PERSONALITY- Psychology For Physiotherapy and Nursing students

1. Personality
For Physiotherapy and Nursing students

2. Contents
• Definitions
• Components
• Classification
• Theories
• Assessments
• Alterations in personality

3. Definitions:
• The word personality is derived from Greek word ‘persona’, the mask used by
actors in Greek drama.
• Personality is the total quality of an individual’s behaviour as it is shown on his
habits of thinking, in his attitude, interests, his manner of acting and his personal
philosophy of life
• Other definitions:
• According to Mischel “Personality is the distinctive pattern of behaviour that
characterised each individual’s adoption to the situation of his or her life.”
• According to Allport “Personality is the dynamic organisation within the individual
of those psychological system that determine his unique adjustments to his
environment.”

4. Components(Personality development)
• Development refers to a progressive series of changes that occur in orderly
predictable pattern as a result of maturation and experience.
• Growth: The increase in size that occurs with changing age called growth.
• Maturation: Maturation is the unfolding of genetically prescribed patterns of
behaviour or biological potentials. Such changes are relatively independent of the
environment, e.g. the infant’s motor development like grasping, sitting, crawling,
etc.
• Growth refers to the increase in the individual’s cells and tissues. Maturation
concerns the development of organs and limbs to become functional.
• Learning: It is more or less a permanent modification in behaviour that results
from the individual’s experience in the environment.

5. Classification
• Type approach.
• Sheldon’s classification.
• Kretschmer’s classification.
• Karl.G.Jung’s classification.

6. • Type approach:
• Gallen classified personality on the basis of temperament:
• Sanguine- They are optimistic and full of energy.
• Phlegmatic- They are calm and cool
• Melancholy- They are pessimistic and sad.
• Choleric- They are energetic but disposed to anger(Irritable).
• Sheldon’s types:
• William Sheldon classified people into three groups according to body built:
• Endomorph- Soft and spherical in appearance, sociable and relaxed.
• Mesomorph- Muscular and hard body, Physically active and noisy.
• Ectomorph- Weak parts of body, Self-conscious, shy and reserved.

7. • Kretschmer’s types:
• He classified personality according to body-built. They are:
• Pyknic:Fat body, large head, chest and abdomen, sociable, jolly, easy-going and
good-natured
• Athletic:Strong body, firm muscles, wide chest and shoulders, energetic, optimistic,
challenging, sportive.
• Asthenic:Lean and tall body, reserved, shy, sensitive, pessimistic
• Dysplastic:Undeveloped and disproportionate body personality also undeveloped
and imbalanced.
• Karl.G.Jung's Classification:
• On the basis of sociability, Personality is classified into two:
• Introverts.
• Extroverts.
• Majority of people are ambiverts, having qualities of extroverts and introverts in
different proportions.

8. • Introverts:
• They are interested in themselves, their own feelings, emotions and
reactions. They are reserved and sensitive, unable to adjust easily to social
situations.
• They are reserved and like to work alone, They are inclined to worry and
easily get embarrassed. Poets, philosophers, scientists and artists belong to
this group.
• Extroverts:
• Extroverts are people who take more interests in others and like to move with
people and are skilled, They are friendly and sociable and not easily upset by
difficulties.
• They are realistic and face the problems of life objectively, They are
dominated by emotions, whereby take decisions quickly and act on them
without delay.

9. Theories
• Traits theory of personality.
• Psychoanalytical theory.
• Psychosocial theory.
• Humanistic theory.

10. Traits theory:
• According to him, A trait is a dimension of personality which can be measured
and must describe the consistent behaviour of individual.
• Trait is an aspect of personality, For ex., Patience, honesty, initiative etc.,
• Trait theories assume that personality can be characterised by knowing a person’s
traits. The ‘Trait profile’ indicates an individual’s standing on each of primary trait
which emerges from his score.

11. Psychoanalytic theory (Sigmund freud)
• He developed the best known theory of personality and constructed a model of
personality with three parts:
• Id (Pleasure principle): Most primitive structure, functioned unconsciously, Id
would satisfy fundamental urges immediately and reflectively as they arise
without regard to rules, the realities of life etc.,
• EGO: Less primitive, functioned in partial consciousness, operated with the
reason on the reality principle and regulated the id by satisfying urges when
appropriate.
• SUPEREGO: Most modern structure, functioned consciously, operated on the
Moral Principle and regulate the Id based on social learning and issues of
morality.

12. • Psychosexual stages of development:
• Freud emphasised on biological and sexual development, based on account of his
experiences Freud defined 5 stages of development which is believed to be the
crucial in the formation of adult personality.
• At each stage, child is presented with a conflict between biological drives and
social expectations, his/her ability to resolve these internal conflicts determined
the future coping and ability of the child.
a) Oral stage: (Birth to 1.5 years of age);
• The baby’s first experience with much of physical world is through mouth.
• Goal of this stage was to develop proper amount of sucking, eating, biting
and talking, which aid in early developmental steps such as breast feeding
and sucking.
• Failure to do so child personality would lead to drinking, smoking, nail
biting or other mouth- based aggressive behaviours.

