Self and Personality

2.1 Core concepts

We constantly engage in knowing and evaluating our own behaviour and that of others; psychologists use the notion of self to address some of these questions, and the notion of personality to address why people are different and react differently in similar situations. "Both these concepts, i.e. self and personality are intimately related. Self, in fact, lies at the core of personality" (NCERT §Self and Personality, Introduction, p. 24). The study of self and personality helps us understand both our uniqueness and our similarities with others.

Self and Personality (NCERT §Self and Personality, p. 24) refer to "the characteristic ways in which we define our existence." From common observation, different people hold different ideas about themselves — these represent the self of a person. Different people behave in different ways in a given situation, but the behaviour of a particular person from one situation to another generally remains fairly stable — such a relatively stable pattern represents the "personality" of that person.

Concept of Self (NCERT §Concept of Self, p. 25): a newborn child has no idea of self; the idea emerges and its formation begins as the child grows. Parents, friends, teachers and other significant persons play a vital role in shaping a child's ideas about self. "Self refers to the totality of an individual's conscious experiences, ideas, thoughts and feelings with regard to herself or himself." These experiences and ideas define existence at both personal and social levels. Self as Subject and Self as Object are distinguished: when we say "I know who I am", the self is described both as a 'knower' (subject — actively engaging in knowing) and as something that can be 'known' (object — observed and comes to be known). This dual status of self must always be kept in mind.

Personal identity vs Social identity (NCERT p. 25): Personal identity refers to "those attributes of a person that make her/him different from others" — name (I am Sanjana or Karim), qualities (I am honest or hardworking), capabilities (I am a singer or dancer), beliefs (I am a believer in God or destiny). Social identity refers to "those aspects of a person that link her/him to a social or cultural group" — Hindu, Muslim, Brahmin, adivasi, North Indian or South Indian.

Kinds of Self (NCERT pp. 25–26) — three forms emerge through interactions with physical and socio-cultural environments. The biological self is first noticed when the newborn cries for milk on the basis of reflex — later this becomes awareness "I am hungry" (you may feel hungry for chocolate, an Eskimo may not). The personal self orients the individual primarily toward concerns of oneself — personal freedom, personal responsibility, personal achievement, personal comforts. The social self / familial / relational self emerges in relation with others and emphasises cooperation, unity, affiliation, sacrifice, support and sharing — it values family and social relationships.

Cognitive and Behavioural Aspects of Self (NCERT pp. 26–28). Self-concept is "the way we perceive ourselves and the ideas we hold about our competencies and attributes." It operates at general level (positive or negative overall view) and at more specific levels (a person may have a positive view of athletic bravery but a negative view of academic talents; positive about reading ability but negative about mathematical skills). The most frequent method to find an individual's self-concept is to ask the person about herself/himself.

Self-esteem "is the value judgment of a person about herself/himself" — some people have high self-esteem, others low. Assessment uses statements like "I am good at homework", "I am the one usually chosen for the games", "I am highly liked by my peers" and asks the child the extent to which each is true. Studies indicate that by the age of 6 to 7 years children seem to have formed self-esteem in at least four areas — academic competence, social competence, physical/athletic competence, and physical appearance. With age these refine and combine into an overall sense of self-esteem. Children with high academic self-esteem perform better in schools; children with high social self-esteem are more liked by peers. Children with low self-esteem in all areas often display anxiety, depression and antisocial behaviour. Warm and positive parenting helps the development of high self-esteem; children whose parents make decisions for them when they don't need assistance often suffer from low self-esteem.

Self-efficacy is "another important aspect of our self." People differ in the extent to which they believe they themselves control their life outcomes or that outcomes are controlled by luck or fate or other situational factors. "A person who believes that s/he has the ability or behaviours required by a particular situation demonstrates high self-efficacy." The notion is based on Bandura's social learning theory — observing and imitating others. Strong self-efficacy allows people to select, influence and even construct the circumstances of their own life; people with a strong sense also feel less fearful. Self-efficacy can be developed; positive models presented by society, parents and personal experience help its development during formative years.

