Chapter Two: Theories of Personality

Looking Back

Now that you have read the chapter, see whether you can answer the "What's Ahead" questions that preceded each major section. By using these questions to "look back," you can find out how much you have learned -- and what you may need to review.

How can psychologists tell which personality traits are basic? Which five dimensions of personality seem to describe people the world over? Is it possible to be born touchy or easygoing? How do psychologists measure the "heritability" of a trait? To what extent are personality differences among people influenced by their genetic differences? Are people who have highly heritable personality traits stuck with them forever? Why do behaviorists regard labels such as "aggressive" or "shy" as meaningless for explaining behavior? Why did cognitive social-learning theorists break away from radical behaviorists in explaining personality? What's the difference between people who think they control their own destiny--and those who think destiny controls them? How does belonging to an individualist or collectivist culture influence your personality -- and even whether you think you have a stable "self"? Why might an Arab and a Swede agree on everything the other is saying --and still feel uncomfortable with each other? Why are punctuality and tardiness more than just individual personality traits? In Freud's theory of personality, why are the id and the superego always at war? When people tell you that you're being "defensive," what defenses might they be thinking of? How do psychologists regard Freud today--as a genius or a fraud? What would Carl Jung have to say about Darth Vadar? What are the "objects" in the object-relations approach to personality? How does the humanist vision of human nature differ from the visions of behaviorism and psychoanalysis? In the humanist view, what's wrong with saying to a child, "I love you because you've been good"?

Next Chapter - Development over the Life Span......... ..................Chapter Contents