Theories of Personality
PERSONALITY What is more important in determining your behavior - your personality or the siltation in which you are in (the environment)? Are you a "nice" person? If you said yes, are you always nice? The answer, if you are being honest, is no.
The question then is, if you are a "nice" person (and thus that is part of your personality), why aren't you nice all the time; how can you be every not be nice if that is your personality? According to personality theorists, the human personality is enduring and the determining factor in human behavior. But, as you will see in the Social Psychology section (later in the semester), this may not be exactly the case. For now, let's take a look at what Personality is according to Personality theorists.
Personality can be defined as an individuals unique, relatively consistent pattern of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
I. The Psychobiological approach (the perspective that personality is determined by biological factors). temperament -- a person's characteristic emotional state, first apparent in early infancy and possibly inborn. A. Hippocrates' view -- According to Hippocrates, temperament is determined by a person's level of 4 different body fluids, called humors.
1) Blood was associated with a cheerful, or sanguine temperament.
2) Phlegm assoc. with a calm, or phlegmatic temperament.
3) Black bile was associated with a depressed, or melancholic temperament.
4) Yellow bile was assoc. w/ an irritable, or choleric temperament.
B. Phrenology and Physiognomy
1) Phrenology -- the study of bumps on the skull (believed in the 19th century to be associated with particular personality and intellectual characteristics).
2) Physiognomy -- the study of the face (based on the belief that personality was revealed by facial features.
C. Physique and Personality -- Somatotypes (body types) -- Constitutional theory of personality -- William Sheldon. According to this view, there is al ink between a person's body type
The question then is, if you are a "nice" person (and thus that is part of your personality), why aren't you nice all the time; how can you be every not be nice if that is your personality? According to personality theorists, the human personality is enduring and the determining factor in human behavior. But, as you will see in the Social Psychology section (later in the semester), this may not be exactly the case. For now, let's take a look at what Personality is according to Personality theorists.
Personality can be defined as an individuals unique, relatively consistent pattern of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
I. The Psychobiological approach (the perspective that personality is determined by biological factors). temperament -- a person's characteristic emotional state, first apparent in early infancy and possibly inborn. A. Hippocrates' view -- According to Hippocrates, temperament is determined by a person's level of 4 different body fluids, called humors.
1) Blood was associated with a cheerful, or sanguine temperament.
2) Phlegm assoc. with a calm, or phlegmatic temperament.
3) Black bile was associated with a depressed, or melancholic temperament.
4) Yellow bile was assoc. w/ an irritable, or choleric temperament.
B. Phrenology and Physiognomy
1) Phrenology -- the study of bumps on the skull (believed in the 19th century to be associated with particular personality and intellectual characteristics).
2) Physiognomy -- the study of the face (based on the belief that personality was revealed by facial features.
C. Physique and Personality -- Somatotypes (body types) -- Constitutional theory of personality -- William Sheldon. According to this view, there is al ink between a person's body type