Behavioural Psychology

Reference Material
Module 3- Personality
Personality
Personality is defined as a relatively stable set of characteristics, tendencies, and temperaments
that have been significantly formed by inheritance and by social, cultural, and environmental
factors. This set of variables determines the commonalities and the differences in the behavior of
individuals (thoughts, feelings and actions) that have continuity over time and that may not be
easily understood as the sole result of the social and biological pressures of the moment.

Source of personality differences/Personality determinants

Was the personality predetermined at birth, or was the result of heredity or was it the result of the
individual’s interactions with his or her surroundings? Personality appears to be a result of both
hereditary and environmental factors.
Heredity refers to factors determined at conception. Physical stature, facial attractiveness,
gender, temperament, muscle composition and reflexes, energy level, and biological rythms are
generally considered to be either completely or substantially influenced by who your parents are-
that is, by their biological, physiological, and inherent psychological makeup. The heredity
approach argues that the ultimate explanation of an individual’s personality is the molecular
structure of the genes, located in the chromosomes. Studies of young children lend strong
support to the power of heredity. Evidence demonstrates that traits such as shyness, fear and
aggression can be traced to inherited genetic characteristics. This finding suggests that some
personality traits may be built into the same genetic code that affects factors such as height and
hair color.
Researchers in many different countries have studied thousands of sets of identical twins who
were separated at birth and raised separately. If heredity played little or no part in determining
personality, you would expect to find few similarities between the separated twins. But the
researchers found a lot in common. For almost every behavioral trait, a significant part of the
variation between the twins turned out to be associated with genetic factors. For instance, one set
of twins who had been separated for 39 years and raised 45v miles apart were found to drive the
same model and color car. They chain-smoked the same brand of cigarette, owned dogs with the
same name and other similar things. Researchers have found that genetics accounts for about 50
percent of the personality differences and more than 30 percent of the variation in occupational
and leisure interests.
Environmental factors, suggest that personality changes over time, and becomes relatively
stable by the age of 30. The environmental dimension refers to the environmental context (such
as culture, family, group membership, and life experience) that plays a major role in shaping the
individual’s personality. Historically, sharp disagreement existed among scholars about which
dimension plays a major critical role.
Those holding the extreme nurture position argued that personality is inherited. Those holding
the extreme nurture position argued that personality is determined by the person’s experiences.
Recent research suggests a more balanced view, advocating that heredity and environment as
well as the interplay between them play critical roles in shaping personality.
Big Five Personality Traits
“Big Five” Model is a powerful instrument because it organizes numerous concepts into a “short
list” of just five factors that are representative of the characteristics that can be linked with
satisfaction and success. The “Big Five” has five primary components: extroversion/introversion,
agreeableness, emotional stability, conscientiousness, and openness to experience. Studies show
that these factors can be linked to job satisfaction, employee attitudes and behavior, stress, and
job performance. The “Big Five” also relates to overall life satisfaction. “Similar to job
satisfaction, life satisfaction appears to be dispositionally based. Moreover, it appears the same
traits that predict job satisfaction also predict life satisfaction.” While some personality
characteristics are inherited, some factors can be modified through training, experience, and a
conscious attempt to change.

