Individual - Martyn

Question 1

What is individual differences as an approach?

Answer 1

• Most approaches in psychology seek to find universal features inherent in everyone
• ID focuses on how people differ
• Why people are different
• If we can measure these differences

2 broad areas:

• Personality
• Intelligence

Question 2

Implicit personality theories

Answer 2

• Use personality as a term to help us understand ourselves and others
• We hear about individuals and we see their behaviour and try infer what type of person they are and what motivates them
• We are scientists collecting data and use this data to explain behaviour of those around us.

Question 3

History of personality

Answer 3

• Word ‘personality’ comes from the Latin word persona meaning mask
• In theatre the mask did not disguise but rather illustrated the character
• Gordon Allport (1937) popularised the term in its scieentific manner to provide a non-judgemental way of describing individual uniqueness

Question 4

Gordon Allport’s definition of personality

Answer 4

“A dynamic organisation, inside the person, of psychophysical systems that create the person’s characteristic patterns of behaviour, thoughts, and feelings

Question 5

Personality is a psychological construct . What is a psychological construct?

Answer 5

• No single agreed upon definition of ‘personality’
• Is an agreement that personality is best thought of as a psychological construct

Psychological construct = a concept that is not directly observable but influences behaviour

Question 6

How do we identify and measure a psychological construct?

Answer 6

1. Describe the characteristics that compromise the construct and how they might be related (extraversion and sociality)
2. Develop ways of measuring the characteristics
3. Then test it. What does the evidence suggest

Cronbach & Meehl (1995)

Question 7

Why do we study personality?

Answer 7

• Motivational basis: why do people behave the way they do?
• Assess how personality develops, what influences personality
• Measure and provide classes or categories of personality
• Assist in helping understand how to engage people in psychological interventions

Question 8

How do we study personality?

Answer 8

Allport made distinction between two different approaches

Idiographic: Focuses on unique nature of individuals and studying them one at a time - each personality is truly unique

Nomothetic: Focuses on similarities between groups of people - common traits which all people will vary on e.g. Agreeableness

Question 9

Idiographic approach to studying personality

Answer 9

• Assumes the differences between individuals are greater than the similarities
• “Idios” is ancient greek for private or personal
• To develop an in-depth understanding of the individual
• Qualitative methodologies to produce case studies mainly. Some generalisation across series of case studies is possible

Question 10

Advantages and disadvantages of idiographic approach to personality

Answer 10

Advantages:
- Depth of understanding of the individual

Disadvantages:
- Can be difficult to make generalisations from the data

Question 11

Nomothetic approach to studying personality

Answer 11

• Assumes the similarities between individuals are greater than the differences
• Term comes from ancient greek for ‘law’
• Primarily adopted in personality research
• Identify the basic structure of personality and the minimum number of traits required to describe personality universally
• Qualitative methods to explore the structures of personality, produce measures of personality and explore the relationships between variables across groups
• Can lead to superficial understanding of any one person

Question 12

Similarities and differences between the idiographic and nomothetic methods of studying personality

Answer 12

Similarities:

• Uniqueness of individual
• Generalisations are made

Differences:
Idiographic - Focuses on unique nature of individuals and studying them one at .a time. Uses case studies and interviews

Nomothetic - Focuses on similarities between groups of people and uses large surveys and self-report items

Question 13

Other approaches to studying personality (not idiographic and nomothetic)

Answer 13

Dispositional: personality is a set of consistent and unchanging dispositions which are stable regardless of context (tend towards nomothetic) - personality researchers tend to adopt this approach

Situational: Personality is a set of unrelated behaviours which are dictated by the situation

Question 14

The ‘person-situation’ debate

Answer 14

• Walter Mischel (1968)
• Mischel suggested personality traits or types are not good predictors of behaviour in situations, only accounting for about 10% of the variance in behaviours, but others suggest more (Epstien, 1979)
• Most researchers accept there is an interaction between personality and situation

Question 15

How to examine the value and worth of a theory

Answer 15

• Explanation: can it answer the why question
• Empirical validity: is there scientific evidence to support it
• Testable concepts: concepts should be testable and measured
• Comprehensiveness: can it explain a range of behaviour
• Parsimony: is it economical with concepts (or is there always something else introduced to explain something)
• Heuristic and applied value: does it stimulate new questions, and does it have a practical impact (can it help people)

Question 16

What is the nature of attachments

Answer 16

Selective - they are specific to individuals who elicit attachment behaviour (others won’t produce same behaviour)

Proximity - physical proximity is key (effort is made to maintain closeness to object of attachment)

Separation upset - when proximity is prevented/ the tie is broken, upset is caused

Question 17

What are the functions of attachments

Answer 17

Comfort - as a result of proximity to the caregiver comfort is provided

Security - due to proximity to the caregiver a sense of security is provided

Question 18

How do attachments form?

Answer 18

• Konrad Lorenz (1935) and his goslings
• Imprinting
• A form of learning which occurs following birth where the organism fixates attention on the object which it experiences (typically the caregiver)
• Typically seen in birds and some mammals

Question 19

What are the characteristics of imprinting

Answer 19

Critical period: sensitive period during early stages (approx. 32 hrs for goslings/ducklings)

Irreversible: Imprinting cannot be undone once done

Template: The attachment provides a template for subsequent relationships

Question 20

Harry Harlow - attachment

Answer 20

• Inspired by Konrad Lorenz
• Looked at the role of attachment in the early stages amongst rhesus monkeys
• Harlow demonstrated that comfort is crucial to the development of monkeys, not just food, which was a position adopted by behaviourists

Question 21

What happened after Harry Harlow’s experiment

Answer 21

Conducted further studies and initially thought surrogate cloth mother was sufficient, but when grown up, monkeys displayed:

