AN INTEGRATED FIVE DIMENSIONAL MODEL DEVELOPED FROM THE MULTIPLE

THEORIES OF PERSONALITY

The study of personality is a field of study to explain how we human beings think,
feel and do in a more scientific way to recognize patterns of human behavior.
There are six options for the processes of thinking, feeling and doing before
acting, based on the Psychodynamic, Behaviorism, Cognitive, and Humanistic and
Evolutionary schools of thought to explain human behavior. They are:

Option 1: Do, think and feel

Do: I kill the snake.

Think: The snake is dangerous.

Feel: It is bad to kill it.

Option 2: Do, feel and think

Do: I kill the snake.

Feel: It is great to kill it.

Think: The snake is dangerous.

Option 3: Feel, think and do

Feel: I am terrified.

Think: The snake is dangerous.

Do: I flee for my life.

Option 4: Feel, do and think

Feel: I am fearless.

Do: I kill the snake.

Think: The snake is dangerous.

Option 5: Think, do and feel

Scenario 1:

Think: Is the snake dangerous? Is it poisonous? If it is poisonous what should I do?

If it is not what should I do?

Do: (Dangerous snake): Run away.

Feel: I am scared of poisonous snakes.

Scenario 2:

Think: Is the snake dangerous? Is it poisonous? If it is poisonous what should I do?

If it is not what should I do?

Do: (Harmless snake): I kill it.

Feel: I hate snakes.

Scenario 3:

Think: Is the snake dangerous? Is it poisonous? If it is poisonous what should I do?

If it is not what should I do?

Do: I will gently shoo it off.

Feel: I love snakes and am happy to leave it free.

Option 6: Think, feel and do

Scenario 1

Think: Is the snake dangerous? Is it poisonous? If it is poisonous what should I do?

If it is not what should I do?

Feel: I feel relaxed and calm. (harmless)

Do: I trap it and send it to the zoo.

Scenario 2

Think: Is the snake dangerous? Is it poisonous? If it is poisonous what should I do?

If it is not what should I do?

Feel: I am scared. (dangerous snake)

Do: I scream loudly for help.

Scenario 3

Think: Is the snake dangerous? Is it poisonous? If it is poisonous what should I do?

If it is not what should I do?

Feel: I am terrified. (dangerous snake)

Do: I ran away.

Notice that in option 1 to option 4, the person encountering the snake will react
to the situation and has one way of responding to the snake.

In option 5 and option 6, the person has choices on how to respond to the snake.

Over the ages, Personality Psychologists have done extensive research trying to
explain the how and why of human differences in the six processes of thinking,
feeling and doing within their theoretical constructs. Taking the above scenario as
an example, Personality Psychologists are trying to understand:

What makes some people think that the snake is dangerous while others think the
snake is harmless?

Why some people feel calm, relaxed or even excited while others feel terrified
and scared upon seeing a snake?

What makes a person either kill the snake or worship it or scream for help or flee
for their lives or let it go or catch it and keep it as a pet or send it to the zoo?
Let us explore the theories of how a person thinks feels and what he or she does
in the above options and scenarios.

Psychodynamic theoretical construct (Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung)

According to the psychodynamic psychologists, thinking operates at the conscious

level of our minds. When this happens, a person may see many possibilities of
reacting to the snake in the garden, which explains why a person chooses the
scenarios in option 5 or 6.

Alternatively, the person may have some bad experiences with snakes in the past
and has stored it in the pre-conscious mind which explains why a person is
terrified and flees for his life. On seeing the snake the pre-conscious past is
energized causing the person to kill it or flee for his life as in Options 1 4.

Behaviorism Theoretical Construct (Dollard and Miller, Ivan Pavlov, Skinner)

Behaviorist theorists posit that our behavior is either conditioned or learned.

Conditioning takes place when we have repeatedly reinforced with teachings
from stories that the snake is a very poisonous and dangerous reptile or snakes
are likable creatures and some may even consider it godly, and that snakes can be
dangerous or harmless depending on its types. Learning takes place by watching
and observing others besides our encounters and experiences with snakes. Some
may have good experiences while others may have bad experiences with the
creature. The encounter with a snake is a stimulus. How we respond depends on
our past experiences with snakes which explain options 1 4 of thinking, feeling
and doing processes on seeing a snake.