1. Extroversion/ Introversion: represents the degree to which an individual is social, it

captures one’s comfort level with relationships, it indicates where people derive their
energies from, it indicates how people solve their problems (conversational or
thoughtful), it indicates true power of people (talkative or quiet). This personality trait
influences our choice of friends and mates, and how we make conversation, resolve
differences, and show love. It affects the careers we choose and whether or not we
succeed at them.
Extroverts: are more likely to exercise, commit adultery, excited, place big bets,
outgoing, assertive, active, talkative, prefer to be around people most of the time,
impulsive, socially dominant(take charge of the situation) and gregarious.
Introverts: are more likely to function well without sleep, enjoy solitude, learn from their
mistakes, shy, innovative, passive, thinkers, thoughtful, calm, solve problems on their
own, delay gratification, ask “what if”, and prefer to be alone with a few close friends,
reserved and serious.
Research points supporting differences between extroversion and introversion
 Introverts and extroverts differ in the level of outside stimulation that they need to
function well. Introverts feel “just right” with less stimulation, as when they sip wine
with a close friend, solve a crossword puzzle, or read a book. Extroverts enjoy the extra
bang that comes from activities like meeting new people, skiing slippery slopes, and
cranking up the stereo.
“Other people are very arousing,” says the personality psychologist David Winter,
explaining why your typical introvert would rather spend her vacation reading on the
beach that partying on a cruise ship. “They arouse threat, fear, flight, and love. A hundred
people are very stimulating compared to a hundred books for a hundred grains of sand.”
 Introverts and extroverts work differently. Extroverts tend to tackle assignments quickly.
They make fast (sometimes rash) decisions, and are comfortable multitasking and risk-
taking. They enjoy “The thrill of the chase” for rewards like money and status. Introverts
often work more slowly and deliberately. They like to focus on one task at a time and can
have mighty powers of concentration. They are relatively immune to the lures of wealth
and fame.
 Introverts and extroverts differ in their social styles. Extroverts are the people who will
add life to your dinner party and laugh generously at your jokes. They tend to be
assertive, dominant, and in great need of company. Extroverts think out loud and on their
feet; they prefer talking to listening, rarely find themselves at a loss for words, and
occasionally blurt out things they never meant to say. They are comfortable with conflict,
but not with solitude.
Introverts, in contrast, may have strong social skills and enjoy parties and business
meetings, but after a while wish they were home with their favorite book. They prefer to
devote their social energies to close friends, colleagues, and family. They listen more
than they talk, think before they speak, and often feel they express themselves better in
writing than in conversation. They tend to dislike conflict. Many have horror of small
talk, but enjoy deep conversations.

