Lectures Midterm Flashcards
3 levels of personality
- Actor (Big 5)
- Agent (goals, motivation, values)
- Author (evolving identity)
Personality and Assessment by Walter Mischel
- textbook for Koestner’s 1977 Personality course
- there is no stable personality, all behavior is explained by situations
- not current
Personality definitions
- characteristic patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that make a person unique
- arises from within the individual
- fairly consistent across situations and time
Big 5 traits and relationships
- usually pretty random, not matching
Traits definition
- dimension (not types)
- tendencies (not dispositions)
- Consistencies across situations and over time
Forer effect
- used in way people read palms, bad personality tests, ect.
- ambiguous feedback that’s fairly positive
Why Myers-Briggs is bad
- mother-daughter pair, probably not psychologists
- based on Carl Jung’s work
- 4 dichotomies (extraversion is only good one)
- over 100 years old
- lots of items don’t test anything meaningful
- results don’t predict anything
Personality trait correlation high school vs 10 year reunion
- .6 or .7
Janine from Abbot Elementary personality
- high sociability, lower social dominance (but can be assertive sometimes ex work friends confrontation)
- high A, sensitive
- might be neurotic/hypersensitive
Jacob from Abbot Elementary personality
- careful not to make others feel bad
- able to make genuine apology
- high on A and E
Gregory from Abbot Elementary personality
- consoles Janine, kind, empathetic
- inhibited, constrained
Tariq from Abbot Elementary personality
- Janine’s bf
- open, confident, carefree, self-centeres
- high E, low C
Pierre Poilievre personality
- introverted, low on agreeableness
- logical, organized, reliable
- arrogant
Evidence for construct validity of Big 5
- very reliable (same results across time)
- universal; used in other languages, cultures, and species (although most animals do not have C)
- high correlation between self-report and actual behavior
Mnemonics for Big 5
- Extraversion, Energy, Enthusiasm
- Neuroticism, Negative Affect, Nervousness
- Openness, Originality, Open-Mindedness
- Agreeableness, Altruism, Affection
- Conscientiousness, Control, Constraint
Most and least extroverted world regions
- most: North America, Eastern Europe, Oceania
- least: East Asia, South/SE Asia, South America
According to Miller, what are uses of Big 5 in counselling
- N only trait predictive of being in therapy
- can anticipate and understand client’s private exp
- can anticipate problems presented in treatment
- helps formulate a practical plan and predict opportunities and pitfalls of it
Full version of Big 5
- 240 questions
- each trait broken down into 6 facets
Kelly&Conley 50 year study (1937-1987)
- got personality self reports and close other ratings
- follow ups at 5 years, 20 years, 50 years
- extroverts had more kids, neurotics had less kids
- 2 traits predictive of marital misery: N and C of husband
- non-personality factors of MM: SES, religion, life events
- low A and submissiveness (low E) of men associated w them staying in unhappy marriages
Which trait is most highly correlated in married couples?
- Openness to experience!
Big 5 and job performance meta-analysis
- C is #1 thing that predicts success at work (all stages)
- extraversion predicts success in management or sales w .5 correlation
- O helps adapt to new work culture and do better at training
- A and N might do better in small work groups
Stanford business: “the worst kind of group for an organization that wants to be innovative/creative is one in which…
…everyone is alike and gets along too well”
Grit
- persistence, determination, and resilience; maintained effort and interest over years despite failure/challenge
- approaches achievement as a marathon
- tests of this actually measure facets of C
Cluster A of PDs
- characterized by odd patterns of thinking
- behavior: odd, eccentric
- PDs: paranoid, schizoid, schizotypal
Cluster B of PDs
- behavior: dramatic, erratic
- PDs: antisocial, borderline, histrionic, narcissistic
Cluster C of PDs
- characterized by erratic emotional patterns
- behavior: anxious, fearful
- avoidant, dependent, OCD
Schizoid PD (cluster A)
- extreme isolation, inability to enjoy social relations
Schizotypal PD (cluster A)
- social awkwardness, bizarre thoughts + behaviors
Paranoid PD (cluster A)
- suspiciousness, hostility, lack of trust in relationships
Histrionic PD (cluster B)
- flamboyant but superficial style, self-centeredness
Narcissistic PD (cluster B)
- grandiosity, lack of empathy, need for admiration, attention seeking
- Michael Scott fits this pretty well
- need 5 of 9 traits for diagnosis
- reality TV stars score high on measures of narcissism
