_________ attempts to comprehend human personality by examining certain broad patterns in the observed behavioural characteristics of the individual.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Type approach
Option (1) Type approach — Correct. The type approaches attempt to comprehend human personality by examining certain broad patterns in the observed behavioural characteristics of individuals. Each pattern is one type, and people are placed in a type by the similarity of their behaviour to that pattern, as in Sheldon’s or Friedman and Rosenman’s types.
Option (2) Observational approach — Incorrect. Observation is a method of assessment that records behaviour as it occurs; it is not an approach that explains personality.
Option (3) Trait approach — Incorrect. In contrast with types, the trait approach focuses on the specific psychological attributes along which individuals differ in consistent and stable ways, not on broad patterns.
Option (4) Psychodynamic approach — Incorrect. Freud’s psychodynamic approach explains personality through unconscious forces and conflicts among the id, ego and superego, not through patterns of observed behaviour.
NCERT (2025-26): “Major Approaches to the Study of Personality … Psychologists distinguish between type and trait approaches to personality. The type approaches attempts to comprehend human personality by examining certain broad patterns in the observed behavioural characteristics of individuals. Each behavioural pattern refers to one type in which individuals are placed in terms of the similarity of their behavioural characteristics with that pattern. In contrast, the trait approach focuses on the specific psychological attributes along which individuals tend to differ in consistent and stable ways.…” |