2. Conscientiousness: Conscience is defined as a person's moral sense of right and wrong,

viewed as acting as a guide to one's behavior. Thus, it is a measure of reliability of an
individual. Individual who are dependable, can be counted on, follows through on
commitments, keeps promises, organized, careful, thorough, persistent, achievement
oriented, hardworking and preserving rate high on conscientiousness. Individuals for
whom the conscience has become feeble over the time or due to other factors like
heredity and environmental factors, conscientiousness is low. They score low on this
dimension and are more likely to be viewed as inattentive to detail, uncaring,
disrespectful, not interested or motivated, do not strive for ambitions, unorganized, lazy,
and apt to give up easily.
The positive impact of conscientiousness
There is a general agreement that conscientiousness has the strongest positive correlation
with job performance. Individuals who rate high on this dimension, are tend to be higher
performers on virtually any job; viewed negatively, those who are careless, irresponsible,
low achievement striving and impulsive tend to be lower performers virtually on any job.
Conscientious employees set higher goals for themselves, have higher performance
expectations, are less likely to be absent from work and respond well to job enrichment
and empowerment strategies of human resource management.
Research points about conscientiousness
  Conscientious people live longer than less conscientious people because they tend
to take better care of themselves( eat better, exercise more) and engage in fewer
risky behaviors (smoking, drinking, drugs, risky sexual or driving behavior)
 Conscientious people are less adaptable to changing context, probably because
they are rigidly organized and structured.
 Conscientious people are performance oriented, thus while training process or
while learning complex skills they have more trouble than less conscientious
people as their focus is on performing well rather than on learning.
 Conscientious people are less creative than less conscientious people, especially
artistically.
3. Emotional Stability: In the organizational behavior field, emotions are viewed as
negative and disruptive. At the most basic level, emotions are viewed as intense
reactions directed towards other human beings or objects. Emotional stability is the
degree up to which an individual expresses his emotions with an innate sense of what’s
appropriate to say, when, where, and with whom. It taps a person’s ability to withstand
stress. It also indicates the predictable behavior of an individual in certain events.
Individuals who rate high on this dimension are predictable; fewer health complaints,
weighs options, looks at a situation objectively, calm, stable, and have a positive attitude,
able to manage their anger, secure, happy, and objective. Those who rate low on this
dimension are impulsive, takes things personally, anxious, unpredictable, depressed,
angry, insecure, worried and emotional. People who score high on emotional stability are
happier than happier than those who score low. Of the big five traits, emotional stability
is most strongly related to life satisfaction, job satisfaction, and low stress levels.
4. Agreeableness: refers to an individual’s propensity to defer to others. People who are
more agreeable are perceived as relationship oriented. People who rate high on this
dimension are perceived as friendly, cooperative, good natured, flexible, tolerant, warm,
easy to work with, caring and courteous.
People who rate low on this dimension are perceived as reserved, task oriented, guarded,
inflexible, tough, judgmental, more disagreeable and difficult to work with.
Research points about Agreeableness
 People with high agreeableness tend to handle customer relations and conflict
more effectively.
 When people choose romantic partners, friends, or organizational team members,
agreeable individuals are usually their first choice.
 Agreeable people also are more compliant and rule abiding. Thus they are less
likely to engage in organizational deviance.
 One downside of agreeableness is that it is associated with lower levels of career
success (especially earnings). This may occur because agreeable individuals are
poorer negotiators; they are so concerned with pleasing others that they often
don’t negotiate as much for themselves as do others.
 5. Openness to experience: it addresses one’s range of interests and fascination with
novelty. This dimension characterizes the degree to which people are interested in
broadening their horizons or limiting them, learning new things or sticking with what
they already know, meeting new people or associating with current friends and co-
workers, going to new places or restricting themselves to known places. Individuals who
score high on this factor tend to be highly intellectual, broad minded, curious, artistic,
imaginative, and cultured. Those who rate lower tend to be more narrow-minded, less
interested in the outside world and uncomfortable in unfamiliar surroundings and
situations. Professionals who are open to experience are more willing to reflect on
feedback for personal development.
Research points about Openness to experience
 Individuals who score high on openness to experience are more creative in science
and in art than those who score low.
 Individuals who score high on openness to experience are more likely to be effective
leaders, because creativity is important to leadership.
 Open individuals are more comfortable with ambiguity and change than are those
who score low on this trait.
 Open people are cope better with organizational change and are more adaptable in
changing contexts.
Basis of differences Introverts Extroverts
Drive their energy from Low stimulation, solitude is High stimulation
the air they breathe
Power Quiet Talking
Social style Few close friends, deep Life of a party, many friends,
meaningful relationships, in need of a company
Avoid conflict Comfortable with conflict,
but not with solitude
Problem-solving approach Thoughtful Conversational
Conversation style Deep and meaningful, Small talk, spontaneous
writing is the way of conversation, direct face to
expression, think before they face communication, phone
speak calls, chats
Express love/ language of Care and concern, fulfilling Words of appreciation,
love unspoken needs, quality time physical touch, gifts
Communication Asynchronous, written, Synchronous, oral, prefer
effective listeners talking to listening
Strong channels of Reading, attention to detail Visual and auditory
communication
Presentations High information density Visual, crisp
Decision making Taking a write-up from Calling a meeting, hear from
stakeholders and contemplate every stakeholder, debate on
on it merits and demerits, will try
to reach consensus
 Takes time to go from hi to Informal, Charles become
hello chucks, chuckle baby
Maintain distance while Stand close
talking
Long sentences with high Short sentences
vocabulary
Patient and sometimes seen Assertive and dominant
as passive
COO- Analyst CEO- salesman

Sigmund Freud’s theory of Personality Development

According to Sigmund Freud, human personality is complex and has more than a single
component. In his famous psychoanalytic theory of personality, personality is composed of three
elements. These three elements of personality—known as the id, the ego, and the superego—
work together to create complex human behaviors.
Each component not only adds its own unique contribution to personality, but all three elements
interact in ways that have a powerful influence on each individual. Each of these three elements
of personality emerges at different points in life.
According to Freud's theory, certain aspects of your personality are more primal and might
pressure you to act upon your most basic urges. Other parts of your personality work to
counteract these urges and strive to make you conform to the demands of reality.

