” In contrast, Chinese culture places greater value on self-sacrifice and working for the collective good. This divide even appears in how people describe themselves: individuals from Western cultures are more likely to complete the sentence “I am…” with personal traits, such as “I am sincere” or “I am confident,” whereas individuals from Eastern cultures are more inclined to define themselves through social identities, saying things like “I am the third son of my family” or “I am a Buddhist.” These cultural patterns shape not only how people see themselves but also how they relate to others and navigate the world.
Of course, the entire purpose of personality psychology is to understand individual differences. It’s important to remember that while groups of people who share similar upbringing, culture, etc. do tend to think more alike than people who don’t share those same experiences, variability within groups is almost always much larger than variability between groups. In other words, there is typically more overlap between groups than separation.
8 Do Personality Tests Work?
🎥 Watch this!
Follow this link to a YouTube video that expores the use of personality tests in society.
🔎 Explore this OPTIONAL!
Curious about personality traits? Try this online Big Five personality test to see how you score on the major dimensions of personality.
9 Summary
🎥 Watch this before ending!
6 Social-Cognitive Theory
Developed by Albert Bandura (1925-2021), the social-cognitive perspective offers a powerful framework for understanding human behavior. Central to this perspective is the concept of reciprocal determinism, which proposes that personal factors, environmental influences, and individual behaviors all interact and influence one another in a dynamic, ongoing cycle. Bandura argued that people are not merely passive recipients of environmental forces but actively shape their own experiences through their thoughts, choices, and actions. Another crucial element of his theory is observational learning, the idea that individuals can acquire new behaviors simply by watching others. This principle was famously demonstrated in Bandura’s Bobo doll study, in which children who observed adults behaving aggressively toward a Bobo doll were more likely to imitate those aggressive actions themselves. Bandura’s work underscored how social influences and cognitive processes together shape behavior, highlighting the importance of role models, media, and social contexts in learning and development.