Psych

1. Give the different approaches to personality and differentiate it from one another.

Trait approaches have tried to identify the most basic and relatively enduring dimensions along which people differ from one another – dimensions known as traits. For example, Allport suggested that there are three kinds of traits – cardinal, central and secondary. Later theorists employed a statistical technique called factor analysis to identify the most crucial traits. Using this method, Cattel identified sixteen basic traits, while Eysenck found two major dimensions: introversion-extroversion and neuroticism-stability. However, learning approaches to personality concentrate on observable behaviour. To the strict-learning theorist, personalities are the sum of learned responses to the external environment. In contrast, social cognitive approaches concentrate on the role of cognition in determining personality. Social cognitive approaches pay particular attention to self-efficacy and reciprocal determinism in determining behaviour. Biological approaches to personality focus on how personality characteristics are inherited. For example, study of children’s temperament suggests that a distinction exists between an inhibited and uninhibited children who are reflected both in differences in biological reactivity and in shyness. Humanistic approaches to personality emphasize the basic goodness of people. They consider the core personality in terms of a person’s ability to change and improve. Roger’s concept of the need for positive regard suggests that a universal requirement to be loved and respected underlies personality. The major personality approaches differ along a number of important dimensions, including the role of unconscious versus conscious, nature versus nurture, freedom versus determinism, and stability versus modifiability of personality of characteristics.

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2. How can we most accurately assess personality?...