The Three Ego States

It was Sigmund Freud who first coined the phrase "ego states" to describe that part of ourselves
that operates in interactions with others. Eric Berne showed that the way we converse with, and
respond to, others comes from any one of 3 of these ego states:
a. Id- Child state: the "felt" state.
b. Ego-adult state- : the “thought” state
c. Superego-parent state: the “taught” state

The Id- Child state

• The id is the only component of personality that is present from birth.
• This aspect of personality is entirely unconscious and includes the instinctive and primitive
behaviours.
• According to Freud, the id is the source of all psychic energy, making it the primary component
of personality.
The id is driven by the pleasure principle, which strives for immediate gratification of all desires,
wants, and needs. If these needs are not satisfied immediately, the result is a state anxiety or
tension. For example, an increase in hunger or thirst should produce an immediate attempt to eat
or drink.
The id is very important early in life because it ensures that an infant's needs are met. If the
infant is hungry or uncomfortable, he or she will cry until the demands of the id are satisfied.
Because young infants are ruled entirely by the id, there is no reasoning with them when these
needs demand satisfaction. Imagine trying to convince a baby to wait until lunchtime to eat his
meal. Instead, the id requires immediate satisfaction, and because the other components of
personality are not yet present, the infant will cry until these needs are fulfilled.
However, immediately fulfilling these needs is not always realistic or even possible. If we were
ruled entirely by the pleasure principle, we might find ourselves grabbing the things that we want
out of other people's hands to satisfy our own cravings.
This sort of behaviour would be both disruptive and socially unacceptable. According to Freud,
the id tries to resolve the tension created by the pleasure principle through the primary process,
which involves forming a mental image of the desired object as a way of satisfying the need.
Although people eventually learn to control the id, this part of personality remains the same
infantile, primal force all throughout life. It is the development of the ego and the superego that
allows people to control the id's basic instincts and act in ways that are both realistic and socially
acceptable.

The Ego- Adult

•The ego is the component of personality that is responsible for dealing with reality.
•According to Freud, the ego develops from the id and ensures that the impulses of the id can be
expressed in a manner acceptable in the real world.
•The ego functions in both the conscious, preconscious, and unconscious mind.
The ego operates based on the reality principle, which strives to satisfy the id's desires in realistic
and socially appropriate ways. The reality principle weighs the costs and benefits of an action
before deciding to act upon or abandon impulses. In many cases, the id's impulses can be
satisfied through a process of delayed gratification—the ego will eventually allow the behaviour,
but only in the appropriate time and place.
Freud compared the id to a horse and the ego to the horse's rider. The horse provides the power
and motion, yet the rider provides direction and guidance. Without its rider, the horse may
simply wander wherever it wished and do whatever it pleased. The rider instead gives the horse
directions and commands to guide it in the direction he or she wishes to go.
The ego also discharges tension created by unmet impulses through the secondary process, in
which the ego tries to find an object in the real world that matches the mental image created by
the id's primary process.
For example, imagine that you are stuck in a long meeting at work. You find yourself growing
increasingly hungry as the meeting drags on. While the id might compel you to jump up from
your seat and rush to the break room for a snack, the ego guides you to sit quietly and wait for
the meeting to end. Instead of acting upon the primal urges of the id, you spend the rest of the
meeting imagining yourself eating a cheeseburger. Once the meeting is finally over, you can seek
out the object you were imagining and satisfy the demands of the id in a realistic and appropriate
manner.

The Superego
The last component of personality to develop is the superego.
•The superego is the aspect of personality that holds all of our internalized moral standards and
ideals that we acquire from both parents and society—our sense of right and wrong.1
•The superego provides guidelines for making judgments.
•According to Freud, the superego begins to emerge at around age five.

