Personality: Recapitulation

Allport has defined personality as “the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine his unique adjustments to his environment.” We have discussed the different theories of personality in the Basic Psychological Processes course. You may refer to it for ready reference. Instead of looking at respective theories, here we will look at the summary and then explore the psychobiology of personality. The theories of personality can be classified into four major approaches— type and trait approaches, dynamic approach, learning and behavioural approach, and humanistic approach.

Type Approach: Hippocrates proposed sanguine, melancholic, choleric and phlegmetic types of personality. Sheldon classified people as endomorphs, ectomorphs and mesomorphs. Eyesenck developed inventory to classify people on three dimensions— extovert and introvert, stable and neurotic, and psychotic. Myer Friedman and Ray Rosenman came forward with Type A and B classification.

Trait Approach : Allport talked about cardinal, central and secondary traits. According to him, all these three traits constitute one's psychological life histories. Julian Rotter proposed single trait, locus of control whereas Cattell identified 16 factors to describe personality.

Dynamic Approach : Sigmund Freud proposed the concepts of id, ego and superego. He also gave the concepts of unconscious, preconscious and conscious states and also talked about the stages of psychosexual development. Later, Carl Gustav Jung gave the concepts of collective unconscious and archetypes. Erik Erikson talked about the stages of development suggesting that a ll stages deals with psychosexual as well as psychosocial aspects of growth. Alfred Adler gave the concept of inferiority and compensation.

Learning and Behavioural Approach : Dollard and Miller attempted testing Freudian concept of neurotic behaviour in rats in laboratory. Skinner considered that ‘what most people call personality is actually a collection of reinforced responses'. Bandura and Walters emphasized on social learning wherein the focus was on observation and imitation.

Having relooked the personality theories, let us now talk about the psychobiology of personality.