Four Fold Flowering

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Fourfold flowering of personality concepts Our account of the next 50 years of personality
psychology is framed in terms of the four elements or classes of theory and variables and theories
introduced by Winter (1996): “traits, motives, cognitions, and social context”.
1) Personality traits:
In personality psychology, the concept of trait has been used to denote consistent inter
correlated patterns of behavior, especially expressive or stylistic behavior (see Winter et al.,
1998, pp. 232-233). Personality psychologists have used three different strategies.
Factor Analytic Study of Traits ,

With the availability of cheap, powerful computers, factor analysis became the method of choice
for understanding traits
Goldberg, 1992): Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, and Openness
(often called the five-factor model or “Big Five”). Nevertheless, Eysenck and his followers have
continued to argue that the three factors measured by the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire
(EPQ)— Extraversion, Neuroticism, and Psychoticism.
Alternative Analyses of Traits

Eg; Rationally and Empirically Constructed Scales
Several personality psychologists developed trait measures based on alternative
methods: Gough (1957) developed the CPI by using contrasting groups to
construct scales for positive lay or "folk" concepts such as "achieve•ment,"
"sociability," or "dominance." In a later revision (Gough, 1987), he used clustering
techniques to construct three "vectors" that bore some resemblance to Eysenck's
three factors.
.
“Typologies”- Personality psychologists have proposed certain types that define
an interesting pattern. The MyersBriggs Type Indicator, which in the last decades
of the century became one of the most widely used personality tests, was
developed on the basis of Jung’s typological combination of traits (ExtraversionIntroversion) and
predominant "functions" (thinking, feeling, sensing, and intuiting).
Murray (1955/1981) described an "Icarus" type. In recent years, psychologists have
used Q-sort methods and inverse (P) factor analysis to define types.
The Idiographic Approach

, the idiographic approach, which rejects the need to search for underlying "basic" trait factors
and instead draws upon the broad lexicon for whatever trait adjectives fit a particular person,
has continued to survive.
Biological Basis of Traits

Eysenck began a sustained effort to link the trait factors of Extraversion, Neuroticism, and
Psychoticism to individual differences in nervous system structures and functioning. Gray
proposed an alternative factor structure of traits and a correspondingly different conception of
their biological bases. Cloninger (1991, 1998) proceeded in the opposite direction, using
individual differences in chemically defined neural pathways to define scales reflecting
personality traits.
2) Motivational concepts in personality:

Motive Concepts in the Psychoanalytic Tradition
Nature and Organization of Motives- Freud argued that all behavior was
motivated and grouped human motives into a few broad, general classes: selfpreservation;
libidinal or sexual motives; and aggressive motives or "death instinct".Freud's vigorous
insistence on the libidinal (and later, aggressive) motivational roots of human behavior led him
to impressive accomplishments in the analysis of surprising and unusual behavior, as well as
cultural symbols. Many post-Freudian theorists rephrased Freud's dualistic motivational theory.
For example, Bakan's (1966) concepts of "agency" and "communion" stimulated a good deal of
empirical research, Over the years, psychologists have carried out a good deal of experimental
research to evaluate psychoanalytic theory and especially defense mechanisms such as
repression.
I Murray's Explorations in Personal•ity the Thematic Apperception Test is most famous and
widely used. Although psychologists developed many ways to interpret and score the TAT.
Rogers's (1959) concept of actualization as a motivational force, i.e., that capacities create
motivation;
3) Cognition and personality:
Kelly (1955) developed a cognitive theory of personality, based on the persons

construct system and dispensing completely with motivation.
Attributional Style
The development of causal attribution theory in social psychology led to a parallel
concern with attributional style (or explanatory style) as a personality variable.
Self-Related Personality Variables: “Self" related variables in personality psychology: the self,
self-esteem, selfmonitoring, and self-awareness. Classic early 20th-century concepts of the role
of the "generalized other" (George Herbert Mead) and the "looking-glass self" (Charles 12
Horton Cooley) were blended in with later conceptions to create the symbolic interactionism
approach. With the advent of postmodernism and the notion of multiple selves (Gergen, 1991)
came the related personality concept of a "dialogical self" (Hermans, Kempen, & van Loon,
1992).
Marcia and his colleagues developed methods for meas•uring different aspects of the identity
concept. Given its conceptual status as a bridge between the individual and society, identity also
proved particularly useful in analyzing social identity, or the role that social variables, such as
gender, race, class, and nationality play in the formation.
The Social-Political Context of “Cognitive” Research in Personality
Since cognitive per•sonality theory focuses on internal processes that are in principle
modifiable, rather than on objec•tive conditions of existence, as the major media•tors (if not
"causes") of behavior and well-being, it is especially congenial to an individualist (rather than
collectivist or contextual) perspec•tive.
4) The social context of personality:

The Influence of Behaviorism: Early behaviorists, such as Watson, were trying to reduce
personality to conditioning and instrumental learning processes. Watson and Rayners (1920)
famous "Little Albert" demonstration had an enduring influence. Another was the Miller-Dollard
learning based theory of personality (Dollard & Miller, 1950; Miller & Dollard, 1941). At the
behaviorist extreme, Skinner (1953) was in favour of the concept of reinforcement history.
The Rise and Fall of Culture and Personality
The culture and personality movement was born in the 1930s, as anthropologists and
psychoanalysts became interested in each other's disciplines. The underlying theoretical notion
was that a cultures distinctive pattern of childrearing, derived from its broader characteristics
and values, formed distinctive personalities in its children; thus the adults in each culture would
have similar or "modal" adult personalities.
After the war, culture and personality stuthes of particular

cultures were collected in inter•disciplinary readers.
By the late 1950s, however, the culture and personality movement seemed to have run its
course. Cul•ture and personality research, they argued, over•simplified "culture" by assuming
uniformity and homogeneity, while neglecting social structure.
Cultural and Cross-Cultural Psychology :
During the last decade of the century, perhaps as a response to the increasing globalization of
economic, social, and intellectual life, personality psychology began to be influenced by the
perspectives of cultural psychology. Hofstede (1980) identified four dimensions along which
cultures can be compared: individualism-collectivism, power distance, orientation to
uncertainty, and gendering of malefemale relations. So far, though, only the first dimension has
received much attention from personality psychologists interested in culture.

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NOTE: refer seniors pdf or txt for additional notes/clarification

Factor Analytic Study of Traits ,

Alternative Analyses of Traits

The Idiographic Approach

Biological Basis of Traits

2) Motivational concepts in personality:

3) Cognition and personality:

Kelly (1955) developed a cognitive theory of personality, based on the persons

The Social-Political Context of “Cognitive” Research in Personality

4) The social context of personality:

The Rise and Fall of Culture and Personality

After the war, culture and personality stuthes of particular

Cultural and Cross-Cultural Psychology :

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