Personality Assessment And Theories: Psychodynamic, Trait And Social Learning
Personality Assessment and Theories
Paige Michaud-McClorey
BEH 225
February 25,2011
Tamara Reeves
Personality Assessment and Theories There are four main theories of personality. Psychodynamic, Humanistic, Trait and Social Learning are these traits. Psychodynamic personality can be determined by personal interviews and projective tests. This theory of personality revolves around unconscious thoughts, feelings, motives, and conflicts. It also brings up problems that are repressed from early childhood. Humanistic theory also uses personal interviews to assess it along with objective tests. This personality theory works with the drive toward personal growth and higher levels of functioning. The trait theory of personality is the only one that uses one method of assessing, this method is solely objective tests. The roots of this personality theory are relatively permanent dispositions within the individual that causes the person to think, feel, and act in characteristic ways. Last, but not least is the social learning theory of personality. This theory can be assessed by interviews, …show more content…
Well a projective test is a personality test that consists of unstructured or ambiguous material. An example of this would be the Rorschach inkblot test. An objective test is more structured; it is administered and scored in a standard way (Morris & Maisto, 2005). There are always shortcomings with both tests. With an objective test, one of the biggest problems is that if someone does not know themselves well, or answers falsely, then the test will not be accurate. Another issue with the objective test is that since it is so standard, if one recognizes the test, then that may affect their response. When it comes to a projective test, the biggest drawback is that the accuracy of the test depends on the expertise of the person giving the test (Morris & Maisto,
Paige Michaud-McClorey
BEH 225
February 25,2011
Tamara Reeves
Personality Assessment and Theories There are four main theories of personality. Psychodynamic, Humanistic, Trait and Social Learning are these traits. Psychodynamic personality can be determined by personal interviews and projective tests. This theory of personality revolves around unconscious thoughts, feelings, motives, and conflicts. It also brings up problems that are repressed from early childhood. Humanistic theory also uses personal interviews to assess it along with objective tests. This personality theory works with the drive toward personal growth and higher levels of functioning. The trait theory of personality is the only one that uses one method of assessing, this method is solely objective tests. The roots of this personality theory are relatively permanent dispositions within the individual that causes the person to think, feel, and act in characteristic ways. Last, but not least is the social learning theory of personality. This theory can be assessed by interviews, …show more content…
Well a projective test is a personality test that consists of unstructured or ambiguous material. An example of this would be the Rorschach inkblot test. An objective test is more structured; it is administered and scored in a standard way (Morris & Maisto, 2005). There are always shortcomings with both tests. With an objective test, one of the biggest problems is that if someone does not know themselves well, or answers falsely, then the test will not be accurate. Another issue with the objective test is that since it is so standard, if one recognizes the test, then that may affect their response. When it comes to a projective test, the biggest drawback is that the accuracy of the test depends on the expertise of the person giving the test (Morris & Maisto,