General introduction Flashcards
where does the word personality come from?
the Latin “persona”, meaning “mask“. – different mask for every role and situation
is there something stable behind personality?
yes and evolving across time
personality definition (Funder, 2004)
“Personality refers to an individual’s characteristic patterns of thought, emotion and behaviour together with the psychological mechanisms – hidden or not - behind those patterns.”
personality definition (Burger, 2004)
“Personality can be defined as consistent behaviour patterns and intrapersonal processes originating within the individual.”
general definition
Basically, ‘personality’ refers to our attempts to capture or summarise an individual’s ‘essence’; or that which is consistent across situations and over time – consistency can be demonstrated over time
individual differences
Individual differences - cornerstone subject area in modern psychology
Where psychology emerged from philosophy
Theorists own experiences is where theories come from
The search for broad generalisations and laws of behaviour omits the extraordinary diversity of human behaviour, it omits individual differences. – looking for group or experimental effects
indv diffs assumptions
People vary on a range of psychological attributes. This variation is consistent between situations and across time. – why people vary open to question – temperament?
It is possible to measure and assess these individual differences.
People can be classified according to their personality characteristics and intelligence. – or not safe?
Individual differences are useful for explaining and predicting behaviour and performance.
what does the study of indv diffs examine?
the ways in which people are psychologically similar and psychologically different.
when can personality psych be traced back to?
Greek philosophers
Plato (360BC)
“No two persons are born exactly alike; but each differs from the other in natural endowments, one being suited for one occupation and the other for another.” (Plato 360BC)
Skinner also had same idea
adoption studies show it to be wrong
when did psych split from philosophy?
early 19th century
phrenology
Franz Gall (1758 -1828)
- lumps and bumps on the skull reveal character traits and mental abilities
- 1832 – 29 UK Phrenology Societies
It was proposed that selection of MPs be based on phrenology
Today - various parts of the brain have particular functions
2 main camps of modern personality psychology
Scientific psychology (e.g. Trait approaches, Behaviourists and Social Learning Theorists and cognitive)
Clinical psychology (e.g. Psychoanalysts, Humanists and Existentialists)
They both strive to understand the ways in which people are psychologically similar and psychologically different.
the six different paradigms/approaches to personality
The psychoanalytic approach
The trait approach
The biological and evolutionary approaches
The phenomenological/humanistic approach
The learning approach (behaviourism and social learning theories)
The cognitive approach
the psychoanalytic approach
Unconscious mind & unconscious motivations that drive us
Resolving internal conflict
Problem – sexual desires – understood in different way - understand trauma now
the trait approach
How people differ
Conceptualising and measuring differences
Continuum of traits and behaviours
Can test for reliability and validity
the biological and evolutionary approaches
Anatomy, physiology, inheritance and evolution
Inherited predispositions
Not coherent whole
the phenomenological/humanistic approach
Conscious experience of the world
Personal responsibility and self acceptance
Underpins qualitative research methods
Subjective experience and realities
the learning approach (behaviourism and SL theories)
Comprises Behaviourism, Social Learning Theory and Cognitive Personality Theory
Learning helps to adapt their behaviour via rewards and punishments
the cognitive approach
Role of perception and memory
Different ways in which people process information
Trauma learning
why so many personality theories?
The theories originators hold different philosophical assumptions (paradigms) about people. The theories are often incompatible.
Different theories address different questions.
Each approach has interesting and useful things to say about human personality but each is incomplete.
We can’t come up with one big theory of personality because of this trade off.
Look at all to get nearer to reality
Express lots about themselves
philosophical assumptions
Freedom (humanists) versus determinism (Freud – unconscious and behaviourists - stimuli)
Hereditary (biological) versus environmental (social)
Uniqueness (idiographic - Freud – cant lump people together) versus universality (nomothetic – quantifiable and measurable)
Proactive versus reactive
Optimistic (humanist) versus pessimistic (Freudian)
Conscious (phrenology and humanistic) versus unconscious (cog and Freud)
ways to evaluate philosophical assumptions
coherence
relevance
comprehensiveness
compellingness
coherence
is the philosophical position clear, logical and consistent?
relevance
does the theory deal with issues that are important and meaningful to us today? Are the theoretical assumptions compatible with empirical reality?
comprehensiveness
does the theory encompass a wide array of phenomena? Does it cover what it claims to cover in a profound or superficial way?
compellingness
Does the theory convince you?
what makes a useful theory?
- Generates hypotheses/research
- Falsifiable – problem with Freudian theory
- Organises and integrates existing data and empirical knowledge
- Suggests practical answers to day-to-day problems
- Internal consistency
- Simplicity/parsimony
basic issues
To what extent is personality culturally determined? – personality’s partly determined by culture
Which is more important in determining what people do, the person or the situation?
Personality differences between men and women – what are they and where do they come from? – not clear
individualistic cultures
(include most Northern European countries and the USA) emphasise individual needs/accomplishments.
People tend to have an ‘I’ orientation.
Great value placed on autonomy, youth, equality and individual security
collectivist cultures
(include many Asian, African, Central and South American countries) emphasise cooperation rather than competition and group rather than individual accomplishments.
People tend to have a ‘we’ orientation.
Great value placed on duty, tradition, age, hierarchy, group security
‘I’ isn’t a good thing
the person-situation debate
The person vs. situation debate has been a strongly contested topic since the late 1960’s.
Walter Mischell, (1968) - Personality and Assessment.
The issue: Which is more important in determining what people do, the person or the situation?
Situational variables are best suited to predicting behaviour in specific situations, personality traits are more able to predict patterns of behaviour that persist across situations and time
the Forer/Barnum effect
The Barnum effect is also called the Forer effect after B. R. Forer (1948).
The Barnum effect - people tend to accept vague and general personality descriptions as uniquely applicable to themselves.
People tend to accept questionable, even false statements about themselves, if they are deemed positive or flattering enough.
the Barnum effect study
Forer (1948): asked students to evaluate the personality description from 0 to 5, with “5” meaning “excellent” and “4” meaning “good.”
Accuracy of the personality description amazed the participants
The class average evaluation was 4.26.
The test has been repeated hundreds of time with psychology students, the average is still around 4.2.
pseudoscience
tarot, astrology, fortune telling
what do personality theories/assessment have to be?
specific, reliable, valid and testable.
the psychometric approach
Psychometrics - theory and methods of psychological measurement.
Psychometrics includes Intelligence testing, measurement of personality traits and vocational testing.
The impact of testing on the individual and in wider society is substantial which highlights the importance of high professional standards for the development, administration and interpretation of tests.
