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How Personality Impacts Our Daily Lives

Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

Verywell / Emily Roberts

Personality Characteristics

How personality develops, impact of personality, personality disorders.

Personality describes the unique patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that distinguish a person from others. A product of both biology and environment, it remains fairly consistent throughout life.

Examples of personality can be found in how we describe other people's traits. For instance, "She is generous, caring, and a bit of a perfectionist," or "They are loyal and protective of their friends."

The word "personality" stems from the Latin word persona , which refers to a theatrical mask worn by performers to play roles or disguise their identities.

Although there are many definitions of personality, most focus on the pattern of behaviors and characteristics that can help predict and explain a person's behavior.

Explanations for personality can focus on a variety of influences, ranging from genetic effects to the role of the environment and experience in shaping an individual's personality.

What exactly makes up a personality? Traits and patterns of thought and emotion play important roles, and so do these fundamental characteristics of personality:

• Consistency : There is generally a recognizable order and regularity to behaviors. Essentially, people act in the same way or in similar ways in a variety of situations.
• Both psychological and physiological : Personality is a psychological construct, but research suggests that it is also influenced by biological processes and needs.
• Affects behaviors and actions : Personality not only influences how we move and respond in our environment, but it also causes us to act in certain ways.
• Multiple expressions : Personality is displayed in more than just behavior. It can also be seen in our thoughts, feelings, close relationships, and other social interactions.

There are a number of theories about personality , and different schools of thought in psychology influence many of these theories. Some theories describe how personalities are expressed, and others focus more on how personality develops.

Type theories suggest that there are a limited number of personality types that are related to biological influences.

One theory suggests there are four types of personality. They are:

• Type A : Perfectionist, impatient, competitive, work-obsessed, achievement-oriented, aggressive, stressed
• Type B : Low stress, even- tempered , flexible, creative, adaptable to change, patient, tendency to procrastinate
• Type C : Highly conscientious, perfectionist, struggles to reveal emotions (positive and negative)
• Type D : Worrying, sad, irritable, pessimistic, negative self-talk, avoidance of social situations, lack of self-confidence, fear of rejection, appears gloomy, hopeless

There are other popular theories of personality types such as the Myers-Briggs theory. The Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator identifies a personality based on where someone is on four continuums: introversion-extraversion, sensing-intuition, thinking-feeling, and judging-perceiving.

After taking a Myers-Briggs personality test, you are assigned one of 16 personality types. Examples of these personality types are:

• ISTJ : Introverted, sensing, thinking, and judging. People with this personality type are logical and organized; they also tend to be judgmental.
• INFP : Introverted, intuitive, feeling, and perceiving. They tend to be idealists and sensitive to their feelings.
• ESTJ : Extroverted, sensing, thinking, and judging. They tend to be assertive and concerned with following the rules.
• ENFJ : Extroverted, intuitive, feeling, and judging. They are known as "givers" for being warm and loyal; they may also be overprotective.

Personality Tests

In addition to the MBTI, some of the most well-known personality inventories are:

• Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)
• HEXACO Personality Inventory
• Caddell's 16PF Personality Questionnaire
• Enneagram Typology

Personality Traits

Trait theories tend to view personality as the result of internal characteristics that are genetically based and include:

• Agreeable : Cares about others, feels empathy, enjoys helping others
• Conscientiousness : High levels of thoughtfulness, good impulse control, goal-directed behaviors
• Eager-to-please : Accommodating, passive, and  conforming
• Extraversion : Excitability, sociability, talkativeness, assertiveness, and high amounts of emotional expressiveness
• Introversion : Quiet, reserved
• Neuroticism : Experiences stress and dramatic shifts in mood, feels anxious, worries about different things, gets upset easily, struggles to bounce back after stressful events
• Openness : Very creative , open to trying new things, focuses on tackling new challenges

Try Our Free Personality Test

Our fast and free personality test can help give you an idea of your dominant personality traits and how they may influence your behaviors.

Psychodynamic Theories

Psychodynamic theories of personality are heavily influenced by the work of Sigmund Freud and emphasize the influence of the unconscious  mind on personality. Psychodynamic theories include Sigmund Freud’s psychosexual stage theory and Erik Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development .

Behavioral Theories

Behavioral theories suggest that personality is a result of interaction between the individual and the environment. Behavioral theorists study observable and measurable behaviors, often ignoring the role of internal thoughts and feelings. Behavioral theorists include B.F. Skinner and John B. Watson .

Humanist theories emphasize the importance of free will and individual experience in developing ​a personality. Humanist theorists include Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow .

Research on personality can yield fascinating insights into how personality develops and changes over the course of a lifetime. This research can also have important practical applications in the real world.

For example, people can use a personality assessment (also called a personality test or personality quiz) to learn more about themselves and their unique strengths, weaknesses, and preferences. Some assessments might look at how people rank on specific traits, such as whether they are high in extroversion , conscientiousness, or openness.

Other assessments might measure how specific aspects of personality change over time. Some assessments give people insight into how their personality affects many areas of their lives, including career, relationships, personal growth, and more.

Understanding your personality type can help you determine what career you might enjoy, how well you might perform in certain job roles, or how effective a form of psychotherapy could be for you.

Personality type can also have an impact on your health, including how often you visit the doctor and how you cope with stress. Researchers have found that certain personality characteristics may be linked to illness and health behaviors.

While personality determines what you think and how you behave, personality disorders are marked by thoughts and behavior that are disruptive and distressing in everyday life. Someone with a personality disorder may have trouble recognizing their condition because their symptoms are ingrained in their personality.

Personality disorders include paranoid personality disorder , schizoid personality disorder , antisocial personality disorder , borderline personality disorder (BPD), and narcissistic personality disorder (NPD).

While the symptoms of personality disorders vary based on the condition, some common signs include:

• Aggressive behavior
• Delusional thinking
• Distrust of others
• Flat emotions (no emotional range)
• Lack of interest in relationships
• Violating others' boundaries

Some people with BPD experience suicidal thoughts or behavior as well.

If you are having suicidal thoughts, contact the  National Suicide Prevention Lifeline  at  988  for support and assistance from a trained counselor. If you or a loved one are in immediate danger, call 911. 

For more mental health resources, see our  National Helpline Database .

If you are concerned that elements of your personality are contributing to stress, anxiety, confusion, or depression, it's important to talk to a doctor or mental health professional. They can help you understand any underlying conditions you may have.

It is often challenging to live with a personality disorder, but there are treatment options such as therapy and medication that can help.

Understanding the psychology of personality is much more than simply an academic exercise. The findings from personality research can have important applications in the world of medicine, health, business, economics, technology, among others. By building a better understanding of how personality works, we can look for new ways to improve both personal and public health.

The Myers & Briggs Foundation.  MBTI basics .

Bornstein RF. Personality assessment in the diagnostic manuals: On mindfulness, multiple methods, and test score discontinuities .  J Pers Assess . 2015;97(5):446-455. doi:10.1080/00223891.2015.1027346

Srivastava K, Das RC. Personality and health: Road to well-being .  Ind Psychiatry J . 2015;24(1):1–4. doi:10.4103/0972-6748.160905

Mayo Clinic. Personality disorders .

Carducci BJ. The Psychology of Personality: Viewpoints, Research, and Applications . Wiley Blackwell. 

John OP, Robins RW, Pervin LA. Handbook of Personality: Theory and Research . Guilford Press.

By Kendra Cherry, MSEd Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

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What Is Personality?

Learning objectives.

• Define personality and describe early theories about personality development

Personality refers to the long-standing traits and patterns that propel individuals to consistently think, feel, and behave in specific ways. Our personality is what makes us unique individuals. Each person has an idiosyncratic pattern of enduring, long-term characteristics and a manner in which he or she interacts with other individuals and the world around them. Our personalities are thought to be long term, stable, and not easily changed. The word personality comes from the Latin word persona . In the ancient world, a persona was a mask worn by an actor. While we tend to think of a mask as being worn to conceal one’s identity, the theatrical mask was originally used to either represent or project a specific personality trait of a character (Figure 1).

Historical Perspectives

The concept of personality has been studied for at least 2,000 years, beginning with Hippocrates in 370 BCE (Fazeli, 2012). Hippocrates theorized that personality traits and human behaviors are based on four separate temperaments associated with four fluids (“humors”) of the body: choleric temperament (yellow bile from the liver), melancholic temperament (black bile from the kidneys), sanguine temperament (red blood from the heart), and phlegmatic temperament (white phlegm from the lungs) (Clark & Watson, 2008; Eysenck & Eysenck, 1985; Lecci & Magnavita, 2013; Noga, 2007). Centuries later, the influential Greek physician and philosopher Galen built on Hippocrates’s theory, suggesting that both diseases and personality differences could be explained by imbalances in the humors and that each person exhibits one of the four temperaments. For example, the choleric person is passionate, ambitious, and bold; the melancholic person is reserved, anxious, and unhappy; the sanguine person is joyful, eager, and optimistic; and the phlegmatic person is calm, reliable, and thoughtful (Clark & Watson, 2008; Stelmack & Stalikas, 1991). Galen’s theory was prevalent for over 1,000 years and continued to be popular through the Middle Ages.

In 1780, Franz Gall, a German physician, proposed that the distances between bumps on the skull reveal a person’s personality traits, character, and mental abilities (Figure 2). According to Gall, measuring these distances revealed the sizes of the brain areas underneath, providing information that could be used to determine whether a person was friendly, prideful, murderous, kind, good with languages, and so on. Initially, phrenology was very popular; however, it was soon discredited for lack of empirical support and has long been relegated to the status of pseudoscience (Fancher, 1979).

