Psy 230

History Matrix

Directions: Using the matrix, list at least five events or major concepts from each of the three periods in the history of modern personality psychology.

1930 - 1950 1950 - 1970 1970 - Present

Example:

* Learning from animal responses.

1) focusing on the basic

molecular elements of organism behavior.

2) personality concerned itself with the problems of human motivation

3) it was during the 1930s that a number of separate lines of

inquiry came together to generate a new academic discipline.

4)Allports first look into a “grand vision”, placing that into a field of personality traits

5)The taking on of the “whole person”, as a method of studying the entire person.

Example:

• Specialized psychology departments.

1) because of the expansion of a more elevated education level, the field grew after WWII

2) The U.S. increased the amounts of its federal funding in this field.

3) “Carlson (1971) chastised

personality psychologists for ignoring the grand theories of the early years and straying

away from their implicit mandate to study real lives and whole persons in depth”.

4)Personality “constructs” began to be studied

5)the difference between a persons ability to study tests and the persons actual personality began to come into question. Example:

* The Big Five model.

1)The doubt of personality studies began to reach levels of criticism

2)External situations began to be a factor in how one’s behavior will be an issue within one’s life

3) A renewed interest in the integrated personality theory.

4) “Trait models” for personality regained their status

5) “renewed commitment to studying whole persons in their full biographical complexity”