Personality: Theories and Assessment
This domain surveys psychodynamic, trait, humanistic and social-cognitive accounts of personality, plus assessment methods. Expect defence-mechanism identification and comparison of projective and self-report tests.
Psychodynamic
- Id (pleasure principle), ego (reality principle), superego (morality).
- Psychosexual stages: oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital; fixation affects adult personality.
- Defence mechanisms: repression, projection, displacement, rationalisation, reaction formation, sublimation, denial, regression.
Trait theories
- Allport: cardinal, central and secondary traits.
- Eysenck: extraversion, neuroticism, psychoticism.
- Big Five: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism.
Humanistic and social-cognitive
- Rogers: real versus ideal self, unconditional positive regard.
- Bandura: reciprocal determinism, self-efficacy.
- Rotter: locus of control.
Assessment
Projective tests: Rorschach, TAT. Self-report inventories: MMPI, 16PF. All tests need reliability, validity and norms.
Worked example
A student who fails an exam says the teacher was unfair. Reasoning: rationalisation, a defence mechanism that supplies a plausible excuse and protects self-esteem.
Traps
- The id is not the conscience; the superego is.
- Projection attributes one's own impulse to others; displacement redirects it to a safer target.
- Projective tests generally have weaker reliability and validity than objective inventories.