13. • Anal stage: (1.5- 3 years of age):
• One of the first impulses that a baby must learn to control is his/her
excretion system.
• The goal of the stage is to mastery of this system, which usually leads to
proper toilet training
• This might lead to anal retentive personality, where one is overly tidy and
the other overly messy.
• Phallic stage: (3-5 years of age):
• Major pleasure center is main genital organs in either boys or girls.
• The child is thought to develop his/her first sexual desires which are
directed at closest known adult: The opposite sex parent.
• The goal is to master the internal conflict and move toward more
appropriate sexual desires.
• Children who struggle here develop phallic fixations which affect their
relationship with their parents adversely.

14. • Latency stage (5-12 years of age):
• Major pleasure centres are dormant sexual feelings for the opposite sex.
Here, the child consolidates character habits developed in previous 3 stages.
• Successful mastery in each of these stages is necessary for a mature, adult
personality to develop before puberty.
• Period of gang formation and fierce gang loyalties. Boys cling together and
shun girls. Girl despise boys.
• Genital stage (12 year-adulthood):
• Main pleasure center is surge of sexual hormones in body during puberty.
• Adolescents must establish successful relationship with peers in order to
master this stage.
• Young people begin experiencing romantic infatuation and emotional changes
• For Freud, the first six years are critical for personality development, what
happens to individual later in life is fashioned during the child’s first six years

15. Psychosocial theory
• Theory developed by Eric H Erikson, challenges freud’s theory that personality is
primarily established in first 6 years of life and says that personality continue to
develop over entire life cycle.
• Individuals develop a healthy personality by mastering inner and outer dangers
with positive solutions to life’s social problems.
• He insisted that stages should be considered only as convenient points for
identification related to age but not determined by age.
• These are called Psychosocial changes because many aspects of Psychosocial and
social functioning are interrelated.
• The individual is in state of progress, but at the same time also faced with
constant threat of decay.

16. Humanistic theory (Carl roger’s)
• He believed that people are basically good and that a growth-promoting climate
required three conditions:
• Being genuine- Being transparent and self-disclosing.
• Accepting- Being accepting means providing unconditional positive regard.
• Empathetic- sharing feelings and experiences.
• If child receives positive regard from others, his self-concept is likely to be
positive and he will tend to perceive world positively and act accordingly.
• If his self-concept is negative, he will fall short of his own ‘Ideal self’ and feel
dissatisfied.

17. Assessment of Personality
• The purpose of assessment is to discover the needs of individuals
being assessed.
• The following methods are used for evaluation and measurement of
personality traits.
• Observational methods (Interview).
• Personality inventories (Paper- Pencil Tests).
• Projective techniques.

18. Observation method
• Employment interviews: The interviewer attempts to determine suitability
of person for employment.
• Counselling interview: It is used to solve the problem of the person.
• In this, the clinician tries to get a wide range of the personal feelings and
attitudes by getting him or her to talk about personal experiences
• Guided or structured interview: In this, the interviewer will have a set of
questions. It goes according to the question and elicits answers.
• Unguided or unstructured: In this, the interviewer will ask questions
depending upon the purpose of interview.
• Stress interview: The interviewer induces stress and sees how the
interviewee responds.

19. Personality inventories.
• The most popular techniques are paper-pencil test in the form of questionnaire
or inventory. It can be given to a large group of people. The psychologists have
constructed a number of inventories. • MMPI • BAI • CPI and so on.
• The questionnaire’s can assess whether the individual is an extrovert or introvert
and neurotic or normal.
• Minnesota multiphasic personality interview (MMPI): The original MMPI has
566 statements or items, for people to answer themselves.
• The items can be answered as true or false or cannot say.
• It includes statements such as “I enjoy books and magazines.” “Do you frequently
feel sad?” “In public places I sometime see people whispering about me.”
• This test has been revised by NIMHANS and Mysore University. Prof. B. Krishnan
revised the Mysore University questionnaire. This revised questionnaire has 100
questions only.

