Chapter 1    Introduction to Personality Theory15
fei75766_ch01_001-018.indd 15  02/06/20 10:41 AMdetermined at the same time? Although the dimension of determinism versus 
free will is more philosophical than scientific, the position theorists take on 
this issue shapes their way of looking at people and colors their concept of 
humanity.
The second issue is one of pessimism versus optimism.  Are people 
doomed to live miserable, conflicted, and troubled lives, or can they change 
and grow into psychologically healthy, happy, fully functioning human beings? 
In general, personality theorists who believe in determinism tend to be pes -
simistic (Skinner was a notable exception), whereas those who believe in free 
choice are usually optimistic.
The third dimension for viewing a theorist’s concept of humanity is cau-
sality versus teleology.  Briefly, causality  holds that behavior is a function of 
past experiences, whereas teleology  is an explanation of behavior in terms 
of future goals or purposes. Do people act as they do because of what has 
happened to them in the past, or do they act as they do because they have 
certain expectations of what will happen in the future?
The fourth consideration that divides personality theorists is their atti -
tude toward conscious versus unconscious determinants of behavior.  Are 
people ordinarily aware of what they are doing and why they are doing it, or 
do unconscious forces impinge on them and drive them to act without aware -
ness of these underlying forces?
The fifth question is one of biological versus social influences on person -
ality. Are people mostly creatures of biology, or are their personalities shaped 
largely by their social relationships? A more specific element of this issue is 
heredity versus environment; that is, are personal characteristics more the 
result of heredity, or are they environmentally determined?
The sixth issue is uniqueness versus similarities. Is the salient feature 
of people their individuality, or is it their common characteristics? Should the 
study of personality concentrate on those traits that make people alike, or 
should it look at those traits that make people different?
These and other basic issues that separate personality theorists have 
resulted in truly different personality theories, not merely differences in ter -
minology. We could not erase the differences among personality theories 
by adopting a common language. The differences are philosophical and 
deep-seated. Each personality theory reflects the individual personality of 
its creator, and each creator has a unique philosophical orientation, shaped 
in part by early childhood experiences, birth order, gender, training, edu -
cation, and pattern of interpersonal relationships. These differences help 
determine whether a theorist will be deterministic or a believer in free 
choice, will be pessimistic or optimistic, and will adopt a causal explanation 
or a teleological one. They also help determine whether the theorist empha -
sizes consciousness or unconsciousness, biological or social factors, and 
uniqueness or similarities of people. These differences do not, however, 
negate the possibility that two theorists with opposing views of humanity 
can be equally scientific in their data gathering and theory building.Final PDF to printer