Self-regulation "refers to our ability to organise and monitor our own behaviour." People able to change their behaviour according to demands of the external environment are high on self-monitoring. Many situations require resistance to situational pressures and control over ourselves — possible through 'will power'. Learning to delay or defer the gratification of needs is called self-control, which plays a key role in fulfilment of long-term goals. Indian cultural tradition provides effective mechanisms for developing self-control — fasting in vrata or roza, and non-attachment with worldly things. Three psychological techniques of self-control are suggested: (1) Observation of own behaviour — provides necessary information to change, modify or strengthen aspects of self; (2) Self-instruction — we instruct ourselves to do something and behave the way we want; quite effective in self-regulation; (3) Self-reinforcement — rewarding behaviours that have pleasant outcomes (you may go see a movie with friends if you have done well in an examination).

Culture and Self (NCERT p. 28). Analysis in the Indian cultural context reveals features distinct from the Western. The most important distinction is how the boundary between self and other is drawn. In the Western view, this boundary appears to be relatively fixed; in the Indian view, it is characterised by shifting nature — at one moment the self expands to fuse with the cosmos or include others; at the next moment it withdraws to focus on personal needs or goals. The Western view holds clear dichotomies between self and other, man and nature, subjective and objective; the Indian view does not. Fig. 2.1 (p. 28) illustrates this with the Western Perspective showing two separate triangles (Individual ↔ Group with arrows between) and the Indian Perspective showing the Individual nested concentrically within Group with fluid arrows. In Western culture the self and group exist as two different entities — individual members maintain individuality; in Indian culture the self generally is not separated from one's own group — both remain in harmonious co-existence. That is why Western cultures are characterised as individualistic and many Asian cultures as collectivistic.

Concept of Personality (NCERT §Concept of Personality, pp. 28–29). The term derives from the Latin word persona — "the mask used by actors in the Roman theatre for changing their facial make-up." After putting on the mask, audience expected the person to perform a role in a particular manner — though it did not mean the actor necessarily possessed those qualities. For laypersons, personality often refers to physical/external appearance — "good-looking" assumed to mean "charming personality" — but this is superficial. In psychological terms, "personality refers to our characteristic ways of responding to individuals and situations." Catchwords (shy, sensitive, quiet, concerned, warm) refer to different components. Personality refers to unique and relatively stable qualities characterising an individual's behaviour across different situations over a period of time. Consistency in behaviour, thought and emotion across situations and across time periods characterises personality (an honest person remains honest irrespective of time or situation). Situational variations do occur — they help individuals adapt to environmental circumstances. Four features characterise personality: (1) it has both physical and psychological components; (2) its expression in behaviour is fairly unique in a given individual; (3) its main features do not easily change with time; (4) it is dynamic in that some features may change due to internal or external situational demands.

Box 2.1 — Personality-related Terms (p. 29) distinguishes: Temperament = biologically based characteristic way of reacting; Trait = stable, persistent and specific way of behaving; Disposition = tendency of a person to react to a given situation in a particular way; Character = the overall pattern of regularly occurring behaviour; Habit = over-learned modes of behaving; Values = goals and ideals that are considered important and worthwhile to achieve.

Type Approaches (NCERT pp. 30–31) attempt to categorise people into broad patterns. Hippocrates proposed a typology based on fluid or humour, classifying people into sanguine, phlegmatic, melancholic and choleric. In India, Charak Samhita classifies people into vata, pitta and kapha on the basis of three humoral elements called tridosha — each refers to a type of temperament called prakriti (basic nature). There is also a typology based on the trigunas — sattva guna includes cleanliness, truthfulness, dutifulness, detachment, discipline; rajas guna includes intensive activity, desire for sense gratification, dissatisfaction, envy, materialistic mentality; tamas guna characterises anger, arrogance, depression, laziness, helplessness. All three gunas are present in everyone in different degrees; dominance of one may lead to a particular type of behaviour. Sheldon's body-build typology (NCERT p. 31): Endomorphic (fat, soft, round; relaxed and sociable), Mesomorphic (rectangular with strong musculature; energetic and courageous), Ectomorphic (thin, long and fragile body; brainy, artistic and introvert). These body typologies are simple, limited in predictive use, and more like stereotypes. Jung's typology groups people into introverts (prefer to be alone, avoid others, withdraw under emotional conflict, shy) and extraverts (sociable, outgoing, drawn to occupations dealing directly with people, react to stress by trying to lose themselves among people). Friedman and Rosenman, trying to identify psychosocial risk factors, classified individuals into Type-A (high motivation, lack patience, feel short of time, hurried, always burdened with work — more susceptible to hypertension and coronary heart disease (CHD), with risk sometimes greater than high blood pressure, high cholesterol or smoking) and Type-B (absence of Type-A traits). Morris extended this with Type-C (cooperative, unassertive, patient, suppress negative emotions, comply with authority — prone to cancer) and more recently Type-D (characterised by proneness to depression).

