Chapter 8: The Trait Approach: Relevant Research Flashcards
prevalence of the trait approach
- The trait approach has become so entrenched in personality research that it has become synonymous with measuring and examining traits
- The use of trait measures has increased steadily over the past few decades
the need for acheivement
the desire to accomplish something difficult, to master, manipulate, or organize to overcome obstacles and attain a high standard
what inspired the notion of acheivement motivation
Henry Murray’s description of people high in need for achievement
where is the need for acheivement emphasized?
in individualist cultures
how did early researchers measure the strength of one’s need for acheivement?
by coding the participants’ responses on the TAT
entrepreneurial behaviour
understanding achievement in the business world
what did early acheivement researchers focus on?
entrepreneurial behaviour
need for acheivement and wealth
People with a high need for achievement are more likely to find economic prosperity
need for acheivement and success
Need for achievement predicted success for low-level managers, but not for those higher up on the corporate ladder
why does need for acheivement not predict success for higher-level managers
because success in upper management often depends on the manager’s ability to delegate authority and motivate others, which can be difficult for those who are too concerned about their accomplishments
U.S. presidents and need for acheivement
U.S. presidents whose inaugural speeches were rated higher in need for achievement were also rated by historians as relatively ineffective leaders
participants of initial need for acheivement studies
Initial studies on the need for achievement only used male participants because relatively few women entered the business world at the time
gender and need for acheivement
Because of differences in gender-role socialization, men and women may differ in the kinds of achievement they value and how high career achievement ranks among their personal goals
women and sacrifices
Women sometimes make sacrifices for their family rather than pursue career goals
men vs. women’s success
Men are more likely to see success in terms of external standards (ex. Gaining prestige & recognition), while women are more likely to rely on internal definitions of success (ex. Setting out to do what one intended to)
success in individualistic cultures
achievement is defined in terms of personal accomplishments
success in collectivist cultures
success is more likely to be defined in terms of cooperation and group accomplishments
attribution
explanations people generate for why they do well or poorly in achievement situations
3 dimensions of attributions
- stability
- locus
- control
stability dimension
explaining our performance by pointing to stable or unstable causes
locus dimension
whether an attribution is internal or external to us
control dimension
whether we can control or not control the cause of the success or failure
benefit of the 3-dimensional attribution model
researchers can predict how people will respond to success or failure
examples of stable attributions
- good coordination
- poor math attitude
examples of unstable attribution
- good luck
- illness
examples of internal attributions
- extra effort
- poor skills
examples of external attributions
- easy test
- difficult competition
examples of controllable attributions
- high motivation
- not enough practice
examples of uncontrollable attributions
- from wealthy family
- weak national economy
how do we attribute losses?
Most of us attribute our losses to unstable sources, keeping alive our hope of succeeding the next time
when do we feel best about our successes?
when we attribute them to internal source
how do we improve acheivement motivation?
by changing people’s attributions through attributional retraining
attributional retraining session study
students in a first-year full-year psychology class who attended an attributional retraining session encouraging them to make controllable attribution for their performance performed better on their exams in the following semester, including in other classes
acheivement goals
provide targets that people aspire to in achievement situations
mastery goals
concerned with developing competence
performance goals
concerned with demonstrating accomplishments to others
four types of acheivement goals
- mastery-approach goals
- performance-approach goals
- mastery-approach goals
- performance-avoidance goals
students with high mastery vs. high performance goals
Students with high mastery goals work hard to learn the subject matter in a course, while those with high-performance goals want to obtain a high grade
approach goals
motivated by a desire to achieve a sense of mastery
avoidance goals
motivated by a desire to not feel incompetent
efficacy of acheivement goals
- Both mastery and performance goals can lead to achievement
- But, mastery goals tend to lead to higher achievement
effects of mastery goals
- Students choose more challenging tasks and are more interested in their classes
- People retain information and skills learned longer
- People share information and work with others to achieve common goals
combining types of acheivement goals
In some cases, a combination of mastery and performance goals can be particularly effective
when are the advantages of focusing on performance at play?
