Psychology of Personality

The Psychology of Personality

A project on Psychology

Your Name

University

Abstract

The very first efforts to describe personality were type theories usually based on physical differences among people . We have already noted some historical efforts to divide people into four types according to their dominant bodily fluid or according to the location of the bumps on their head , i .e . the Gall 's phrenology . In the mid-twentieth century , a popular theory held that personality types vary according to body build - fat , muscular or thin . Among psychologist today , type

br theories based on psychology are about as popular as a dog and cat show There is no evidence that personality depends on bodily characteristics since each of us is a constantly shifting kaleidoscope of traits tendencies , preferences , and moods . Before these characteristics can be studied and understood they must first be measured in some reliable way No one test can possibly summarize a person 's entire personality , but various test and assessment methods do provide information about certain aspect of personality - about needs , values , interests , and characteristic ways of responding to particular situation . Thus will be the core of this research , in an attempt to justify the relevance and purpose of testing personality and how this impacts the life of a person

The most important challenge for measuring personality concerns problems of consistency and predictability . In the late 1960s , Walter Mischel reviewed dozens of personality studies and found only the weakest of correlations between a person 's trait on a personality test and that person 's behavior in a particular situation (Caspi Brent . 2001 .

.53 The gap between the assumption of consistency and the fact of inconsistency came to be known as the consistency paradox . This bombshell made quite an explosion in the field of personality research After all , the most basic assumption about personality is that there is something sturdy about it across situation . But if the situation influences what people do , more than their traits do , the whole notion of personality is called into question (Ibid .

. 59 . If you score high on a measure of ambition but fail to behave in a way that demonstrates your ambition , can you be considered ambitious ? If a child cheats on a game but not to another , is the child honest or dishonest ? Personality researchers regroup , and responded to the consistency paradox in several ways . First , they noted that behavior consistency might itself be a personality test . Although some people are chameleon like in their behavior , others are quite consistent . Second , a situation may require a certain kind of behavior , but people often choose - for reasons of personality - what situations to get into in the first place . A party imposes a general requirement to be sociable people are more likely to go to parties than hermits are . Third , simply counting acts can lead to mistaken conclusions . For instance , you might not cheat in one setting out of fear of getting caught , yet not cheat in another setting because you...