Most+Important+Contributors


 * Most Important Contributors to Personality Theory **

Humans have always been very curious about the mind, and for many years people have been seeking explanations for the actions and behaviors of other individuals. In other words, people have been looking for a way to explain personality. Psychologists and philosophers have used many theories to describe, define, and explain personality. However, “personality psychology is unique in its unswerving focus on psychological individuality (McAdams, 2007, p.61).” This means that it is very hard to find one definition and meaning for personality. Personality is unique in that it includes each person’s own distinctive genetic background and personal experiences. This is why so many people have failed to agree upon one definition for personality. Many psychologists have contributed their own theories, in addition to what the pioneers of personality psychology have contributed. As previously noted in the history of personality theory, “a multitude of scientific and theoretical outlooks and contributions made conceivable the dawn of personality psychology (Martin-Ayers, 2011)." The pioneers of personality psychology are responsible for the theories, therapies, and exercises used today.



There are many pioneers of personality psychology worth noting but one of the most popular is **Sigmund Freud**, the father of psychology himself. Freud was one of the first to bring attention to the nature and dynamics of personality. He is most famous for his technique psychoanalysis and his structural theory of personality: id, ego, and superego. He is also well known for psychosexual development, free association, dream analysis, and dividing our minds into three parts: conscious, preconscious, and unconscious.

These three parts are crucial to understanding Freud’s theories. The conscious mind is what we are aware of, the preconscious mind contains memories or experiences that are readily accessible, and the unconscious mind contains our deepest childhood memories that are not readily accessible. Freud used free association and dream analysis to make the unconscious mind conscious. Free association is a technique used in treating a patient. It involves him or her describing anything and everything that comes to mind. Free as sociation is fundamental to psychoanalysis. Dream analysis is also a technique used in treating patients. Freud considered dreams to be the “royal road to the unconscious" (Sommers & Sommers, 2004, p.58). “He believed that client dreams constituted the best access he could get to repressed, unconscious, instinctual drives (Sommers & Sommers, 2004, p.58).” Each dream is made up of two parts: manifest content and latent content. Manifest content is what we see in our dreams and latent content is what the symbols in our dreams actually mean. Freud used both of these techniques in his method termed psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis uses these techniques in a non threatening environment to uncover repressed impulses, anxieties, and conflicts that may be causing psychopathology. Transference, when the patient has developed feelings for their therapist, and counter transference, when the therapist develops feelings for the patient, can be considered a hindrance to successful treatment (Carducci, 2009, p.128).

According to Freud our unconscious mind contains instincts called thanatos and eros. Thanatos is the death instinct or a destructive energy associated with death and aggression. Eros, also known as libido, is energy associated with life and sex (Sommers & Sommers, 2004, p.37). The libido is responsible for the psychosexual development stages. 1. The narcissism stage- when the infant is completely controlled by impulses from the age of birth to six months. 2. The oral stage- when the libido is focused on the mouth cavity from the age of six months to two years. 3. The anal stage- is during the period of toilet training from the age of two years to four years. 4. The phallic stage- when the libido is focused on the sexual organs from the age of four years to six years. 5. The latency stage- is a period of socialization from the age of six years to twelve years. 6. The genital stage- when mature heterosexual relationships develop from the age of twelve to eighteen years. (C. Azimi, PPE 3003 lecture, Fal l 2010)