they re limited to performance approach goals
persistent reliance on avoidance goals
has been linked to poor performance and a lowered sense of well-being
stability of acheivement goals
- There is stability in the use of achievement goals in high school and college students
- However, there are higher levels of motivation when teachers emphasize mastery and improving skills
two dimensions of acheivement goals
- definition (mastery vs. performance)
- valence (positive vs. negative)
coronary-prone behaviour pattern
a personality dimension that seemed to consist of a combination of behaviours associated with coronary disease
coronary-prone behaviour pattern became known as
Type A personality
Type A- Type B dimension
a trait continuum, where extreme type A people are on one end and extreme type B people are on the other
Type A people
strongly motivated to overcome obstacles and are driven to achieve
Type B people
relaxed and unhurried
three major components of the Type A trait
- People work harder at achievement tasks regardless of outside pressure, such as deadlines
- Show a sense of time urgency
- More likely to respond to frustrating situations with anger and hostility
what motivates Type A people?
a desire to exercise effective control over the people and situations they encounter
Type A people are:
- More likely to dominate a group discussion
- Less likely to give up control over a task, even to someone who might do a better job
- More likely to want something after being told they can’t have it
Type A vs. Type B in acheivement tasks
Type A participants typically outperform Type B on achievement tasks because they set higher goals for themselves
Type A vs. Type B in competitive tasks
Type A people experience high blood pressure and a higher heart rate when told they are going to be competing against another person
confidence of Type A vs. Type B people
Type A people are more confident in their ability to do well in a game when they are told they will be competing against another participant
Type A vs. Type B students
- Type A students tend to take more classes than Type B students and expect to do better in these classes
- Type A students receive more academic honours and participate in more sports, extracurricular activities, and social activities in high school than Type B
original research on Type A and health
Early research showed that Type A is a good predictor of heart disease
current research on Type A and health
the hostility component in Type A personality is responsible for negative health outcomes
People high in hostility
tend to have a strong reaction to the small frustrations and inconveniences we all experience
hostility and coronary artery disease
- Participants who score high in hostility were more than twice as likely to suffer from some form of coronary heart disease over 4.5 years
- High-anger participants were nearly 3 times as likely to be hospitalized or die from heart disease during a 4.5-year study
anger-related words and heart disease study
The use of anger-related words in a U.S. county is strongly correlated with the age-adjusted rate of death from heart disease in that county. Anger-related words were a better predictor of death than smoking, hypertension, and obesity
Why is hostility related to cardiovascular problems?
- Unhealthy lifestyles
- Poor social support
- Immune system weaknesses
- Blood lipid levels
hostility and social interactions study
male participants high in hostility showed elevated blood pressure when interacting with other people, whereas low-hostility male participants did not show this reaction
hostility and social interactions follow-up study
The same trend was not found for women, potentially because women generally find social interactions more pleasant and less of a source of frustration than men do
health consequences of high anger and hostility
- physical illness
- immune system
- pain
- cholesterol
- cardiovascular disease
- death
high hostility & physical illness
high hotility scores predict increased incident of many illnesses, including asthma, liver disease, and arthritis
high hostility & the immune system
high anger is related to weakeness in the immune system, espsecially after conflict
high hostility & pain
high anger scores are associated with lower pain tolerance in lab studies and with complaints of greater pain among patients experiencing pain
high hostility & cholesterol
high trait anger is correlated with high cholesterol levels
high hostility & cardiovascular disease
high hostility is related to higher incide of many cardiovascular diseases, including atherosclerosis and coronary artery blockage
high hostility & death
high scores of anger and hostility are associated with death from cardiovascular disease as well as death from other causes
hostility and health in other cultures
- The same trends are not found in all cultures
- In Japan, expressing anger was related to lower health risks
programs designed to reduce hostility
- There is evidence that programs designed to help potential cardiovascular victims reduce their anger can be effective, particularly for drivers with road rage
- These programs train anger-prone participants to replace their initial reaction to frustrating situations with relaxation
is Type A personality without the hostility component bad for your health?