Trait Approaches (NCERT pp. 31–33) are concerned with characterising basic components of personality, trying to discover the 'building blocks'. A trait is "a relatively enduring attribute or quality on which one individual differs from another." Traits are relatively stable, generally consistent across situations, and their strengths/combinations vary across individuals. Allport's Trait Theory: Gordon Allport is the pioneer; he proposed individuals possess a number of traits, dynamic in nature, that determine behaviour. Allport analysed words in English to look for trait descriptors and categorised them into cardinal traits (highly generalised dispositions — Mahatma Gandhi's non-violence and Hitler's Nazism — around which entire life seems to revolve; often give rise to identities like the 'Gandhian' or 'Hitlerian' trait), central traits (warm, sincere, diligent — used in writing testimonial or job recommendations), and secondary traits (least generalised — "likes mangoes" or "prefers ethnic clothes"). Allport considered traits as intervening variables between stimulus situation and response.

Cattell: Personality Factors: Raymond Cattell believed in a common structure on which people differ; he applied a statistical technique called factor analysis to discover common structures. He found 16 primary or source traits — the source traits are stable and considered the building blocks of personality. Besides these are a number of surface traits that result from interaction of source traits. He described source traits in terms of opposing tendencies and developed a test called the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16 PF) widely used by psychologists.

Eysenck's Theory: H. J. Eysenck proposed personality could be reduced to two broad biologically and genetically based dimensions, each subsuming specific traits. (1) Neuroticism vs Emotional Stability — refers to how much control people have over feelings; at one extreme are neurotics (anxious, moody, touchy, restless, lose control); at the other are calm, even-tempered, reliable, controlled people. (2) Extraversion vs Introversion — degree of social outgoing-ness; extreme extraverts are active, gregarious, impulsive, thrill-seeking; extreme introverts are passive, quiet, cautious, reserved. Eysenck later proposed a third dimension, Psychoticism vs Sociability, which interacts with the first two — high psychoticism scorers are hostile, egocentric, antisocial. The Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) is the test used.

Box 2.2 — Five-Factor Model (Big Five) (NCERT p. 33): Paul Costa and Robert McCrae examined all possible traits; findings indicate a set of five factors, often called Big Five Factors: (1) Openness to experience — imaginative, curious, open to new ideas, interested in cultural pursuits (rigid on the opposite); (2) Extraversion — socially active, assertive, outgoing, talkative, fun-loving (shy on opposite); (3) Agreeableness — helpful, co-operative, friendly, caring, nurturing (hostile, self-centered on opposite); (4) Neuroticism — emotionally unstable, anxious, worried, fearful, distressed, irritable, hypertensive (well-adjusted on opposite); (5) Conscientiousness — achievement-oriented, dependable, responsible, prudent, hardworking, self-controlled (impulsive on opposite). The Big Five is "the most promising empirical approach", consistent across cultures and supported by multiple methods.

Psychodynamic Approach (NCERT pp. 33–37) owes largely to Sigmund Freud. Early in his career he used hypnosis; he later developed free association (asking a person to openly share thoughts, feelings and ideas), dream analysis and analysis of errors to understand internal functioning of the mind. Levels of Consciousness — three levels: conscious (thoughts, feelings, actions people are aware of), preconscious (mental activity that may become aware only with close attention) and unconscious (mental activity people are unaware of — a reservoir of instinctual/animal drives, repressed ideas and wishes). Freud developed psychoanalysis — therapy aimed at bringing repressed unconscious materials to consciousness, helping people live in a more self-aware and integrated manner.

Structure of Personality (Fig. 2.2, p. 34): three structural elements that reside in the unconscious as forces — Id, Ego, Superego. Id is "the source of a person's instinctual energy"; it deals with immediate gratification of primitive needs, sexual desires and aggressive impulses; works on the pleasure principle (people seek pleasure and avoid pain); does not care for moral values, society or other individuals. Ego grows out of the id and seeks to satisfy instinctual needs in accordance with reality — it works on the reality principle and often directs the id toward more appropriate ways of behaving (the boy who wants ice-cream is told by his ego that grabbing without asking may be punished — asking permission is better). Superego is "the moral branch of mental functioning" — tells id and ego whether gratification is ethical; helps control id by internalising the parental authority through socialisation (asking the mother for the ice-cream creates no guilt). The relative strength of id, ego and superego determines each person's stability. Freud also assumed two instinctual forces — life instinct and death instinct — paying less attention to the latter and focusing on life/sexual instinct. The instinctual life force that energises the id is called libido, which works on the pleasure principle.