There are two parts of the superego:

1.The ego ideal includes the rules and standards for good behaviours. These behaviours include
those which are approved of by parental and other authority figures. Obeying these rules leads to
feelings of pride, value, and accomplishment.
2.The conscience includes information about things that are viewed as bad by parents and
society. These behaviours are often forbidden and lead to bad consequences, punishments, or
feelings of guilt and remorse.
The superego acts to perfect and civilize our behaviour. It works to suppress all unacceptable
urges of the id and struggles to make the ego act upon idealistic standards rather that upon
realistic principles. The superego is present in the conscious, preconscious, and unconscious.
The Interaction of the Id, Ego, and Superego
When talking about the id, the ego, and the superego, it is important to remember that these are
not three totally separate entities with clearly defined boundaries. These aspects of personality
are dynamic and always interacting with a person to influence an individual's overall personality
and behaviour.
With so many competing forces, it is easy to see how conflict might arise between the id, ego,
and superego. Freud used the term ego strength to refer to the ego's ability to function despite
these duelling forces. A person with good ego strength is able to effectively manage these
pressures, while those with too much or too little ego strength can become too unyielding or too
disrupting.
Id Ego Superego
Present from birth, psychic The ego develops from the id The superego begins to
energy, primary component and ensures that the impulses emerge at around age five.
of personality of the id can be expressed in
a manner acceptable in the
real world.
Unconscious conscious
Pleasure principle- strives for Rational principle- is the Moral principle-The
immediate gratification of all component of personality superego is the aspect of
desires, wants and needs. If that is responsible for dealing personality that holds all of
needs are not satisfied, the with reality. It strives to our internalized moral
result is a state of tension and satisfy the id's desires in standards and ideals that we
anxiety. realistic and socially acquire from both parents
appropriate ways. The reality and society—our sense of
principle weighs the costs right and wrong.
and benefits of an action
before deciding to act upon Rules and
or abandon impulses. In standards+conscience
many cases, the id's impulses
can be satisfied through a
process of delayed
gratification—the ego will
eventually allow the
behaviour, but only in the
appropriate time and place.
Id is necessary in infants, so Cost-benefit analysis to make The superego acts to perfect
that they communicate their judgments. To satisfy id and civilize our behaviour. It
needs. If the infant is hungry while satisfying the works to suppress all
or uncomfortable, he or she superego. unacceptable urges of the id
will cry until the demands of and struggles to make the ego
the id are satisfied. Because act upon idealistic standards
young infants are ruled rather that upon realistic
entirely by the id, there is no principles.
reasoning with them when
these needs demand
satisfaction.
To continue to be in this state The superego provides
is not realistic and possible guidelines for making
judgments.

If we are ruled entirely by

pleasure principle- it would
lead to disruptive and
socially unacceptable
behaviour.

The Interaction of the Id, Ego, and Superego

When talking about the id, the ego, and the superego, it is important to remember that these are
not three totally separate entities with clearly defined boundaries. These aspects of personality
are dynamic and always interacting with a person to influence an individual's overall personality
and behaviour.

With so many competing forces, it is easy to see how conflict might arise between the id, ego,
and superego. Freud used the term ego strength to refer to the ego's ability to function despite
these dueling forces. A person with good ego strength is able to effectively manage these
pressures, while those with too much or too little ego strength can become too unyielding or too
disrupting.
What Happens If There Is an Imbalance?
According to Freud, the key to a healthy personality is a balance between the id, the ego, and the
superego.
If the ego is able to adequately moderate between the demands of reality, the id, and the
superego, a healthy and well-adjusted personality emerges. Freud believed that an imbalance
between these elements would lead to a maladaptive personality. An individual with an overly
dominant id, for example, might become impulsive, uncontrollable, or even criminal. This
individual acts upon his or her most basic urges with no concern for whether the behaviour is
appropriate, acceptable, or legal.
An overly dominant superego, on the other hand, might lead to a personality that is extremely
moralistic and possibly judgmental. This person may be very unable to accept anything or
anyone that he or she perceives as "bad" or "immoral."
An excessively dominant ego can also result in problems. An individual with this type of
personality might be so tied to reality, rules, and appropriateness that they are unable to engage
in any type of spontaneous or unexpected behaviour. This individual may seem very concrete
and rigid, incapable of accepting change and lacking an internal sense of right from wrong.