Hockenbury Discovering Psychology 5th txtbk

Introduction: What Is Personality?419>> Introduction: What Is Personality?Key Theme• Personality is defined as an individual’s unique and relatively consistentpatterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving.Key Question• What are the four major theoretical perspectives on personality?personalityAn individual’s unique and relatively con -sistent patterns of thinking, feeling, andbehaving.personality theoryA theory that attempts to describe andexplain similarities and differences in people’spatterns of thinking, feeling, andbehaving.That you already have an intuitive understanding of the word personality is easy todemonstrate. Just from reading this chapter’s Prologue, you could easily describedifferent aspects of Kenneth’s and Julian’s personalities. Indeed, we frequently tossaround the word personality in everyday conversations. “He’s very competent, buthe has an abrasive personality.” “She’s got such a delightful personality, you can’thelp liking her.”Your intuitive understanding of personality is probably very similar to the waythat psychologists define the concept. Personality is defined as an individual’sunique and relatively consistent patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving. A personalitytheory is an attempt to describe and explain how people are similar, howthey are different, and why every individual is unique. In short, a personality theoryambitiously tries to explain the whole person. At the outset, it’s important to stressthat no single theory can adequately explain all of the aspects of human personality.Every personality theory has its unique strengths and limitations.Personality theories often reflect the work of a single individual or of a fewclosely associated individuals. Thus, it’s not surprising that many personality theoriesbear the distinct personal stamp of their creators to a much greater degreethan do other kinds of psychological theories. Consequently, we’ve tried to letthe personality theorists speak for themselves. Throughout this chapter, you’llencounter carefully chosen quotations from the theorists’ own writings. Thesequotations will give you brief glimpses into the minds of some of the most influentialthinkers in psychology.There are many personality theories, but they can be roughly grouped under fourbasic perspectives: the psychoanalytic, humanistic, social cognitive, and trait perspectives.In a nutshell, here’s what each perspective emphasizes:• The psychoanalytic perspective emphasizes the importance of unconsciousprocesses and the influence of early childhood experience.• The humanistic perspective represents an optimistic look at humannature, emphasizing the self and the fulfillment of a person’s uniquepotential.• The social cognitive perspective emphasizes learning and consciouscognitive processes, including the importance of beliefs about the self,goal setting, and self-regulation.• The trait perspective emphasizes the description and measurement ofspecific personality differences among individuals.Explaining Personality Some people areoutgoing, expressive, and fun-loving, likethis happy family. Other people consistentlydisplay the opposite qualities. Aresuch personality differences due to earlychildhood experiences? Genetics? Socialenvironment? Personality theories attemptto account for the individual differencesthat make each one of us unique.After looking at some of the major personality theories that reflect eachperspective, we’ll consider a closely related topic—how personality is measuredand evaluated. And yes, we’ll talk about the famous inkblots. But forthe inkblots to make sense, we need to trace the evolution of modern personalitytheories. We’ll begin with the tale of a bearded, cigar-smoking gentlemanfrom Vienna of whom you just may have heard—Sigmund Freud.