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ASSIGNMENT GURU (2018-2019)

M.P.C.-3
Personality: Theories and
Assessment
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NOTE: All Questions are Compulsory
SECTION - A
Answer the following question in about 1000 words each.
Q. 1. Discuss the structural model of personality.
Ans. Dynamic or Structural Model: Freud described mental functioning on the basis of the three states of
consciousness. He talked about three types of mental activity or three regions. He termed them as id, ego and
superego. These regions clash because of our desire, whether we can realistically obtain them and which is right or
wrong.
Id is the primary region. It is present at birth and totally unconscious. Id is ruled by the pleasure principle. It is
concerned with immediate fulfillment of primitive needs, sexual desires and aggressive impulses. It does not look at
the probable results of the action for the gratification of desires.
Ego is the second region. It develops out of id. Ego tries to minimise the pain and maximize pleasure. It is
concerned with the demands of reality or logic. Without this we could not survive. It helps us learn about the
limitations in the real world. We know all of our desires cannot be fulfilled. It involves perception, learning, reasoning
and other activities required to interact effectively with the world around us.
Superego is the third region in our mental functioning. It develops as we are exposed to the moral values by
parents, teachers and elders. We accept and internalize views about ideal behaviour and moral values as to what is
right and wrong. These aspects of superego are called ego-ideal and conscience respectively. The superego pervades
over three levels of consciousness. The superego deals with the ideals. It creates the feeling of guilt. It also punishes
us if we fall short of the societal values and ideals. It represents the societal demands.
Dynamics of Personality
Freud stated that human organism relies on both physiological energy and psychic energy. Physical energy is
used in physical activities such as running, walking, lifting, etc. whereas psychic energy is used in psychological
activities like thinking, feeling and planning.
Freud believed that these two types of energies meet in id. Relating to these, Freud talked about concepts which
explain instinct, anxiety and mental mechanisms.
According to Freud, the instincts are responsible for our all behaviour. Eros (love) and the thanatos (destructive
or death instinct) are the two basic instincts. Eros aims to build and preserve unity through relationships. Thanatos
aims to undo connections and unity. Eros and the Thanatos can either operate against each other or combine with
each other through attraction. The main source of psychic energy is Libido which is believed to come from Eros and
Thanatos.

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Defence Mechanisms
Conflict arises from within our own mind, while anxiety from realistic sources in the outside world. Conflict
happens when the id has some desires which ego and/or superego do not agree with. The ego works as defence
mechanisms. We deal with anxiety through psychological defenses. Given below are some important defence
mechanisms:
Denial: We cope with anxiety through denials. Denial also leads to daydreams and fantasies which are a common
way to we cope with anxiety. We deny things which have happened to get rid of our anxiety.
Repression: It means banishing the memory. It can be old memories or current ones. For example, an individual
might fancy getting through an examination for which he is not eligible to apply.
Regression: It means returning to a previous stage. When we are under high stress, we quit adult coping
strategies and return to the stage at which we are fixated like if a person is stressed and if he is an oral personality, he
may resort to smoking. An individual with anal character may be even more obstinate and compulsive than usual.
Reaction formation: It means thinking or doing the opposite. For example, a person who is angry with his boss
goes out of his way and become kind and courteous. Excessive behaviour is one of the hallmarks of reaction formation.
Projection: It means ascribing unwanted impulse to others. For example, a hostile colleague always suspects
other staff members in his office as hostile.
Rationalization: It refers to finding out a rational explanation for a wrong doing. For example, a person who
failed in the exam says he failed because the examiner set bad questions. The reality is he did not study hard enough.
Intellectualization: It means turning the feeling into a thought. For example, a father who finds his daughter
has cancer deals with the situation by becoming an expert on the disease and focuses on the disease intellectually and
not with emotions.
Displacement: It refers to moving an impulse from one target object to another. For example, angry with boss,
an individual yells at his subordinates.
Sublimation: It means changing impulses into some constructive activities. For example, if a person is angry, he
goes out and paints. According to Freud this is the most adaptive defense mechanism. Freud stated that the effective
sublimation of sexual urges and aggressiveness led to greatest achievements.
Development of Personality
According to Freud, human development goes through a series of stages. Freud’s Stages of Psychosexual
Development has a predetermined sequence. It leads to either successful development of a healthy personality or
leads to a failure, development of an unhealthy personality. Freud’s theory is controversial as he felt that human
personality develops through stages on the basis of a particular erogenous zone.
An individual gets fixated on that particular erogenous zone in each stage and either over indulges or under
indulges once he becomes an adult. The characteristics of an adult person are determined by what happens to him in
each stage and how successful he is in getting through that period.
An individual may get stuck at a particular stage and do not develop beyond that stage. Freud termed this
condition as fixation. An individual may also retreat to an earlier stage of development which Freud called regression.
Given below is a brief discussion of theses psychosexual stages:
Oral Stage (Birth to 18 months): This is the first stage in psychosexual development. In this stage, the child’s
focus on oral pleasures, mainly sucking. Excessive or lower gratification can lead to an Oral Fixation or Oral Personality.
It is evidenced if a person is preoccupied with oral activities. Such individuals have a stronger tendency to drink
alcohol, over eat and smoke. These people also get overly dependent on others. They are also gullible and perpetual
followers. They also become pessimistic and aggressive toward others.
Anal Stage (18 months to three years): This stage happens in toddlers. It can be divided into two phases: the
expelling period and the retentive period. In the expelling period, the child gets pleasure in expelling feces. In the
retentive period, the child gets pleasure from storing it. In this stage, the child gets toilet training. It is marked by
conflicts with parents about defiance and compliance. In this stage, the child gets pleasure on eliminating and retaining
feces. The child learns to control anal stimulation through society’s pressure, mainly via parents. The after effects of
an anal fixation can lead to an obsession with cleanliness, perfection, and control. In the opposite, people become
messy and disorganised.
Phallic Stage (Aged three to six): This is the most significant in the Freudian theory. In this stage, the child gets
pleasure from stimulating his genital and starts discriminating between the sex roles of their parents. A child identifies

