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
Narcissim
Egotistical preoccupation with self-image and self-importance
Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA)
A set of personality characteristics that may predispose people to certain violent or antisocial tendencies
Infant Temperments
Temperament: behavioural ‘style’, how one reacts in particular contexts
-eg, activity level, mood, attention span, distractibility
Infant temperaments predict adult personality traits, behavioural tendencies, life outcomes
3 categories for temperments
Well-adjusted: Capable of self control, confident
Under-Controlled: Impulsive, restless, distractible, emotionally volatile
Inhibited: Socially uncomfortable, fearful, easily upset by strangers
Personality over Lifespan
Relatively stable
Changing environments, social roles, autonomy, physiological development may contribute to changes in personality over time
Reciprocal Determinism
Personality is an interaction between behaviour, internal (personal/cognitive) factors, and external (situational) factors
Social-Cognitive Approach to Personality
WEIRD
Most psychological research involved
-western, educated, industrialized, rich, democratic
Big Five Traits Demonstrated Worldwide
17 000 participants
28 languages
56 countries on 6 continents
Differences Worldwide
Different cultures have different response styles: Characteristic ways of responding
Scale itself is biased
Likely need to reconsider personality structures using culture’s native language
Indigenous Chinese Personality Traits with native language
Identified 26 personality traits
Using Factor Analysis: 4 primary traits
Dependability (Neuroticism)
Social Potency (Extraversion)
Individualism (Agreeableness)
Interpersonal Relatedness
Personality and Genetics
Identical twins show stronger personality correlations than fraternal twins
True for identical twins raised apart
Personalities of adopted parents had no influence on personality characteristics of adopted children
Evolutionary Roots of Personality
Personality can be measured in animals
-ex fast vs slow exploring
Some animals map on to the Big 5,
-ex rhinos, primates, hedgehogs, ants
And some are attributed to more measures of personality
-ex hyenas, octopuses, etc
Variation in personality useful for evolutionary survival
-reproductive success, environmental changes
Past Approaches
Humourism: Imbalances in bodily fluids explain illness and personality
Phrenology: Personality characteristics predicted by shape of skull
Current Approaches
Association between personality characteristics and systems within brain
Extraversion in the Brain
Increase in impulsive behaviours when reward is available
Stronger dopamine response to rewarding stimuli
More positive emotions in range of situations
Less activation in amygdala (involved in processing novelty, danger, fear)
The Arousal Theory of Extraversion
Extraversion determined by threshold for arousal
High threshold for arousal: Seek higher amounts of stimulation (Extroversion)
Low threshold for arousal: Limit stimulation to avoid being overwhelmed (Introversion)
Ascending Reticular Activating System (ARAS)
System in brain that plays central role in controlling arousal response
Less reactive in Extroverts
Approach/Inhibition Model of Motivation
Involves 2 behavioural systems
Behavioural Activation System (BAS)
“Go system”, arousing the person to action in the pursuit of a particular goal
Responsive to rewards
Activation associated with Extraversion
Behavioural Inhibition System (BIS)
“Danger” system, motivating the person to action in order to avoid punishments or other negative outcomes
Activation associated with Neuroticism
Neuroticism in the Brain
Dorsomedial prefrontal cortex: Regulating emotions
Hippocampus: Control of obsessive negative thinking
Mid-cingulate gyrus: Detecting errors and perceiving pain (physical or emotional)
Openness to Experience in Brain
Greater activation in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex: Creativity and intelligence
Greater activation in brain systems involved in integration of self and environment
Psychodynamic Theory
The conscious mind:
Current awareness
The unconscious mind:
Powerful inaccessible part of consciousness
Includes one’s lifetime memories and experiences
Operates without conscious control
Influences and guides our behaviour
Id
Collection of basic biological drives, including those directed toward sex and aggression
Operates according to pleasure principle: Do what brings you pleasure, regardless of consequences
Fuelled by libido
Superego
Values and moral standards
How we SHOULD behave
Develops as we become socialized
Ego
Decision maker
Forced to reconcile opposing urges from Id and Superego
In charge of ‘Anxiety defence’
Anxiety
Result of tension between the Id, Ego and Superego
Signals if something is wrong
Defence Mechanisms
Unconscious strategies ego uses to reduce or avoid anxiety
Ex. Denial, displacement, projection, rationale, repression, etc.
Development (according to freud)
Learning to channel libido into appropriate forms of self expression
-infancy and childhood guided by id
-ego and superego develop as child becomes socialized
-fixation: preoccupation with pleasure associated with particular stage of development (result of inadequate regulation, ability to satisfy needs in particular stage)
Humanistic Perspectives
Reaction to ‘pessimism’ and ‘disempowerment’ in Freudian approaches
Emphasizes individual’s free will to make choices, grow and develop
Person-centered perspective: People are basically good, and given right environment, will develop fully and normally
Goal is to achieve ‘self actualization’:full potential
>leads to self awareness and good natured personality
