What Makes Me… Be Me?

Personality&

Emotions

What is Personality?

What is Personality?

• Combination of psychological traits we use to classify a person.

• What is a trait?– Traits refer to broad, relatively regular dimensions

of individual behavior • Pervin, L.A., (2002), Current Controversies and Issues

in Personality, 3rd ed., Wiley, New York

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• MBTI

• Strengths

• Big 5 Model

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator(MBTI)

• Most widely used personality assessment

• 100 question personality test

• Classified in 4 dichotomous dimensions

Dimensions of MBTI

• Extroverted (E) or Introverted (I)– How the individual interacts socially

• Sensing (S) or Intuitive (N)– How people prefer to collect information

• Thinking (T) or Feeling (F)– How people evaluate information

• Judging (J) or Perceiving (P)– How people like to make decisions

• Extroverted: outgoing, social, assertive• Introverted: quiet, shy• Sensing: practical, prefer routine and order• iNtuitive: unconscious processes, big picture• Thinking: reason, logic• Feeling: rely on personal values and emotions• Judging: want control, order, structure• Perceiving: flexible, spontaneous

So, does MBTI work?

So, does MBTI work?

• Used a lot

• We combine the variables and describe what they are like

Is MBTI a valid measure of personality?

Is MBTI a valid measure of personality?

• Evidence is mixed• Valuable tool for self awareness• Useful in career guidance• MBTI results tend to be UNRELATED to job

performance• Should not be used as a selection tool

Strengths

• Marcus Buckhaming• Gallup• An Inventory– To Find Your 5 greatest strengths– Will not tell you any others • A year• Some training

What can be used ?

• 5 Factor Model of Personality– Impressive body of research supports 5

dimensions• Extroversion:

– Comfort level with relationships

• Extroversion: Comfort level with relationships• Extroverts: gregarious, assertive, sociable• Introverts: reserved, timid, quiet

• Agreeableness: propensity to defer to others• High agreeable: cooperative, warm, trusting• Low agreeable: cold, disagreeable antagonistic

• Conscientiousness: measure of reliability• High conscientious: responsible, organized dependable, persistent• Low conscientious: easily distracted, disorganized, unreliable

• Emotional Stability: ability to withstand stress• Positive scores: calm, self-confident, secure• Negative scores: nervous, anxious, depressed, insecure

• Openness to Experience: range of interests & fascination with novelty

• Open People: creative, curious, artistically sensitive• Closed People: conventional, comfort in the familiar

Quick Results

• Conscientiousness– Only one that was predictive of job performance

• All others predictive ability is dependent upon – Performance criterion– Occupational group

Other important Personality Dimensions

• Locus of Control?• Machiavellianism?• Self-Esteem?• Self-Monitoring?• Risk Propensity?• Type “A” Personality?

Do these frameworks transfer to other cultures?

Do these frameworks transfer to other cultures?

• Yes• No common personality types for a given

country• Country’s history and attitudes impact the

percentages of certain personality types• Where materialism is less revered – less proportion of

type “A”s

Can you match jobs and personality types?

Can you match jobs and personality types?

• Most researched• Six-personality-types model

– Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, Conventional

Holland, J.L., et. al., An empirical occupational classification derived from a theory of personality and intended for practice and research, ACT Research Report No. 29, The American College Testing Program, 1969, Iowa City, Iowa

Are Traits a good OB?

• Many relationships between traits and behavior are moderate, at best

• Labeling people according to their personality profile or type can result in self-fulfilling prophecy

• Knowing a person’s score on a test can impact how others’ perceive that individual

Interactionist Models

• Hypothesize personality is important factor in behavior

• Argue situational factors can powerfully shape behavior

Conditional Reasoning Approach

• Individuals interpret what happens in environment based on their mental maps

• How they– Frame the world– Motives– Assumptions they make regarding events

• Create different justification mechanisms to adjust to environment

Cognitive-Affective Processing System(CAPS)

• Personality -- mental representations of:• people and situations, • goals, • expectancies, • memories, • feelings

• Difference in content --how accessible they are• How they related to one another

• Affected by array of factors• Genetic, • cultural,• societal, • developmental

Why is this important?

• Because the mix of people in an organization make a difference. (Read Tipping Point by Malcomb Gladwell to view the difference one or two of the right people can make.)

• Having some insight into others – provides us with opportunities to influence.

• If we understand ourselves we can make better decisions for ourselves.