Lecture 3- Personality traits

Question 1

TRAIT

Answer 1

A relatively stable disposition to behave a certain way, traits are the fundamental units of how personality and how you generally behave”

Question 2

traits are learnt through

Answer 2

Dealing with the environment

Question 3

Personality

Answer 3

this is an abstraction used to describe a psychological variable

Question 4

Personality reflects psychological qualities that contribute to an individuals

Answer 4

enduring and distinctive patterns of feeling, thinking and behaving

despite everyone having individual characteristics, there are aspects of people’s personality which can be the same. The consistency of personality traits is what allows us to predict and expect behaviour in the future. BUT no matter how much we are alike, we have distinct things that make us all different

Question 5

The more or less stable and ….

Answer 5

enduring organisation of a persons character, temperament, intellect and physique which determines their unique adjustment to the environment”

Question 6

Each person is like all others,

Answer 6

some others and no others

Question 7

1. Does involvement in sport change an athletes player personality?

Answer 7

questionable

Question 8

2. Is there a sporting personality?

Answer 8

argued that certain people with certain traits choose to play sport BUT they do not have a “sporting personality

Question 9

3. Do team sport athletes have different traits to individual sport athletes?

Answer 9

no

Question 10

4. Are there personality differences between male and female athletes?

Answer 10

yes there may be some gender differences but these are not clear cut. Regardless of your gender, athletes are athletes at the end of the day

Question 11

5. Are there personality differences between athletes competing at different levels?

Answer 11

there are clear physical and technical differences BUT not clear personality differences

Question 12

6. Can a personality difference determine whether a person is likely to be successful in sport or not?

Answer 12

no it cannot because prediction of success using personality is not professional

Question 13

Psychological Core

Answer 13

internal and consistent personality characteristics

Inner self basic values, beliefs, identity, self esteem….

Question 14

Typical Responses

Answer 14

– learned methods of dealing with the environment.

Is a valid indicator of the psychological core

Question 15

Role-related behaviours

Answer 15

behaviours that change in response to different situations and different roles fulfilled. This is NOT a valid indicator of the psychological core because the roles are inconsistent

Question 16

Social environment

Answer 16

the first three elements of this model of personality are influenced by the social environment of the individual. Whilst this is not a typical part of your personality, this is what determines the expression of your personality.

Question 17

Trait Approach

Answer 17

B=f (P)
this focusses on the person as an individual as a feedback loop because positive traits are reinforced whereas negative traits are punished. This is how personality adapts.

Question 18

Situational Approach

Answer 18

B=f (E)
personality is largely based on the situation which the person is in. Largely based on Bandura social learning theory and how others behaviour influences how we behave. This approach says that personality is largely a learning based approach and we model our behaviour off other people.

Question 19

Interactionist approach

Answer 19

this is an interaction of the two approaches and says that our personality is based on BOTH our situation AND our traits. Important to note that this is not a 50/50 split between the two, it varies.

Question 20

Measurement of personality

Answer 20

This is measured on the basis of two frameworks;

Question 21

This is measured (measurement of personality) on the basis of two frameworks;

Answer 21

trait framework and interaction framework

Question 22

which measurement of personality is the chosen and preferred

Answer 22

The interaction framework is the one which is chosen and preferred. This is because the interactionist framework makes consideration to the environment as well as the person and the effect this has on its behaviour.

Question 23

• Interactionist framework
  B=F (P X E)

Answer 23

1- State and trait measures
2-Situation -specific measures
3-Sport specific measures
4-Using psychological measures

Question 24

Issues in personality research in sport
what has the research revealed?

Answer 24

• Trait measures of personality have produced inconsistent results

-Trait measures alone have limited value for sport personality researchers

-Studies using an interactionist framework have been more useful

Question 25

Personality traits alone are not a valid method of research because these are inconsistent and unreliable. Furthermore, measures of the traits alone are not hugely valid for sport. Therefore, this is why the interactionist model for personality research has been the best because it considers

Answer 25

BOTH trait and state as well as the interaction between the person and the environment

Question 26

When measuring SCAT (Sport Competition Anxiety Test)

Answer 26

this indicates the level of competition anxiety that an athlete experiences with time.