Classifying Personality - Psychology



Classifying Personality

types – divides people into categories

- discontinuous: one or the other

traits – personality dimensions

- people differ in the amount of a characteristic they have

Allport and the Individual

- emphasizes conscious motivation

- determined by the present rather than the past

- behavior is internally consistent

- focused on the psychologically mature person

- idiographic approach: each person is unique – studies individuals

(vs. nomothetic: people share universals – studies groups)

"Personality is the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine his characteristic behavior and thought" (Allport, 1961).

Trait – a "neuropsychic system"

- unique to the individual

- "renders many stimuli functionally equivalent": patterns perceptions

- guides behavior in consistent ways

Cardinal trait – pervasively influences nearly all a person's behaviors

Christ-like

Machiavellian

Napoleonic

Sadistic

Byronic

Central traits – control a person's behavior in a variety of situations.

- kind

- intelligent

- ambitious

- competitive

"Central traits are those usually mentioned in letters of recommendation, in rating scales where the rater stars the outstanding characteristics of the individual, or in brief verbal descriptions of a person" (Allport, 1937).

Secondary traits - characteristics that are peripheral to the person

- usually less important overall

- less often called into play

- preference for pasta, action movies

Evaluating Gordon Allport

- father of American personality psychology

- theory didn't stand up well to testing

- led the way for later trait theories

- stressed the human capacity for continued and active growth

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