All of these stages of development and instincts are incorporated into Freud’s structural theory of persona <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 25px;">lity. The id is controlled by impulses and instincts, primarily thanatos and eros. The id is also a major influence on the psychosexual stages. The libido controls the oral and phallic stages, and the narcissism stage is completely controlled by the id because the ego has not developed yet (C. Azimi, PPE 3003 lecture, Fall 2010). The id reduces pain and exploits pleasure. The ego controls those impulses. It tells us what is right and what is wrong, and is the rational part of our personality. The superego is developed as a child from the rules and regulations of society and your own family. Freud believed that the superego was made up of two parts, the conscience and the ego ideal. The conscience is created through punishment while the ego ideal is created through reward. The ego is a balance of the superego and id. It creates what is considered a normally functioning personality. If either the id or superego throws off the balance then the ego restores the balance by using defense mechanisms to reduce the anxiety.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">The next pioneer of personality psychology that cannot be over looked is **Carl Jung**. Jung was a close friend and follower o f Freud for many years, until they had a falling out due to a difference of opinion. Jung is also the founder of Jungian theory and a Neo -Freudian. His theory of personality is unique even though you may recognize some of the terminology from Freud. Jung’s greatest contributions to this field are the archetypes and his theory of psychological types, which are used in the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Without these breakthroughs this branch of psychology would be drastically different and there would be no such thing as a Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, a test known worldwide and used in education, counseling, and job training (C. Azimi, PPE 3003 lecture, September 20, 2010).

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">A Myers-Briggs T ype Indicator (MBTI) is a standardized psychological assessment that has an inventory of about 166 questions that are used to find your personality type. Carl Jung’s theory of psychological types, which were later added onto by Katharine Briggs and Isabell Briggs Myers, is composed of two basic attitudes, extroverts and introverts, and four functions, thinking, feeling, sensing, and intuition <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 23px;">. He believed that these attitudes and functions could be used to describe the way people are different (C. Azimi, PPE 3003 lecture, September 20, 2010). “The two basic attitudes he identiﬁed were (1) Extraversion, an orientation to the outer world of people, things, and activities, and (2) Introversion, an orientation to the inner world of concepts, ideas, and internal experience (Sommers & Sommers, 2004, p.119).” Extroverts are outgoing, sincere, and helpful. Introverts keep to themselves and don’t enjoy socializing. Jung believed that every person possesses both of these attitudes, usually one more than the other. The four functions he identified are used to communicate with the world. He considered thinking and feeling as rational functions, and sensing and intuition as irrational functions. Irrational functions don’t require assessment or judgment and rational functions do. The reason that sensing and intuition are irrational is because they rely on hunches and sensations. These functions do not require facts and are only reflected on shortly. Thinking and feeling are the opposite. Feeling is the emotional judgment of whether something is good or bad and thinking is the logical assessment of events.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">These two attitudes and four functions were than used to create Jung’s eight psychological types: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">**1. Extroverted thinking types-** characterized as outgoing people who depend on logical decision-making.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">**2. Introverted thinking types**- portrayed as being cold due to their focus on internal thoughts and lack of social skills.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">**3. Extroverted feeling types**- most common in women and is described as controlled by their feelings d <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 25px;">ue to the expectations of others.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">**4. Introverted feeling types**- most common in women, and is characterized as being depressed and silent.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">**5. Extroverted sensing types**- most common in men and is described as being outgoing, their appearance is important to them, and they don’t like to spend a lot of time thinking.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">**6. Introverted sensing types**- identified as being guided by sensation and overreacting.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">**7. Extroverted intuitive types**- well known for being politicians, salesmen, and promoters.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">**8. Introverted Intuitive types**- recognized as being hard to understand, visionaries, and estranged from reality.(C. Azimi, PPE 3003 lecture, September 20, 2010)

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">There are now 16 psychological types due to Katharine Briggs and Isabell Briggs Myers adding two more attitudes, judging and perceiving. According to Sommers & Sommers perceiving and judging “apply only when individuals are interacting with the outside world—regardless of whether they are by nature Introverted or Extraverted (p.120)” In other words if someone has a judging attitude than they most likely use one of the two judging function, thinking and feeling. If someone has a perceiving attitude they use one of the other two functions, sensation and intuition, when dealing with the external world (Sommers & Sommers, 2004).

