305 Lecture 1 & 2 Flashcards
What is personality
the set of psychological traits and mechanisms within the individual that is organized and relatively enduring, and that influences interaction with, and adaptations to, the environment (intrapsychic, physical, and social environment)
What is a trait
how people are alike or unalike along a spectrum
what is a mechanism
and information processing system and interaction with the world (e.g. reactivity to adversity)
describe the interaction between personality and situations
personality is within an individual and separate from situations, but gets carried into situations
describe how personality is “organized”
traits work and function together to allow you to function as a person
describe what disorganization in personality looks like
personality disorders, which disrupt daily functioning and interactions with others
describe how personality is enduring
it is stable through time, which is why it matters –> if we didn’t have an enduring personality, we will always be guided by the situations we are in
why is personality important
it can predict life outcomes, emotions, needs, cognitions, and behaviours in social environments –> influences interactions with (and adaptations to) the environment, especially the social environment
describe some things that are not synonymous with personality
attitudes, morals/values/beliefs, abilities, physical characteristics, social categories –> these things can change and thus aren’t enduring –> however, personality does interact with these things and can even be the underlying cause of these things (e.g. if you have higher openness, you are more likely to be liberal)
what are the three levels of analysis of personality
human nature, individual and group differences, and individual uniqueness
what does the human nature analysis of personality investigate
how we are like ALL others –> traits and mechanisms of personality that are typical of our species and possessed by nearly everyone (e.g. we are motivated to engage in and maintain social relationships, we might all have some degree of narcissism and egocentrism)
what does the individual and group differences analysis of personality investigate
how we are like SOME others –> individual differences looks at some we are like some others, while group differences looks at home people in one group differ from people in another group
what are individual differences
the ways in which each person is like some other people (e.g. extraverts, sensation-seekers, high self-esteem people) –> examined using the big 5 traits
what are group differences
the ways in which people of one group differ from people in another group (e.g. cultural differences, age differences, gender differences) –> how groups are comparable along average traits (this loses individual differences within a group)
when might an attitude be considered a personality trait
if it is a stable attitude over time (e.g. I love animals)
describe some group differences in individualism and collectivism
- Canada and the US are very individualist cultures –> describe themselves in positive terms only (“self-enhancement”)
- Japan is collectivist and they describe themselves with a balance of positive and negative terms
what does the individual uniqueness analysis of personality investigate
how we are like NO others –> every individual has personal and unique qualities not shared by any other person in the world
how does uniqueness exist in individuals
in the sum of our traits and mechanisms, in their combination and interactions (no one has these same combinations/interactions) and in our stories
how does personality affect others
some expressions of uniqueness can have consequences to others and the world (e.g. Putin)
what does the study of personality tell us
who is more likely to experience certain life outcomes
what is the Rorschach inkblot test
projective test that shows participants ambiguous stimuli and asks them to describe what they see –> thought that this stimuli would reveal more of an individual’s personality because the situation does not act as a force
what are the two types of personality assessment methods
- descriptive research –> describing personality (can be done even with one person)
- explanatory research –> discovering relationships between traits of between personality and other phenomena (done in a sample)
what are the four types of descriptive research
- self-reports (surveys; S-data)
- observer-reports (O-data)
- test-data (T-data)
- life history/life-outcome data (L-data)
what are the three common concerns in descriptive research
reliability, validity, and generalizability
what is S-data and what are some limitations of this approach
tries to understand what is doing on inside a person’s head –> socially desirable responding, worried about judgement from the administrator
what is O-data and what is a limitation of this approach
people known to an individual rate them, or someone trained can rate an individual –> only so much information is observable
what is T-data, and what is a limitation of this approach
people are placed into a standardized situation that is meant to elicit behaviour –> participants can sometimes pick up on (or think that they have picked up on) what is being tested, and change their behaviour accordingly
what is L-data
uses publicly available data (e.g. number of speeding tickets, marriages, divorces, etc.)