1. Being timid
2. Unpredictable with other monkeys
3. They had difficulties with mating
4. The females were inadequate mothers

Also displayed more exploratory behaviour when cloth mother was present but not when wire mother was present

Question 22

Harry Harlow implications

Answer 22

Prior to this the predominant view of attachment was that it was established as a result of feeding:

Baby needs food - caregiver provides food = attachment formed

This study seen to break this down: comfort, safety and touch are essential

Harlow calls this CONTACT COMFORT

Question 23

John Bowlby (personality)

Answer 23

• Child psychiatrist
• Influences by the field of ethology (the science of animal behaviour)
• Felt there was evolutionary basis for babies to stay close to mothers/caregiver
• Suggested that child would form one attachment and that the attachment figure provided secure base for exploring the world
• Relationship provides template for future relationships

Question 24

John Bowlby: Forty-four thieves experiment

Answer 24

• Higher levels of delinquency seen in those who had separation of 6 months or more during early stage

Bowlby also noted maternal deprivation:

• Reduced intelligence
• Aggression
• Depression
• Affectionless psychopathy: inability to show affection or concern for others. Don’t show guilt for antisocial behaviour

Question 25

Bowlby attachment theory

Answer 25

• Child becomes attached to primary caregiver during about 6-24 months
• Responses they receive from caregiver during this time results in the child forming an ‘internal working model’
• This model effects how they see themselves and others and thus will impact upon their personality

Question 26

Mary Ainsworth (personality)

Answer 26

• Internal working models influence attachment behaviours and styles
• Developed tasks to assess attachment behaviours and styles known as ‘The Strange Situation’ (Ainsworth & Wittig, 1968)
• Task is a lab based procedure which seeks to demonstrate the type of attachment between caregiver-parent. Widely used today

Question 27

Strange situation task

Answer 27

1. Mother and baby introduced into room
2. Mother and baby alone, baby free to explore (3 mins)
3. Female stranger enters, sits down, talks to mother then tries to engage baby in play (3mins)
4. Mother leaves stranger and baby alone (up to 3 mins)
5. First reunion. Mother returns and stranger leaves unobtrusively. Mother settles baby if necessary and tries to withdraw to her chair
6. Mother leaves baby alone (up to 3 mins)
7. Stranger returns and tries to settle baby if necessary, and then withdraws to her chair (up to 3 mins)
8. 2nd reunion. Mother returns and stranger leaves unobtrusively. Mother settles baby if necessary and tries to withdraw to her chair (3mins)

Question 28

Attachment types

Answer 28

• Securely attached: child upset by mother’s absence, comforted by return and explores room
• Insecure avoidant: aloof when mother in room, failure to greet her (same with stranger)
• Insecure resistant: the infant is upset intensely, approaches mother but resist

Question 29

How do attachment types relate to personality?

Answer 29

Secure attachments:
Child more likely to explore - feel better able to maximise potential, develop healthy relationships, better cope with stress and anxiety

Insecure attachments:
Find it harder to develop trust in caregivers or authority, have a problem with controlling behaviour

Question 30

Who is Ivan Pavlov

Answer 30

• Russian physiologist
• Performed noble prize winning work with canines
• Reported the process of classical conditioning which reports a relatively simply but incredible powerful

Question 31

Who is John Watson

Answer 31

• Heavily inspired by Pavlov
• Called for a change in the direction of psychology; rallied against psychoanalyst approach of the day (interpretation and introspection)
• Wrote 2 key texts: Behaviour (1914) and Psychology from the standpoint of a psychologist (1919)
• Should be ‘true science’ focusing on observable behaviour
• No assumptions should be made about what goes on in peoples’ minds

Question 32

Who is B.F. Skinner

Answer 32

• Followed the work of Pavlov and Watson
• Accepted that inner states and thoughts exist but found these unacceptable causes of behaviour
• E.G. anxiety is not caused by your personality but by some previous experience
• Rejected notion of personality, merely descriptive word for behaviour patterns demonstrated by people following operant conditioning
• Individual differences will be seen as different types of behaviour have been reinforced or punished in past

Question 33

Skinner: Operant conditioning

Answer 33

• Accepts principles of classical conditioning but found it too simple
• Important to focus on the consequence of the response
• Termed operant conditioning
• Consequence of behaviour can be reinforced or punishment can be positive and negative

Question 34

What are the reinforcements used in operant condition

Answer 34

Positive reinforcement: receiving reward for behaviour (receive praise for good essay, you keep up good work)

Negative reinforcement: Avoiding outcome due to behaviour ( you hand in essay to avoid being problems on course)

Question 35

What are the punishments for operant conditioning

Answer 35

Positive punishment: receiving unpleasant stimulus for behaviour (speeding fine)

Negative punishment: pleasant stimulus removed for behaviour (no longer access to car)

Question 36

Who is Albert Bandura

Answer 36

• Developed social learning theory
• Accepted principles of Skinner and Watson but sought to focus on humans as opposed to non-human animals
• Suggested that learning can occur via other process than individual directly experiencing outcome = vicarious learning
• Pioneering work being the bobo doll experiments

Question 37

Bobo doll experiment

Answer 37

• Children observed a video of a child attacking a bobo doll

Three conditions (child in video is either):

1. Punished
2. No consequences
3. Rewarded

• In a subsequent stage the children were taken to the room and left alone with the bobo doll, those who were punished much less likely to perform behaviour

Question 38

Meditational processes

Answer 38

• Bandura (1977) proposed that meditational processes govern the extent to which we imitate behaviour seen

1. Attention - must have noticed it
2. Retention - must remember it
3. Motor production - must be able to perform it
4. Motivation - must have considered consequences

Question 39

What is identification (Bandura)

Answer 39

The process where the observer identifies with a model and seeks to emulate their behaviour and characteristics