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Jung’s theory, psychological types, was very influential in helping understand personality better. However, his archetypes are just as significant. To fully understand Jung’s theory of archetypes you must know that Jung, like Freud, believed in an unconscious mind. However, Jung believed that the unconscious mind was split into two different parts, the personal unconscious and the collective unconscious. The personal unconscious is made up of forgotten experiences that are specific to each person and can be brought to the conscious mind with effort. The collective unconscious is universal. Meaning that it is the same for all humans. It contains our motives, fears, urges, and archetypes. Archetypes are our reactions to common human experiences, they are unlearned, and they are also universal. Examples of archetype reactions would be, “love at fist sight, déjà vu, dreams, and near death experiences (J. Chesnut, CLP 3302 lecture, June 16, 2011)”. The major archetypes according to Jung are persona, shadows, anima and animus, as well as self.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">The persona is helpful because it allows us to adapt to situations and control our inner selves, so that we can blend well in all circumstances. “Our persona is the mask we wear, or the set of behaviors we engage in to accomplish what is expected in a given relationship (Sommers & Sommers, 2004, p.117).” The shadow is somewhat similar to Freud’s id. The shadow is a dark part of our personality that has been locked away or never acknowledged because we are not able to accept it. Jung believed that we project our shadow onto others. This form of projection occurs when, for example, you hate someone for being selfish but the real reason you hate them is because you are afraid that you are selfish <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 25px;">. If you didn’t have that fear then your reaction would not be the same. The archetypes anima and animus are opposite sides of the same coin. Men have a female principle called anima and women have a male principle called animus. The anima enables men to be caring, sensitive, and emotional. The animus enables women to be aggressive, strong, and unwavering. Finally the self makes up our entire personality. It consists of both the conscious and unconscious (C. Azimi, PPE 3003 lecture, September 20, 2010).

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Although there are many more people that could be recognized, one cannot imagine discussing the contributors to personality psychology without mentioning, **G****ordon Allport**. H is views and theories on personality have changed this field of psychology forever. Allport had a humanistic view of personality. He believed personality was “what a man really is (C. Azimi, PPE 3003 lecture, Fall 2010).” He also believed personality is constantly changing and evolving (C. Azimi, PPE 3003 lecture, Fall 2010). He was also one of the first psychologists to claim personality was established by the environment and biology, to discover trait theory, as well as producing his own theory of personality development.



<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Before delving into Allport's trait theory, it is essential to focus on two important con <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 25px;">cepts, genotype and phenotype. Genotype is an inherited characteristic. Phenotype is when the mind and body come together to create characteristics. These concepts were used to categorize traits. Allport is not only the first to claim that traits are biological as well as environmental, but also to use traits to define personality. A trait is a unit of personality and personality is made up of self (C. Azimi, PPE 3003 lecture, Fall 2010). Self includes everything from a persons needs to a persons <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 23px;">skills. Traits control a person’s behavior and can also be broken up into three different categories: cardinal, central, and secondary. Cardinal traits are considered to be a persons strongest characteristics. Central traits are just as important but they are not as noticeable. Secondary traits are much less important and are viewed more as preferences. Within these categories there are two different types, common traits and personal dispositions. Common traits are shared universally. Personal dispositions are unique to every person. (C. Azimi, PPE 3003 lecture, Fall 2010)

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Gordon Allport’s theory of personal development is also very unique. He considered the self to be the whole personality and that the self develops from infancy all the way to death. Like Freud he put these developments into stages. The first stage is the bodily self. The bodily self starts at infancy, when the core of self is formed, and we develop feelings from our bodies. Self identity starts in infancy and forms how we identify ourselves. Self-esteem develops at the age of one or two and is when we develop self-awareness. Self-extension forms between the ages of four and six, when as children we become aware of our possessions and our loyalties to our families, friends, etc. Self-image develops at the same time as self-extension, when children learn to live up to the expectations of those around them. Self as rational coper appears from age six to twelve. In this stage children learn to rationalize and use logic to cope with problems and learn to solve them. Propriate striving develops at the beginning of our adolescents. This is when we begin to strive to make and follow life goals. The self as knower develops in adulthood and is when all of the stages of self unite into one whole personality. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">(C. Azimi, PPE 3003 lecture, Fall 2010)

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%; line-height: 23px;">Without these men, and many other philosophers, psychologist, and thinkers who have come before us, this field of psychology would not be the same today. Their theories will always remain as the stepping stones to a more knowledgeable future, and their theories will always be a major influence in our education, life, and future practices.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Danielle Gluth