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with the parent of the opposite sex which is Oedipus complex. The child seeks an external object and the mother
becomes the inevitable object for the child.
In the phallic stage, identification with the same-sex parent happens in the Oedipal phase. The child forms
perception about gender roles and personality. According to Freud, in this stage boys may develop unconscious sexual
desires for their mother. The boys may consider their father as a competitor to their mother’s affection. Girls also go
through a similar situation and develop unconscious sexual attraction to their father. Freud however strongly disagreed
about the girls which some psychoanalysts call the Electra complex.
Freud believed that because of the strong competition of his father, boys identify with their father instead of
fighting him. By identifying with the father, the boys develop masculine characteristics and identify themselves as a
male and repress their sexual urges toward their mother. A fixation at this stage may result in sexual deviancies and
weak or confused sexual identity.
Latency Stage (Age six to puberty): This stage happens before the start of puberty. In this stage, the sexual
urges of the children remain repressed. They interact and play mainly with same sex peers. This stage is thus marked
by the dormancy of the libido. Sexual and aggressive drives are used in other socially acceptable options.
Genital Stage (Puberty on): This is the final stage in psychosexual development. It starts when the puberty
starts. The genital is the primary focus of pleasure. Adolescents direct their sexual desires onto opposite sex peers
through the lessons learned in the previous stages.
Evaluation of Freud’s Theory
Some merits and demerits of Freud’s theory are discussed below:
Merits:
(i) It explains human behaviour and personality and seems to be a complete theory of personality.
(ii) The role of early childhood experiences and the unconscious is emphasized.
(iii) The dynamic nature of human behaviour also gets emphasized.
(iv) The defence mechanisms of ego is also emphasized.
(v) It provides scope for a serious interest in psychological treatment of mental problems.
(vi) It provides scope for further theoretical and research work in personality.
Demerits:
(i) Freud’s theory lacks empirical evidence and relies too much on therapeutic achievements.
(ii) Freud’s clinical data are also inaccurate, flawed and selective at best.
(iii) Freud’s psychoanalysis techniques like ideas on the interpretation of dreams and the role of free association
are also criticised.
(iv) Psychoanalysis cannot be called a science and many of the principles upon which it is based are wrong.
(v) Some of Freudian concepts are poorly designed. For example, psychic energy is not explained what is it and
how it can be measured.
(vi) The theory also does not have scientific proof.
(vii) The role of sexual drive is over emphasized.
(viii) The theory suggests that there is no free will.
Q. 2. Elucidate Cattell’s theory of personality.
Ans. Cattell’s Trait Theory of Personality: Born in 1905, raymond Cattell was educated in Britain. He
received his doctorate from University of London. After that he worked as director, child guidance clinic for 5 years.
In the US, he worked with E.L.Thorndike and developed officer selection methods. He set up an Institute for
Personality and Ability testing. He taught at University of Illinois for 30 years. He went to Hawaii in 1978 and taught
at the University of Hawaii till his death in 1998.
Cattell did not consider clinicians observations as scientific basis for understanding or categorizing personality.
Applying inductive method of scientific inquiry while developing his theory of personality, Cattell collected and used
factor analysis to look for clusters.
According to Cattell, personality allowed a prediction of what an individual will do in a given situation. Cattell
called the underlying basic factors of a person’s personalities as source traits. Using factor analysis, he found common
clusters of surface traits. He called these clusters as source traits. He collected data about the person from various
record of the person. He used the Questionnaire data and applied tests and got test results which along with source
traits show the individual’s personality.

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 According to Cattell, there are 35 primary traits, 23 of which are characterized normal individuals and the other
12 are for abnormal individuals. Cattell developed a scale, called 16 PF, which assesses 16 different source traits.
Cattell believed that people are innately driven by ergs. Thus, goals are created because of fear, hunger, curiosity,
anger and other basic motivations.
According to Cattell, there are two types of intelligence: (i) Fluid intelligence, and (ii) Crystallised intelligence.
Fluid intelligence helps people to learn new things, while the crystallized intelligence helps people to solve their
problems on the basis of previous experience. Cattell considered intelligence as inherited trait.
Cattell stated that personality should be considered in terms traits and various other variables including attitudes.
According to Cattell, attitude refers to the desire to act in a particular way in response to a specific situation. Attitudes
are linked within the Dynamic lattice. Dynamic lattice is graphical presentation of Cattell’s theoretical analysis of the
relationship between the mind’s instinctive driving forces and their overlying semantic and attitudinal superstructure.
Subsidiation chains control the specific attitudinal connections within the dynamic lattice. In subsidiation chains,
attitudes are shown in order, some attitudes are subordinate to others. Subsidisation chain also helps understand when
a particular attitude will produce a particular behaviour.
Cattell consider environmental factors as essential to determine personality and behaviour. The organism aims to
fulfil his ergs, or goals, because of his hunger and thirst.
Socially shaped ergs are socially created goals which Cattell called socially shaped ergic manifolds, or SEM.
Using SEM, Cattell explained the influence of the environment on human behaviour.
Cattell stated that SEMs are socially obtained and can fulfil several ergs at a time. Thus, SEMS are various types
by culture.
The source of SEMs energy is ERGs.
Cattell developed a list of ergs: They include Food-Seeking, Mating, Parental Protectiveness, Gregariousness,
Exploration, Safety, Self-Assertion, Pugnacity, Narcissistic Sex and Acquisitiveness.
Profession, family and home, spouse and religion are some of the major socially shaped ergic models. ERHGs
and SEMs interact with attitudes to produce behaviour.
Cattell stated that if we systematically identify their attitudes, ERG’s and SEM’s, we should be able to predict our
future behaviour.
In Cattell’s trait theory of personality, the interaction between the genetic and personality systems and the socio
cultural milieu within which the organism operates is explained. It focuses on the complex transactions between the
personality system and the more inclusive socio cultural matrix of the functioning organism.
The Formula for Personality
Cattell stated that personality allows us to tell about what an individual will do in a given situation. He suggested
that the prediction of behaviour can be made by a specification equation under mathematical analysis of personality.
Given below is the formula used by Cattell to predict behaviour:
R = f (S ,P )
R stands for the nature of an individual’s specific response, f for the unspecified function, S for the stimulus
situation and P for the Personality structure.
As per this formula, the nature of a person’ specific response (R), which means what the person does or thinks
or verbalises, is some unspecified function (f) of the stimulus situation (S) at a given period and of the individual's
personality structure (P).
According to the equation, the individual’s particular response to any given situation is a function of all the traits
relevant to that situation. Each trait interacts with situational factors that may influence it.
Since, it is difficult to predict a person’s behaviour in a given situation, Cattell also agreed that the personality
theorist must consider both traits a person possesses as well as the nontrait variables like the person’s moods and
particular social roles to increase predictive accuracy.
Another requirement is that each trait should be weighed as per its relevance to the situation. For example,
anxiety trait should be assigned a high weight in predicting the person’s response if he is in an emotionally arousing
situation. Thus, Cattell’s trait theory is oversimplified through the equation. This general formula however conveys
Cattell’s belief that human behaviour can be predicted.
Q. 3. Discuss the various debates in personality research.
Ans. The person-situation debate in personality psychology refers to the controversy concerning whether the
person or the situation is more influential in determining a person's behavior. Personality trait psychologists believe
that people have consistent personalities that guide their behaviors across situations. Situationists, opponents of the