Antisocial PD (cluster B)
- cruel + aggressive behavior, psychopathology
Borderline PD (cluster B)
- emotional instability, emptiness, fear of abandonment
Dependent PD (cluster C)
- submissive + passive style, need to be taken care of
Obsessive-compulsive PD (cluster C)
- rigid adherence to rules + details, desire for perfection
Avoidant PD (cluster C)
- social withdrawal out of fear of criticism or inadequacy
Diagnosis of personality disorders
- very unreliable, concern ab clinical utility
- hard to properly define using categorical classification
McCrae & Costa, Big 5 and PDs
- schizoid related to low E
- histrionic related to high E (wrong)
- dependent related to high A (wrong)
- antisocial related to low A
- ppl high in C prone to compulsive disorders (wrong)
- openness is only trait not linked to PDs
FFM
- five-factor model, Big 5
DSM5 Alternative dimensional system for PDs
- focus on extremes of behavior on certain dimensions
- judgement on whether you’ve reached a threshold of personality functioning (criterion A)
- look at identity+self-direction and empathy+intimacy
- criterion B: pathological personality domains
DSM5 alt. dimensional system: Criterion B
Pathological Personality Domains
- negative affectivity vs emotional stability
- detachment vs extraversion
- antagonism vs agreeableness
- disinhibition vs conscientiousness
- psychoticism vs lucidity
PDs in DSM5
- antisocial PD
- borderline PD
- avoidant PD
- schizotypal PD
- narcissistic PD
- OCD
Positive psychology
- scientific study of what makes life worth living
- shift away from mental illness toward personal virtues/character strengths (and cultivating these)
- leaders: Seligman and Peterson
- 6 main virtues and 24 character strengths (determined via looking at old texts and seeing how extraordinary ppl were defined)
- virtues: transcendence, temperance, justice, humanity, courage, wisdom
- test called VIA classification of strengths
- no predictive validity beyond Big 5
George from Seinfeld
- all 4 friends low on A, 3/4 high on N
- George is bundle of high N and low A
- freaks out when gf and friend become friends bc his worlds are colliding (independent George and relationship George)
- high self-monitor!
Mr Kim from Kim’s convenience
- more quarrelsome than agreeable
Fundamental Attribution Error
- attribute own behavior to external factors
- attribute others’ behavior to traits
Cross Role Variation study (Sheldon 2005)
- how students behave at school, w parents, at work, w friends
- 80% of variance on trait dimensions was across roles
- only 20% between people
E and N by role
- lower E and higher N at school
- higher E and lower N w friends
A by role
- highest at work, lowest with family
C by role
- highest at work, lowest with friends
Dr. Koestner chameleon story
- first gf in last year of uni (she had bf back home)
- 2nd year grad school had relationship for a few weeks
- romantic getaway weekend, she made him pull over, told him she’s not sure about the trip because she doesn’t know who he is
- heard him talking to bus driver and janitor and being loud and boorish, called him chameleon
- he told her he comes from poor family so has two ways of acting, and she bought it
Mark Snyder on self-monitoring
- ppl differ meaningfully in extent to which they CAN and DO engage in expressive control (facial expressions, tone, movements – mostly tied to E-I scale)
- high SM: willing and able to project images desired by others (is adaptable, better outcomes, good managers or teachers)
- low SM: unwilling and unable to carry off appearances
- developed a scale, mostly used in organizational psyc
Lippa and Bem study on self-monitoring and friendliness
- got reports from peers, mom, dad, obs. in group discussion, obs of spontaneous friendliness
- correlation between reports lower for high SMs
Lipa and Bem study on self-monitoring and E
- made subjects teach math lesson, pretend to be high E, low E, and neutral
- introverts high in SM had 2x range of low group in terms of acting more extroverted (can pull off acting like extroverts!!)
Correlates of high self-monitoring
- quickly assess demands of sit. and act accordingly
- low consistencies between trait scores and behavior
- many friends but do specific things w each, dont encourage social contact among friends
Correlates of low self-monitoring
- less sensitive to nuances of situation, less likely to alter behavior
- high consistency between trait scores and behavior
- fewer friends but engage in variety of things with each, encourage social contact
SM and social networks (study of Korean expatriates running convenience stores)
- SM predicted ability to build network inside and outside of Korean community
Why do chameleons change colour?
to find romantic partners!