In the centuries after Galen, other researchers contributed to the development of his four primary temperament types, most prominently Immanuel Kant (in the 18th century) and psychologist Wilhelm Wundt (in the 19th century) (Eysenck, 2009; Stelmack & Stalikas, 1991; Wundt, 1874/1886) (Figure 3). Kant agreed with Galen that everyone could be sorted into one of the four temperaments and that there was no overlap between the four categories (Eysenck, 2009). He developed a list of traits that could be used to describe the personality of a person from each of the four temperaments. However, Wundt suggested that a better description of personality could be achieved using two major axes: emotional/nonemotional and changeable/unchangeable. The first axis separated strong from weak emotions (the melancholic and choleric temperaments from the phlegmatic and sanguine). The second axis divided the changeable temperaments (choleric and sanguine) from the unchangeable ones (melancholic and phlegmatic) (Eysenck, 2009).

Sigmund Freud’s psychodynamic perspective of personality was the first comprehensive theory of personality, explaining a wide variety of both normal and abnormal behaviors. According to Freud, unconscious drives influenced by sex and aggression, along with childhood sexuality, are the forces that influence our personality. Freud attracted many followers who modified his ideas to create new theories about personality. These theorists, referred to as neo-Freudians, generally agreed with Freud that childhood experiences matter, but they reduced the emphasis on sex and focused more on the social environment and effects of culture on personality. The perspective of personality proposed by Freud and his followers was the dominant theory of personality for the first half of the 20th century.

Other major theories then emerged, including the learning, humanistic, biological, evolutionary, trait, and cultural perspectives. In this module, we will explore these various perspectives on personality in depth.

Link to Learning

View this  video for a brief overview of some of the psychological perspectives on personality.

Think It Over

• How would you describe your own personality? Do you think that friends and family would describe you in much the same way? Why or why not?
• How would you describe your personality in an online dating profile?
• What are some of your positive and negative personality qualities? How do you think these qualities will affect your choice of career?

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11.9 Personality Assessment

Learning objectives.

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

• Discuss the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory
• Recognize and describe common projective tests used in personality assessment

Roberto, Mikhail, and Nat are college friends and all want to be police officers. Roberto is quiet and shy, lacks self-confidence, and usually follows others. He is a kind person, but lacks motivation. Mikhail is loud and boisterous, a leader. He works hard, but is impulsive and drinks too much on the weekends. Nat is thoughtful and well liked. They are trustworthy, but very methodical and therefore have difficulty making quick decisions. Of these three, who would make the best police officer? What qualities and personality factors make someone a good police officer? What makes someone a bad or dangerous police officer?

A police officer’s job is very high in stress, and law enforcement agencies want to make sure they hire the right people. Personality testing is often used for this purpose—to screen applicants for employment and job training. Personality tests are also used in criminal cases and custody battles, and to assess psychological disorders. This section explores the best known among the many different types of personality tests.

Self-Report Inventories

Self-report inventories are a kind of objective test used to assess personality. They typically use multiple-choice items or numbered scales, which represent a range from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). They are often called Likert scales after their developer, Rensis Likert (1932) ( Figure 11.16 ). Self-report inventories are generally easy to administer and cost effective. There is also an increased likelihood of test takers being inclined to answer in ways that are intentionally or unintentionally more socially desirable, exaggerated, biased, or misleading. For example, someone applying for a job will likely try to present themselves in a positive light, perhaps as an even better candidate than they actually are.

One of the most widely used personality inventories is the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) , first published in 1943, with 504 true/false questions, and updated to the MMPI-2 in 1989, with 567 questions. The original MMPI was based on a small, limited sample, composed mostly of Minnesota farmers and psychiatric patients; the revised inventory was based on a more representative, national sample to allow for better standardization. The MMPI-2 takes 1–2 hours to complete. Responses are scored to produce a clinical profile composed of 10 scales: hypochondriasis, depression, hysteria, psychopathic deviance (social deviance), masculinity versus femininity, paranoia, psychasthenia (obsessive/compulsive qualities), schizophrenia, hypomania, and social introversion. There is also a scale to ascertain risk factors for alcohol abuse. In 2008, the test was again revised, using more advanced methods, to the MMPI-2-RF. This version takes about one-half the time to complete and has only 338 questions ( Figure 11.17 ). Despite the new test’s advantages, the MMPI-2 is more established and is still more widely used. Typically, the tests are administered by computer. Although the MMPI was originally developed to assist in the clinical diagnosis of psychological disorders, it is now also used for occupational screening, such as in law enforcement, and in college, career, and marital counseling (Ben-Porath & Tellegen, 2008).

In addition to clinical scales, the tests also have validity and reliability scales. (Recall the concepts of reliability and validity from your study of psychological research.) One of the validity scales, the Lie Scale (or “L” Scale), consists of 15 items and is used to ascertain whether the respondent is “faking good” (underreporting psychological problems to appear healthier). For example, if someone responds “yes” to a number of unrealistically positive items such as “I have never told a lie,” they may be trying to “fake good” or appear better than they actually are.

Reliability scales test an instrument’s consistency over time, assuring that if you take the MMPI-2-RF today and then again 5 years later, your two scores will be similar. Beutler, Nussbaum, and Meredith (1988) gave the MMPI to newly recruited police officers and then to the same police officers 2 years later. After 2 years on the job, police officers’ responses indicated an increased vulnerability to alcoholism, somatic symptoms (vague, unexplained physical complaints), and anxiety. When the test was given an additional 2 years later (4 years after starting on the job), the results suggested high risk for alcohol-related difficulties.

Projective Tests

Another method for assessment of personality is projective testing . This kind of test relies on one of the defense mechanisms proposed by Freud—projection—as a way to assess unconscious processes. During this type of testing, a series of ambiguous cards is shown to the person being tested, who then is encouraged to project their feelings, impulses, and desires onto the cards—by telling a story, interpreting an image, or completing a sentence. Many projective tests have undergone standardization procedures (for example, Exner, 2002) and can be used to assess whether someone has unusual thoughts or a high level of anxiety, or is likely to become volatile. Some examples of projective tests are the Rorschach Inkblot Test, the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), the Contemporized-Themes Concerning Blacks test, the TEMAS (Tell-Me-A-Story), and the Rotter Incomplete Sentence Blank (RISB). Projective tests are less subject to intentional distortion; it is hard to fake “good" because it is not obvious what a "good” answer is. Projective tests are more time consuming for the evaluator than self-report inventories. If an evaluator scores the Rorschach using the Exner scoring system, the test is considered a valid and reliable measure. However, the validity of the other projective tests is questionable, and the results are often not usable for court cases (Goldstein, n.d.).

The Rorschach Inkblot Test was developed in 1921 by a Swiss psychologist named Hermann Rorschach (pronounced “ROAR-shock”). It is a series of symmetrical inkblot cards that are presented to a client by a psychologist. Upon presentation of each card, the psychologist asks the client, “What might this be?” What the test-taker sees reveals unconscious feelings and struggles (Piotrowski, 1987; Weiner, 2003). The Rorschach has been standardized using the Exner system and is effective in measuring depression, psychosis, and anxiety.

A second projective test is the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) , created in the 1930s by Henry Murray, an American psychologist, and a psychoanalyst named Christiana Morgan. A person taking the TAT is shown 8–12 ambiguous pictures and is asked to tell a story about each picture ( Figure 11.18 ). The stories give insight into their social world, revealing hopes, fears, interests, and goals. The storytelling format helps to lower a person’s resistance divulging unconscious personal details (Cramer, 2004). The TAT has been used in clinical settings to evaluate psychological difficulties. Standardization of test administration is virtually nonexistent among clinicians, and the test tends to be modest to low on validity and reliability (Aronow, Weiss, & Rezinkoff, 2001; Lilienfeld, Wood, & Garb, 2000). Despite these shortcomings, the TAT has been one of the most widely used projective tests.

A third projective test is the Rotter Incomplete Sentence Blank (RISB) developed by Julian Rotter in 1950 (recall his theory of locus of control, covered earlier in this chapter). There are three forms of this test for use with different age groups: the school form, the college form, and the adult form. The tests include 40 incomplete sentences that people are asked to complete as quickly as possible ( Figure 11.19 ). The average time for completing the test is approximately 20 minutes, as responses are only 1–2 words in length. This test is similar to a word association test, and like other types of projective tests, it is presumed that responses will reveal desires, fears, and struggles. The RISB is used in screening college students for adjustment problems and in career counseling (Holaday, Smith, & Sherry, 2010; Rotter & Rafferty 1950).

For many decades, these traditional projective tests have been used in cross-cultural personality assessments. However, it was found that test bias limited their usefulness (Hoy-Watkins & Jenkins-Moore, 2008). It is difficult to assess the personalities and lifestyles of members of widely divergent ethnic/cultural groups using personality instruments based on data from a single culture or race (Hoy-Watkins & Jenkins-Moore, 2008). For example, when the TAT was used with African-American test takers, the result was often shorter story length and low levels of cultural identification (Duzant, 2005). Therefore, it was vital to develop other personality assessments that explored factors such as race, language, and level of acculturation (Hoy-Watkins & Jenkins-Moore, 2008). To address this need, Robert Williams developed the first culturally specific projective test designed to reflect the everyday life experiences of African Americans (Hoy-Watkins & Jenkins-Moore, 2008). The updated version of the instrument is the Contemporized-Themes Concerning Blacks Test (C-TCB) (Williams, 1972). The C-TCB contains 20 color images that show scenes of African-American lifestyles. When the C-TCB was compared with the TAT for African Americans, it was found that use of the C-TCB led to increased story length, higher degrees of positive feelings, and stronger identification with the C-TCB (Hoy, 1997; Hoy-Watkins & Jenkins-Moore, 2008).

The TEMAS Multicultural Thematic Apperception Test is another tool designed to be culturally relevant to minority groups, especially Hispanic youths. TEMAS—standing for “Tell Me a Story” but also a play on the Spanish word temas (themes)—uses images and storytelling cues that relate to minority culture (Constantino, 1982).