no, by avoiding minor setbacks and frustrations it is possible to be productive and healthy
prevalence of shyness
About 40% of people identify themselves as shy. Another 40-50% of people say they have been shy before or are shy in certain situations
social anxiety
anxiety related specifically to social interactions or anticipated social interactions
symptoms of social anxiety
increased physiological arousal, inability to concentrate, feelings of nervousness, etc.
social anxiety as a continuum
We can all be placed along a continuum of how much social anxiety we experience
social anxiety vs. shyness
Most researchers today appear to use the terms social anxiety and shyness synonymously
dating anxiety & stage fright vs. social anxiety
Dating anxiety and stage fright are specific examples of the larger concept of social anxiety
scales for social anxiety vs. related constructs
Scales designed to measure social anxiety, shyness, and related constructs are highly correlated with each other
social anxiety vs. introversion
Social anxiety is not the same as introversion
are socially anxious people happy the way they are?
no, the vast majority of socially anxious people people don’t like their social anxiety
social anxiety and Facebook study
College students did a reasonable job of identifying socially anxious people just based on their Facebook pages
people who interact with socially anxious people study
People who interact with socially anxious people identify socially anxious people as more tense inhibited, and unfriendly
shyness as a self-fulfilling prophecy
Shy people want a larger network of friends, but their shyness keeps them from developing more friends or asking the friends they have for help when they are in need
seeking advice and social anxiety
Shy students are less likely to talk to a counsellor about career advice
interpreting feedback and social anxiety
Shy people tend to interpret the feedback they get from other people in a negative light
collaborative tasks and social anxiety
students were asked to work on a series of tasks with other participants and were later asked what they believed the other students thought of them. Socially anxious students felt they were less liked and had come across as less competent
interpreting social cues and social anxiety
socially anxious people were more likely to interpret another person’s facial expressions as indicating social disapproval
friendship and social anxiety
Shy teenagers have fewer friends than non-shy classmates
relationships and social anxiety
Shyness reduces relationship satisfaction, even in long-term relationships
characteristics of social anxiety
- Feeling awkward and nervous when interacting with others
- Being concerned about other’s perceptions of them
- Stumbling over their words and saying the wrong thing
- Feeling ashamed and embarrassed in social situations
what do many researchers believe is the cause of social anxiety?
Evaluation apprehension
Evaluation apprehension
the fear of what other people think of oneself
how do socially anxious people cope with their anxiety?
- avoiding social interactions altogether
- if this isn’t possible, they avoid eye contact
symbolic meaning of eye contact
Eye contact symbolizes a readiness and willingness to talk and by not giving it, shy people signal that they would prefer to avoid social interactions
interaction style of socially anxious people
self-protective
self-protective interaction style
they do what they can to control the impressions others have of them
conversations with socially anxious people
Socially anxious people keep conversations short and non-threatening and they limit the amount of personal information they reveal
social anxiety and story evaluation study
socially anxious people who thought they were going to be evaluated based on stories they told about themselves kept their stories shorter and less revealing than other participants
get-acquainted conversation study
participants had to engage in a 5-minute get-acquainted conversation with someone they had just met. Shy participants were more likely to agree with what the other person said and merely restate their partners’ remarks
social anxiety across cultures
There are higher rates of shyness in collectivist cultures because they emphasize concern for what others think of you and the importance of avoiding criticism
what do socially anxious people struggle with most?
initating a conversation
shy vs. non-shy people in a conversation study
left shy and not shy participants alone to carry on a conversation. Found that while non-shy participants spoke more often and were more likely to break periods of silence, there was no difference in how long these two kinds of people spoke when they did say something
when is social anxiety less bad?
