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2.1 - Coggle Diagram
2.1
How important are individuals?
Individuals are important as part of a wider system such as an assembly line or a part of a social team, however, they are important as individuals with unique personalities
a personality can be defined as the psychological qualities that influence an individual’s characteristic behaviour patterns, in a stable and distinctive manner (Buchanan and Huczynski, 2017, p.178).
There are many approaches to study individuals personalities such as:
Nomothetic
Approach
The nomothetic approach to personality is distinguished by the belief that there are underlying universals (e.g. of personality) against which everything and everyone can be measured and classified.
This approach is linked to the positivism research paradigm.
This approach has led to the development of psychometric testing, which is the measurement and assessment of intelligence, aptitude and personality.
According to this approach, personality could be considered as a number of traits forming a personality type, e.g. extravert, intravert
Two approaches of the Nomothetic perspective of individuals:
Theories of
personality types
gather traits into broad groupings
One of the most well-known is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI).
The MBTI is one of the most widely used personality profiling tools in organisations and beyond
It uses a questionnaire to establish an individual’s preferences, based on four personality indicators
Carl Jung and Myers-Briggs Approach
Jung's personality type matrix. Source: Buchanan and Huczynski, 2017, p.182, Figure 6.2.
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI).
Theories of
personality traits
theories of personality traits see a person’s traits as the main building blocks of their personality.
traits are defined as the “dispositional factors that regularly and persistently determine our conduct in many different types of situations” (Eysenck and Eysenck, 1985, p.17)
Traits cannot be observed directly but they can be inferred from observing people’s behaviour.
Wundt's conception of personality traits. Source: Eysenck and Eysenck, 1985, p.45.
Two of the most widely used instruments to build personality profiles are Cattell’s 16 personality factors (16PF) and the Big Five personality scale (McCrae and Costa, 1996), also known as the OCEAN scale
OCEAN is an acronym for this test’s five personality dimensions:
Openness to experience
Conscientiousness
Extraversion/introversion
Agreeableness
Neuroticism (emotional stability).
Nomothetic approaches to personality suggest that personality is an objective and static entity that can be measured and categorised.
Idiographic
Approach to personality"
the development of the Self
it understands personality in the terms used by individuals to describe themselves.
It perceives individuals in terms of personal experience; their personality is learned through social and cultural interaction as opposed to biological or genetic determination (Knights and Wilmott, 2017, p.80).
According to this approach, our personalities are the result of dynamic processes, and they develop through social interaction
The Idiographic Approaches
Psychodynamic approaches
This approach sees personality as developing over time, putting the emphasis on personality formation as a processual phenomenon – a continuous process.
Social Influences
family and upbringing
school and university
organisations and the workplace in general
social categories such as race, religion, social class.
The idiographic approach proposes that personalities change over time, partly as a process of learning through social interaction and self-development, and also as a result of social and even unconscious influences. Social influences include:
Sigmund Freud
psychoanalytical model of the mind.
A person's inner self is represented in three aspects of the mind which interact with one another:
Superego
Exist at the conscious level
Represents our surrounding environment
The superego is the internalisation of the rules and values of society. Acting as a moral guide
Ego
The ego mediates between the drives of the id and the restraint of the superego.
Id
Exist at the unconscious level
We are born with it
Seeks pleasure and represent our irrational and impulsive side of our nature
One of the established techniques used for screening candidates for high-stress jobs for example, called the
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
Personality, situations and behaviours: dynamic interactions
The theory of reciprocal determinism
Albert Bandura
Reciprocal determination of behaviour
there are three main influences on a person’s personality:
Biological predisposition
Behaviour and its consequences
Environment
Behaviour
is influenced by the interaction between people’s traits (including their thinking) and their social context. This means that, according to your disposition, you choose to engage in certain activities in different environments, and that these activities shape you.
Our personalities then shape how we interpret and react to our experiences and to events. That is, our own personal disposition changes our perceptions and our responses.
In turn, our personalities help to create situations to which we react.