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Big Five Personality Traits: The 5-Factor Model of Personality

Annabelle G.Y. Lim

Psychology Graduate

BA (Hons), Psychology, Harvard University

Annabelle G.Y. Lim is a graduate in psychology from Harvard University. She has served as a research assistant at the Harvard Adolescent Stress & Development Lab.

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Saul Mcleod, PhD

Editor-in-Chief for Simply Psychology

BSc (Hons) Psychology, MRes, PhD, University of Manchester

Saul Mcleod, PhD., is a qualified psychology teacher with over 18 years of experience in further and higher education. He has been published in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Clinical Psychology.

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The Big Five Personality Traits, also known as OCEAN or CANOE, are a psychological model that describes five broad dimensions of personality: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism. These traits are believed to be relatively stable throughout an individual’s lifetime.

• Conscientiousness – impulsive, disorganized vs. disciplined, careful
• Agreeableness – suspicious, uncooperative vs. trusting, helpful
• Neuroticism – calm, confident vs. anxious, pessimistic
• Openness to Experience – prefers routine, practical vs. imaginative, spontaneous
• Extraversion – reserved, thoughtful vs. sociable, fun-loving

The Big Five remain relatively stable throughout most of one’s lifetime. They are influenced significantly by genes and the environment, with an estimated heritability of 50%. They also predict certain important life outcomes such as education and health.

Each trait represents a continuum. Individuals can fall anywhere on the continuum for each trait.

Unlike other trait theories that sort individuals into binary categories (i.e. introvert or extrovert ), the Big Five Model asserts that each personality trait is a spectrum.

Therefore, individuals are ranked on a scale between the two extreme ends of five broad dimensions:

For instance, when measuring Extraversion, one would not be classified as purely extroverted or introverted, but placed on a scale determining their level of extraversion.

By ranking individuals on each of these traits, it is possible to effectively measure individual differences in personality.

Conscientiousness

Conscientiousness describes a person’s ability to regulate impulse control to engage in goal-directed behaviors (Grohol, 2019). It measures elements such as control, inhibition, and persistence of behavior.

Facets of conscientiousness include the following (John & Srivastava, 1999):

• Dutifulness
• Achievement striving
• Self-disciplined
• Deliberation
• Incompetent
• Disorganized
• Procrastinates
• Indiscipline

Conscientiousness vs. Lack of Direction

Those who score high on conscientiousness can be described as organized, disciplined, detail-oriented, thoughtful, and careful. They also have good impulse control, which allows them to complete tasks and achieve goals.

Those who score low on conscientiousness may struggle with impulse control, leading to difficulty in completing tasks and fulfilling goals.

They tend to be more disorganized and may dislike too much structure. They may also engage in more impulsive and careless behavior.

Agreeableness

Agreeableness refers to how people tend to treat relationships with others. Unlike extraversion which consists of the pursuit of relationships, agreeableness focuses on people’s orientation and interactions with others (Ackerman, 2017).

Facets of agreeableness include the following (John & Srivastava, 1999):

• Trust (forgiving)
• Straightforwardness
• Altruism (enjoys helping)
• Sympathetic
• Insults and belittles others
• Unsympathetic
• Doesn’t care about how other people feel

Agreeableness vs. Antagonism

Those high in agreeableness can be described as soft-hearted, trusting, and well-liked. They are sensitive to the needs of others and are helpful and cooperative. People regard them as trustworthy and altruistic.

Those low in agreeableness may be perceived as suspicious, manipulative, and uncooperative. They may be antagonistic when interacting with others, making them less likely to be well-liked and trusted.

Extraversion

Extraversion reflects the tendency and intensity to which someone seeks interaction with their environment, particularly socially. It encompasses the comfort and assertiveness levels of people in social situations.

Additionally, it also reflects the sources from which someone draws energy.

Facets of extraversion include the following (John & Srivastava, 1999):

• Energized by social interaction
• Excitement-seeking
• Enjoys being the center of attention
• Prefers solitude
• Fatigued by too much social interaction
• Dislikes being the center of attention

Extraversion vs. Introversion

Those high on extraversion are generally assertive, sociable, fun-loving, and outgoing. They thrive in social situations and feel comfortable voicing their opinions. They tend to gain energy and become excited from being around others.

Those who score low in extraversion are often referred to as introverts . These people tend to be more reserved and quieter. They prefer listening to others rather than needing to be heard.

Introverts often need periods of solitude in order to regain energy as attending social events can be very tiring for them.

Of importance to note is that introverts do not necessarily dislike social events, but instead find them tiring.

Openness to Experience

Openness to experience refers to one’s willingness to try new things as well as engage in imaginative and intellectual activities. It includes the ability to “think outside of the box.”

Facets of openness include the following (John & Srivastava, 1999):

• Imaginative
• Open to trying new things
• Unconventional
• Predictable
• Not very imaginative
• Dislikes change
• Prefer routine
• Traditional

Openness vs. Closedness to Experience

Those who score high on openness to experience are perceived as creative and artistic. They prefer variety and value independence. They are curious about their surroundings and enjoy traveling and learning new things.

People who score low on openness to experience prefer routine. They are uncomfortable with change and trying new things, so they prefer the familiar over the unknown.

As they are practical people, they often find it difficult to think creatively or abstractly.

Neuroticism

Neuroticism describes the overall emotional stability of an individual through how they perceive the world. It takes into account how likely a person is to interpret events as threatening or difficult.

It also includes one’s propensity to experience negative emotions.

Facets of neuroticism include the following (John & Srivastava, 1999):

• Angry hostility (irritable)
• Experiences a lot of stress
• Self-consciousness (shy)
• Vulnerability
• Experiences dramatic shifts in mood
• Doesn”t worry much
• Emotionally stable
• Rarely feels sad or depressed

Neuroticism vs. Emotional Stability

Those who score high on neuroticism often feel anxious, insecure and self-pitying. They are often perceived as moody and irritable. They are prone to excessive sadness and low self-esteem.

Those who score low on neuroticism are more likely to calm, secure and self-satisfied. They are less likely to be perceived as anxious or moody. They are more likely to have high self-esteem and remain resilient.

Behavioral Outcomes

Relationships.

In marriages where one partner scores lower than the other on agreeableness, stability, and openness, there is likely to be marital dissatisfaction (Myers, 2011).

Neuroticism seems to be a risk factor for many health problems, including depression, schizophrenia, diabetes, asthma, irritable bowel syndrome, and heart disease (Lahey, 2009).

People high in neuroticism are particularly vulnerable to mood disorders such as depression . Low agreeableness has also been linked to higher chances of health problems (John & Srivastava, 1999).

There is evidence to suggest that conscientiousness is a protective factor against health diseases. People who score high in conscientiousness have been observed to have better health outcomes and longevity (John & Srivastava, 1999).

Researchers believe that such is due to conscientious people having regular and well-structured lives, as well as the impulse control to follow diets, treatment plans, etc.

A high score on conscientiousness predicts better high school and university grades (Myers, 2011). Contrarily, low agreeableness and low conscientiousness predict juvenile delinquency (John & Srivastava, 1999).

Conscientiousness is the strongest predictor of all five traits for job performance (John & Srivastava, 1999). A high score of conscientiousness has been shown to relate to high work performance across all dimensions.

The other traits have been shown to predict more specific aspects of job performance. For instance, agreeableness and neuroticism predict better performance in jobs where teamwork is involved.

However, agreeableness is negatively related to individual proactivity. Openness to experience is positively related to individual proactivity but negatively related to team efficiency (Neal et al., 2012).

Extraversion is a predictor of leadership, as well as success in sales and management positions (John & Srivastava, 1999).

Media Preference

Manolika (2023) examined how the Big Five personality traits relate to preferences for different genres of movies and books. The study surveyed 386 university students on their Big Five traits and preferences for 21 movie and 27 book types.

Results showed openness to experience predicted liking complex movies like documentaries and unconventional books like philosophy. This aligns with past research showing open people like cognitively challenging art (Swami & Furnham, 2019).

Conscientiousness predicted preferring informational books, while agreeableness predicted conventional genres like family movies and romance books.

Neuroticism only predicted preferring light books, not movies. Extraversion did not predict preferences, contrary to hypotheses.

Overall, the Big Five traits differentially predicted media preferences, suggesting people select entertainment that satisfies psychological needs and reflects aspects of their personalities (Rentfrow et al., 2011).

Open people prefer complex stimulation, conscientious people prefer practical content, agreeable people prefer conventional genres, and neurotic people use light books for mood regulation. Extraversion may relate more to social motivations for media use.

Critical Evaluation

Descriptor rather than a theory.

The Big Five was developed to organize personality traits rather than as a comprehensive theory of personality. Therefore, it is more descriptive than explanatory and does not fully account for differences between individuals (John & Srivastava, 1999). It also does not sufficiently provide a causal reason for human behavior.

Cross-Cultural Validity

Although the Big Five has been tested in many countries and its existence is generally supported by findings (McCrae, 2002), there have been some studies that do not support its model. Most previous studies have tested the presence of the Big Five in urbanized, literate populations.

A study by Gurven et al. (2013) was the first to test the validity of the Big Five model in a largely illiterate, indigenous population in Bolivia. They administered a 44-item Big Five Inventory but found that the participants did not sort the items in consistency with the Big Five traits.

More research on illiterate and non-industrialized populations is needed to clarify such discrepancies.

Gender Differences

Differences in the Big Five personality traits between genders have been observed, but these differences are small compared to differences between individuals within the same gender.

