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
internal locus of control vs external locus of control
internal: believe they bring about their own rewards
external: believe rewards are the result of forces beyond their control
Introversion
- how shy, reserved, and quiet someone is
- prefer solitude and a quiet environment (higher baseline level of arousal)
Light Triad
- humanism
- valuing the worth and dignity of every person - faith in humanity
- believing in the inherent goodness of humans - Kantianism
- honest
- feel uncomfortable manipulating others to get what they want
Locus of control
people’s personal beliefs about how much control they have over outcomes in their lives
Need for cognition
- the tendency to engage in and enjoy thinking about difficult questions or problems
Neurotic
- someone who is more emotional
- frequent and dramatic mood swings
- often feel anxious, moody, depressed
- low opinions of themselves
Personality
- a person’s characteristic thoughts, emotional responses, and behaviours
- remains relatively consistent over time
Personality states
- temporary moods that cause a person to behave in a certain way in a certain situation
Personality Trait
- a pattern of thought, emotion, and behaviour that is relatively consistent over time and across situations
Personality Type
- different categories into which personality characteristics can be assigned
- ex. characters
Psychoticism
- mix of aggression, poor impulse control, self-centeredness, and lack of empathy
Q: How do biologically based temperaments shape our environment?
Temperaments shape our choices and behavioural patterns which then influence the situations we get ourselves into and the behaviours of those around us
Q: Why might two people who differ substantially in level of extraversion behave similarly at a wedding ceremony?
A wedding ceremony is a strong situation, where social norms can mask individual differences in personality
rank-order stability
- how do you rank against your peer group?
- consistency is lowest in childhood and highest after the age of 50
self-concept
- web of info that you know and believe about yourself
- ex: I am… optiministic, friendly, etc.
- how would you desribe yourself
self-esteem
(5)
- evaluative aspect of the self-concept in which people feel worthy or unworthy
- person’s emotional response to contemplating personal characteristics
- monitors your risk of social exclusion
- people higher in self-esteem tend to be happier
- doesn’t correlate with positive outcomes (ex. good job, etc)
self-schema
- a knowledge structure that contains memories, beliefs, and generalizations about the self and that helps people efficiently perceive, organize, interpret, and use information related to themselves
- helps you remember info relevant to yourself (why making connections while studying works so well)
- help us process information
self-serving bias
the tendency for people to take personal credit for success but blame failure on external factors
Situationism
the theory that behaviour is determined more by situtaions than by personality traits
Social comparison
downward and upward comparisons
- the tendency for people to evaluate their own actions, abilities, and beliefs by contrasting them with other people’s
- downard comparisons - make us feel good but doesn’t provide a learning experience
- upward comparions - make us feel bad but provides an opportunity for growth
sociometer
- an internal monitor of social acceptance or rejection
- self-esteem serves as a sociometer
Temperaments
- biologically based tendencies to feel or act in certain ways
- genes affect biological processes that create differences in personality
The Big Five (five-factor theory)
OCEAN
- 5 basic personality traits
- continuum from low to high for each one
- each trait is made up of smaller, more specific traits (facets)
O - Openness to experience
C - Conscientiousness
E - Extraversion
A - Agreeableness
N - Neuroticism
Trait approaches to studying personality
- focus on how individuals differ in personality dispositions (ex sociability, cheerfulness, aggressiveness)
What are facets and why are they good
- smaller, more specific traits that make up the big five
- because they are specific, they are better at predicting behaviour
What are some key differences between personality traits and temperaments?
- personality traits may be altered by life experiences
- temperaments represent innate biological structures of personality and are much more stable
What did Eysenck say personality traits are based on?
- biological processes that produce behaviours, thoughts, and emotions
- ex: difference in arousal produce behavioural differences between extraverts and introverts
Which brain region is involved in social anxiety?
amygdala
- involved in emotional responses, especially fear
working self-concept
- the part of self-concept that is available during immediate experience
- ex. most aware of characteristics that differenciate them from other people depending on the situation
Strong situations
- tend to mask personality differences (ex. lots of people, don’t really stand out)
Weak situations
- bring out personality differences (ex. place where you can stand out)
What are some difficulties in studying personality across cultures?
(4)
- language translation (may not mean the same thing after translation)
- some traits may be culturally specific
- sampling problems (ex. using international students - are they truly representative?)
- theres more variability within a culture than there is between cultures
culture
what are response styles and how do they make it difficult to study personality across cultures?
(2)
- response styles: characteristic ways of responding to questions
- in some cultures, itis bad form to appear to be boastful (underestimating on questionnaires)
assessing personality
Objective measures
- relatively direct assessments of personality
- relies on self reports which has it’s own set of problems
what brain region allows us to make trait judgments about ourselves and others?
prefrontal cortex
- one area for ourselves, one for other people
maintaining a positive sense of self
better than average effect
- people tend to rank themselves as above average
interdependent social construals
self-concept determined externally (social roles, relationships, etc.)
independent social construals
self-concept determines internally (self reliance, personal success, etc.)