Shy individuals find their anxiety is less bad when they are with friends than when they interact with strangers
social anxiety and impression formation
Some researchers suggest that what socially anxious people lack is the confidence in their ability to make a good impression
programs for reducing social anxiety
Therapy programs designed to help people overcome shyness focus on getting clients to believe that they can say the right thing and that they can make a good impression
emotional affectivity
the extent to which we typically experience positive and negative emotions
link between positive and negative affect
Being high on one of these dimensions usually means being low on the other
can we experience positive and negative affect at the same time?
yes, people often report mixed emotions when recalling past experiences or when watching a movie with a bittersweet message
what is high positive affect associated with?
- better health
- more social events
- higher enjoyment of social events
- romantic relationships
- higher relationship satisfaction
- being happy, enthusiastic, and attentive
social activities and affect study
found that the more social activities the students engaged in, the higher their positive affect that week
can we conclude that social activities leads to higher positive affect?
no, this research is correlational
positive affect and attraction
People high in trait positive affect act in ways that most people find attractive, which leads to more friends and social activity
positive affect and conflicts
High positive affect people report fewer conflicts with their friends and are more likely to be accommodating when they disagree with their romantic partners
what is negative affect generally related to?
psychological stress
negative affect and health
- Relates to psychological stress
- Causes a diverse list of emotional problems
- People report more health problems and complain more than the symptoms warranted
- Results in difficulty dealing with stress
Why should different levels of negative affect be related to physical health?
- They may have difficulty dealing with stress
- Mood may affect health-related behaviours
- People who suffer from a lot of health problems become more negative about their lives in general
affect intensity
the typical strength or degree to which we experience emotions
high intensity people
- they experience their emotions more intensely and tend to be more variable
- they are more aware of their emotions and may spend more time thinking about and reliving emotional experiences
strong negative affect vs. strong positive affect
People who experience strong negative emotions tend also to experience strong positive emotions
predicting events and affect intensity
High-intensity people tend to overestimate the extent to which events will affect them and often draw unwarranted conclusions based on one good or bad experience
affect intensity and well-being
- High and low-intensity people tend to score about the same on measures of happiness and well-being
- But, they measure well-being and happiness differently
happiness for high-intensity people
involves exhilarating and enlivening experiences
happiness for low-intensity people
involves a calm and enduring sense of contentment
affect intensity and careers
Scientists tend to be low in affect intensity, while artists tend to be high in affect intensity
emotional expressiveness
a person’s outward display of emotions
expressiveness as a continuum
We can place people along a continuum ranging from those who are highly expressive to those who show few outward signs of how they’re feeling
gender and emotional expressiveness
- Women tend to be more expressive of their emotions than men
- Women also tend to be better than men at reading the emotions in other people’s faces
emotional expressiveness and relationships
The more people express their emotions, the fewer problems they have in romantic relationships
emotional expressiveness and reading emotion
People who express their emotions freely tend to experience less confusion when trying to read another person’s emotions
emotional expressiveness and happiness
Highly expressive participants were happier and experienced less anxiety and guilt than those who were low in expressiveness over 21 days
emotional expressiveness and depression
Expressive people are less prone to depression and tend to be higher in self-esteem
benefits of optimism
A positive outlook on life is often associated with high achievement and a positive mood
dispositional optimism
a continuum ranging from those who look at life in the most optimistic light to those who view it through the most pessimistic light
optimism and future events studies
- People who approach an upcoming event believing they will do well tend to perform better and feel better about themselves than those who don’t
- Those who believe they will beat the odds tend to do better than those who think the odds will beat them
- Those with positive expectations of heart surgery did a better job of adjusting to life after the surgery than those with a pessimistic outlook
those who are high in dispositional optimism tend to:
- Achieve more
- Set their goals higher, effectively prioritize their goals, and believe they can reach those goals
- Achieve higher grades and are less likely to drop out of school
- Never allow setbacks and temporary failures to get them down
the key to success for optimists is ___
having confidence in one’s abilities
optimists and failure
Optimists are less likely to allow setbacks and temporary failures to get them down
pessimistic life insurance agents study
pessimistic new life insurance agents were twice as likely than optimists to quit within the first year
culture and optimism
People in collectivist cultures tend to be more pessimistic
optimism and dealing with adversity
- Optimists deal with adverse situations better than pessimists
- Dispositional optimists living in stressful regions experienced less anxiety and depression than pessimists
freshman college students and optimism study
optimistic freshman students have a significantly easier time adjusting to the demands of their first semester of college than pessimistic students do
coping strategies of optimists vs. pessimists
- Optimists are more likely to use active coping strategies
- Pessimists are more likely to use avoidant coping strategies
health of optimists vs. pessimists
Optimists are typically in better physical health than pessimists
Why are optimists healthier than pessimists?