Costa et al. (2001) gathered data from over 23,000 men and women in 26 countries. They found that “gender differences are modest in magnitude, consistent with gender stereotypes, and replicable across cultures” (p. 328). Women reported themselves to be higher in Neuroticism, Agreeableness, Warmth (a facet of Extraversion), and Openness to Feelings compared to men. Men reported themselves to be higher in Assertiveness (a facet of Extraversion) and Openness to Ideas.

Another interesting finding was that bigger gender differences were reported in Western, industrialized countries. Researchers proposed that the most plausible reason for this finding was attribution processes.

They surmised that the actions of women in individualistic countries would be more likely to be attributed to their personality, whereas actions of women in collectivistic countries would be more likely to be attributed to their compliance with gender role norms.

Factors that Influence the Big 5

Like with all theories of personality , the Big Five is influenced by both nature and nurture . Twin studies have found that the heritability (the amount of variance that can be attributed to genes) of the Big Five traits is 40-60%.

Jang et al. (1996) conducted a study with 123 pairs of identical twins and 127 pairs of fraternal twins. They estimated the heritability of conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, openness to experience, and extraversion to be 44%, 41%, 41%, 61%, and 53%, respectively. This finding was similar to the findings of another study, where the heritability of conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, openness to experience and extraversion were estimated to be 49%, 48%, 49%, 48%, and 50%, respectively (Jang et al., 1998).

Such twin studies demonstrate that the Big Five personality traits are significantly influenced by genes and that all five traits are equally heritable. Heritability for males and females does not seem to differ significantly (Leohlin et al., 1998).

Studies from different countries also support the idea of a strong genetic basis for the Big Five personality traits (Riemann et al., 1997; Yamagata et al., 2006).

Roehrick et al. (2023) examined how Big Five traits (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, openness) and context relate to smartphone use. The study used surveys, experience sampling, and smartphone sensing to track college students’ personality, context, and hourly smartphone behaviors over one week.

They found extraverts used their phones more frequently once checked, but conscientious people were less likely to use their phone and used them for shorter durations. Smartphones were used in public, with weaker social ties, and during class/work activities. They were used less with close ties. Perceived situations didn’t relate much to use.

Most variability in use was within-person, suggesting context matters more than personality for smartphone behaviors. Comparisons showed context-explained duration of use over traits and demographics, but not frequency.

The key implication is that both personality and context are important to understanding digital behavior. Extraversion and conscientiousness were the most relevant of the Big Five for smartphone use versus non-use and degree of use. Contextual factors like location, social ties, and activities provided additional explanatory power, especially for the duration of smartphone use.

Stability of the Traits

People’s scores of the Big Five remain relatively stable for most of their life with some slight changes from childhood to adulthood. A study by Soto & John (2012) attempted to track the developmental trends of the Big Five traits.

They found that overall agreeableness and conscientiousness increased with age. There was no significant trend for extraversion overall although gregariousness decreased and assertiveness increased.

Openness to experience and neuroticism decreased slightly from adolescence to middle adulthood. The researchers concluded that there were more significant trends in specific facets (i.e. adventurousness and depression) rather than in the Big Five traits overall.

History and Background

The Big Five model resulted from the contributions of many independent researchers. Gordon Allport and Henry Odbert first formed a list of 4,500 terms relating to personality traits in 1936 (Vinney, 2018). Their work provided the foundation for other psychologists to begin determining the basic dimensions of personality.

In the 1940s, Raymond Cattell and his colleagues used factor analysis (a statistical method) to narrow down Allport’s list to sixteen traits.

However, numerous psychologists examined Cattell’s list and found that it could be further reduced to five traits. Among these psychologists were Donald Fiske, Norman, Smith, Goldberg, and McCrae & Costa (Cherry, 2019).

In particular, Lewis Goldberg advocated heavily for five primary factors of personality (Ackerman, 2017). His work was expanded upon by McCrae & Costa, who confirmed the model’s validity and provided the model used today: conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, openness to experience, and extraversion.

The model became known as the “Big Five” and has seen received much attention. It has been researched across many populations and cultures and continues to be the most widely accepted theory of personality today.

Each of the Big Five personality traits represents extremely broad categories which cover many personality-related terms. Each trait encompasses a multitude of other facets.

For example, the trait of Extraversion is a category that contains labels such as Gregariousness (sociable), Assertiveness (forceful), Activity (energetic), Excitement-seeking (adventurous), Positive emotions (enthusiastic), and Warmth (outgoing) (John & Srivastava, 1999).

Therefore, the Big Five, while not completely exhaustive, cover virtually all personality-related terms.

Another important aspect of the Big Five Model is its approach to measuring personality. It focuses on conceptualizing traits as a spectrum rather than black-and-white categories (see Figure 1). It recognizes that most individuals are not on the polar ends of the spectrum but rather somewhere in between.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is 5 really the magic number.

A common criticism of the Big Five is that each trait is too broad. Although the Big Five is useful in terms of providing a rough overview of personality, more specific traits are required to be of use for predicting outcomes (John & Srivastava, 1999).

There is also an argument from psychologists that more than five traits are required to encompass the entirety of personality.

A new model, HEXACO, was developed by Kibeom Lee and Michael Ashton, and expands upon the Big Five Model. HEXACO retains the original traits from the Big Five Model but contains one additional trait: Honesty-Humility, which they describe as the extent to which one places others’ interests above their own.

What are the differences between the Big Five and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator?

The Big Five personality traits and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) are both popular models used to understand personality. However, they differ in several ways.

The Big Five traits represent five broad dimensions of personality. Each trait is measured along a continuum, and individuals can fall anywhere along that spectrum.

In contrast, the MBTI categorizes individuals into one of 16 personality types based on their preferences for four dichotomies: extraversion/introversion, sensing/intuition, thinking/feeling, and judging/perceiving. This model assumes that people are either one type or another rather than being on a continuum.

Overall, while both models aim to describe and categorize personality, the Big Five is thought to have more empirical research and more scientific support, while the MBTI is more of a theory and often lacks strong empirical evidence.

Is it possible to improve certain Big Five traits through therapy or other interventions?

It can be possible to improve certain Big Five traits through therapy or other interventions.

For example, individuals who score low in conscientiousness may benefit from therapy that focuses on developing planning, organizational, and time-management skills. Those with high neuroticism may benefit from cognitive-behavioral therapy, which helps individuals manage negative thoughts and emotions.

Additionally, therapy such as mindfulness-based interventions may increase scores in traits such as openness and agreeableness. However, the extent to which these interventions can change personality traits long-term is still a topic of debate among psychologists.

Is it possible to have a high score in more than one Big Five trait?

Yes, it is possible to have a high score in more than one Big Five trait. Each trait is independent of the others, meaning that an individual can score high on openness, extraversion, and conscientiousness, for example, all at the same time.

Similarly, an individual can also score low on one trait and high on another. The Big Five traits are measured along a continuum, so individuals can fall anywhere along that spectrum for each trait.

Therefore, it is common for individuals to have a unique combination of high and low scores across the Big Five personality traits.

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Gurven, M., von Rueden, C., Massenkoff, M., Kaplan, H., & Lero Vie, M. (2013). How universal is the Big Five? Testing the five-factor model of personality variation among forager-farmers in the Bolivian Amazon . Journal of personality and social psychology, 104 (2), 354–370. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0030841

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Manolika, M. (2023). The Big Five and beyond: Which personality traits do predict movie and reading preferences?  Psychology of Popular Media, 12 (2), 197–206

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Myers, David G. (2011). Psychology (10th ed.) . Worth Publishers.

Neal, A., Yeo, G., Koy, A., & Xiao, T. (2012). Predicting the form and direction of work role performance from the Big 5 model of personality traits . Journal of Organizational Behavior, 33 (2), 175–192. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.742

Riemann, R., Angleitner, A., & Strelau, J. (1997). Genetic and Environmental Influences on Personality: A Study of Twins Reared Together Using the Self‐ and Peer Report NEO‐FFI Scales . Journal of Personality, 65 (3), 449-475.

Roehrick, K. C., Vaid, S. S., & Harari, G. M. (2023). Situating smartphones in daily life: Big Five traits and contexts associated with young adults’ smartphone use. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 125 (5), 1096–1118.

Soto, C. J., & John, O. P. (2012). Development of Big Five Domains and Facets in Adulthood: Mean-Level Age Trends and Broadly Versus Narrowly Acting Mechanism . Journal of Personality, 80 (4), 881–914. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.2011.00752.x

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Yamagata, S., Suzuki, A., Ando, J., Ono, Y., Kijima, N., Yoshimura, K., . . . Jang, K. (2006). Is the Genetic Structure of Human Personality Universal? A Cross-Cultural Twin Study From North America, Europe, and Asia. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90 (6), 987-998. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.90.6.987

Keep Learning

• Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)
• McCrae, R. R., & Terracciano, A. (2005). Universal features of personality traits from the observer’s perspective: data from 50 cultures. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 88 (3), 547.
• Cobb-Clark, DA & Schurer, S. The stability of big-five personality traits. Economics Letters. 2012; 115 (2): 11–15.
• Marsh, H. W., Nagengast, B., & Morin, A. J. (2013). Measurement invariance of big-five factors over the life span: ESEM tests of gender, age, plasticity, maturity, and la dolce vita effects. Developmental psychology, 49 (6), 1194.
• Power RA, Pluess M. Heritability estimates of the Big Five personality traits based on common genetic variants. Transl Psychiatry. 2015;5 :e604.
• Personality Theories Book Chapter
• The Cambridge Handbook of Personality Psychology

Personality Pedagogy

A compendium of resources for the teaching of personality psychology

Assignments, Exercises and Activities

Louis Sergent, 16, who is in his first year at high school, does his homework. Both he and his father are determined… – NARA – 541288 by Russell Lee – U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

10 Easy Activities Science Has Proven Will Make You Happier Grounded in research, these activities including practicing gratitude, controlling counter-factual thinking and others may be used to spark discussion or to introduce topics in stress, resilience, cognition, emotion, and positive psychology.

