Introduction Flashcards
PERSONALITY
- from Latin “persona” (mask)
FUNDER (2004) - individual’s characteristic patterns of thought/emotion/behaviour together w/psychological mechanisms (hidden/not) behind the patterns
BURGER (2004) - consistent beh patterns/intrapersonal processes originating within individual
- AKA. attempts to capture/summarise individual’s “essence”/that which is consistent across situations/time
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES
- cornerstone in modern psych
- people vary on psychological attribute range
- variation = consistent across time/situations
- possible to measure/assess individual difs
- people classified according to personality characteristics/IQ
- individual difs = useful for explaining/predicting beh/performance
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES (COMPLEX)
- search for broad generalisations/laws of beh omits extraordinary human beh diversity aka. individual difs
- study of individual difs examines ways in which people = psychologically similar/dif
PHRENOLOGY
FRANZ GALL (1758-1828)
- lumps/bumps on skull reveal character traits/mental abilities
- proposed MP selection based on phrenology
- today various brain parts have particular functions; this is an OUTDATED theory
MODERN PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY
- 2 main types:
1. SCIENTIFIC PSYCHOLOGY - trait approaches/behaviourists/SLT
2. CLINICAL PSYCHLOGY - psychoanalysts/humanists/existentialists
- each spawned dif personality theories/assessment/measurement methods
- both strive to understand ways in which people = psychologically similar/dif
SIX PARADIGMS/APPROACHES TO PERSONALITY
- THE PSYCHOANALYTIC APPROACH
- THE TRAIT APPROACH
- THE BIOLOGICAL/EVOLUTIONARY APPROACHES
- THE PHENOMENOLOGICAL/HUMANISTIC APPROACH
- THE LEARNING APPROACH (BEHAVIOURISM/SLT)
- THE COGNITIVE APPROACH
THE PSYCHOANALYTIC APPROACH (SHORT)
- unconscious mind/motivations
- resolving internal conflict
THE TRAIT APPROACH (SHORT)
- how people dif
- conceptualising/measuring difs
- continuum of traits/beh
THE BIOLOGICAL/EVOLUTIONARY APPROACHES (SHORT)
- anatomy
- physiology
- inheritance
- evolution
- inherited predispositions
THE PHENOMENOLOGICAL/HUMANISTIC APPROACH (SHORT)
- conscious experience of the world
- personal responsibility
- self acceptance
THE LEARNING APPROACH (BEHAVIOURISM/SOCIAL LEARNING THEORIES) (SHORT)
- behaviourism
- SLT
- cognitive personality theory
- learning helps adapt to their beh via rewards/punishments
THE COGNITIVE APPROACH (SHORT)
- role of perception/memory
- dif ways people process info
WHY SO MANY THEORIES?
- theory originators hold dif philosophical assumptions/paradigms about people
- theories oft incompatible
- dif theories address dif qs
- each approach has interesting/useful things to say about human personality BUT all incomplete
- ergo we can’t come up with one big theory
PHILOSOPHICAL ASSUMPTIONS
- dif philosophical assumptions profoundly influence how we perceive/theories about the world ie:
- freedom VS determinism
- hereditary VS environmental
- uniqueness/idiographic VS universality/nomothetic
- proactive VS pessimistic
- conscious VS unconscious
EVALUATING PHILOSOPHICAL ASSUMPTIONS
COHERENCE
- is the position clear/logical/consistent?
RELEVANCE
- does theory deal w/issues important/meaningful today? are they compatible w/empirical reality?
COMPREHENSIVENESS
- does it encompass wide phenomena array? does it cover what it claims profoundly/superficially?
COMPELLINGNESS
- does it convince YOU?
