Learning Objectives

11.1 Explain how psychologists use factor analysis to identify personality traits; evaluate Allport’s contrasting viewpoint; and identify the differences between self-report inventories and projective personality tests.
11.2 Identify and evaluate Freud’s tripartite theory of the human mind and personality, and contrast it with humanistic and social–cognitive accounts of personality.
11.3 Describe the debate psychologists have had about cross-situational consistency in behavior, otherwise known as the person–situation debate, and explain how genetic factors influence personality.
11.4 For the major sections of the chapter, summarize how personality is defined and measured and whether and why people act consistently across situations.