10 Fun Activities for Adjectives of Personality Originally designed for English teachers to help their students understand and describe nuances of character, this site offers 10 activities exploring adjectives helping students to describe the personality of themselves and others. Includes links to positive personality adjectives and negative personality adjectives. Good for an ice breaker or as a class exercise to introduce trait theory.

Activities Guide: Teaching Ethics in the Introduction to Psychology Course The Office of Teaching Resources in Psychology (OTRP) is pleased to announce this new resource for teachers by Ana Ruiz and Judith Warchal of Alvernia University (2013). This 23-page guide presents 17 activities related to ethics for each chapter in a typical Introduction to Psychology text as it integrates the APA Learning Goals and Outcomes for ethics into that course. For each chapter, the activity lists the student learning outcome, instructions for conducting the activity, materials needed, approximate time required, and a method of assessment. Activities most relevant to the personality class include APA Ethics code Jeopardy, Research Methods, Personality Testing, and Debating controversial topics.

Analytical Paper Marc W. Patry from Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada submitted this creative assignment in which students basically have to select and digest a study related to personality psychology and to connect it to the assigned reading, to current events, and to something about yourself. Details and grading guidelines are provided.

Art and Personality Does the art you enjoy match your personality? Research by Stian Reimers in conjunction with the BBC suggests that there is a relationship between the kind of art people prefer (e.g. Impressionism, Abstract, Japanese, Islamic, Northern Renaissance, and Cubism) and one’s personality (emotional intelligence, the five-factor model, and sensation-seeking). Click here to read more about the findings, art, personality, or to participate in this online.

Assessing Assumptions About Gender This exercise by Amy Taylor, won Honorable Mention for the 2009 Social Psychology Network Action Teaching Award. In this activity, students read a dialog between a man and a women and report their impressions of the characters. Half the class have the genders of the characters switched. According to Taylor, the objectives of this activity are to: (1) illustrate how subtle gender biases can influence social perceptions, (2) help students recognize their own implicit assumptions about gender, and (3) explore the implications these biases may have for gender equality.

Attachment Theory: Teaching Students About the Science of Romantic Attachment Nathan DeWall and David Myers describe a series of activities to help students think about attachment and why our romantic partners may get under our skin. Includes background reading, self-assessment, an out-of-class activity, and discussion topics.

Barnum Effect Feedback Take this test to remind yourself why good personality tests should provide specific feedback…and why horoscopes are so much fun! See also this explanation of the Barnum Effect.

The Bechdel Test For Media Bias According to the Feminist Frequency website by media critic Anita Sarkeesian, The Bechdel Test is a simple way to gauge the active presence of female characters in Hollywood films and just how well rounded and complete those roles are. It was created by Allison Bechdel in her comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For in 1985 . The test is: (1) Does the film have at least two [named or otherwise central character] women in it, (2) who talk to each other, (3) about something besides a man? (runs 2 minutes, 3 seconds). You and your students can use this test to see how popular movies, especially those winning Oscars or other top awards, fares. Click here for a discussion of similar tests for other types of bias in the media.

Big Five, Happiness: Beyond the Purchase From the website We know that the effects of our spending choices often last beyond the place or moment of a purchase. Sometimes those effects are beneficial, leading to enjoyment, happy memories, or feelings of belongingness. At other times those effects may be financially or emotionally detrimental. We developed Beyond The Purchase to explore happiness and the quality of life, and the outcomes of different purchasing and money-management choices, as well as the motivations behind them. Psychologist Ryan Howell and colleagues created this site to help people make more informed choices. The site features personality tests, research findings, and a special section for incorporating their ideas into your classroom including a demonstration and slides on the Big Five personality traits and teaching central tendency using the Big Five. Follow the BtP in your classroom link.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) Worksheets Free downloadable cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) worksheets, formulations, and self-help resources including blank formulations, thought records, cognitive restructuring worksheets, diaries/data gathering sheets, mechanisms, information sheets, techniques/procedures, useful tools, forgiveness tools, and formulations for specific disorders, all in PDF format.

Coming Out Exercise Barry A. Schreier of Purdue University developed this exercise to assist individuals with the experience of loss that is often associated with Coming Out. Loss can come in many ways from the loss of a job, the loss of friends and family members, the loss of autonomy, loss of affiliation with others, and so on. This exercise is used to access the vital emotional components of participants’ belief and attitude systems in the efforts of creating greater inclusivity in attitude and belief for people who are Gay, Lesbian, or Bisexual.

Conditioning at Mickey D’s “What do parents do, at a fast food restaurant, to encourage desirable behaviors and discourage undesirable behaviors? Are the principles of operant conditioning being used?” Check out Raymond Rogoway’s clever assignment for understanding and applying principles of conditioning.

Culture: Barnga This game teaches participants about inter-cultural awareness: In Barnga, participants experience the shock of realizing that despite many similarities, people of differing cultures perceive things differently or play by different rules. Players learn that they must understand and reconcile these differences if they want to function effectively in a cross-cultural group. Essentially, the game induces feelings of culture shock in the limited (and safe) environment of a classroom. Opens in PDF. Also available here.

Cultural Identity: The Cultural Circles Exercise Phani Radhakrishnan, University of Toronto, designed the Cultural Circles Exercise to help students in her Diversity in the Workplace class become more aware of cultural identity. Students discuss their own heritage and cultural background one-on-one with others in the class and identify sources of pride in their own culture.

Debriefed Stories: How to Conduct a Debriefing Discussion According to trainer and games guru Sivasailam Thiagi Thiagarajan People don’t learn from experience. They learn from reflecting on their experience. In this interactive story, he presents six questions for debriefing which facilitators can use to help participants reflect and learn from their experience. Very useful for teachers, trainers, facilitators, group leaders, and others who like to use experiential learning in their work. From the Thiagi Gameletter , October 2014.

Defense Mechanisms Randall E. Osborne, Indiana University East, first presented these two interactive exercises for the personality psychology course at the 9th Annual Conference on Undergraduate Teaching of Psychology: Ideas and Innovations, in 1995. In the second exercise, What’s my Defense Mechanism?, students must guess the defense mechanism depicted in a brief skit presented by their classmates. (In the first exercise, the Personality Collage, students and someone who knows them well each create a collage of the student’s personality. Students compare and contrast the two collages by answering various questions and come to understand the differences between self-view and other’s view of themselves.) Opens in PDF format.

Defense Mechanisms John Suler, Rider University, maintains the excellent Teaching Clinical Psychology website. For learning about defense mechanisms, he offers a handout [which] I give to students that we use to discuss some of the typical defense mechanisms. After the discussion, I break the students down into small groups so that can develop role plays that demonstrate these defenses. Instructions for these role plays are described at the end of the handout.

Extroversion and Introversion: The Eysenck Lemon Juice Experiment The BBC website provides instructions and a simple way to replicate this classic experiment.

Emotions: Spot the Fake Smile Can you tell which smiles are genuine and which are fake? Take this 10-minute test, based on the research of Paul Ekman, in which you watch brief video clips of 20 people smiling.

Erikson’s 8 Stages of Development Visit this page to see classroom activities submitted by high school and college teachers. Submit your own activities for inclusion here — or elsewhere on Personality Pedagogy — to [email protected].

Erikson’s Stages of Development Ages in Stages: An Exploration of the Life Cycle based on Erik Erikson’s Eight Stages of Human Development. Margaret Krebs-Carter designed this activity for High School English or Developmental Psychology classes and gives this description: How does age make a difference in the way we act/think/feel? Erik Erikson, the well-known teacher and psychiatrist who popularized the term “identity crisis” claims that we are greatly affected by the developmental changes that we undergo as we mature. This curriculum unit pursues the question of age differences by focusing on Erik Erikson’s theory of human development—the eight stages. Included in this unit are: 1) brief explanations of the eight stages; 2) recommended readings—short stories, plays, and novels—that illustrate the emotional crises that occur during these eight stages; 3) activities to introduce the new concepts; 4) suggestions of theoretical material for students to read; 5) a description of how to structure the classroom in order to teach a class in which group participation is encouraged.

Erikson’s Stages of Development: The Soundtrack of Your Life Describes an activity where students identify eight major events in their lives (e.g., deaths, first car, entering high school, etc.) and find songs (music and lyrics) to correspond to these events, designing an imaginary soundtrack of their lives. Students write about the experience, submit their compilations, and/or present a song to the class with an explanation of its import. Originally designed to be a writing assignment, with some additional guidance this activity can be used to illustrate narrative psychology, the self, Erikson’s stages, and other theories of personality psychology.

Necker’s cube by Me (Stevo-88) – Own work – my representation of a well known optical illusion. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

Extroversion and Introversion: The Necker Cube Experiment This brief on-line experiment, devised by the Open University in conjunction with the BBC was developed by Dr Peter Naish. Their hypothesis is that because of their varying response to stimulation, extroverts and introverts will perceive a Necker cube differently.

The Facebook Experiment: Reaction From Psychologists According to former psychology professor Michael Britt in his podcast The Psych Files : You’ve probably heard about the controversy over the Facebook manipulation of user’s News Feeds and the (possible) effect this had on user’s emotions. In the latest episode of The Psych Files I summarize the study and my conclusions about it. Also included on the website is a (large) concept map that also summarizes the study, links to references and Facebook’s official response. Also included in the map and the episode: suggestions for students regarding how a proper informed consent form might have been written and presented to students. Episode 22, July 1, 2014. Runs 33 minutes and 16 seconds.

Five Factor Model James W. Pennebaker maintains this page of a dozen or so online research projects. Most of them involve taking a brief survey or by completing short exercises. Feedback and insight into one’s personality is provided. Topics include TAT, Big Five questionnaire, perceptual style, spirituality, depression and more.

