UNIT X Personality

A photo shows a bespectacled young man with dyed hair in the foreground and two young women in the background.

MODULES

  1. 55 Psychoanalytic and Psychodynamic Theories
  2. 56 Humanistic Theories
  3. 57 Trait Theories
  4. 58 Social-Cognitive Theories
  5. 59 Exploring the Self

Lady Gaga dazzles millions with her unique musical arrangements, tantalizing outfits, and provocative performances. In shows worldwide, Lady Gaga’s most predictable feature is her unpredictability. She has worn a meat dress to an award show, sported 16-inch heels to meet with U.S. President Barack Obama (who later described the interaction as “a little intimidating”), and inspired Super Bowl viewers with her halftime musical performance.

Yet even unpredictable Lady Gaga exhibits distinctive and enduring ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving. Her fans and critics alike can depend on her openness to new experiences and the energy she gets from the spotlight. And they can also rely on her painstaking dedication to her music and performances. She describes her high school self as “very dedicated, very studious, and very disciplined.” Now, in adulthood, she shows similar self-discipline: “I’m very detailed—every minute of the show has got to be perfect.” This unit focuses on the ways we all demonstrate unique and persistent patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving—our personality.

Much of this book deals with personality. Other units consider biological influences on personality; personality development across the life span; how personality relates to learning, motivation, emotion, and health; social influences on personality, and disorders of personality. This unit focuses on personality itself—what it is and how researchers study it.

We begin with two historically important theories of personality that have become part of Western culture: Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory and the humanistic approach. These sweeping perspectives on human nature laid the foundation for later personality theorists and for what this unit presents next: newer scientific explorations of personality.

Today’s personality researchers study the basic dimensions of personality, and the interaction of persons and environments. They also study self-esteem, self-serving bias, and cultural influences on our concept of self—that sense of “Who I am.” And they study the unconscious mind—with findings that probably would have surprised even Freud.

Unit X Overview Video