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trait approach, argue that people are not consistent enough from situation to situation to be characterized by broad
personality traits.
Improved research methods can increase the predictability. The situationist argument was formed based on
research studies that were conducted in laboratory situations and therefore did not reflect behavior in real life. When
studying behaviors in a more natural setting, personality is likely to influence behavior. According to Allport, personality
will be more likely to exhibit greater apparent effects in real situations that are important and influential to the
individual being observed.
Predictability can also be influenced depending on what is being measured, and some behaviors may be more
consistent than others. For example, the amount a person gestures or the volume of a person's voice are more likely
to be consistent across situations than goal-directed behaviors, such as when a person is trying to impress another
person.
It may also be that on average, individuals act consistently, and therefore personality research may be more telling
as general behavioral trends than specific instances. This is evident in when people are interested in personalities of
others, they are more interested in how others will generally act, not one specific behavior at a specific time.
The interactionism perspective recognizes that the effect of personality depends on the situation and that situations
are affected by the personalities of the people who are present. Interactionism also recognizes that people often
choose situations that reflect their personalities. One of the many interactionism researchers, Allan R. Buss, introduced
the idea that persons and situations interact in three different ways:
l The effect of personality on behavior depends on the situation and vice versa
l Certain people typically find themselves in certain situations, depending on their personality
l People change situations by how they act and what they do in these situations.
A commonly used example of person-situation interaction is the Stanford prison experiment, where college students
participated in a study that simulated a prison setting with some students acting as guards and others as prisoners. The
study was terminated when the guards became even more abusive than anticipated. While Philip Zimbardo concluded
that the study shows evidence of the effect of the situation transcending personality traits, more recent studies show
that these students were drawn to participate in a study of "prison life" because of their personality characteristics.
Mischel (1968) sparks personality vs. situation debate
In 1968, Walter Mischel challenged the assumption that personality determined behavior, and instead claimed that
people's behavior from situation to situation was variable and depended on the situational circumstances. In other
words, the "situation" view is that behavior depends on the situation itself, whereas the personality view is that
behavior depends on long-held characteristic personality styles and is consistently displayed no matter the situation.
Mischel reviewed the research literature and concluded that the correlation between personality and behavior
was .20 to .40 - overall .30, which is small. This was used to argue that since there was only a small correlation
between personality and behavior, then the role of personality was not all that important and the variability of behavior
must be due to the situational demands (and to error).
Another prominent situationist, Richard Nisbett (1980, cited in Funder, 2001) revised the personality-behaviour
correlation upwards to .40, but this is still a small relationship. If you use the common squared correlation method
there is an upper limit of only 16% i.e. only 16% of a person's behaviour can be explained by personality. Using the
Binomial effect size it's 20%, so the implication is that personality doesn't explain much of behavior.
However, those on the side of personality argue that:
l the low personality-behavior correlations do not prove value of situational variables (the cause may be an
unmeasured personality variable; i.e. stronger proof would be a high correlation between situational variable
and behaviour).
l the real relationship between personality and behavior is higher than .40; i.e., .4 is a lower-bound estimate
due to error in research instruments, etc.,
l .40 is not small; this can be translated (using effect sizes) to saying that knowing someone's personality
characteristics allows prediction of behavior about 70% of the time (assuming we could predict behavior
50% of the time by chance) (Funder, 2001)
l that personality is a strong predictor of behavior across all situations (i.e., of someone's overall trends), but is
not a strong predictor of an individual's behavior at a specific time in a specific situation; e.g., personality
more accurately predicts how happy you will be over the next year than it will predict how happy you are
today

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 l people choose their situations, and these choices reflect personality; e.g., an introvert may choose to work in
a library
l there are no other psychological variables which predict behavior more strongly that personality traits; so
even though the correlations may seem low, personality traits are still the most useful psychological tools
l personality research has improved considerably since the research reviewed by Mischel; this helped Nisbett
to upwardly revise the relationship to .40. That was over 20 years ago, and quite possibly the figure could be
revised upwards further based on more recent research; however this view can be contrasted by the
publication bias in research journals towards results which show significant relationships!
Interactionism: The interactionist perspective on the situation vs. person debate
Traits and Situations interact to influence behaviour - how else could it be?. Its like the genetics vs. environment
issue, one cannot exist without the other). So, the trait and situationist perspectives are too simplistic: Reality is more
complex. In reality, different situations affect different people in different ways. Some situations allow expression of
personality, other situations provoke a narrower range of behaviour. Thus,
l Behaviour = personality x interpretation of the situation
It is vital to appreciate that there are individual differences in the personality-situation relationship. High self-
monitors display less consistency across situations in their behaviour because they try to adapt more to the situation.
Low self-monitors display more consistency in their behavior across situations because they less to adapt to situations.
Research (Kenrid et al, 1990) has shown that a trait will show up only in a situation where it is relevant. So
anxiety may show up as a predictor of behavior some situations and not others. Also, some situations allow expression
of personality, others provoke narrower range of behaviour.
SECTION – B
Answer the following questions in 400 words each.
Q. 4. In light of Horney’s theory of personality, discuss the concept of neurotic needs.
Ans. Karen Horney: Social Foundation Of Personality: Born on 16 September, 1885 in Hamburg, Germany,
Karen Horney started her career at the Institute for Psychoanalysis in Berlin. She taught there from 1920 to 1932.
Karen also worked in the Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis for two years. After her family was settled in Brooklyn,
Horney worked with Erich Fromm and Harry Stack Sullivan. She also developed her own theories on neurosis.
Horney also taught at the New York Psychoanalytic Institute. By 1941, she established the American Institute for
Psychoanalysis. After she was dissatisfaction with the traditional approach to psychoanalysis, she set up this training
institute for those interested in her own Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis. She also started the
American Journal of Psychoanalysis. She also got opportunity to teach at the New York Medical College. Karen was
active until her death in 1952.
Horney flayed some of Freud’s views. For example, she did not agree with Freud’s view on penis envy. She
asserted that what Freud detected was women’s justified envy of men’s power. Horney stated that Penis envy might
occur occasionally in neurotic women as womb envy happens in men. Horney believed that men were envious of a
woman’s child-bearing ability.
She also questioned over emphasis on men’s sexual apparatus by psychologists. On Freud’s Oedipal complex,
Horney claimed that jealousy of one parent and attachment to another was because of anxiety caused by a disturbance
in the parent-child relationship. Horney was a pioneer in feminine psychiatry. She was the first woman to present a
paper on feminine psychiatry. During 1922 and 1937, she wrote 14 papers which were compiled in a single volume
titled Feminine Psychology.
Horney has a holistic and humanistic perspective on Freud’s theory. She focused on cultural and social influences,
growth of personality and the attainment of self-actualization.
The following headings can explain Horney’s theory:
(i) Basic Anxiety
(ii) Neurotic Needs
(iii) Measures to cope with anxiety
(1) Basic Anxiety
Horney’s theory of personality highlights basic anxiety. Horney believed the child experience anxiety if he does
not get proper guidance to cope with various threats imposed by the nature and society. Horney states that basic
anxiety is the feeling a child of being isolated and helpless. Various adverse factors cause insecurity in a child.