Ego Defence Mechanisms (NCERT pp. 35–36): "Defence mechanism is a way of reducing anxiety by distorting reality." Some defence is normal/adaptive; people who use mechanisms to such an extent that reality is truly distorted develop maladjustment. Repression is the most important — "anxiety-provoking behaviours or thoughts are totally dismissed by the unconscious." When people repress a feeling, they become totally unaware ("I do not know why I did that"). Projection — people attribute their own traits to others (a person with strong aggressive tendencies may see other people as excessively aggressive). Denial — refusing to accept reality (someone with HIV/AIDS may altogether deny illness). Reaction formation — defending against anxiety by adopting behaviours opposite to true feelings; a person with strong sexual urges who channels energy into religious fervour is a classical example. Rationalisation — making unreasonable feelings or behaviour seem reasonable (a student who buys new pens after performing poorly: "I will do better with these pens").

Stages of Personality Development — Five-Stage Theory (Psychosexual) (NCERT pp. 36–37): core aspects are established early and remain stable; problems at any stage may arrest development. Oral Stage — newborn's instincts focused on the mouth; pleasure through feeding, thumb sucking, biting, babbling; basic feelings about the world established here. An adult who considers the world a bitter place probably had difficulty here. Anal Stage — around ages 2–3 the child learns to respond to society's demands; one principal demand is controlling urination and defecation. The conflict is between id (babyish pleasure) and ego (demand for adult, controlled behaviour). Phallic Stage — focuses on genitals; at ages 4–5 children realise male-female differences. The male child experiences the Oedipus Complex (love for mother, hostility toward father, fear of punishment/castration). For girls, the complex is called the Electra Complex — after Electra, a Greek character who induced her brother to kill their mother. The girl symbolically tries to marry the father, realises this is unlikely, then identifies with mother. The critical component in resolving Oedipus/Electra is identification with the same-sex parent. Latency Stage — about seven years until puberty; sexual urges relatively inactive; energy channelled into social or achievement-related activities. Genital Stage — person attains maturity in psychosexual development; deals with members of the opposite sex in a socially and sexually mature way. Failure at any stage leads to fixation (arrested development at an earlier stage — a child failing to resolve the Oedipus complex may remain hostile to females) or regression (taking a person back to an earlier stage — displaying behaviours typical of a less mature stage).

Post-Freudian Approaches (NCERT pp. 37–38). Carl Jung — Aims and Aspirations: developed his own analytical psychology. Personality consists of competing forces and structures within the individual (rather than between individual and society as Freud held). Jung claimed there was a collective unconscious consisting of archetypes or primordial images — not individually acquired but inherited; God or Mother Earth are examples; found in myths, dreams and arts of all mankind. Jung held that the self strives for unity and oneness, an archetype expressed in many ways. Karen Horney — Optimism: another disciple who departed from Freud; emphasised human growth and self-actualisation. Her major contribution lies in her challenge to Freud's treatment of women as inferior — each sex has attributes to be admired by the other and neither is superior or inferior. She argued women's psychological problems are more likely shaped by social and cultural factors than biological. Psychological disorders are caused by disturbed interpersonal relationship during childhood; when parents' behaviour is indifferent, discouraging or erratic, the child feels insecure and a feeling called basic anxiety results, with deep resentment toward parents or basic hostility. Alfred Adler — Lifestyle and Social Interest: known as individual psychology. Human behaviour is purposeful and goal-directed; each person has the capacity to choose and create. Personal goals are the sources of motivation, providing security in overcoming feelings of inadequacy. In Adler's view, every individual suffers from feelings of inadequacy and guilt — the inferiority complex arising in childhood — overcoming which is essential for optimal personality development. Erich Fromm — The Human Concerns: in contrast to Freud's biological orientation, developed his theory from a social orientation — viewing humans as social beings understandable in terms of relationships with others. Psychological qualities of growth and realisation of potentials result from a desire for freedom and a striving for justice and truth. Character traits develop from experiences with others; culture is shaped by society's mode of existence, and dominant traits work as forces shaping social processes. Erik Erikson — Search for Identity: stresses rational, conscious ego processes; development is a lifelong process and ego identity is granted a central place. His concept of identity crisis of adolescent age has drawn considerable attention — young people must generate a central perspective and direction giving a meaningful sense of unity and purpose.

