CH. 1 Personality

is the set of psychological traits and mechanisms within the individual that is organized and relatively enduring and that influences his or her interactions with, and adaptations to, the environment (including the intrapsychic, physical, and social environment).

• human nature
• individual group differences
• Individual uniqueness

How we are like others

Traits and mechanisms of personality that are typical of out species and possessed by nearly everyone

How we are like some

• Individual differences refer to ways in which each person is like some other people
• (extroverts, high self-esteem)

• Group differences refer to ways in which the people of one group differ from people in another group
• (cultural and age differences)

How we are like no one

Individual uniqueness refers to the fact that every individual has personal and unique qualities not shared by any other person in the world

Individuals can be studied nomothetically or ideographically

• biological
• dispositional
• Intrapsychic
• Cognitive-experimental
• Social and cultural
• adjustment

Core assumption of biological approaches to personality is that humans are collections of biological systems, and these systems provide building blocks for behavior, thought, and emotion

Behavioral genetics of personality

Psychophysiology of personality

Evolutionary personality psychology

Deals with ways in which individuals differ from one another and, therefore, cuts across all other domains

Focus on number and nature of fundamental dispositions

Goal of those working in this domain is to identify and measure the most important ways in which individuals differ from one another

Also interested in the origin of individual differences and how these develop over time

Deals with mental mechanisms of personality, many of which operate outside conscious awareness

Classic and modern versions of Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis, including work on repression, denial, projection, and motives for power, achievement, and affiliation

Focuses on cognition and subjective experience, such as conscious thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and desires about oneself and others


Self and self-concept

Goals we set and strive to meet

Emotional experiences, in general and over time

Assumption that personality affects, and is affected by, cultural and social contexts

Much work on cultural differences between groups (e.g., in social acceptability of aggression)

Also much work on individual differences within cultures—how personality plays out in the social sphere, including work on sex differences and gender differences in personality processes, traits, and mechanisms

At human nature level of analysis, all humans have common set of concerns they struggle with in the social sphere

Personality plays key role in how we cope, adapt, and adjust to events in daily life

Personality linked with important health outcomes and problems in coping and adjustment

Statistical comparisons across individuals or groups

Single characteristic or dimensions studies abstractly

Focus on single individual; how characteristics manifest, combine, interact

Often, case studies of individuals