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 According to Horney, the adverse factors which cause basic anxiety are: erratic behaviour, direct or indirect
domination, lack of real guidance, lack of respect for child’s individual needs, too much admiration or absence of it,
disparaging attitudes, lack of reliable warmth, having to take sides in parental disagreements, too much or too little
responsibility, overprotection, isolation from other children, injustice, discrimination, unkept promise and hostile
atmosphere.
Horney called these factors as basic evil. Basic evil naturally provokes resentment or basic hostility in child. It
thus produces a conflict or dilemma in the child’s mind. Expressing the hostility means risk of punishment. The child
thus faces a conflicting situation. This is like Freudian’s conflict between internalized prohibition and instinctual
impulse.
(i) Neurotic Needs
Horney described ten patterns of neurotic needs on the basis of the things we require. The difficulties of some
people however distort them.
For example, the first need, affection and approval, is neurotic because it is unrealistic, unreasonable and
indiscriminate. We need affection, but we don’t expect it from everyone we meet. We also do not expect affection all
the times from even our close friends and relations.
Second, the person will experience great anxiety if the need is not met. Affection should be displayed clearly at
all times, otherwise the panic sets in. The need is too central to the existence of neurotic.
The following are the neurotic needs:
1. The Neurotic Need for Affection and Approval: This needs include the desires to be liked, to please other
people, and meet the expectations of others.
2. The Neurotic Need for a Partner Who Will Take Over One’s Life: These involve the need to be
centered on a partner. People with this need suffer extreme fear of being abandoned by their partner. Oftentimes,
these individuals place an exaggerated importance on love and believe that having a partner will resolve all of life’s
troubles.
3. The Neurotic Need to Restrict One’s Life Within Narrow Borders: Individuals with this need prefer to
remain inconspicuous and unnoticed. They are undemanding and content with little. They avoid wishing for material
things, often making their own needs secondary and undervaluing their own talents and abilities.
4. The Neurotic Need for Power: Individuals with this need seek power for its own sake. They usually praise
strength, despise weakness and will exploit or dominate other people. These people fear personal limitations, helplessness
and uncontrollable situations.
5. The Neurotic Need to Exploit Others: These individuals view others in terms of what can be gained
through association with them. People with this need generally pride themselves in their ability to exploit other people
and are often focused on manipulating others to obtain desired objectives, including such things as ideas, power,
money or sex.
6. The Neurotic Need for Prestige: Individuals with a need for prestige value themselves in terms of public
recognition and acclaim. Material possessions, personality characteristics, professional accomplish- ments, and loved
ones are evaluated based upon prestige value.
7. The Neurotic Need for Personal Admiration: Individuals with a neurotic need for personal admiration are
narcissistic and have an exaggerated self-perception. They want to be admired based on this imagined self-view, not
upon how they really are.
8. The Neurotic Need for Personal Achievement: People push themselves to achieve greater and greater
things as a result of basic insecurity. These individuals fear failure and feel a constant need to accomplish more than
other people and to top even their own earlier successes.
9. The Neurotic Need for Self-Sufficiency and Independence: These individuals exhibit a loner mentality,
distancing themselves from others in order to avoid being tied down or dependent upon other people.
10. The Neurotic Need for Perfection and Unassailability: These individuals constantly strive for complete
infallibility. A common feature of this neurotic need is searching for personal flaws in order to quickly change or cover
up these perceived imperfections.
Horney highlighted three broad coping strategies covering the neurotic needs.
(i) First is compliance: It is also called moving-toward strategy or the self-effacing solution. This strategy is
used by the children who face parental indifference. A fear of helplessness and abandonment, which Horney
considered as basic anxiety, make the children go for this strategy. The first three needs are covered under
this strategy.

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 (ii) Second is aggression: This is also called the moving-against and the expansive solution. Parental indifference
leads to anger and basic hostility or aggression. This strategy includes the feeds four through eight.
(iii) Third is withdrawal: It is also called the moving-away-from or resigning strategy. It is applied when neither
aggression nor compliance works. Children try to solve the problem by becoming self-sufficient. This includes
the last two neurotic needs.
According to Horney, if the neurotic needs are not fulfilled or if it seems that the needs will not be met in the
future also, individuals go through great anxiety. The neurotic needs are too central to the existence. Adler also
mentioned Horney’s neurotic needs in many ways. Adler and Horney are thus often referred to as Social Psychologists
or neo-Freudians.
Theory of the Self
Horney believed that all people strived for self-actualisation. Abraham Maslow had also the same view about it.
She understood “self” as the core of an individual’s own being and potential. According to Horney, if an individual has
an accurate conception of his own self, then he is free to realise our potential and achieve what he wishes within
reasonable boundaries. She felt that the healthy person’s aim through life is self-actualization as against the neurotic’s
needs.
Horney stated there are two views of self: the “real self” and the “ideal self”. The real self refers to what an
individual actually is. The ideal self means the type of person an individual will like to be. The real self has will power,
achieves the actual growth and realizes gifts and happiness. It also has deficiencies. The ideal self only helps the real
self in achieving self-actualization and developing its potential.
According to Horney, a neurotic person has an idealised self and a real self. The neurotic person feels that he
does not live up to the ideal self. He feels that there is a flaw in his actual self. The neurotic also set non-realistic
goals. For a neurotic person, the real self is “despised self.” A neurotic individual is like a clock’s pendulum. He
oscillates between a fallacious “perfection” and a manifestation of self-hate. Horney described it as the neurotic's
hopeless “search for glory” and the “tyranny of the should”.
There are three different persons. The compliant person feels that he should be sweet, self-sacrificing and
saintly. The aggressive person believes that he should be powerful, recognized and a winner. The withdrawing person
says he should be independent, aloof and perfect.
The neurotic gets alienated from their true core. He is not able to actualize his potentials. Horney believed that
these traits prevent a person to actualize his potential unless the cycle of neurosis is cured or broken.
Evaluation
Horney and Adler are Neo Freudians. Even as Horney agreed with Freud on many issues, she was critical of him
on several major views. She is critical against Freud’s notion of Oedipal Complex and Penis Envy. Horney believed
that the child’s attachment with one parent was because of the anxiety which is caused due to the child’s disturbing
relation with the parent.
Despite her disagreement, Horney tried to reformulate Freudian theory and presented a holistic and humanitarian
view with much focus on cultural and social differences.
Horney’s theory had a great influence on a number of self-psychologists, cognitive therapists, psycho- analysts,
humanists, feminists and existentialists. Her contribution in the fields of psychology is significant.
The drawback about Horney’s theory is that it is limited to the neurotic. She does not cover the truly healthy
person in her studies. However, it can be said that Horney addresses to the neurotic in all of us.
Q. 5. Define self-efficacy. Discuss the role and sources of self-efficacy.
Ans. Self-efficacy: Self-efficacy has an important role in Bandura’s self-system theory.
If an individual finds himself meeting his standards and life loaded with self-praise and self-reward, he will have
a strong sense of self-efficacy. If he finds himself forever failing to meet his standards and punishing himself, he will
have a poor sense of self-efficacy.
Bandura defines self-efficacy as “The belief in one’s capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action
required to manage prospective situations”. It is an individual’s belief in his capacity to succeed in a particular
situation. According to Bandura, these beliefs are determinants as how people feel, think and behave. After Bandura
published his paper, “Self-Efficacy: Toward a Unifying Theory of Behavioural Change,” self-efficacy has been one
of the most studied topics in the field of psychology.

