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✍️Screenwriting II

2.4 Psychological Profiling for Characters

2 min readLast Updated on August 9, 2024

Psychological profiling helps writers create lifelike characters with depth and consistency. By understanding personality types, cognitive functions, and behavioral patterns, you can craft characters that feel real and relatable to your audience.

Defense mechanisms and psychological archetypes add layers to your characters' inner worlds. These tools allow you to explore their hidden motivations, internal conflicts, and emotional struggles, making your story more engaging and authentic.

Personality and Behavior

Personality Types and Cognitive Functions

Top images from around the web for Personality Types and Cognitive Functions
Top images from around the web for Personality Types and Cognitive Functions
  • Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) categorizes personalities into 16 types based on four dichotomies (Extraversion/Introversion, Sensing/Intuition, Thinking/Feeling, Judging/Perceiving)
  • Big Five personality traits model measures openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism (OCEAN)
  • Cognitive functions describe how individuals process information and make decisions (Introverted Thinking, Extraverted Feeling, etc.)
  • Dominant cognitive function shapes a character's primary mode of interacting with the world (Introverted Intuition for INTJs)
  • Auxiliary function supports the dominant function and provides balance (Extraverted Thinking for INTJs)

Behavioral Patterns and Character Consistency

  • Behavioral patterns emerge from consistent reactions to stimuli and situations
  • Habits and routines reveal character traits and values (morning coffee ritual indicating introversion or need for structure)
  • Decision-making processes reflect underlying motivations and beliefs
  • Character consistency maintains believability throughout the narrative
  • Internal conflicts arise when characters act against their established patterns (creates tension and growth opportunities)
  • External factors influence behavior but should not completely override core personality traits

Psychological Depth

Psychological Archetypes and Emotional Intelligence

  • Carl Jung's archetypes represent universal patterns in the collective unconscious (Hero, Mentor, Trickster)
  • Archetypes provide a foundation for creating complex characters with recognizable traits
  • Shadow archetype embodies repressed aspects of personality, creating internal conflict
  • Emotional intelligence encompasses self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills
  • Characters with high emotional intelligence navigate relationships and conflicts more effectively
  • Low emotional intelligence can lead to misunderstandings and interpersonal struggles

Defense Mechanisms and Psychological Realism

  • Defense mechanisms protect the ego from anxiety and psychological pain
  • Repression pushes uncomfortable thoughts or memories into the unconscious
  • Projection attributes one's own unacceptable thoughts or emotions to others
  • Rationalization justifies unacceptable behavior with seemingly logical explanations
  • Displacement redirects emotions from their original source to a safer target
  • Psychological realism ensures characters' thoughts, emotions, and behaviors align with real-world psychology
  • Internal monologue reveals a character's true thoughts and feelings, contrasting with their external actions
  • Trauma responses shape character behavior and relationships (hypervigilance, emotional numbing)

Key Terms to Review (19)