NCERT lists four major criticisms of psychodynamic theories: (1) largely based on case studies, lacking rigorous scientific basis; (2) use small, atypical samples for generalisation; (3) concepts not properly defined and difficult to submit to scientific testing; (4) Freud used males as prototype, overlooking female experiences (p. 38).

Behavioural Approach (NCERT p. 39): does not give importance to internal dynamics; behaviourists focus on data that are definable, observable and measurable. They focus on learning of stimulus-response connections and their reinforcement. According to them, "personality can be best understood as the response of an individual to the environment." Development is simply a change in response characteristics. For most behaviourists, the structural unit of personality is the response. Each response is a behaviour emitted to satisfy a specific need. The core tendency organising behaviour is reduction of biological or social needs, accomplished through responses that are reinforced. Three classical learning theories are invoked: classical conditioning (Pavlov), instrumental conditioning (Skinner) and observational learning (Bandura).

Cultural Approach (NCERT pp. 39–40) attempts to understand personality in relation to features of ecological and cultural environment. A group's 'economic maintenance system' plays a vital role in cultural and behavioural variations. Climatic conditions, terrain and availability of flora and fauna determine economic activities, settlement patterns, social structures, division of labour and child-rearing. These constitute a child's overall learning environment. NCERT compares two cases: The Birhor of Jharkhand — a tribal group living in forests and mountainous regions with hunting and gathering as primary livelihood; most lead a nomadic life. Birhor children are allowed enormous freedom to move into forests and learn hunting/gathering skills; child socialisation makes children independent, autonomous, and achievement-oriented (accept risks and challenges from an early age). In agricultural societies, children are socialised to be obedient to elders, nurturant to youngsters, and responsible to duties — these qualities make people more functional in agricultural societies. Different economic pursuits and cultural demands produce different personality patterns.

Humanistic Approach (NCERT pp. 40–41) developed mainly in response to Freud's theory. Carl Rogers proposed the concept of the fully functioning person. He believes that fulfilment is the motivating force for personality development. People try to express their capabilities, potentials and talents to the fullest extent. Rogers makes two basic assumptions: (i) behaviour is goal-directed and worthwhile; (ii) people (who are innately good) will almost always choose adaptive, self-actualising behaviour. His theory is structured around the concept of self. Rogers suggests each person has a concept of the ideal self — the self one would like to be. Fig. 2.3 (p. 41) — When there is a correspondence between the real self and the ideal self, a person is generally happy (well-adjusted individual showing congruence); discrepancy results in unhappiness and dissatisfaction (poorly adjusted individual showing incongruence). Rogers views personality development as a continuous process. The atmosphere required is unconditional positive regard — and the client-centred therapy Rogers developed basically attempts to create this condition. Abraham Maslow has given a detailed account of psychologically healthy people in terms of attainment of self-actualisation — a state in which people have reached their own fullest potential. Maslow saw human beings as free to shape their lives and self-actualise. Biological, security and belongingness needs are 'survival needs' commonly found among animals and humans; the real journey of human life begins with the pursuit of self-esteem and self-actualisation needs. Box 2.3 — Who is a Healthy Person? (p. 41) lists: (1) they become aware of themselves, their feelings and their limits; accept themselves and what they make of their lives as their own responsibility — have 'the courage to be'; (2) they experience the "here-and-now" and are not trapped; (3) they do not live in the past or dwell in the future through anxious expectations and distorted defences.

Assessment of Personality (NCERT pp. 41–47). "Assessment refers to the procedures used to evaluate or differentiate people on the basis of certain characteristics." The goal is to understand and predict behaviour with minimum error. Three commonly used techniques are Psychometric Tests, Self-Report Measures, Projective Techniques and Behavioural Analysis. Self-Report Measures are fairly structured measures requiring verbal responses with rating scales; responses are accepted at face value, scored quantitatively and interpreted on the basis of norms. The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) — developed by Hathaway and McKinley as a helping tool for psychiatric diagnosis; has been found very effective in identifying varieties of psychopathology. Revised version is MMPI-2, consisting of 567 statements; the subject judges each as 'true' or 'false'. The test is divided into 10 subscales diagnosing hypochondriasis, depression, hysteria, psychopathic deviate, masculinity-femininity, paranoia, psychasthenia, schizophrenia, mania and social introversion. In India, Mallick and Joshi developed the Jodhpur Multiphasic Personality Inventory (JMPI) along MMPI lines. Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) initially assessed two dimensions — introverted-extraverted and emotionally stable-emotionally unstable — characterised by 32 personality traits; psychoticism was added later, linked to lack of feeling for others. 16 PF (Cattell) is also used. Self-report measures suffer from social desirability and acquiescence biases.

