personality
What Is Personality
Psychology?
Joyce S. Pang, PhD
Division of Psychology, HSS, NTU
Why Use the Construct?
• 1. Conveys a sense of consistency or continuity – Across time
– Across situations
Joyce S. Pang, PhD
Division of Psychology, HSS, NTU
Why Use the Construct?
• 2. Suggests internal origins of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors
Two Sources of Influence
Situation
Person
Behavior
Personality psychology emphasizes the role of person variables on behavior
Joyce S. Pang, PhD
Division of Psychology, HSS, NTU
Why Use the Construct?
• 3. Helps in predicting and understanding behavior • 4. Captures a sense of personal distinctiveness Joyce S. Pang, PhD
Division of Psychology, HSS, NTU
A Working Definition
• “Personality is a dynamic organization, inside the person, of psychophysical systems that create the person’s characteristic patterns of behavior, thoughts, and feelings.”
—Gordon Allport (1961)
Joyce S. Pang, PhD
Division of Psychology, HSS, NTU
Key Features of the Definition
• Personality…
– has an organized structure
– involves active processes
– has psychological and physical components
– helps determine how people relate to the world
– demonstrates patterns and consistencies
– manifests itself across a range of thoughts, feelings, behaviors
Joyce S. Pang, PhD
Division of Psychology, HSS, NTU
Fundamental Issues in Personality
Psychology
• Individual Differences
– Represent differences in people
– Examples: aggressiveness, sociability, optimism • Intrapersonal Functioning
– Represents stable processes that underlie thoughts, feelings, and behaviors
– Examples: goal or motivational processes
Joyce S. Pang, PhD
Division of Psychology, HSS, NTU
Theory in Personality
Purpose of a theory:
• Explain what is known
– Social learning theory: Helps explain differences in aggressiveness
• Predict new information or events
– Biological theories of personality: Might
Psychology?
Joyce S. Pang, PhD
Division of Psychology, HSS, NTU
Why Use the Construct?
• 1. Conveys a sense of consistency or continuity – Across time
– Across situations
Joyce S. Pang, PhD
Division of Psychology, HSS, NTU
Why Use the Construct?
• 2. Suggests internal origins of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors
Two Sources of Influence
Situation
Person
Behavior
Personality psychology emphasizes the role of person variables on behavior
Joyce S. Pang, PhD
Division of Psychology, HSS, NTU
Why Use the Construct?
• 3. Helps in predicting and understanding behavior • 4. Captures a sense of personal distinctiveness Joyce S. Pang, PhD
Division of Psychology, HSS, NTU
A Working Definition
• “Personality is a dynamic organization, inside the person, of psychophysical systems that create the person’s characteristic patterns of behavior, thoughts, and feelings.”
—Gordon Allport (1961)
Joyce S. Pang, PhD
Division of Psychology, HSS, NTU
Key Features of the Definition
• Personality…
– has an organized structure
– involves active processes
– has psychological and physical components
– helps determine how people relate to the world
– demonstrates patterns and consistencies
– manifests itself across a range of thoughts, feelings, behaviors
Joyce S. Pang, PhD
Division of Psychology, HSS, NTU
Fundamental Issues in Personality
Psychology
• Individual Differences
– Represent differences in people
– Examples: aggressiveness, sociability, optimism • Intrapersonal Functioning
– Represents stable processes that underlie thoughts, feelings, and behaviors
– Examples: goal or motivational processes
Joyce S. Pang, PhD
Division of Psychology, HSS, NTU
Theory in Personality
Purpose of a theory:
• Explain what is known
– Social learning theory: Helps explain differences in aggressiveness
• Predict new information or events
– Biological theories of personality: Might