20. • Cattel’s personality inventory (CPI-16PF):
• It is called 16- personality factors questionnaire (16 PF).
• Cattel and his associates used 4500 adjectives applicable to human behaviour.
Later they used 170 adjectives such as cool-warm, trusty-suspicious, affected-
emotionally stable, shy-bold, practical-imagination.
• California psychological inventory (CPI):
• This scale measures some evidence of genetic contribution to a large number
of traits.
• For example: Achievement, Intellectual efficiency etc.,

21. Projective techniques
• In these techniques relatively indefinite and unstructured stimuli (Vague pictures,
inkblots, etc.,)are provided to the subject and he is asked to structure them in any
ways he likes.
• So, he unconsciously projects his own hopes, desires, fears etc., they are intended
to provide expression to unconscious impulses and other aspects of personality in
which test taken himself or herself are not aware.
• The following tests are used:
• Rorschach Ink Blot Test.
• Thematic apperception test (TAT).
• Children apperception test (CAT).
• Sentence completion test.
• Word association test

22. Rorschach Ink Blot Test
• It is based on the principle that every performance of a person is an expression of his
total personality. In this, the subject is responding to ink blots.
• The test consists of 10 cards. Some of the blots are colored and some are in black and
white. The subject is instructed to look at the inkblots one at a time and report every
thing seen on the inkblot card.
• 5 → black and white 2 → red and black 3 → multi-colored.
• The subject responses may be scored in terms of three categories.
• Location: Does the response involve the entire inkblot or some small part?
• Determinants: Is the subject responding to the shape, colour or texture of the blot?
• Content: What does the response represents? E.g. Animals, plants.

23. • Thematic apperception test:
• American psychologist Murray developed TAT during year 1930. It involves
pictures of actual scenes rather than inkblots
• It consists of 30 pictures from which the psychologist usually chooses a set for
each person, which seems likely to elicit particularly relevant material
• In TAT, a person is asked to make up a story about what is happening, what
went before, what is going to happen and what the people are thinking and
feeling.
• Most of the people identify themselves with one of the characters in the
pictures and reveal their perception.

24. • Children apperception test (CAT).
• The Children's Apperception Test (CAT) is a projective personality test used to
assess individual variations in children's responses to standardized stimuli
presented in the form of pictures of animals.
• The CAT is used to assess personality, level of maturity, and, often,
psychological health. The theory is that a child's responses to a series of
drawings of animals or humans in familiar situations are likely to reveal
significant aspects of a child's personality.

25. • Sentence completion test:
• In this there are sentences, which are incomplete, and the individuals have to
complete the sentence. For example,
• My mother……….
• When I am at a party……….
• My friends…… On the basis of response given by the subject, the
personality is analyzed.
• Word association test:
• In this test, there are number of selected words from which the examiner will
present a series of words, one at a time to the subject and ask him to respond
as quickly as possible with the first word that comes to his mind.
• The tone of feelings of his response may reveal things about his mind

26. Alterations in personality
• Paranoid personality disorder: Its characterised by pervasive distrust of others,
including even friends and partner.
• The person is guarded and suspicious, and constantly on lookout for clues or
suggestion to confirm his/her fear.
• As a result, he or she may have a tendency to withdraw from other people
and find it difficult to engage in close relationship.
• Schizotypal disorder: Its characterised by oddities of appearances, behaviour and
speech and anomalies of thinking similar to those seen in schizophrenia.
• A person with Schizotypal disorder often fears social interaction and sees
other people as ill-intentioned and potentially harmful.
• E.g., Speak of the devil, and he will appear, etc.,
• This may lead him to develop ‘ideas of reference’ which are fleeting
impression of objects, people or situations.

27. • Borderline personality disorder:
• The person essentially lacks a sense of self and as a result experiences feeling
of emptiness and fears of abandonment.
• There is a pattern of intense, but unstable relationship, emotional instability,
outbursts of anger and violence
• Suicidal threats and act of self-harm are common, for which they are
suggested to be in frequent contact with healthcare services.
• Name suggestive of borderline because it was thought to lie on line between
neurotic disorders and psychotic disorders.
• Historic personality disorder:
• The person lacks a sense of self-worth for which the reason they depend on
attention and approval of others.
• They often seem to be ‘Playing a part’ in a attempt to attract and manipulate
attention.

28. • Narcissistic personality disorder:
• It takes its name from the myth of Narcissus a beautiful youth wo fell in love
with his own reflection.
• The person has a grand sense of self-importance, a sense of entitlement and
a need to be admired.
• He or she is envious of others and expects them to be the same of him or her.
• Avoidant personality disorder:
• The person is persistently tense because he or she believes themselves as
socially inept, unappealing or inferior.
• As a result, fears being embarrassed criticised or rejected. He or she avoids
meeting people unless he or she is certain of being liked and is likely to be
restrained even in his/her intimate relationship.

29. • Dependent personality disorder:
• Its characterised by a lack of self-confidence and an excessive need to be
taken care of.
• The person needs lot of help to make everyday decisions and needs
important decisions to be taken for him or her.
• A person with this disorder sees themselves as inadequate and helpless, so
abandons personal responsibility and puts their fate in others hands.
• Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder:
• Its typically doubting and cautious, rigid and controlling, humourless and
miserly.
• His or her high level of anxiety arises from a perceived lack of control over a
universe that escapes his or her understanding.
• Their relationships with friends, colleagues and family tend to be strained by
the unreasonable and inflexible demands the he or she makes on them.

30. Thank you..!