Lecture 3 - History of Personality Flashcards
What is Allport’s (1961) definition of personality in psychology?
Allport (1961) defined personality as “a dynamic organisation, inside the person, of psychophysical systems, that create the person’s characteristic patterns of behaviour, thoughts, and feelings.”
How does the America Psychological Association (APA) define personality?
The APA defines personality as “the enduring characteristics and behaviour that comprise a person’s unique adjustment to life, including major traits, interests, drives, values, self-concept, abilities, and emotional patterns.”
What are Type A and Type B personality characteristics?
- Type A: Competitive, time-urgent, hostile, and aggressive
- Type B: Relaxed, patient, and easygoing
What are the primary aims of personality theorists in studying personality?
Personality theorists aim to:
- Explain the motivational basis of behaviour
- Provide descriptive categorizations of how individuals behave
- Investigate the causes of personality (e.g., genes versus environment)
What early ideas and practices served as precursors to modern personality measurement?
Early attempts included physiognomy, as advanced by Johannes Lavatory (1741-1801), which involved making value judgements based on facial features
What were craniometry and phrenology, and why were they eventually abandoned?
- Craniometry = The measurement of skull size, once thought to correlate with intelligence; later discredited because brain size does not reliably predict intellectual or other psychological functions
- Phrenology = Proposed by Franz Joseph Gall (1758-1828) that bumps on the skull reflect underlying brain areas corresponding to psychological traits; it was abandoned once evidence showed no reliable relationship between skull shape and brain function
Summarize the psychoanalytic approach to personality
The psychoanalytic approach holds that personality is structured into three parts: the id (pleasure principle), the ego (reality principle), and the superego (morality principle), and that personality develops through psychosexual stages (oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital). Later theorists such as Alfred Adler, Carl Jung, and Karen Horney expanded on or diverged from Freud’s ideas.
What is the core idea of learning theory in relation to personality? (refer to early behaviourists)
Learning theory argues that personality differences arise from differences in learning experiences. Early behaviourists like Pavlov, Watson, and Skinner emphasised that conditioning and reinforcement shape behaviour, thereby influencing behaviour
Which theorists are associated with the cognitive and humanistic approaches to personality?
- George Kelly: Personal construct theory
- Albert Ellis: Rational emotive behaviour therapy
- Abraham Maslow: Hierarchy of needs and self-actualisation
- Carl Rogers (client-centered therapy)
What two main assumptions underlie the trait approach to personality?
The trait approach assumes that personality characteristics are both:
1) Stable over time
2) Consistent across different contexts
Describe William Sheldon’s somatotype theory and its connection to personality
Sheldon’s theory linked body types to personality traits:
- Endomorph (viscerotonic): Plump, well-developed visceral structure - Tends to be relaxed, sociable, tolerant, comfort-loving, and peaceful
- Mesomorph (somatotonic): Typically muscular - Active, assertive, vigorous, and combative
- Ectomorph (cerebrotonic): Lean with underdeveloped muscles - Generally quiet, agile, restrained, and sensitive
What is Raymond Cattell known for in personality research?
Cattel was the first to use factor analysis extensively in personality research, ultimately developing the 16 Personality Factor (16PF) model, which includes factors like warmth, reasoning, emotional stability, dominance, liveliness, and others (denoted by letters A, B, C, E, F, G, H, L, M, N, O, Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4).
Summarise Hans Eysenck’s personality theory and his method of measurement
Eysenck proposed a model based on three dimensions:
1) Introversion-Extraversion
2) Stability-Neuroticism
3) Self Control-Psychoticism
He developed the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) to access these dimensions
What comprises the Big Five personality traits and which instrument is commonly used to measure them?
1) Openness
2) Conscientiousness
3) Extraversion
4) Agreeableness
5) Neuroticism
A widely used measure is the NEO-PI-R, developed by Costa and McCrae, which further contributions by researchers such as Ashton and Lee and Musek
What are some main criticisms concerning personality questionnaires and trait theories?
- Label Appropriateness: (e.g., Norman, 1963) questioning whether labels accurately capture the nuances of personality
- Suitability and Reliability of Questionnaires: (e.g., Peabody and Goldberg, 1989) addressing whether the tools accurately measure what they aim to measure
- Atheoretical Nature: (e.g., Briggs, 1989) pointing out that some trait measures lack a solid theoretical foundation
- Predictive Validity Issues: (e.g., Mischel, 1968) where critics argue that self-report traits have limited ability to predict behaviour across different situations
In personality research, why is it important to investigate the relative influence of genes versus the environment?
Understanding the balance between genetic predispositions and environmental influences helps:
- Explain the development of personality
- Inform interventions
- Determine the stability versus malleability of personality traits over time