- Optimists are more likely to develop wide social networks and to turn to friends in times of crisis (which is linked to better health)
- Optimism and pessimism can lead to physiological changes that affect one’s health
(pessimists tend to experience more negative emotions, higher blood pressure, and a weaker immune system) - An optimistic outlook leads to the kinds of attributes and behaviours that lead to good health
characteristics of high need acheivers
- Take moderate risks
- Tackle work with a long of energy
- Are disinterested in routine and boring jobs
- Prefer jobs that give personal responsibility for outcomes
- Want concrete feedback about performance
parenting and need for acheivement
Parenting practices are associated with high need for achievement in children
high acheivement motivation and performance
High level of achievement motivation interferes with effective performance
gender and success in the business world
High need for achievement predicts success in the business world for both genders
gender differences in careers
There are some gender differences in values, expectations, and perceived career abilities
coworker relationships in individualistic cultures
Workers see themselves in competition with their coworkers which motivates them to work harder
coworker relationships in collectivist cultures
Professionals are concerned about the emotional and financial well-being of their coworkers
motivation
the energization and direction of behaviour
goal
a cognitive representation of what you want to achieve
motive
a specific physiological or psychological state of arousal that directs an organism’s energy toward a goal
Achievement goal theory (AGT)
- Views motives as goals
- Motives vary according to the goal
- Some ways of acheiving your goal are better than others
efficacy of avoidance vs. approach goals
Research shows that we should shift our avoidance goals to approach goals
example of shifting avoidance goals to approach goals
being healthier rather than losing weight
high need for achievement and stereotypes
People with a high need for achievement do not always fit our stereotypes of a highly successful businessperson
effects of performance goals
- Affects how well individuals work in groups
- People tend to see others as competition
- Advantages are limited
anxiety
feelings of dread and nervousness, usually about an upcoming event
social anxiety leads to:
- Increased physiological arousal
- The inability to concentrate
- Feelings of nervousness
social anxiety vs. similar constructs
Same as or related to many other constructs investigated by psychologists
positive affect
a continuum of emotions that ranges from active, content, and satisfied to sad and lethargic
negative affect
a continuum of emotions that ranges from nervousness, anger, and distress to calm and serene
emotional affectivity and predicting future emotions
Knowing where to place a person on the two-affect dimension can help predict with reasonable accuracy a person’s general tendency to experience positive and negative affect years from now
traits associated with high positive affect
- active
- elated
- enthusiastic
- excited
- peppy
- strong
traits associated with high negative affect
- distressed
- fearful
- hostile
- jittery
- nervous
- scornful
traits associated with low positive affect
- drowsy
- dull
- sleepy
- sluggish
traits associated with low negative affect
- at rest
- calm
- placid
- relaxed
optimism is linked to:
coping, well-being, and health
dimensions of emotions
- affectivity
- intensity
- expressiveness
dimensions of emotional affectivity
- positive
- negative