Projective Techniques present ambiguous stimuli on which respondents project their own personality. Rorschach Inkblot Test consists of 10 inkblot cards (5 black/white, 2 with red ink, 3 pastel-coloured); two phases — performance proper (responses recorded) and inquiry (clarification of responses). Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) — developed by Morgan and Murray — consists of 30 black-and-white picture cards and one blank card; subjects make up stories. Rosenzweig's Picture-Frustration Study (P-F Study) presents cartoon-like frustrating situations; respondents give the first reply that comes to mind. Sentence Completion Test offers stems to be completed (e.g., "My father…"). Draw-a-Person Test asks the subject to draw a person, then a member of the opposite sex, and finally a person of the subject's own choice.

Behavioural Analysis (NCERT pp. 46–47) uses interview (structured or unstructured), observation (where bias and skill matter), behavioural ratings (raters often display biases — halo effect (one favourable trait colours unrelated traits), middle category bias (avoiding extremes), extreme response bias (avoiding middle)), nomination (peer assessment), and situational tests (especially the situational stress test).

2.2 Definitions to memorise

2.3 Diagrams / processes to remember

• Fig. 2.1 (p. 28) — Self and Group boundaries in Western (two separate triangles — Individual ↔ Group) vs Indian (Individual concentric within Group, fluid boundary) perspectives.
• Fig. 2.2 (p. 34) — Structure of Personality in Freudian theory; shows id (in unconscious), ego (straddling conscious–preconscious–unconscious), superego, with external reality acting through ego.
• Fig. 2.3 (p. 41) — Pattern of Adjustment and Self-concept; congruence between self-concept and experience = well-adjusted individual; incongruence = poorly adjusted.
• Box 2.1 — Personality-related Terms (p. 29): Temperament, Trait, Disposition, Character, Habit, Values.
• Box 2.2 — Five-Factor Model (Big Five) (p. 33): Openness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism, Conscientiousness.
• Box 2.3 — Who is a Healthy Person? (p. 41): three characteristics — self-awareness, here-and-now experience, not trapped in past/future.
• Process — Three techniques of self-control (p. 27): Observation of own behaviour → Self-instruction → Self-reinforcement.
• Process — Freud's psychosexual stages (p. 36–37): Oral → Anal → Phallic → Latency → Genital.

2.4 Common confusions / NTA trap points

• Type vs Trait approach: Type categorises people into discrete groups based on broad patterns; trait places everyone on continuous dimensions on which they differ in degree.
• Source traits vs Surface traits (Cattell): source traits are stable building blocks identified by factor analysis; surface traits result from interaction of source traits.
• Self-esteem vs Self-efficacy vs Self-concept: self-concept = overall view of self; self-esteem = value/worth judgment; self-efficacy = belief in one's ability to perform a particular task.
• Real self vs Ideal self (Rogers): congruence = adjustment, discrepancy = unhappiness; students confuse "ideal self" with self-actualisation.
• Oedipus (boys) vs Electra (girls): NCERT specifically notes Electra was a Greek character who induced her brother to kill their mother.
• Rater biases: halo effect (one trait colours all others) ≠ middle category bias (avoiding extremes) ≠ extreme response bias (avoiding middle).
• Rorschach (10 inkblot cards) vs TAT (Morgan & Murray, 30 + 1 blank picture cards) — students often mix up developers and card counts.
• Type-A (CHD-prone) vs Type-C (cancer-prone) vs Type-D (depression-prone) — Friedman & Rosenman created A/B; Morris extended C/D.
• Hippocrates (four humours) vs Charak Samhita (tridosha — vata, pitta, kapha) vs trigunas (sattva, rajas, tamas) — three separate Indian/Greek frameworks.
• MMPI = 567 statements, 10 subscales, by Hathaway & McKinley; JMPI = Indian adaptation by Mallick & Joshi.
• Pleasure principle (id) vs Reality principle (ego) — frequently swapped.

2.5 Thinkers / Theories cited in this chapter

Note: NCERT names the thinkers listed; some constructs (rater biases, situational stress tests) are presented without individual attribution.