Social cognitive theoretical construct (Albert Madura, Kurt Lewin, Julian Rotter,
Michel)
The cognitive theorists help us to understand complex behaviors where our
behavior pattern varies between situations and across time. In the incident of a
snake in the garden, they take one step further by putting a gap between stimulus
and response theory. The gap enables us to use our intellect to assess the
situation where there is a snake in the garden, to generate solutions and
anticipate the consequences of each solution before we deal with the snake. By
so doing we have choices on how to deal with the snake in the garden as
explained in the scenarios in option 5 and 6.

Humanistic theoretical construct (Abraham Maslow, Alderfer, McClelland, Carl

Roger, Sullivan, and Murray)

The humanistic school of thought explains six options of thinking, feeling and
doing by looking at the needs, wants, desires and motives behind how we think,
feel and do. In this scenario, the humanist theorist would debate that it is the
need for survival and security that causes a person to flee for his life or kill the
snake. It may also be the motive to show off that motivates the person to kill it.
The need for growth may enable a person to differentiate between a dangerous
and a harmless snake and take the appropriate action. The need for respecting
the rights of animals and to find meanings in life may explain why a person lets
the snake go or sends it to the zoo.

Evolutionary and genetic theoretical construct

The evolutionary theorist posits that the evolution of our behavior has descended
from the family tree of a common ancestor. In other words, our behavior is a
function of our genes. The genetic makeup determines our instincts of natural
choices in dealing with the snake. These instincts include many reflexes
impervious to the influence of learning and experience which explain options 1
4 in the encounter with a snake in the garden.
The trait theorists (Allport Gordon, Catell, Goldsberg, and McGrae)

The trait school of thought is not based on any psychological construct. They
attempt to predict behavior by the use of factor analysis of the psychological
traits under the five adjectival descriptors below:

Openness

Conscientiousness

Extraversion

Agreeableness

Neuroticism

The five adjectival descriptors (OCEAN) are inadequate to include all psychological
traits in the lexicon of the dictionary.

In view of the above, interpreting human differences based on one theoretical

construct has its limitations.

It is imperative to develop an integrated model based on the multiple theoretical

constructs for assessing human behavior more accurately. There is a need to
establish a personality profile by integrating the personality concepts of these
schools of thought incorporating the motivation, needs and deprivation theories
to address this issue.

The integrated model of personality profile was established by on the following

questions?

Question 1:

Why are some people hardworking, responsible, willing to learn, motivated and
are committed to chasing after goals and results while others are otherwise?
The difference is that some people work hard to satisfy their innate needs and
desires to accomplish some meaningful goals and progress while those who drift
around have low priority in working, learning and achieving anything. From the
above line of reasoning, the Self Actualization dimension is developed. It is
defined as the need, want and desire for achievement, growth, fulfillment, and to
become a fully functioning person and have a meaningful life. Generally, there
are two distinct types of personalities under the Self-Actualization dimension.
They are:

Normal type: Personality with high need, desire or want for achievement, growth,
and fulfillment and to find meaning in life. Such a person is relatively
psychologically advantageous and is healthier in their mental and psychological
dispositions.

Neurotic type: Personality with low need, desire or want for growth,
achievement, and fulfillment and to find meaning in life. Neurotic personality is
relatively psychologically handicapped and is unhealthy in their mental and
psychological dispositions.

Question2:

Why are certain people ambitious, confident and determined to take charge
while others are soft, permissive and prefer to be led?

What makes them that way can be either genetic or due to past experiences with
their environment. The old axioms that leaders are born and leaders can be
trained or cultivated are partial truths. In fact, our leadership qualities are
determined by nature and nurture. Some of us may be brought up by hard-
headed overbearing parents who want to take charge of our lives. There are two
ways to cope with their upbringing. One is to fight them and get out of their
clutches; the other is to accept it. The former gives us the pains, while the latter
gives us the pleasures. If our genetic makeup is strong it will reinforce our will to
continue fighting, if not it will diminish our willpower and destroy our self-esteem.
It shapes our need for power, image, recognition, and control in our later life.
The egocentric dimension is developed from the above contentions which explain
the need for power, image, recognition, and control. There are two distinct types
of personalities under the egocentric dimension. They are:

Assertive type: Personality with a high need, want and desire for power, image,
recognition and to control the environment.

Submissive type: Personality with a low need, desire and want for power, image,
recognition and to control the environment.