Five Factor Model: Research Tool Demonstrates How Your Facebook Likes Reveal Your Personality Eric Ravenscraft, writing for LifeHacker , discusses a tool developed by researchers at the University of Cambridge to analyze your Facebook like to reveal what people can learn about you. Click here to try it out for yourself.

Five Factor model and e-perceptions The You Just Get Me website asks visitors Do you get people, even if you just met them? Do the people in your life truly get you? Using the Five-Factor model, respondents answer 43 questions about their personality and try to guess the personality of other visitors. Based on the research of Vazire & Gosling (2004).

Freud, Sigmund: That’s My Theory! Sigmund Freud and two other personality psychologists are guests on this online game show developed by PBS. Can you discover the who the real Sigmund Freud is though the answers he gives? Can you guess who the other two guests are?

Freud, Sigmund: Wrestling with Sigmund Freud ‘Ya gotta see it to believe it.

Freud: Online Activities: Dream analysis, Word Association, Ink Blot Generator The National Museum of Science and Industry , in the UK, sponsors this amazing website on Making the Modern World , which includes learning modules on all sorts of topics. One in particular, on Measuring the Unmeasurable , aims to take the user through various aspects of psychiatry and the study of mental illness. It looks at the treatment, diagnosis and methods used in psychiatry as well as the investigation of mental illness from a historical and socio-cultural perspective. This module includes 4 pages on Sigmund Freud: Freud and Psychoanalysis, Freud’s concept of the Personality, Freud’s theory of psychosexual development, and Freudian Techniques of psychoanalysis. The module on Psychoanalysis includes online activities on dream analysis, the Word Association Test, and Ink Blot Generator.

Freudian Dream Analysis Worksheet by Chris VerWys , Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute See also the Dream Analysis Survey Results .

Gender Stereotypes: According to Jim . These days, I find that my students are a little reticent to talk about gender stereotypes, especially since my classes are often very much skewed in one direction. To help the discussion along, I like to show the episode Jim Almighty from the ABC television show According to Jim , staring Jim Belushi. In this episode Jim thinks that he can design women better than the creator did. In the course of the show, many gender stereotypes are depicted and reinforced (and some are even abandoned). I instruct my students to keep track and write down all of the stereotypes for men and for women that are mentioned in the show. I put them on the blackboard and classify them into physical, sexual, personality, social, and emotional and discuss if they are accurate, inaccurate, or an exaggeration of a true difference. I may even have the class vote on what they think the distributions look like (e.g. normal curves with a lot of overlap, a little overlap or something in between). This is a good way to set up a discussion of gender similarities and differences in personality using Hyde’s work on meta-analysis. Note that the episode, while a family situation comedy which originally aired during prime time, does make scatological and sexual references and features the actor Lee Majors playing The Almighty (stereotyped as a Texan). I offer students who think they may be offended by the set-up an alternative activity, although nobody has taken this option. In discussions with the class, even religious students find the depiction of The Almighty funny and not at all offensive, but you should review this episode before showing your class in case your students are different from mine. This episode originally aired in January of 2008, season 7 episode 1, ( S07E01 ) and is available on You Tube here (21:19). Note: If the video has been removed from You Tube, try searching for it. If you are still unable to find it, it is available for streaming from Amazon.com for $1.99 if you have an Amazon Prime Account.

Genetically Engineer Your Own Child This somewhat creepy, satirical website allows visitors to create a genetically engineered child by selecting various characteristics such as gender, eye color, and sexual orientation. Once you find out the genetic code of your offspring, you can choose to have certain characteristics and disorders altered, if you are willing to spend the money. In the process, the visitor is forced to think about the value society places on certain attributes (e.g. IQ, musical ability, sexual orientation, AIDS, ADHD and others) and the ethicality of genetic engineering. The site was created as a piece of performance art and is not a real institution despite its authentic look and feel.

Genetics: Do Your Hands Have Family Traits? Check out these two projects from Science Buddies : In these hands-on genetics projects and activities, students investigate a family pedigree to see if they can determine whether traits are dominant or recessive. Do you and some (or all) of your family members share certain physical traits? Is a widow’s peak passed down from generation to generation? Find out!

Genetics: Six Creative Ways to Teach Genetics A selection of creative ways to help students of all ages and abilities understand genes and genetic disorders. From The Guardian , September 7, 2015.

Genetics: Your Family Health History: A DNA Day Activity This PDF describes how to create a family tree or pedigree documenting medical conditions which may run in families, but you can easily adapt the activity to focus on personality traits.

Genetics and Gender Differences in Ideal Mate Selection. Scott Bates, Utah State University, does the following exercise to introduce the topic of Genetics to his students: On the second day of class, I collect data via a survey (these data provide good lecture material throughout the course). One of the questions that I ask is this: List the top three characteristics of an IDEAL MATE (a person with whom you would like to spend the rest of your life). Use adjectives. If you’ve already married (or found) your ideal mate, then list the three most important characteristics that attracted you to him/her. I then have a TA code the responses into categories (e.g., physical appearance, social status, etc). Then, when I get to the topic of genes/environment, or evolution, I introduce human mate-selection and present material on evolutionary/genetic influences. The compelling part is that I present students’ data, by category, by sex. Males have always listed physical characteristics (e.g., pretty, hot, nice looking) more often than women. Women have always listed loyalty (e.g., faithful, trustworthy) and social status (e.g., ambitious, good job prospects) more often than men. (from the PSYTEACH discussion list, January 22, 2009).

Happiness The October issue of the Thiagi Gameletter ( Seriously fun activities for trainers, facilitators, performance consultants, and managers , see their homepage here ) describes an activity (which they call a jolt ) to demonstrate how our current emotions are influenced by our thoughts about the past.

Here’s a Quick Way to Figure Out What You Should Do With Your Life, Based on Your Personality Check out this colorful flow chart, based on the work of John Holland, which asks a series of questions to help you find your ideal career. From The Muse , July 13, 2015.

Hetereosexist Bias Lesson Plan and Questionnaire The Advocates for Youth website provides this lesson plan To give straight people an opportunity to experience the types of questions that are often asked of gay, lesbian, and/or bisexual people . Students answer a questionnaire and discuss the experience in small groups. Takes about 40 minutes. Includes questions for discussion.

Heterosexual Privilege The Student Counseling Center at Texas Tech University features a number of activities, handouts and other resources on their website. In this activity, students answer 32 questions that illustrate heterosexual privilege in ways straight people do not have to think about. For example, questions range from I can, if I wish, legally marry my life partner to My sexual orientation is represented in the media and I don’t feel excluded.

Homosexuality: A Values Clarification Exercise John Suler, Rider University, maintains the excellent Teaching Clinical Psychology website. To make students aware of their preconceptions and subtle attitudes towards homosexuality, he puts 10 statements on the board and students discuss the statements in a group. He then tallies the group votes and leads the class in a discussion of their own preconceptions, along with theory and research evidence.

The Grinch (That Stole Christmas) by Source (WP:NFCC#4). Licensed under Fair use via Wikipedia

How the Grinch Stole Psychology Class After watching the 25 minute video of the classic Christmas story by Dr. Seuss, students analyze the Grinch’s personality and change of heart using theories and terms from personality including Freud, Adler, Horney, Maslow, and Rogers. A great end-of-the-semester review.

Ice Breakers and Team Builders Find tons of activities for groups for icebreaking, team building, name games, trust-building, self-awareness, multicultural awareness, and fun.

Idiogrid: Developing and managing self-report data James W. Grice of Oklahoma State University developed software for his idiographic research which he is currently offering for free to instructors and researchers. From the website: Idiogrid is software for administering, managing, and analyzing different types of self-report data [e.g. attitude scales, personality questionnaires, trait profiles, values test]. It was originally designed around George Kelly’s repertory grid technique but has been developed to include person-centered and questionnaire methodologies employed by researchers from a wide variety of domains (e.g., personality psychologists, self-concept researchers, clinical psychologists, market researchers, and sociologists). The site provides extensive support and resources for using the software for clinical, organizational and classroom demonstrations and assignments.

Intelligence Fellows of the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute developed these 12 lesson plans on Human Intelligence: Theories and Developmental Origins .

I Scream, You Scream In this exercise students learn about the importance of validity and reliability by deconstructing the Ice Cream Personality Test . Miserandino, M. (2006). I Scream, You Scream: Teaching Validity and Reliability Via the Ice Cream Personality Test. Teaching Psychology. 33(4) , 265-68. Opens in PDF.

Jung: The Shadow Exercise As part of the Teaching Clinical Psychology webpage, John Suler, Rider University, includes this exercise on the shadow. Students reflect on a person they don’t like very much and consider if the traits they dislike in another reflects traits they don’t like in themselves.

Life Story When discussing intake interviews and psychotherapy, John Suler, Rider University, point[s] out that clients engage in a process of exploring their life story, usually at first by describing the most important “facts” about themselves. In this exercise, described on his Teaching Clinical Psychology website, students write down four important facts about themselves and one lie. Others in the class read each list and the class discusses patterns which they see.

Mask-Making Activity The Archdiocese of St.Louis sponsors special programs to reach out to teens. On their REAP website they describe a mask-making activity designed to help teens: recognize the masks he/she might wear, recognize the masks that others put upon him/her [and] view other students with more compassion in regards to the masks they wear.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, including newer 7- and 8- stage models. Also includes links to PDF and MSWORD illustrations of the hierarchies.

• Hierarchy of Needs Original 5 stage model in PDF format.
• Hierarchy of Needs Modified 7-stage model from the 1970s in PDF format.
• Hierarchy of Needs Modified 8-stage model from the 1990s in PDF format.
• Self-test Quick self-test based on the 5-stage model of the hierarchy of needs in PDF format.
• Self-test Quick self-test based on the modified 8-stage model of the hierarchy of needs in PDF format.