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The Role of Self-Efficacy
A person’s self-efficacy plays a crucial role in how objectives, tasks and problems are approached and tackled.
The following are some of the characteristics of people with a strong sense of self-efficacy:
(i) Challenging problems are viewed by these people as tasks to be mastered.
(ii) They take keen interest in activities in which they take part.
(iii) They develop a strong sense of commitment to their interests and activities.
(iv) They recover quickly from failures and disappointments.
The following are the characteristics of people with a weak sense of self-efficacy:
(i) These people do not take up challenging tasks.
(ii) They lack confidence in taking difficult tasks and situations thinking that they are beyond their capacities.
(iii) They emphasise on failures and negative consequences.
(iv) They lose confidence quickly in abilities.
Sources of Self-Efficacy
Self-efficacy starts developing in early childhood when the child deals with various tasks and situations. After that
it continues to evolve throughout the life as people gain new skills, experiences and situations.
Bandura stated that there are four major sources of self-efficacy.
(i) Mastery Experiences: Mastery experiences are the most effective ways to develop a strong sense of
efficacy. A person’s sense of self-efficacy is strengthened when he performs a task successfully. Self-efficacy is
undermined and weakened when the person fails to deal with a task or a challenge.
(ii) Social Modelling: Another important source of self-efficacy getting inspired at the success of others. A
person's confidence over his capabilities increases when he sees another person succeeding by his sustained efforts.
(iii) Social Persuasion: People develop self-efficacy if they are persuaded to believe that they have the
capabilities to succeed. Encouragements help people achieve a goal. People overcome self-doubt with encouragement
and focus on giving their best effort.
(iv) Psychological Responses: Psychological responses to situations also play a major role in self-efficacy. If
a person is extremely nervous before speaking in public may develop a weak sense of self-efficacy in such situations.
Moods, emotional states, stress levels and physical reactions influence how a person feels about their personal
abilities.
Q. 6. Elucidate the concept of values proposed by Allport.
Ans. Application: The Study of Values: A mature person’s unifying philosophy life is based on values – the basic
convictions about what is of real significance in life. Allport believed values govern a person’s efforts to find order and
meaning in life. He thus identified and measured basic value dimensions. He helped to develop a personality test, The
Study of Values. Allport’s model is based on the theory of Eduard Spranger.
Spranger in his book, Types of Men, suggested six major value types. All people have these values in varying
degrees. All port believed the unity of people’s lives is built around them.
Allport described these values as deep level traits. He described them as:
(i) The Theoretical
(ii) The Economic
(iii) The Aesthetic
(iv) The Social
(v) The Political
(vi) The Religious.
(i) The Theoretical: Such individual tries to find out the truth. He is a rational and critical and has an empirical
approach to life. He is also highly intellectual and tends to pursue a career in subjects like science or philosophy.
(ii) The Economic: Such individual puts highest value on whatever is useful or pragmatic. These people are
highly ‘practical’ and interested in making money.
(iii) The Aesthetic: These people give priority to form and harmony. They look at things from the point of view
of fitness, grace and symmetry.
(iv) The Social: They give priority to love of people. They take the theoretical, economic, aesthetic attitudes as
cold and inhuman.

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 (v) The Political: They give priority to power. They aim for personal power, influence, and publicity.
(vi) The Religious: These people understand the world as a unified whole. They seek unity and higher meaning
in the universe.
On the basis of these values, Allport evaluates individual differences by means of the Study of Values scale. The
test has been standardized with college students. It has 45 questions and takes 20 minutes to complete. People score
differently on the six values.
In the case of business students, they score less on the aesthetic value and theology students score poorly on the
religious value.
Q. 7. Discuss the neurophysiological basis of traits and types.
Ans. Aleksandrov and Shchukina studied 107 patients with different patterns of neuroses and found
neurophysiological indices of neurotic patients with different types of individual character and their dynamics are
important factors of personality.
In group psychotherapy, analysis of the dynamics of the neurophysiological characteristics supported the clinical
data on varying curability of neurotic patients with different types of character accentuations. For example, a person
with the hysteroid type character accentuation is more resistant to psychotherapy.
Eysenck specified a neurophysiological basis for the three personality super traits. He said the super trait
introversion-extraversion is closely linked with levels of cortical arousal as electro-encephalographic recordings indicate.
Referring to a continuum of excitation, Eysenck used the term arousal. The excitation ranges from a lower
extreme to an upper extreme. He said that introverts are over aroused and are highly sensitive to incoming stimulation.
They avoid situations that overwhelm them.
On the other hand, extraverts are under aroused. They are thus highly insensitive to incoming stimulation. These
people seek out situations that excite them.
According to Eysenck, individual differences in stability versus neuroticism show the extent to which the autonomic
nervous system responds to stimuli. He relates this aspect to the limbic system, the brain’s visceral or feeling system,
which affects motivation and emotional behaviour.
He stated that people with high neuroticism react more quickly to painful, novel, disturbing, or other stimuli than
stable people. These people also show a more persistent reaction compared to highly stable individuals.
Eysenck’s neurophysiological interpretation of the dimensions of personality and his theory of psychopathology
are closely related. He said that an individual's disorders are related to the combined impact of traits and nervous
system functioning. For example, people with high introversion and neuroticism are more prone to develop anxiety
disorders including compulsions, phobias and obsessions. People with high extraversion and neuroticism are at a risk
for psychopathic problems.
Eysenck said that genetic predispositions do not automatically cause psychological disorders. Psychological
disorders are produced when genetic predispositions come in contact with the environment.
Q. 8. Discuss the measures to overcome weaknesses of self-report tests.
Ans. Methods to Overcome Weaknesses in Self-report Tests: Major problems for users of personality
tests are distortions in the responses of self-report measures. Thus, efforts should be made to get rid of these
distortions and make the responses more representatives of the actual personalities. Given below are some methods
which can be adopted to overcome the weaknesses:
Method 1. Establishment of Rapport
The testees should be made to feel comfortable with the environment. For this, before the administration of the
test, the tester should try to set-up a warm and cooperative relationship with the testees. Of course it depends on the
skill of the testers to bring about a change in the testing situation. This will make the testee responds without deception.
Method 2. Use of forced-choice technique
In forced-choice technique, faking can be checked. The testee will be forced to choose between two or more
than two equally desirable or undesirable terms given in the test. The testee who may want to give socially desirable
responses will be outwitted by the forced choice between equally desirable responses.
Method 3. Concealing the main purpose of the test
If the testee does not know the objective of the test he will not attempt to fake. He may get suspicious, but the
testee will be compelled to choose the appropriate items. This will reduce the chances of deception.