describe some possible O-data on how people would describe the personalities based on the appearance of peoples’ rooms
some might note that the messier room belongs to someone creative, disorganized, extraverted, more neurotic (anxious/depressed), while others might see the cleaner room as belonging to someone organized, neurotic
describe the two types of experimental methods
true experiments (manipulate IV, random assignment) and quasi-experiments (incomplete randomization)
what are the two types of explanatory research
experimental methods and correlational studies
what are some examples of correlational study designs
cross-sectional and longitudinal studies –> these are used heavily in personality research
what does it mean if a result is significant
the observation is likely caused by something other than random chance (probably an accurate depiction of human behaviour)
what is replication
the process of repeating a study in a different population/context –> key to gaining confidence in findings
what is a meta-analysis
the statistical procedure for combining data from multiple studies
what are the two main ways of gaining consensus in research
replication and meta analysis
what are the two steps to performing a meta analysis and drawing conclusions from it
- data are standardized across studies (chosen with strict inclusion criteria) and are compared/summarized
- when the effect size of a particular relationship or phenomenon is consistent across studies, we gain confidence in the observation
what does WEIRD stand for
western, educated, industrialized, rich and democratic –> most published studies are based on WEIRD populations (e.g. ~70% come from the US), and thus research might only be about western society
describe an area of personality research that is different in non-WEIRD populations
self-esteem manifests and develops differently in different cultures
what are case studies
an in-depth examination of the life of one person –> descriptive, exploratory or explanatory in nature, but unethical to clinically diagnose these people unless qualified –> tends to be an analysis of behaviour to give evidence of personality traits
what are traits
- the basic building blocks of personality; universal dimensions with individual differences –> exist in all individuals regardless of culture
- almost any adjective (or sometimes noun) that describes the way some people are and others are not
describe the approach that states that traits are “internal causal properties”
traits are within an individual and have an effect (i.e. behaviour is, in part, due to this trait) –> this approach is most commonly taken in personality psychology
describe the approach that states that traits are “descriptive summaries of behaviour”
no assumptions are made about traits from observable behaviour (e.g. act frequency approach)–> behaviour could be due to personality OR the situation unless the behaviour is very stable over time
describe the nature of a survey taking the act frequency approach to studying personality
it asks questions both about observable behaviours and internal feelings
how can we formulate which personality traits are most important
- more common = more important
- those that account for individual differences
- those that are consequential (have an effect)
- account for variance in differences
what are the three approaches to determining which traits are most important
- lexical approach
- statistical approach
- theoretical approach
what is the lexical hypothesis
all important individual differences have become encoding within language over time, because trait terms are important for communication –> e.g. there are many available terms for extraversion (bubbly, social, etc.)
according to the lexical approach, what are the two criteria for identifying important traits
- synonym frequency (there are many words for it)
- cross-culture universality (people everywhere will have words for it)
give an example of taking the lexical approach to defining Steve job’s personality
we can gather a list of different traits that describe Steve, then decide on three overarching traits based on synonym frequencies
describe the statistical approach to determining traits
starts with a large, diverse pool of personality items (as obtained by the lexical approach) and then applies statistical methods to organize and categorize items based on their covariance (broad vs narrow traits) –> primarily uses factor analysis
what is factor analysis (in the statistical approach to studying traits)
identifies groups of items that covary or “go together” but tend not covary with other groups of items –> reveals underlying factors
describe the theoretical approach to studying traits
starts with a theoretical framework which determines which variables or traits are important to study (e.g. Freud’s personality types based on psychosexual fixations during childhood development)
what is a limitation of the lexical/statistical approaches to studying traits
they often leave out important facets of personality like neuroticism (because words for these traits are lacking) –> e.g. Myers-Briggs 16 personalities does not include neuroticism
what are the five most widely endorsed trait taxonomies
- Eysenck’s hierarchical model of personality
- Gray’s reinforcement sensitivity theory
- Wiggins interpersonal circumplex
- five-factor model of personality (‘big 5’)
- HEXACO model of personality
what are three less commonly endorsed trait taxonomies
- the high five
- the dark tetrad
- the light triad
who was Hans Eysenck
one of the most influential personality psychologists ever, but was also involved in research about genetic foundations of IQ –> made the hierarchical model of personality
describe the two criteria for Eysenck’s hierarchical model of personality
- traits must be heritable (based in biology)
- traits must have a psychophysiological foundation
what are the three broad traits defined by Eysenck’s hierarchical model of personality
extraversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism
describe the nature of each of the broad traits defined by Eysenck’s hierarchical model of personality
each broad trait (extraversion, neuroticism and psychoticism) consists of narrow traits, habitual actions, and specific actions
describe how Eysenck’s hierarchical model would describe the broad trait “extraversion”
the broad trait “extraversion” consists of:
- narrow traits (e.g. sociable)
- habitual actions (e.g. goes out to an event each weekend)
- specific actions (e.g. started a conversation in a group)
–> can’t make assumptions based on one specific event, habitual actions increases our confidence about assigned traits
describe “extraversion” in Eysenck’s hierarchical model
extraversion has a “warmth” side (e.g. lively, sociable, surgent) and a “dominant” side (assertive, active) –> can be one or the other, or both
describe the psychophysiological basis of extraversion (according to Eysenck’s model)
introverts have higher cortical and nervous system arousal to moderate levels of stimulation (feel tired after a socially busy day) –> thicker PFCs (more planning, thinking things through) and more blood flow to the brain when stimulated, which uses up more energy
describe “neuroticism” in Eysenck’s hierarchical model
characterized by emotional instability, sensitivity, greater arousability of the nervous system –> some facets of this trait overlap with introversion, but it is more about a response to negative stimuli (note: sometimes it is hard to discriminate between neurotic traits and anxiety disorders)
describe the psychophysiological basis of neuroticism (according to Eysenck’s model)
neuroticism is associated with greater reactivity (physiologically and psychologically) to stress and negative stimuli
