Lecture 1- Personality Theory in Context Flashcards
Name example’s of implicit personality theories
- the pairing of two characteristics
- Halo Effect (Thorndike , 1920)
- 1 outstanding trait that influences the total rating of that person (Reber, 1995)
What are the 2 ways to view personality?
- Lay people
- Psychologist
What is Lay people ?
1) influenced by physical appearance
2) Evaluative and judgemental
3) more informational and less scientific
How do psychologist view personalities?
1) focuses on individual psychological differences
2) Emphasis characteristics that can usefully and reliably distinguish between individuals
3) Allport
What does the trait approach state about personality?
stable, internal factors make a persons behaviour consistent and different from the behaviour of others
What are the 4 features of Hampson’s (1988) definition of personality?
1) Stable
2) Internal
3) Consistent
4) different
Name the two approaches for personality?
1) Idiographic
2) Nomothetic
Describe the Ideographic approach to personality.
- Emphasises the uniqueness of an individual
- allows you to have an in-depth understanding of an individual
- data collected through dairies, interviews, case studies
Describe the Nomothetic approach to personalities
- Focuses on similarities between groups
- individuals are unique only in the way trait is combined
- Data collected through self-reports and personality questionnaires
- Discovers general principles that have predictive functions
- Allows you to establish norms
What are the disadvantages of the Ideographic approach?
can be difficult to generalise the findings.
What are the disadvantages of the Nomothetic approach?
- leads superficial understanding of individual
- training needed to analyse personality profiles accurately
What are the Big 5 Perosnality traits?
1) Openness to experience
2) Conscientiousness
3) Extraversion
4) Agreeableness
5) Neuroticism
What is the hard plaster hypothesis? (Biological)
personality traits stop changing by 30
What is the soft plaster hypothesis? (Contextualists)
changes more varied and persist throughput our lives
What are the two distinctions in personality?
1) Seen aspects (behaviour)
2) Unseen aspects (thoughts, memories)
What is the situationist perspective on personality?
- Walter Mishcel (1968)
- behaviour is the product of our environment (externally determined)
What is the personality theorist’s perspective on personality?
behaviour is the product of our traits (internally determined)
What is the Interactionist perspective on personality?
situation and personality both govern our behaviour
What are the approaches to personality theorising?
- clinical
- individual differences
What are the clinical approaches to personality?
1) Animal magnetism
2) Psychoanalysis
what is psychoanalysis?
mental disorders treated by
investigating the interaction of conscious and
unconscious elements through techniques
such as dream interpretation
What is the Lexica hypothesis?
The personality characteristics that are the most important in
people’s lives will become part of their language.
