individual differences

Question 1

What is personality?

Answer 1

Personality is “The characteristics or blend of characteristics that make a person unique” (Weinberg & Gould, 1999).

Question 2

Neuroticism/stability

Answer 2

• person’s level of neuroticism is determined by the reactivity of their sympathetic nervous system.
• A stable person’s NS will generally be less reactive
  to stressful situations, while someone high in neuroticism will be much more unstable, and prone to overreacting to stimuli (quick to worry, anger or fear).
• Neurotic individuals have an ANS that responds quickly to stress.

Question 3

Eysenck (1966)

Answer 3

• was interested in the characteristics of people whom he considered to have achieved their potential as individuals.
• According to Eysenck, the two dimensions of neuroticism (stable vs. unstable) and introversion-extroversion combine to form a variety of personality characteristics (interactionist approach).

Question 4

Eysenck (1966) evaluation

Answer 4

• 1966 — outdated? Not relevant for today? Yes/No options > Likert scale a better measure?
• Shields (1976) found that monozygotic (identical) twins were significantly more alike on the Introvert — Extrovert (E) and Psychoticism (P) dimensions than dizygotic (non-identical) twins.

Question 5

1960s Friedman and Rosenman studied the behaviour of
the patients suffering from coronary heart disease, they found that they displayed some distinctive behavioural patterns.

What are they?

Answer 5

• Type A personality - Competitive: they are driven
  individuals, set themselves targets, ambitious. - Time urgent and impatient: they have little time for creative pursuits, multitasking and fast-talking. -Hostile and aggressive: intolerant, inflexible and get angry quickly.
• Type B personality - Relaxed - One thing at a time -
  Patient - Express feelings

Question 6

Friedman and Rosenman (1974)

Answer 6

• investigated the links between type A behaviour patterns and cardiovascular disease.

Using structured interviews, 3200 men aged 39-59 were categorised as type A, type B or type X (balanced between A and B). The men were healthy at start.

At the end of the study 257 men had developed CHD, 70% of those were from the type A group. These results were significant even when risk factors such as smoking and obesity were taken into account.

Conclusions: Type A behaviour pattern is risk factor for heart disease.

Question 7

type C personality type

Answer 7

• identified by Temoshok (1987)
• Detail oriented, people pleasers, passive, and patient.
  They suppress wants, needs and feelings. The repression of
  anger is thought to make them more prone to developing
  cancer.

Question 8

Dattore et al. (1980)

Answer 8

carried out a prospective study on 200 veterans of the Vietnam War. The participants completed scales measuring repression of feelings and symptoms of depression. By the end of the study,75 participants were diagnosed with cancer; these typically had reported significantly more repression of feelings and less symptoms of depression than the other participants.
This supports a link between Type C personality and cancer.

Question 9

evaluation/evidence

Answer 9

• Both the Dattore et al. (1980) and the Friedman and Rosenman study clearly show that personality type can affect our health. This supports the transactional model as it shows that events are not stressors by themselves but that their effects are mediated by psychological factors.
• Most studies focus on men; this shows a gender bias in psychology.
• Ragland and Brand (1988) found little evidence of a relationship between personality type and coronary heart disease.
• We are not pure type A or type B, we tend to vary along the continuum depending on
  the circumstances and the situation we are in.
• In individualist cultures, men are socialised to display Type A behaviour.
• The personality type A could be the result of prolonged exposure stress.