Question

Psychology of Personality!!!!!!!!! What effect does gender have on personality?

Answer 1

Psychology of personality:

• According to G.W. Allport personality is defined as a dynamic organization inside the person , of psychosocial systems that creates the person's characteristic patterns of behavior thought and feelings.

In simple form, personality is individual differences in patterns of thinking, feeling and behavior.

Theories of personality:

• Psychoanalytic theory
• Humanistic theory
• Trait theory

1. Sigmund Freud developed the psychoanalytic approach that was based on the role of the unconscious in regulating behaviour.
2. He has given models of mind which is the most impactful idea of him. His model divides the mind into three layers:

• Conscious: where our current emotions feelings and thoughts are there
• Preconscious: also known as subconscious . everything we an recall and retrieve is present in the preconscious.
• Unconscious: this is the deepest level of our mind which drives our behavior. It is the center of our repressed emotions feelings etc

• Later Freud came up with structural model of mind . it consists of the

• Id: it operates on unconscious level. It wotks on pleasure principle. According to Freud two biological instincts makeup the id: Eros and Thanatos. Eros is the life instinct that drives us to engage in life sustaining activities. Thanatos is the death instinct that drives aggressive destructive behavior.
• Ego: ego makes a balance between the id and the superego. It keeps a check on the id, makes sure that it's needs are met in socially acceptable way. It works on reality principle.
• Superego: The superego is responsible for the morality and the principles which guide us to act in socially acceptable ways. It works on morality principle.
• one important concept of Freud was the Defence mechanism. Id,ego and superego are in constant conflict, when the conflicts becomes too much for an individual to handle, his ego engages in defence mechanism in order to protect the individual. Defence mechanism includes:
• repression
• Denial
• Projection
• Displacement
• Regression etc.

2.HUMANISTIC THEORIES:

ABRAHAM MASLOW'S THEORY:

This theory was given by Abraham Maslow. Maslow said that humans strive for self actualization, once they have satisfied their basic needs. He has given the hierarchy of needs. His hierarchy of needs is in the shape of pyramid with:

• physiological needs in the bottom: breathing,water food etc
• Safety needs:security, health and well being etc
• Social belongingness: intimacy, family, etc
• Esteem:self worth, self respect etc
• Self actualization (topmost in hierarchy): it refers to the realization of persons full potential.

CARL ROGERS PERSON CENTERED THEORY:

According to Rogers self concept is the most important feature of personality. Self concept is the person's overall thoughts, believes, feelings he has about themselves.Rogers believed people are aware of their self concepts.

Congruence and incongruence:

When persons self-concept match with the reality then utbis called congruence. When the self concept doesn't match with the real self then it is called incongruence.

• Rogers said that as a result of incongruence the person experiences anxiety. To protect themselves from this anxiety they disregard and change their experience accordingly.

TRAIT THEORY OF PERSONALITY:

GORDON ALLPORT'S THEORY: Traits are the building blocks of personality. According to allport there are three classes of traits:

• Cardinal traits: Those traits by which the person organizes his whole life. These traits play important role in a person's life that the person might be specifically known for these traits.
• Eg: greed, lust, kindness etc.
• Cental traits: these are the major characteristic of a person which lead to the foundation of the person's personality.
• Eg: Intelligent, shy etc.
• Secondary traits: we tend to show some general traits under specific situation that is called secondary traits
• Eg: getting nervous in public speaking.

HANS EYSENCK:

according to Eysenck there are two major dimensions of personality:

• Extroversion
• Introversion

He proposed a model of personality based on the above mentioned traits and then added the third trait later.

1. Introversion/Extroversion: It includes shyness to sociability. Introverts are calm quite and subtle. They focus on their inner experiences. Extroverts on the other hand are social outgoing full of energy and active. In short introverts are shy and extroverts are socible.
2. Neuroticism/Emotional stability: it ranges from moodiness to temperdness. Emotional stability is the state of being emotional and neuroticism is instability of emotions which makes the person upset or emotional.
3. Psychotocism: ater study on mentally ill people Eysneck added this trait. People high on this trait might be abnormal and might find trouble in dealing with reality. They are hostile,antisocial.

16 PF THEORY(CATTLE'S TRAIT THEORY)

Raymond cattle , used factor analysis and reviewed allports initial words of 400 to 171 then made final list of 16 basic source traits. He said that there are two groups of traits:

• Surface traits: cluster of related traits observed in a given situation
• Source traits: traits which are responsible for the surface traits.
• Eg: reserved-outgoing,submissive-dominant etc.

SECOND PART OF QUESTION:

EFFECT OF GENDER ON PERSONALITY:

As adults we realize that every individual perceives the world differently. we all feel that women are more sensitive towards situations then men are. While men are emotionally more stable then women. They differ in terms of:

• Men tend to be stronger then women
• Women tend to be constitutionally stronger then men
• Women have greater kufe expectancy than man
• Male child are more prone to diseases then female.
• Men tend to have greater spatial abilities then women
• Female tend to have greater verbal abilities (good vocabulary, begin talking easily) then men
• Women tend to have better writing and reading skills then men(we often hear board toppers are women)
• Male tend to show more aggressive behavior then female
• Female are better at nonverbal communication because of their being more sensitive then male.
• According to psychoanalytic theory boy develops desire for his mother, he wants to replace his father. But then due to fear from father he stars identifying with father. Takes on his masculine personality traits. Incorporates these into development of his superego and thus resolves the Oedipus complex.
• Similarly according to psychoanalytic theory: girl discovers and becomes overwhelmed by envy inferiority and jealous. Girl withdraws feeling of affection from mother and develops love and affection towards father. Then starts identifying with mother and incorporates feminine traits and develops superego thus resolves Electra complex.