Lecture 7: Personality II Flashcards
What does the behaviorist approach argue about individual differences?
Environmental conditions shape behaviour through learning so individual differences in behaviour are primarily the result of types of learning experiences encountered while growing up
Two examples of social learning and conditioning?
Classical conditions and operant conditioning
What is the behaviourist portrait of human behaviour?
- Focuses on environmental determinants of behaviour
- Argues we can change human behaviour by changing environment
- Human personality has passive quality – shaped primarily by forces beyond our control
Whave have behavioural theorists been criticised for?
Behavioural theorists have been criticized for over-emphasising situational influences on behaviour
Has the behaviourist approach contributed to the debate? is so how?
By emphasizing environmental variables, behavioural theory made a major contribution to clinical psychology & personality theory
What does the cognitive approach argue about individual differences?
Differences in personality stem from differences in the way individuals mentally represent information
What does the cognitive approach emphasise the importance of?
Importance of conscious thoughts and emotions
Importance of context in which traits are manifested
Brief comparison points of cognitive approach to psychodynamic approach and behaviourist approach?
Less deterministic than psychodynamic approach
Less passive than the behaviourist approach
What does the cognitive approach put emphasis on?
- Learned patterns of thinking in guiding behavior
- Personality is learned in social situations
- Social situations impact expression of personality
What does bandura’s social cognitive theory argue?
there are ongoing interaction between personal factors, behaviour, and the environment
Self-efficacy: Belief in ability to succeed
What does Mischel’s Cognitive/Affective Theory suggest are the most important cognitive person variables?
- Encodings
- Expectancies
- Affects
- Goals and values
- Competencies and self-regulatory plans
According to Mischel’s Cognitive/Affective Theory what produces behaviour?
Interaction of person and situation produce behavior
Give 4 points that explain the relationship between personal and situational variables?
1/ Personal dispositions influence behavior only in relevant situations
2/ Personal dispositions can lead to behaviors that alter situations, which promotes other behaviors
3/ People choose to be in situations that are consistent with their personal dispositions
4/ Personal dispositions are more important in some situations than in others
What are Kelly’s personal constructs?
dimensions that individuals use to interpret self & their social world
-Each person uses unique set of constructs to predict & interpret events
What is self-schema?
Cognitive representations of who we are
What are self schemas made up of?
Made up of aspects of behaviour most important to us
What do self schemas do?
Guide perception & processing of information, also provides framework for organizing & storing info
What is the cognitive portrait of human nature?
Humans actively construct the world & their place in it
But can lead to ‘blame the victim’
3 strength evaluation points for the cognitive approach?
- Based on empirical evidence
- Focus on predicting behaviour rather than describing behaviour
- Led to cognitive-behavioral treatments
3 weakness evaluation points for the cognitive approach?
Vague concepts eg, What is the difference between a personal construct and a schema?
Predictive power (e.g. Bandura everything interacts)
Methodological problems
E.g. Applied to health behaviours (condom use, eating behaviour) – large amount of variance in behaviour not accounted for (Ogden, 2003)
If data doesn’t fit, explanations support models rather than refute them
What does the evolutionary approach suggest?
Attempts to explain human behavior & personality in terms of adaptiveness of characteristics for survival & reproductive success
What is the evolutionary approach supported by?
Some support from sex differences in mate preference:
- Females value quality of genes and contribution to care
- Males value availability and fertility
- Females invest in looking fertile
- Males invest in appearing prosperous (big up their income)
What is the evolutionary approach’s portrait of human nature?
We are as we are through adaptive processes determined by environment
Evaluation points for the evolutionary approach (3)?
1/ It is a controversial theory… eg…
-Social and political implications of claims
- Difficult to refute alternative arguments
- Untestable hypotheses
2/ Focus on narrow aspect of behaviour (reproduction)
3/ Cannot account for unique aspects of personality