Auxiliary function: An auxiliary function refers to a supporting role or secondary aspect that contributes to the development and depth of a character within a narrative. It can manifest through various behaviors, relationships, or traits that help define the character’s primary motivations and goals, enhancing their overall psychological complexity.
Behavioral patterns: Behavioral patterns refer to the consistent ways in which characters react to various situations and stimuli, showcasing their psychological makeup and motivations. These patterns are crucial for creating believable characters and driving their actions in a story. By understanding a character's behavioral patterns, writers can craft more dynamic interactions and conflicts, making the narrative more engaging.
Big Five Personality Traits: The Big Five Personality Traits is a widely accepted framework in psychology that identifies five core dimensions of human personality: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. These traits provide insight into an individual's behavior, emotional patterns, and interpersonal interactions, making them valuable for creating well-rounded characters in storytelling.
Carl Jung's Archetypes: Carl Jung's archetypes are universal, symbolic patterns and themes that are embedded in the human psyche, representing fundamental human motivations, experiences, and behaviors. These archetypes influence character development and storytelling, providing a framework to understand how characters resonate with audiences on a psychological level.
Character consistency: Character consistency refers to the degree to which a character's actions, dialogue, and decisions align with their established traits and motivations throughout a screenplay. It ensures that characters behave in a believable manner that reflects their psychological makeup, thereby creating authenticity and relatability for the audience. This consistency not only strengthens character development but also enhances the overall narrative by maintaining logical continuity.
Cognitive Functions: Cognitive functions refer to the mental processes that are involved in acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses. These functions include reasoning, problem-solving, memory, attention, and decision-making, all of which play a crucial role in shaping a character's actions and motivations within a narrative.
Defense mechanisms: Defense mechanisms are psychological strategies that individuals use to cope with reality and maintain their self-image by unconsciously protecting themselves from anxiety, guilt, or other uncomfortable feelings. These mechanisms often operate at an unconscious level and can influence behavior, thoughts, and emotional responses. By understanding these mechanisms, you can create more complex and relatable characters who react to stress and conflict in unique ways.
Displacement: Displacement refers to the psychological mechanism where an individual redirects emotions, thoughts, or behaviors from the original object or situation that triggered them to a more acceptable or safer target. This term plays a crucial role in understanding how characters cope with their internal conflicts and struggles, often manifesting in their actions and decisions throughout a narrative.
Dominant cognitive function: Dominant cognitive function refers to the primary way in which an individual processes information and interacts with the world, shaping their thoughts, behaviors, and decision-making. This concept is crucial for understanding character psychology, as it influences how characters perceive their environment, respond to challenges, and develop relationships with others. Recognizing a character's dominant cognitive function helps in creating realistic and relatable personas that resonate with audiences.
Emotional Intelligence: Emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize, understand, and manage our own emotions while also being aware of and influencing the emotions of others. This skill is crucial in creating complex, relatable characters that resonate with audiences, as it allows writers to develop deeper motivations and conflicts that drive character interactions and development.
Internal Conflicts: Internal conflicts refer to the psychological struggles that a character experiences within themselves, often involving opposing desires, beliefs, or emotions. These conflicts add depth to characters, making them relatable and multi-dimensional, as they navigate their personal dilemmas and growth throughout the story.
Internal monologue: Internal monologue is a narrative technique used in storytelling that conveys a character's inner thoughts, feelings, and reflections. This technique allows audiences to gain insight into a character's psyche, revealing motivations and conflicts that may not be expressed through dialogue or action. It serves as a crucial tool for understanding emotional transitions and the psychological makeup of characters.
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator: The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is a personality assessment tool that categorizes individuals into 16 distinct personality types based on their preferences in four dichotomies: Introversion/Extraversion, Sensing/Intuition, Thinking/Feeling, and Judging/Perceiving. This tool is widely used in various fields, including psychology and organizational behavior, to better understand personality traits and how they influence behavior, communication, and decision-making.
Projection: Projection is a psychological defense mechanism where an individual attributes their own unacceptable feelings, thoughts, or impulses onto another person. This process can reveal hidden emotions and motivations of characters, helping writers to craft complex personas and deepen the narrative. By understanding projection, one can explore how characters may misinterpret others' actions based on their internal struggles.
Psychological realism: Psychological realism is a narrative technique that emphasizes the complex inner thoughts, emotions, and motivations of characters, reflecting a deep understanding of human psychology. This approach aims to portray characters in a way that feels authentic and relatable, focusing on their internal struggles and the subtle nuances of their behaviors. By exploring the psychological depth of characters, psychological realism allows for richer storytelling and deeper audience engagement.
Rationalization: Rationalization is a psychological defense mechanism where individuals justify their actions or beliefs with logical reasons, even if those reasons are not the real motivations. This process helps characters in narratives create a sense of coherence and understanding of their choices, often revealing deeper emotional conflicts. Understanding rationalization is crucial for creating authentic characters who may struggle internally with their motivations and actions.
Repression: Repression is a psychological defense mechanism where an individual unconsciously pushes distressing thoughts, memories, or emotions out of their conscious awareness. This act often leads to internal conflict and influences behavior in ways that the individual may not fully understand. In character development, repression can be pivotal in shaping motivations, actions, and interactions, providing depth to a character's psychological profile.
Shadow archetype: The shadow archetype represents the darker, repressed aspects of a character's personality, including fears, desires, and impulses that are often hidden or denied. It serves as a crucial element in psychological profiling for characters, revealing the internal conflicts that drive their actions and shape their narratives. Understanding the shadow can help create more complex characters who resonate with audiences by embodying the struggles between their conscious self and their darker instincts.
Trauma responses: Trauma responses are the psychological, emotional, and physical reactions that individuals exhibit after experiencing traumatic events. These responses can manifest in various ways, including heightened anxiety, avoidance behaviors, and emotional numbing, impacting a character's development and motivations. Understanding these responses is crucial for creating authentic and relatable characters who have faced adversity.
Auxiliary function
See definition

An auxiliary function refers to a supporting role or secondary aspect that contributes to the development and depth of a character within a narrative. It can manifest through various behaviors, relationships, or traits that help define the character’s primary motivations and goals, enhancing their overall psychological complexity.

Term 1 of 19

Key Terms to Review (19)

Auxiliary function
See definition

An auxiliary function refers to a supporting role or secondary aspect that contributes to the development and depth of a character within a narrative. It can manifest through various behaviors, relationships, or traits that help define the character’s primary motivations and goals, enhancing their overall psychological complexity.

Term 1 of 19

Auxiliary function
See definition

An auxiliary function refers to a supporting role or secondary aspect that contributes to the development and depth of a character within a narrative. It can manifest through various behaviors, relationships, or traits that help define the character’s primary motivations and goals, enhancing their overall psychological complexity.

Term 1 of 19



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© 2025 Fiveable Inc. All rights reserved.
AP® and SAT® are trademarks registered by the College Board, which is not affiliated with, and does not endorse this website.
Glossary
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