Maslow, Abraham: That’s My Theory! Sigmund Freud and two other personality psychologists — Skinner and Maslow — are guests on this online game show developed by PBS. Learn about all three theorists through the answers they give.

Mind Habits According to the website: ‘ MindHabits is based on scientifically tested and demonstrated tools that help reduce stress and boost confidence of players using principles from the new science of social intelligence. Research demonstrated benefits from playing just five minutes each day. Give it a try for free and see if it works for you!’ Trial version is free.

Multicultural Activities Group activities to make people aware of the impact of the culture on themselves and others.

Participate in Online Research The Social Psychology Network , maintained by Scott Plous, Wesleyan University, lists over 150 web-based experiments, surveys, and other social psychological studies. Click on the section labels Personality and Individual differences to find links to studies on various topics such as the Five Factor Model, birth season, motivation, anxiety and more.

Perceptual Style James W. Pennebaker maintains this page of a dozen or so online research projects. Most of them involve taking a brief survey or by completing short exercises. Feedback and insight into one’s personality is provided. Topics include TAT, Big Five questionnaire, perceptual style, spirituality, depression and more.

Licensed under the Creative Commons

Personality Collage Randall E. Osborne, Indiana University East, first presented these two interactive exercises for the personality psychology course at the 9th Annual Conference on Undergraduate Teaching of Psychology: Ideas and Innovations, in 1995. In the Personality Collage students and someone who knows them well each create a collage of the student’s personality. Students compare and contrast the two collages by answering various questions and come to understand the differences between self-view and other’s view of themselves. (In the second exercise students must guess the defense mechanism depicted in a brief skit presented by their classmates.) Opens in PDF format.

Positive Psychology: 7-day unit plan for high school psychology Amy C. Fineburg, Homewood High School, Birmingham, Alabama, created this document for Teaching of Psychology in the Secondary Schools. Includes critical thinking activities (daily mood, satisfaction with life scale, creating flow experiences, measuring optimism, the hope scale and much more) interspersed with lesson plans for the high school psychology course.

Positive Psychology: Five -Ful Envelopes In this activity, by Barbara Frederickson, participants explore the positive emotions of hopeful, joyful, peaceful, playful, and thankful, and brainstorm ways of increasing the frequency and intensity of these positive emotions in their lives. From the January 2010 issue of the Thiagi Gameletter ( Seriously fun activities for trainers, facilitators, performance consultants, and managers , see their website here ).

Positive Reinforcement: A Self-Instructional Exercise Athabasca University devised this on-line exercise to teach students the concept of positive reinforcement and also to provide an idea of the kind of self-instructional exercises used in many Athabasca University course packages

The Religious Experience: East, West, Everywhere John Suler, Rider University, maintains the excellent Teaching Clinical Psychology website. He suggests the following exercise: Many psychologists, philosophers, and theologians talk about how some people have an intense, sudden, usually unexpected experience of a “higher reality” or “higher power” beyond what we normally experience. Some say it is the experience of “God.” Here are how William James (one of the greatest American psychologists) and D.T. Suzuki (one of the greatest Japanese Zen philosophers) described religious experiences in their cultures. Are there any similarities between east and west?

The Self: The Soundtrack of Your Life Describes an activity where students identify eight major events in their lives (e.g., deaths, first car, entering high school, etc.) and find songs (music and lyrics) to correspond to these events, designing an imaginary soundtrack of their lives. Students write about the experience, submit their compilations, and/or present a song to the class with an explanation of its import. Originally designed to be a writing assignment, with some additional guidance this activity can be used to illustrate narrative psychology, the self, Erikson’s stages, and other theories of personality psychology.

Self-Esteem Games Mark Baldwin and his colleagues at McGill University have developed games to help people increase their self-esteem based on psychological research. Visit this site to play one of three self-esteem games, to participate in their online research or to learn more about what they do.

Sex and the Brain From the BBC sponsored website: Find out more about “brain sex” differences by taking the Sex ID test, a series of visual challenges and questions used by psychologists in the BBC One television series Secrets of the Sexes . Get a brain sex profile and find out if you think like a man or a woman, see if you can gaze into someone’s eyes and know what they’re thinking, find out why scientists are interested in the length of your fingers, see how your results relate to theories about brain sex.

Sexual Orientation: The Complexity of Sexual Orientation The Understanding Prejudice website has a special section on college classroom activities. In this activity, students fill out a Sexual Orientation Identification sheet (on the website) which describes the behaviors and attractions of various hypothetical people. Students must decide if the person described is lesbian, gay, bisexual, or straight. The items are designed to provoke differences of opinion to spark a discussion as to what defines sexual orientation: behavior, desire, self-identification, or some combination of all three. Includes discussion questions.

Sexual Trichotomy Model An explanation of the trichotomy of sexual identity, sexual behavior, and sexual orientation. Students discuss how this trichtomy might apply to 6 hypothetical people and in the process discover how sexuality is fluid and how a person’s identity, orientation and behavior can change throughout life.

Skinner, B.F.: That’s My Theory! Sigmund Freud and two other personality psychologists — Skinner and Maslow — are guests on this online game show developed by PBS. Learn about all three theorists through the answers they give.

Teaching Students About How Simple, Positive Activities Can Increase Well-Being Nathan DeWall and David G. Myers offer their advice and guidance about teaching an area of research recently highlighted in Current Directions of Psychological Science . In this column for the May/June 2013 APS Observer they discuss numerous classroom activities to illustrate the effect—how simple activities can increase well-being—and spark discussion.

Teaching Students About the Sunny Side of Stress Nathan DeWall and David G. Myers offer their advice and guidance about teaching an area of research recently highlighted in Current Directions of Psychological Science . In this column for the May/June 2013 APS Observer they discuss how people can use arousal reappraisal to lessen the experience of stress in both mind and body.

Thematic Apperception Test James W. Pennebaker maintains this page of a dozen or so online research projects. Most of them involve taking a brief survey or by completing short exercises. Feedback and insight into one’s personality is provided. Topics include TAT, Big Five questionnaire, perceptual style, spirituality, depression and more.

Theorists Table See how the work of 32 major personality theorists — from Adler to Zuckerman with Freud, Maslow, McAdams , and Skinner in between — relates to the Five Factor Model. Includes references and links.

The Trait Paper Assignment: Fostering Critical Thinking in Personality Psychology . (Also available here). Hittner, J. B. (1999). Fostering critical thinking in personalty psychology. Journal of Instructional Psychology, 26, 92-97. From the abstract: A personality trait-based term paper assignment that is appropriate for use in personality psychology courses and that is designed to foster critical thinking skills is introduced. The extent to which the trait questions correspond to generic critical thinking questions is considered, the specific thinking skills induced by each trait question are discussed, and potential limitations of the assignment are noted. Preliminary data are also presented which suggest that the trait-based term paper assignment stimulates critical thinking and enhances knowledge about personality traits. It is hoped that the ideas presented and issues discussed in the present article will encourage academic psychologists from all subdisciplines to develop writing assignments that foster critical thinking skills. This assignment is not rooted in a particular model of traits and so is adaptable to any model.

Validity and Reliability Mark Mitchell and Janina Jolley for the Research Design Explained website provide these materials for students to administer a pencil-and-paper version of the Ice Cream Personality Test to a friend. Based on Miserandino, M. (2006). I scream, you scream: Teaching validity and reliability via the ice cream personality test. Teaching of Psychology, 33 , 265-268.

Want to Be Happier Right Now? The Think Positive! Experiment Reflecting on the 3 best events over the course of a week, as opposed to the three worst, colors our overall judgement of how the week was.

What’s In A Name? First Day of Class Ice Breaker What’s in a name? John Suler, Rider University, suggests this ice breaker in his Teaching Clinical Psychology website. Students state their name, and explain how they got their name. This is an especially powerful exercise for small classes or for classes where students work closely with each other over the course of a semester.

Who Am I? – Famous Psychologists Quiz Test your knowledge of important figures in psychology with this quiz. The expert level has 13 questions, which increase in difficultly. Ten of the questions are about personality psychologists including: Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Karen Horney and Erik Erickson.

Why? A Happiness Activity The September (2008) issue of the Thiagi Gameletter ( Seriously fun activities for trainers, facilitators, performance consultants, and managers , see http://www.thiagi.com/ ) describes a series of Happiness Activities as part of their Tool Kit to demonstrate how most of our current goals when reduced to their most fundamental form — by repeatedly asking the question Why? have happiness at its core.

Why Self-Control and Grit Matter —- And Why It Pays to Know the Difference C. Nathan DeWall , writing for the Teaching Current Directions in Psychological Science column in the APS Observer , presents this five-minute activity on the Duckworth and Gross (2014) study of Self-Control and Grit.

