Understanding Psychology (10th Ed)

Neuroticism (Emotional Stability)
Stable—Tense
Calm—Anxious
Secure—Insecure
Study Alert
You can remember the “Big 
Five” set of personality traits 
by using the acronym 
OCEAN (
o
penness to expe-
rience, 
c
onscientiousness, 
e
xtraversion, 
a
greeableness, and 
n
euroticism).
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 Module 
40 
Psychodynamic Approaches to Personality 
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still do not know why that person became generous in the fi rst place or the reasons 
for displaying generosity in a specifi c situation. In the view of some critics, then, 
traits do not provide explanations for behavior; they merely describe it. On the other 
hand, laypersons certainly use traits to make judgments of others, as we can see in 
Applying Psychology in the 21 st Century .
Learning Approaches: 
We Are What We’ve Learned 
The psychodynamic and trait approaches we’ve discussed concentrate on the “inner” 
person—the fury of an unobservable but powerful id or a hypothetical but critical set 
of traits. In contrast, learning approaches to personality focus on the “outer” person. 
To a strict learning theorist, personality is simply the sum of learned responses to the 
external environment. Internal events such as thoughts, feelings, and motivations are 
Applying Psychology 
in the 21st Century
Judged at First Sight
Imagine that you’ve just showed up to an 
important job interview dressed in your 
best business attire, and the personnel di-
rector greets you and ushers you into her 
offi ce. Or perhaps you’ve arrived at a