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 Purpose of the test can be concealed in two ways. (i) A plausible purpose, which is not the real one, can be given.
For example, a personality test may be presented as a test of ability. In such case, the faking will be reduced to a great
extent.
Another way to conceal purpose is by incorporating information which is actually false among items which are
actually true. For example, the testee may be asked to endorse those titles of the book in the booklist which they have
gone through. Some fictitious titles can also be included. We will know the extent of deceit by getting the number of
endorsements of fictitious titles.
SECTION – C
Answer the following questions in 50 words each.
Q. 9. Personification
Ans. Personifications: Personifications develop through social interactions and selective attention or inattention.
Defences can often help decrease anxiety, but they can also result in a misperception of reality. Personifications are
mental images that help us to better know ourselves and the world. Sullivan adopted a cognitive approach to know
personality.
According to Sullivan, there are three basic ways we see ourselves:
(i) The bad-me, (ii) The good-me and (iii) The not-me.
The bad-me represents negative aspects of the self. They are thus hidden from others and even the self. Recognition
of the bad-me causes the anxiety.
The good-me represents the positive aspects of the self that we share with others and that we often choose to
focus on. It causes no anxiety.
The not-me represents that aspects of the self which we do not even consider them a part of us because they
create anxiety. The not-me is pushed to remain in unconscious state.
Q. 10. Discrimination and generalization
Ans. Generalization and Discrimination: Stimulus generalization refers to a phenomenon in which the organism
will respond to similar stimuli once it is conditioned to one stimulus. For instance, an individual might react with fear
and caution to the sounds of made by angry bees, wasps and hornets which are highly similar. Stimulus generalization
plays an adaptive role.
Stimulus discrimination is opposite to stimulus generalisation. In classical conditioning, an organism will be able to
discriminate between two stimuli if one of the two similar stimuli is continuously followed by an unconditioned stimulus
while the other is not.
The organism will have two different tendencies to respond. The tendencies to respond to the first may be
strengthened, while for the second it may be weakened. Human beings and other organisms have the ability to
discriminate between various objects. However, there are some limits. There will be disconcerting effects if the limits
are crossed.
Shenger-Krestovnika (1921) experimented with a dog. They used a circle as a conditional stimulus before feeding.
At the same time, they also used an ellipse for not being fed. Gradually, the ellipse was made more like a circle.
Initially the dog could differentiate between the ellipse and the circle, but after a few weeks the dog became a
neurotic. It could not recognise the difference. It became very excited during experiments. This condition was termed
by Pavlov as experimental neurosis. The reason behind this, according to Pavlov, was a disturbance of the balance
between inhibitory and excitatory processes in the nervous system of the animal.
Pavlov in his theory explained personality by variation in the excitation of the nervous system. He also attributed
neurosis to not only external factors such as contradictory stimuli, but also different “personalities”. He found that
dogs with different ‘personalities’ were differentially susceptible to the treatment. The same treatment on different
dogs resulted in quite different neuroses. The results of these experiments suggest that while the ability of human
beings to discriminate between stimuli is impressive, but their ability to differentiate between highly similar stimuli has
definite limits. Extreme stress may be induced if the environmental conditions need that these limits be crossed.
Q. 11. Deficiency needs
Ans. Deficiency Needs: The first four levels of needs are called deficit needs, or D-needs. An individual has a
deficit and feels the need if he doesn’t have enough of something.
If a person gets all the needs, there will be no motivation. Maslow uses the term homeostasis principle by which
the bodily system works. The thermostat puts the heat on when it is cold. It switches the heat off when it is hot.

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Similarly, the human body develops a hunger when it lacks a certain substance and the hunger stops when it gets
enough of the required substance.
The homeostatic principle has been extended by Maslow to various needs about which an individual does not
ordinarily think of in these terms. An individual moves through these levels a bit like stages in terms of overall
development.
After the birth, the newborns seek fulfilment of the physiological needs. After that he wants to be safe. After
these needs are fulfilled, he seeks for attention and affection. Then he looks for self-esteem. All these happen in the
first couple of years. When there is stress and the survival is under threat, we even go to a lower level need.
A person might seek out a little attention if his career is affected. If an individual’s family decides to leave him, all
he will want is his love. When there is a major problem – a period of extreme insecurity like the loss of a family
member through death, a person may “fixate” on that set of needs for the rest of his life.
Q. 12. Jungian personality types
Ans. Jungian types of personality are among the best-known in everyday life. Jung suggests that the superordinate
dimension of personality is introversion and extraversion. Introverts are likely to relate to the external world by
listening, reflecting, being reserved, and having focused interests. Extraverts on the other hand, are adaptable and in
tune with the external world. They prefer interacting with the outer world by talking, actively participating, being
sociable, expressive and having a variety of interests. Jung also identified two other dimensions of personality: Intuition
– Sensing and Thinking – Feeling. Sensing types tend to focus on the reality of present situations, pay close attention
to detail, and are concerned with practicalities. Intuitive types focus on envisioning a wide range of possibilities to a
situation and favour ideas, concepts, and theories over data. Individuals who score higher on intuition also score
higher on general. Thinking types use objective and logical reasoning in making their decisions, are more likely to
analyze stimuli in a logical and detached manner, be more emotionally stable, and score higher on intelligence. Feeling
types make judgements based on subjective and personal values. In interpersonal decision-making, feeling types tend
to emphasize compromise to ensure a beneficial solution for everyone. They also tend to be somewhat more neurotic
than thinking types. The worrier’s tendency to experience a fearful affect, could be manifested in Jung’s feeling type.
Q. 13. Observation technique in assessing personality
Ans. Observation Technique: In direct observation, the behaviour of the subject is observed in the natural
setting of home, school or workplace. For example, a therapist in the classroom can analyse the behaviour of a child
after he is asked to do something involving fine motor abilities may conclude that the child is good or has some
difficulties with those skills.
Among the approaches in personality study, observation can be considered as the sine qua non. Sometimes
research leads to unsystematic observation. Personal observations can result in more refined study of people’s
behaviour.
Observing and recording the behaviour it as it naturally occurs in real-life settings is another way to understand
personality. This is known as observation naturalistic.
Children’s play and friendship patterns, adolescent’s antisocial behaviour, eating behaviours of obese, leadership
styles of effective business managers and many clinical phenomenons have been studied through naturalistic observation.
Naturalistic observation may not explain behaviour, but it provides information about what people do in their natural
environments.
The following are some of the drawbacks of the naturalistic observation:
(i) Observers may face some unpredictable events over which they have no control.
(ii) Observer may show bias and their expectations may influence those aspects and events that they attend.
(iii) Observation is made on the basis of a few situations and few people and thus they cannot be generalized.
(iv) Observers may interfere with the events they intend to observe or record.
Situational Tests
In situational tests, personality traits are measured on the basis of observations of what a person thinks and does
in a given situation. The subject does not know that he is being observed.
The United States Office of Strategic Services (OSS) developed the first situational test of personality during
World War II to screen out people for military reassignments. Situational tests are suitable for the measurement of
traits such as leadership, dominance, responsibility and extroversion-introversion.