Question 3:

What makes some people affectionate, caring, friendly, sensitive and sociable
while others are forbidding, guarded, aloof, detached and insensitive?

Perhaps, we can explain these differences from our past experiences stored in the
pre-conscious level of our minds. Some people have a pleasurable past
experiencing love, affection, and care while others may have a painful past, often
being used and abused by unscrupulous people in their environment. Those who
experience pleasures become outgoing and enjoy socializing while those who
have a painful past are anti-social, guarded and prefer to have pets and do things
alone.

Our past experiences interacting and socializing with all types of people in the
environment determine the magnitude of the socio-centric dimension defined as
the need, desire and want for love, belongingness, companionship, affiliation and
social interactions.

Likewise, there are two distinct types of personality under the socio-centric
dimension. They are:

Sociable type: Personality with high need, desire and want for love,
belongingness, companionship, affiliation and social interactions.

Anti-social type: Personality with low need, desire and want for belongingness,
companionship, affiliation and social interactions.
Question 4:

What makes some people obedient, meticulous and follow rules and regulations
while others are not?

To explain these differences is to track down their memory lane for events of
their past. When protective and caring parents regulate the behavior of their child
by means of the rules of conduct, the child, due to their genetic differences
develops three coping mechanisms:

Accept

Rebel

Adapt

If a child accepts regulations and feels comfortable, secure and protected, the
child is likely to have a high respect for rules and social order.

On the contrary, if a child gets pains from living by the rules, the child is likely to
rebel, disobey rules and regulations and would struggle to be free from the
parental control to do what the child wants. The security dimension is developed
from this contention defined as the need, wants and desire for safety, order,
system, structure, and protection. There are two distinct types of personalities
under the security dimension. They are:

Pragmatic type: Personality with high need, desire and want for safety, order,
system, and protection.

Adventurous type: Personality with low need, desire and want for safety, order,
system, and protection.

Question 5

When would a child learn to adapt to the parents?

The child will gradually learn from the pains of being punished for rebelling
against his or her parents. Eventually, the child will learn to adapt to his or her
parents idiosyncrasies. This leads to the development of the complexity
dimension. To have a clearer understanding of the complexity dimension let us
ask ourselves on the following questions.

a. What would one do if one is put in a situation choosing between life and
death for one's family?

One will try all means or ways to get money or food. One is likely to borrow, beg,
steal and even kill to keep oneself and one's family alive.

Alternatively, one will just allow starvation to take one's life and family. The
former explains why some people are adaptable and can see many possibilities of
wrangling out of a difficult situation while others are rigid and can be drowned in
a crisis.

b. How would one react when one's important goals are blocked by obstacles
along the way?

One may become strategic and try many possibilities to go around the obstacles
to achieve one's goals. Alternatively, one will bang one's head struggling with the
established ways of overcoming them.

c. What would one do to get support for a worthy cause?

One would try to persuade, convince and influence others and even coerce others
to get support. Alternatively, one would communicate one's cause and let others
decide to support you.

From the above contentions, the complexity dimension is developed and defined
as the need, want and desire to adapt, change, influence and use others for
survival and growth. Also, there are two distinct types of personalities under the
complexity dimension.
They are:

Low Complexity/Static type: Personality with low need, want and desire to adapt,
influence and change for survival and growth.

High Complexity/Dynamic type: Personality with high need, want and desire to
adapt, influence and change for survival and growth.

In view of the above perspectives, a five-dimensional model of personality was

developed to map out the behavioral pattern of a person.

A personal profile of a person can be identified by a psychometric assessment

instrument using self-report or observer report statements on a Likert scale of 1 (
Strongly Disagreed) - 7 (Strongly Agreed).

The five dimensions model is named KYKO, an acronym for "Know Yourself, Know
Others) adapted from Sun Tzu Art of War.

KYKO can assist you to generate and develop winning strategies to make things
happen.

If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a
hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained
you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will
succumb in every battle
Sun Tzu The Art of War

We make countless deals every day. The success and failure of our dealings with
others rest on KYKO through profiling yourself and a significant other.

"If you know yourself and know the other you are likely to be successful in every
deal. If you know yourself but know not the other or know not yourself but know
the other; for every successful deal, there will be a failure. If you know neither
yourself nor the other you are likely to fail in every deal."
Bernard Ah Thau Tan, KYKO Founder