Lecture 1 - Approaches to Personality

Question 1

What is persona?

Answer 1

Mask worn to portray character, role/character one plays in life’s drama

Question 2

What are the basic elements of personality?

Answer 2

F: Individual’s characteristic pattern of thought/emotions/behaviour together w/ psychological mechanisms (hidden or not) behind those patterns

C/S: dynamic organisation inside person + psychophysiological systems that create person’s characteristic patterns of behaviour/thoughts/feelings

W/R: abstractions that explain patterns of: affect/behaviour/cognition (sometimes desires) - ABCD of personality

Question 3

What are the 4 overarching approaches to personality?

Answer 3

Nomothetic, dispositional, idiographic, situational

Question 4

What is the nomothetic approach?

Answer 4

Individual diffs described + explained in terms of predefined attributes (eg. extraversion/brain area x)

Question 5

What is the dispositional approach?

Answer 5

Personality seen as consistent/internal dispositions to think/act/feel in similar ways largely independent of isutation

Question 6

What is the idiographic approach?

Answer 6

Individuals so unique that two diff people can’t be described using same concept (eg. Freud’s psychodynamic theory)

Question 7

What is the situational approach?

Answer 7

Personality series of largely unrelated states primarily determined by situational factors, no core essence just distinct behavioural signatures (if A then B)

Question 8

What do dispositional theorists think about the situation’s role?

Answer 8

Don’t deny role of context/situation in moderating behaviour

There is significant correlation between traits + behaviour (r = 0.4), traits also influence types of situations encountered

Question 9

What is one of the early models of personality?

Answer 9

The Four Temperaments: origins of personality theory in ancient Greece philosophy, rooted in descriptions of physical/mental disturbance

Hippocrates: Described physical illnesses come from balance of bodily fluids
Galen (AD 130-200): applied theory to describe temperament

Question 10

What are the Four Temperaments?

Answer 10

Phlegmatic (calm)/choleric (irritable)/sanguine (happy)/melancholic (sad), balance of bodily fluids (black bile/bile/mucus/blood levels) determines balance of temperaments

Question 11

What are the contributions of the Four Temperaments theory?

Answer 11

Notion of personality ‘types’, temperament descriptors influenced modern theories, specifies links between biology and temperament

Question 12

What is Eysenck’s PEN Theory?

Answer 12

Initial theory (1947): two dimensions of personality

Extraversion – Low E (introversion) vs High E (extraversion)

Neuroticism – High N (neuroticism) vs Low N (emotional stability)

Inspired by Galen’s four temperament model

Question 13

What are dimensions in Eysenck’s theory?

Answer 13

Dimensions where everyone can be placed, orthogonal to one another (independent), normal distribution for each dimension, super traits that provide complete description, biological underpinning

Question 14

What is the third dimension in Eysenck’s theory?

Answer 14

Added 1970

Observed individuals who were emotionally unstable (N) but w/ lower levels of fear/anxiety, lack of remose/conscience, lack of appreciation of consequences of actions –> psychopaths

Psychoticism dimension – High P (psychoticism) vs Low P (tender mindedness)

Psychoticism: major trait in Eysenck’s PEN model of personality, not normally distributed, most people have low scores

Question 15

What is being a psychopath associated with?

Answer 15

Extreme personality associated w/ callous/deceptive/manipulative nature, inability to feel remorse/empathy/deep-seated emotions, violate social norms

Question 16

What is psychosis?

Answer 16

Mental disturbance associated w/ break from reality (eg. Schizophrenia)

Someone w/ psychosis may be described as ‘psychotic’

Question 17

How is extraversion/introversion explained by biology?

Answer 17

Diff activity levels in reticulo-cortical system

Ascending Reticular Activation System (ARAS) in brain stem modulates amount of electrical activity in cortex

Moderate levels of arousal preferred (Lower level = Extravert – seek out stimulation, Higher = Introvert – avoid external stimulation)

Question 18

What did Gale test?

Answer 18

Hypothesis: in situation, extraverts will have lower levels of cortical arousal than introverts

Mixed evidence, majority support

Number of methodological issues – unsystematic use of personality measures, very high/low arousal task will cause introverts/extraverts to adapt to preferred level of cortical arousal –> obscure diffs

Question 19

What did Tran/Craig/McIsaac address from Gale?

Answer 19

Issues: Activity measured from frontal regions of brain, older participants (22-60) bc personality isn’t stable yet until adulthood, used moderately demanding task (opening/closing eyes)

Compared mean amplitude of EEG activity, I = 4.5 microvolts, E = 6.8 microvolts, p < 0.05

Question 20

How does neuroticism-stability explain diff activity levels in reticulo-limbic system?

Answer 20

Limbic system: involved w/ emotional processing (cingulate cortex, fornix, mammillary body, hippocampus, amygdala, hypothalamus

Neuroticism from greater arousal in reticulo-limbic system, psychoticism linked to male hormones/dopamine levels

Question 21

How is the evaluation for Eysenck’s theory?

Answer 21

Good cross-cultural evidence for E + N factors, major contribution to trait/biological theories of personality, development of several personality questionnaires
(EPI, MMQ, EPQ-R, EPP)

P factor less accepted – not featured in other models, neurobiology of emotional processing thought to be more complex, too much focus on biology

Question 22

What is the BAS/BIS (reinforcement sensitivity) theory?

Answer 22

Jeffrey Gray (1934-2004): development of alternative to Eysenck, based on work with animals (applied to all mammals)

2 separate systems + main neural components (amygdala, ventromedial hypothalamus, midbrain grey matter)

Individual diffs lie in strength of BAS + BIS

Question 23

What is the behavioural activation system (BAS)?

Answer 23

Activates approach behaviour toward goal, motivated to seek reward, based on conditioned responses associated w/ positive events

Question 24

What is the behavioural inhibition system (BIS)?

Answer 24

Focuses attention on potential costs, motivated to avoid harm/punishment, inhibits behaviours associated w/ negative events

Question 25

How was the BAS theory revised?

Answer 25

Revised (r-RST) in line w/ advances in neuroscience

Addition of Fight/Flight/Freezing system + BIS as evaluative comparator of response to conflicts