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 Situational tests are called behavioural tests since they are directly dealt with observable behaviour. For example,
honesty, self-control and cooperation are such traits which are related to character of the subject.
Hartshhorne, May and Shuttleworth attempted for the first attempts to study these traits in their Character
Educational Inquiry (CEI). Natural situations are used in the CEI behavioural tests. The subjects of study in these
situations are not aware that they are being studied. The CEI tests measure traits such as altruism, honesty and self-
control.
Most of the CEI tests however measure honesty among children by providing opportunity to cheat. These tests
use different techniques for studying honesty.
In duplicating technique the children are administered one of the classroom tests like the arithmetical reasoning
test. A set of children’s responses is duplicated, unknown to them. In the subsequent administration the original test is
again provided with a request to score their responses with the help of a scoring technique. A comparison of the
responses scored with the duplicated responses shows whether the children have cheated or not.
Situational tests can be easily generalised to natural life situations since the study is carried out in real life
situation.
Q. 14. Case study method
Ans. Case Study Method: The case study method is non-experimental. It is a way of organizing social data to
understand reality. It also preserves the unitary character of a social object being studied.
It examines a social unit as a whole. The social unit includes individuals, families, social groups or communities.
A case history or case study is the detailed study of a social unit over a period of time. It is used frequently in
clinical and medical settings for diagnosis and treatment of people suffering from psychological ailments.
The case study uses a variety of procedures to study a person’s life experiences and behaviour patterns. The
procedures include the recollections by the subject, interviews with people who know him and autobiographical and
biographical documents.
Researchers or clinicians search for clues in the past or present life to know the causes of the problems. The
primary data obtained through the case study enables the clinicians to build effective strategies to treat the patients.
For the first time, Fredrickle Play introduced case history method into social sciences research. Herbert Spencer used
for the first time the case materials in his ethnographic studies. For the first time William Healy adopted the case study
method.
Case histories have contributed in the development of some personality theories and clinical thinking. Freud’s
psychodynamic theory is based on case studies. Freud used case studies to support his theoretical claims. Carl
Rogers also relied heavily on case studies in formulating his phenomenological theory of personality.
Purpose of Case Study Method
The case study method intends to understand the major aspects of the life cycle of a unit. It analyses and
interprets the interactions between the different factors which cause change, or growth of the unit. Besides individuals
and their important behavioural characteristics, case studies have studied communities and families.
Even as its main role seems to be description and analysis of various social units, a research strategy is very
important. Case studies may be different in their approach, there are threads of consistency among them.
The lives of normal individuals can be studied through case studies. Henry Murray led a group at the Harvard
Psychological Clinic and provided a rare but compelling model of case study. Their focus was a small group of young
men in college. They studied their basic needs, conflicts, values, attitudes and patterns of social interaction. They used
self-report personality questionnaires and projective tests. They also collected extensive biographical data and auto-
biographical sketches.
Murray and his colleagues covered many topics and facets of each student’s life and produced a rich narrative
account of each student. Different researchers studied the same student and offered their respective clinical impressions
about them.
Harvard personologists adopted the eclectic approach and put their attention to the whole person, the environment
and to the need for comprehensive assessment. Robert White in his Lives in Progress (1975), explained the importance
of the case study as a strategy appropriate for carrying out research on personality.
Types of Case Study Method
On the basis of the number of individuals, the case studies can be categorized into two types – the individual case
study and the community case study. In individual case study, an individual is the social unit. In this, focus is given on

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in-depth analysis. Individual case study is important in developing hypothesis but is not that helpful in making broad
generalisations. In the community case study, the social unit is a family or social group. The case study is conducted
thorough observation and analysis of a group of people in a particular territory. It studies different elements of the
community including location, prevailing economic activity, climate and natural resources, life values and health education.
On the basis of the purpose, case studies may be divided into groups: deviant case analysis and isolated clinical
case analysis. In deviant case studies, the researcher studies the differences already found between two people or
groups and find out the condition that might have caused the difference. In isolated clinical case analysis, the individual
units are given attention with regard to certain analytical problems. Freud’s study of little Hans is an example of
isolated clinical case study.
Strengths and Weaknesses of Case Study Method
Case study has both advantages and disadvantages. It provides an account of the complexities and idiosyncrasies
of a person’s personality which may not be possible in other strategies. It is also the most appropriate if the objective
is to study processes going in one or few people and to know how people cope with different life experiences.
The key disadvantage is that the researcher is uncertain about cause-and-effect relationships. Researchers do
not have control over the factors that affect the events that are observed. Second, the results of case studies have
limited generalisability. Third, the data collected in this method may be second-hand in nature and get distorted by
time. Lastly, the results in the case studies get affected by the personal biases.
Case histories however can be rich source of information about a particular phenomenon. As a preliminary
research strategy, it offers intriguing hypothesis about personality.
Q. 15. Apperception test
Ans. Apperception Test: Apperception means the conscious perception with full awareness. Leibniz introduced
the term apperception for the reflective thinking of the mind and apprehension of its own states. According to Kant,
there are two types of apperception: (i) Empirical apperception and (ii) Transcendental apperception. Empirical
apperception is the ordinary consciousness and changing self. Transcendental apperception is consciousness that
unifies experience and thought.
Apperception test employ pictures of animals or people as stimuli, but one test has pictures of hands and another
test has auditory stimuli. In apperception tests, the examinees have to provide open ended response, but the Iowa
Picture Interpretation has a multiple choice format. In picture-story tests, all directions are similar. The examinees are
asked to tell the story about the picture, including what is going on at the moment, what led up to it and what the
outcome might be.
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
Murray’s Need theory is the basis of this test. Morgan & Murray developed this test. TAT has 30 black and white
picture cards. They have people in ambiguous situations. One card blank card. The examinee is asked to tell a
complete story about each of the 10 or so picture cards selected as appropriate for his or her age or sex. The
examinees asked to devote approximately 5 minutes to each story, telling what is going on now, what thoughts and
feelings the people in the story have, what events have led up to the situation, and how it will turn out. For example,
one of the pictures shows a young woman in the foreground and a weird old woman with a shawl over her head
grimacing in the background. A young college woman narrates the given below story in response to this picture:
The woman is troubled by memories of a mother. She is sad because of her resentfulness against her mother.
This feeling is increasing as she grows older and finds that her own children treating her the same way as she treated
her mother. She tries to change her children, but they did not change their attitudes. She lives with her past and the sad
feeling is sorrow and guilt is reinforced by the way her children are treating her.
From stories such as this, a skilled examiner obtains information about the dominant needs, emotions, sentiments,
complexes, and conflicts of the story teller and the pressures to which he/she is subjected. As revealed by this story,
responses to TAT pictures can be especially useful in understanding the relationships and difficulties between a
person and his or her parents.
In this test, respondents project their own needs, desires and conflicts into the stories and characters. Interpretation
of the stories thus is not subjective.
The frequency, intensity and the duration of the story are considered in the interpretation. The responses given
below indicate mental disorders of various kinds:

