13 - Personality Flashcards
Albert Bandura
Reciprocal determinism
the theory that the expression of personality can be explained by the interaction of environment, personal factors, and behaviour itself
Arnold Buss and Robert Plomin
What are the 3 basic characteristics that can be considered temperaments?
1) activity level
- overall amount of energy a person exhibits
2) emotionality
- intensity of emotional reactions
3) sociability
- intorvert or extravert
- tendency to affiliate with others
assessing personality
Idiographic approaches
- person-centered
- focus on individual lives and how various characteristics are integrated into unique persons
- think individually
- focus on individual lives
- what makes them unique
assessing personality
Nomothetic approaches
- focus on characteristics that are common to all people but that vary from person to person
- compare all people
- focus on the variation in common characteristics from person to person
assessing personality
projective measures
- attempts to examine unconscious processes by having people interpret ambiguous stimuli
- ex. inkblot test
George Kelly
personal constructs
- personal theories of how the world works
- believed people view the world as if they are scientists, constantly testing their theories and observing events
- develop through experiences
Hans Eysenck
Biological trait theory
what are the 2 major dimensions of personality traits?
- introversion/extroversion
- emotional stability
personality, learning and cognition
Behaviour is a function of what 2 things, according to Julian Rotter?
- the person’s expectancy that a reward (reinforcement) with result from the behaviour
- the value the person ascribes to particular rewards
Saucier et al
4 general aspects most likley to influence behaviour/personality
- locations (where they are)
- associations (who they are with)
- activities (ex. some people’s personalitys change when playing sports)
- subjective states (ex. bad mood, under the influence)
self-esteem
reflected appraisal
- learning about yourself through the eyes of others
twin studies
is there a relationship between adopted siblings? adopted parents?
- no and no
- parental influence has very little effect on personality development
at what point are personality changes most likley to happen in life?
- when the expectations and experiences associated with age-related roles (becoming a parent, employee, etc.) also change
- these events typically lead to a change in lifestyle
Behavioural approach system (BAS)
- the brain system that leads organisms to approach stimuli in pursuit of rewards
- the “go system”
- links to extraversion
Behavioural inhibition system (BIS)
- brain system that monitors for threats in the environment and therefore slows or inhibits behaviour in order to be vigilant for danger or pain
- the “slow down” system
- links to neuroticism
Cattell’s theory
- performed factory analysis
- developed 16 source traits of personality
Dark Triad
- narcissism
- psychopathy
- machiavellianism
- people who are especially manipulative of others for their own personal gain and lack concern with moral norms against harming others
Dispositions
- a person’s inherent qualities of mind and character
Do genes have an effect on personality?
- individual genes make very minor contributions
- predisposition to personality traits is polygenetic
Does parenting have an impact on personality?
- not as much as was previously assumed
- adopted children don’t share personalities with adoptive parents
- genes determine personality stronger than relationships do (even though the impact is still small)
Emotional stability
- consistency in a person’s moods and emotions
Extraversion
- how sociable, outgoing, and bold a person is
- require greater arousal to function optimally (low baseline level of arousal)
Fight-flight-freeze system (FFFS)
- brain system that promotes behaviours that can protect the organism from harm
- the “stop or escape” system
Humanistic approaches to studying personality
- emphasizes how people seek to fulfill their potential through greater self-understanding
- Self-actualization
Interactionism
- the theory that behaviour is determined jointly by situations and underlying dispositions
- environment affects people but people also affect their environment
- combination of situation and disposition