Personality Change, Delusional Friend, and Unethical Therapy Psychology In Seattle Podcast

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Dr Kirk Honda answers patron emails and takes random psychological tests. From our sponsor, BetterHelp: Need a therapist? Try BetterHelp! https://www.betterhelp.com/kirkGet started today and enjoy 10% off your first month. Discount code “KIRK" will be automatically applied. 00:00 How does recognizing our attachment style influence us? 07:23 Is BPD only treatable through psychiatry & medication? 14:00 Is the Hero Journey Club therapy? 27:34 OPP 30:05 How can I support a friend with delusions? 41:35 Has Dr. Kirk experienced the loss of a mentor relationship? 55:30 OPP2 58:24 What could cause a personality change? Become a member: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOUZWV1DRtHtpP2H48S7iiw/join Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/PsychologyInSeattle Email: https://www.psychologyinseattle.com/contact Website: https://www.psychologyinseattle.com Merch: https://teespring.com/stores/psychology-in-seattle Cameo: https://www.cameo.com/kirkhonda Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/psychologyinseattle/ Facebook Official Page: https://www.facebook.com/PsychologyInSeattle/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@kirk.honda April 12, 2024 The Psychology In Seattle Podcast ® Trigger Warning: This episode may include topics such as assault, trauma, and discrimination. If necessary, listeners are encouraged to refrain from listening and care for their safety and well-being. Disclaimer: The content provided is for educational, informational, and entertainment purposes only. Nothing here constitutes personal or professional consultation, therapy, diagnosis, or creates a counselor-client relationship. Topics discussed may generate differing points of view. If you participate (by being a guest, submitting a question, or commenting) you must do so with the knowledge that we cannot control reactions or responses from others, which may not agree with you or feel unfair. Your participation on this site is at your own risk, accepting full responsibility for any liability or harm that may result. Anything you write here may be used for discussion or endorsement of the podcast. Opinions and views expressed by the host and guest hosts are personal views. Although, we take precautions and fact check, they should not be considered facts and the opinions may change. Opinions posted by participants (such as comments) are not those of the hosts. Readers should not rely on any information found here and should perform due diligence before taking any action. For a more extensive description of factors for you to consider, please see www.psychologyinseattle.com

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Resources: Discussions and Assignments

Assignment: personality—blirtatiousness.

Based on your reading of the Psychology in Real Life activity on Blirtatiousness , explain the following terms as they relate to the blirtatiousness questionnaire:

• convergent validity
• discriminant validity
• criterion validity
• predictive validity

Give examples from the study as to how these types of validity were examined in the Blirt test.

Finally, think of another way, not mentioned in the reading, that experimenters could test the validity of the Blirt test. What type of validity would you be testing? What would you expect the results of your validity test to be? Explain.

• Assignment: Personalityu2014Blirtatiousness. Provided by : Lumen Learning. License : CC BY: Attribution

Personality Disorders

5 common misconceptions about schizoid personality disorder, when your main way of staying safe is to hide, it is easy to be misunderstood..

Posted April 13, 2024 | Reviewed by Gary Drevitch

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• Find a counsellor who understands personality disorders
• Schizoid personality disorder is not the same as schizophrenia or other disorders that start with "schizo."
• People with schizoid personality disorder feel unsafe around other people and lack a sense of basic trust.
• Most schizoid defenses involve emotionally and physically distancing from other people.
• People with schizoid personality disorder try to solve their problems by themselves and rarely ask for help.

Most people that I meet have never heard of schizoid personality disorder ( SPD ). And if they have heard the word “schizoid,” they do not have an accurate understanding of what the term means.

Schizoid personality disorder (SPD) is a fairly common disorder that is characterized by a severe lack of trust in others and the use of emotional and physical distancing to create a sense of safety. SPD gets underdiagnosed because most people with it go out of their way to look normal and blend in. This is in marked contrast to people with more dramatic and obvious types of personality disorders , such as borderline or narcissistic personality disorders, who often create problems for those around them.

Note: I am using the terms schizoid and SPD as shorthand for someone who qualifies for a full diagnosis of schizoid personality disorder.

People with SPD are very private and do their best to handle their problems on their own. They do not usually draw attention to themselves. They are much more likely to hide their problems from others than to ask anyone for help. They are likely to appear somewhat introverted.

Some of the ways my schizoid clients cope with their need for safety include:

• Substituting a rich fantasy life for actual relationships.
• Living alone.
• Keeping an emotional and physical distance from others.
• Dissociating from their body or their emotions when stressed .
• Building a life in which they are as self-sufficient as possible.

Schizoid personality disorder is believed to start before age four, when a child's personality is still forming. While certain people may have genetic traits that make it easier for them to develop schizoid issues, my schizoid clients have had difficult childhoods that included some combination of abuse, neglect, indifference, lack of attunement, or extreme intrusiveness.

As a result of these experiences, people with SPD grow up to believe that everyone is like their parents and that no one can be trusted. Many of my clients report that at around age seven they concluded that they could only depend on themselves.

Common Misconceptions About Schizoid Personality Disorder

1. Schizoid is the same thing as schizophrenia. I find that many people mistakenly assume that the word schizoid refers to schizophrenia. This is probably due to schizophrenia often being part of the plot in movies and television shows, while schizoid personality disorder is not mentioned. They may also have heard the word “schizo” thrown around as synonymous with a "crazy" person (“He’s a real schizo.”).

It is unfortunate that so many different mental health diagnoses start with the prefix “schizo”—schizoid, schizotypal, schizophrenia, and schizoaffective. “Schizo” is actually a Latinized version of a Greek word meaning “split.”

Schizophrenia is not a personality disorder. It is a serious psychotic disorder that has a strong genetic component. In studies of identical (monozygotic) twins , if one develops schizophrenia, the other has about a 48% chance of developing it as well—even if the twins are not raised together (Gottesman, 1991). This contrasts with the 1% chance of developing schizophrenia that most people have. And, unlike SPD, which starts in early childhood , schizophrenia usually shows up in the late teens in males and a few years later in females. Schizophrenia is not driven by inadequate parenting and can be treated with medications.

2. People with SPD do not feel emotions. People with SPD do feel emotions. They actually feel more emotions than they can handle. As a result, at some point in their childhood, perhaps while they were being abused and could not physically leave, they learned to dissociate from their body and their feelings and go away to a safe place in their head. In that dissociated state, they cannot feel their emotions, although normally they can.

Another thing that contributes to the mistaken belief that people with SPD do not feel emotions is that schizoid individuals are very private and do not want other people to know what they are feeling. Most are quite good at masking their emotions. They hide their real feelings deep inside while showing the world a normal-seeming false self. Unless someone with SPD confides in you, you are highly unlikely to recognize that they are schizoid.

3. People with SPD do not want an intimate relationship. Everyone I know with SPD has yearned for a close, safe, intimate, and loving relationship. The problem is that they do not feel safe around other people. They have no basic trust. They are afraid that if they lower their defenses and get close to someone, they will become trapped, abused, and taken advantage of in some way, the way they may have been as a child.

As a result, people with SPD may be afraid of being drawn into a serious romantic relationship that otherwise has no impediment to going forward. Many become so frightened that they either stay and dissociate from their emotions or physically distance themselves in order to feel safer—even when they are in a great relationship with a compatible partner.

I have had schizoid clients whose yearning for intimacy and a family was stronger than their fear . One is now married with a child and is an excellent father. His wife has no idea that he struggled for years with SPD due to childhood abuse. When I first met him, he spent most of his time in a dissociated state fantasizing about unavailable women. He worked very hard in therapy and had good results.

4. People with Schizoid PD are dangerous. I have been treating people with SPD for over 40 years; none of them were dangerous. Most of my schizoid clients are hardworking, sensitive people who try to avoid any form of angry interchange. They generally want to be let alone and are unlikely to pick fights.

The reality is that my most dangerous clients were malignant narcissists, and my schizoid clients were the least dangerous.

So why do they get stigmatized as dangerous? Partly it's because some serial killers have been described as possessing schizoid traits because they were loners—but that is different than qualifying for a diagnosis of SPD.

5. There is no psychotherapy treatment for Schizoid PD. There are a number of useful approaches to the therapy of people with schizoid personality disorder. The ones I believe are most effective are based on the work of British Object Relations theorists such as Harry Guntrip (1901-1975).

I have found Ralph Klein’s approach to SPD the most generally useful. He was the Director of Training of The Masterson Institute when personality theorist James F. Masterson was still alive. Klein incorporated and expanded on Guntrip’s insights and developed a highly effective approach to treating SPD in line with Masterson’s developmental, self, and object relations approach to personality disorders. I still use and teach Klein’s methods today (Klein, 1995, Guntrip, 1969).

Klein also explained that it is fairly common for people with SPD to never come for psychotherapy because they manage to find an adaptation to their disorder that gives them enough human contact without triggering their need to isolate themselves. If they marry, they may use their work as a way to avoid feeling trapped in the relationship. Many take jobs that require them to be away for weeks at a time. Others may take a lover on the side to dilute marital intimacy.

The psychotherapy of people with SPD tends to be slow because of their lack of basic trust, but motivated clients with schizoid personality disorder can benefit from appropriate psychotherapy. No single treatment that works for every person with SPD; all treatments need to be adapted to the specific needs of the client.

Why do people think SPD is less common than it is?

Highly functional people with SPD who are doing well in life rarely come for psychotherapy. And the DSM-5 , the diagnostic manual used for insurance coding in the U.S., contributes to the confusion around SPD because its method of diagnosis relies on descriptions of visible symptoms. Therefore, its example of SPD fits only the lowest functioning individuals, those who cannot muster a convincing “false self.”

Schizoid personality disorder is one of the less well-known personality disorders because people with it rarely create problems for those around them. Most people with SPD never come for psychotherapy because they manage to find a compromise between their need for interpersonal safety and having a reasonably satisfying life. Unfortunately, the usual descriptions of people with SPD are based on the lowest-functioning group, whose problems are more obvious. Most people with SPD walk among us and work alongside us without ever being recognized as having a personality disorder.

To find a therapist, visit the Psychology Today Therapy Directory .

Gottesman II, (1991). Schizophrenia Genesis: The Origins of Madness. W H Freeman/Times Books/Henry Holt & Co.

Klein, R. (1995). The self in exile: A developmental, self, and Object Relations approach to the schizoid disorder of the self. In J.F. Masterson & R. Klein (eds.), Disorders of the Self: New therapeutic horizons—The Masterson approach (Chapters 1–7, pp. 3–142). New York: Brunner/Mazel.

Elinor Greenberg, Ph.D., is a Gestalt therapy trainer who specializes in teaching the diagnosis and treatment of Borderline, Narcissistic, and Schizoid adaptations.

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