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 (i) Slowness or delays indicate depression;
(ii) Men’s negative comments about women or affection for other man indicate homosexuality;
(iii) Over cautiousness indicates obsessive compulsive disorder.
The score in this test is fairly reliable and can be interpreted in terms of norms as per standardization studies.
Asking a person to tell stories about pictures has greater validity than asking for responses for ink blots. The content
in TAT gets influenced by the particular environmental context in which the test is taken. The TAT is administered to
range of ethnic and chronological age groups. Changes have been made for Blacks, children and senior people.
Senior Apperception Technique (SAT)
The test provides 16 stimulus pictures, designed specially for the aged. They have themes of loneliness, illness,
helplessness, uselessness and lowered self-esteem. Themes of positive and happier situations are also there. Responses
to the pictures in this test indicate serious concerns over health. The test is criticized because of inadequate norms and
possible stereotyping of the senior people.
Children Apperception Test (CAT)
The Children’s Apperception Test (CAT) is a projective personality test. It assesses personality, level of maturity
and psychological health of the children. Pictures of animals in common social situations are provided for the response.
A child’s responses reveal significant aspects of his personality.
Bellak and Bellak developed the CAT on the basis of the adult Thematic Apperception Test. Henry A. Murray’s
TAT uses a standard series of 31 cards with human figures in assessing relationships.
In the CAT, animal figures are used instead of the human figures. Initially, CAT had ten cards depicting animal
figures in human social settings. Later the Bellaks developed the CAT-H with human figures.
In a projective test like the CAT, a person unconsciously projects inner feelings onto the external world. As
opposed to cognitive tests, it open-ended and encourages free expression of thoughts and feelings. The CAT takes
20-45 minutes to administer. It is conducted by a trained professional.
Q. 16. Temperament in Guilford’s Trait theory
Ans. Temperament: Temperament is the way a person behaves, impulsively, or tolerant, or critically. Of the
varieties of inventories available to assess temperament, the Guilford- Zimmerman Temperament Survey (GZTS) is
most widely used.
10 bipolar qualities are assessed by GZTS : General Activity/Inactivity (G), Restraint/impulsive (R), Ascedance/
Submission (A), Sociability/Shyness (S), Emotional Stability/Depression (E), Objectivity/Subjectivity (O), Friendliness/
Hostility (F), Thoughtfulness/Unreflective (T), Personal Relations/Criticalness (P) and Masculinity/Feminity (M).
The three levels of traits pointed out by Guilford are the hexic level, primary level and type level. A behaviour that
is displayed by a person only occasionally is at the hexic level. For example, when a shy person becomes aggressive
because he wants to impress somebody, that is at the hexic level. On the other hand, when a person in general has
certain characteristics, which are predominant in him like dominance and aggression found generally in a person, they
will be considered his primary traits. It is also true that the type of a person determines his primary traits. When a
person shows certain characteristics which are typical of a certain disposition, it shows a certain type. For example,
an extravert displaying sociability, impulsiveness, love for other people, tolerance for pain, etc., which are primary
traits.
Q. 17. Cardinal trait
Ans. Individual traits are specially found in the person concerned, and they have been regarded as more important
by Allport.
Cardinal Traits
This refers to a trait which is so strong and dominant in a person that all his actions are influenced by it and he
may even become well-known by that trait. For example, Gandhiji’s personality characteristic of non-violence and
lover of peace was so predominant in his life that he began to be known for it. Cardinal traits are not commonly found
in people.
Q. 18. Nomothetic Vs Idiographic Approach
Ans. Nomothetic Approach Versus Idiographic Approach To Personality: We can group personality
research under three heads: (i) Nomothetic, (ii) Idiographic and (iii) Complementary approaches.

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Nomothetic Approach
This approach lays stress on the fact that personality is based on heredity and is more or less constant. Environment
has very little influence over personality. Thus, it can be anticipated how a person will behave in certain situations. For
testing, methods such as self report and questionnaires are used. Gordon Allport was a believer of this approach and
the nomothetic approach. He used it to derive traits to describe people, he in fact used them as the primary basis. He
described trait as a ‘neuropsychic structure’ that possesses the capacity to render many stimuli functionally equivalent.
Allport believed that traits are real; distinct and particular to each person and their assessment is done uniquely.
Idiographic Approach
Another approach by Allport is the idiographic approach. In this approach detailed examination is made of every
individual, who is considered as capable of independent scientific analysis, not considering universal laws to hold any
importance in the study of the individual.
He believed that a person’s traits can be compartmentalized according to their dominance in a Person’s personality.
The most dominant were known as Cardinal dispositions by him, for for example aggressiveness, calmness, etc.
Another are a set of traits known as ‘central dispositions’ are those that are pervasive for a given individual. The traits
that vary according to situation are known as ‘secondary dispositions’. According to Allport, each person possesses
a unique pattern of cardinal, central and secondary traits. The universal-pattern examination should be conducted to
understand a person.
The nomothetic method uses experiments, correlation, psychometric testing and other quantitative methods to
provide examples and facts to substantiate the theories. The idiographic method uses case studies, informal interviews,
unstructured observation and other qualitative methods.

n n

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