Chapter 12 Flashcards
Personality
An individual’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling and behaving
Unique to each individual
Remains relatively consistent over time and situations
Ideographic Approach
Creating detailed descriptions of a specific person’s unique personality characteristics
-constructing a theory of the way someone is/why they behave that way
-intuitive rather than scientific
-eg, biographies, criminal profiling
Nomothetic Approach
Examining personality in large groups of people
-Making generalizations about personality structure (e.g. Neuroticism, Extraversion)
-Ask the question: What types of people are more/less likely to engage in certain behaviours
Personality Traits
Specific psychological characteristics that make up a person’s personality
How a specific person behaves most of the time
Traits vs.States
State: Temporary physical or psychological engagement that influences behaviour
Early Trait Research
Personality Tests/Scales
Horoscopes
Psychic Fortune Tellers
Barnum Statements
Over-generalized statements
Contemporary Trait Research
Factor Analysis: Technique to group items people respond to similarly
Raymond Cattell: 16 personality traits
McCrae and Costa: Five factor model
-trait based theory of personality based on finding that personality can be described using 5 major dimensions
Big 5 Personality Traits
Openness
Conscientiousnesses
Extraversion
Agreeableness
Neuroticism
Openness
Low:
Prefer to follow rules, conventions
Down to earth
High:
Lots of curiosity and creativity
Artistic
Imaginative
Potentially unconventional, non conforming
Conscientiousness
Low:
Less organized, less detail oriented
Casual, potentially unreliable
Spontaneous
High:
Organized, efficient, self disciplined, punctual, dependable
Well suited for roles involving attention to detail
May experience higher levels of work-related stress
Extraversion
Low:
Introverted or reserved
Enjoy time spent alone or with less people
May avoid high levels of stimulation, social interaction
High:
Enjoy socializing
Seek attention
Assertive, talkative, enthusiastic
Prefer high levels of stimulation and excitement
Agreeableness
Low:
Not afraid to disagree, at times uncooperative
Competitive
But not the same as disagreeable
High:
Try to please others, minimize confrontation
Conflict resolution may come at cost of well-being, success (eg. Competitive environments)
Trusting, supportive, good-natured
Neuroticism
Low:
Secure, confident, stable
Usually good at managing emotions
High:
Anxious, insecure
React strongly to negative events
May focus on perceived flaws, injustices
HEXACO model of personality
6 factor that generally replicates FFM
Includes additional 6th factor:
Honest-Humility
Honesty-Humility
Low:
Deceitful, greedy, pompous
Selfish, antisocial, sometimes violent
Strong feelings of self importance and entitlement
High:
Sincere, honest, modest
Likely to perform altruistic, pro-social behaviours
The Dark Triad
3 traits believed to be central to understanding the personality roots of ‘evil’
Describe a person potentially socially destructive, aggressive, dishonest and harmful
Machiavellianism
Tendency to use people, to manipulate and deceive
Lack of respect for others, focused predominately on self interest
Psychopathy
Demonstrating shallow emotional responses, feeling little empathy for others
Enjoy high stimulating activities
Enjoy conflict, exerting control, even harming others with minimal remorse