Genes are ___X more important that parenting or other factors on personality
10 (except in extreme negative parenting cases)
Richard and Roland Big 5 traits early in life
- N: Richard > Roland
- E: Richard < Roland
- O: Richard < Roland
- A: Richard > Roland
- C: Richard < Roland
Internal locus of control
- belief ab whether you control reward + punishment in your life
- Richard and brother Roland were similar on this
Heritability Quotient
- estimate of proportion of variability in a given characteristic that can be attributed to genetic differences between people
Twin studies and heritability of personality traits
- show about 50% heritability of E
- MZ twins might be treated more similarly, could in part account for higher correlations in trait scores (but studies show it is more ab genes)
- MZ raised together have highest correlation
- almost no genetic effect on locus of control, mostly ab family
% of variance in personality accounted for by shared environment
2-5%
% of variance in personality accounted for by NONshared environment
25%
Riese et al 2014 study on impact of stressful life event on levels of N in Finnish twins over 6 years
- stability of N is pretty high (r = .60)
- exposure to SLEs moderately increased N
- effect same for identical and fraternal twins (means it is a nonshared environmental effect)
Steve from Stranger Things
- starts as a typical villain but turns good
Longitudinal Stability of Adult Personality (McCrae and Costa)
- suggests Big 5 traits are remarkably stable over decades
- not all true, but rank order is pretty stable
Bruce from 49 and up video
- filmed every 7 years
- doesn’t change much over time
- low E, very high C, high A
- always apologizing (low confidence/assertiveness, not high A!!!)
Costa & McCrae Baltimore longitudinal study
- tracked 20,000 Americans over 6 years
- median .82 correlation in traits (about high as can be)
- maybe started too late in life (subjects were 25-30 at first time point)
- 5 other studies with time spans 6-20 years also show pretty high correlations (median .64)
Finn study on trait stability
- measured two groups at two time points: one group at 25 and 55, and one group at 45 and 75
- median r in younger start group was .47, was .78 in older start group!
Costa & McCrae perceived trait stability
- we overestimate how much we’ve changed over time
- think we were more awkward that we really were in high school bc we like redemptive life stories
Normative changes for Emotional Stability (low N)
- increase slowly, dramatic increase from 20-40, plateaus in late middle-age
Normative changes for E
- social vitality: pretty stable
- social dominance: biggest increase from 15-40, biggest trait change across lifespan!
Normative changes for O
- rapid increase in adolescence, stays steady after that
Normative changes for A
- steady march upwards, biggest changes from 20-30 and 50-60
Normative changes in C
- raises steadily, biggest changes from 20-40 and 60-70
University vs trade work A&C
- uni students: earlier increase in A (diversity helps!)
- trade workers: earlier increase in C
Richard and Tony HS vs adulthood social dominance
- both made big steps forward, but from different starting points (Richard was 20th %, Tony was 80th)
Specific events that can impact Big 5 traits
- first meaningful relationship
- first career-related job
- stressful life events
- substance abuse
- psychotherapy
Neyer & Lenhart 2007 study on change in N and social dominance by new relationship
- asked 23 and 31 yo if they were single or in love relationship
- big decrease in N in those who were newly coupled at second time
- big increase in social dominance and in C for newly coupled subjects
Impacts of drug abuse when younger on traits
- lower C and A
Impacts of psychological intervention on traits
- biggest impact on N, then E
- no meaningful differences between types of treatment
- anxiety and PD patients showed greatest change
Susan Cain thoughts on introversion
- was quiet and loved to read, went o a camp where she was expected to be extraverted, discovered an internalized bias for extraversion
- shyness is ab fear of judgement, introversion is ab social stimulation
- 1/3 to 1/2 of population are introverts
- introversion is a different style
- introversion is clearly temperamental, genetic
Dr. Koestner on shyness vs introversion
- shyness is anxiety and inhibition in (some) social settings, they are preoccupied ab social judgement
- thinks this is a problem (vs introversion which isn’t)
- 1/3 of introverts are shy, 1/3 of shy ppl have social anx.
Big Bang Theory: Sheldon, Raj, Howard, Leonard
- Sheldon: introvert, low on A
- Raj: social anxiety, selective mutism
- Howard: raging extrovert but is socially awkward and pretty neurotic
- Leonard: shy, but trying to improve (and wants to help Sheldon and Raj improve)
Correlates of introversion
- talk less in new social situation
- less eye contact, less firm handshake
- prefer solitary pursuits (do better in school)
- narrow friendship network
- less likely to be chosen as a leader (but can be great with proactive group, good at bringing out best in others)
Jerome Kagan’s Inhibited-Shy child
- 20% of infants are inhibited (upset by any stimulation)
- remains quite stable in life
- monkey study showed environment plays bigger role than genetics
Physiological and neuropsychological indicators of shyness
- heart rate, pupil dilation, morning cortisol
- shy ppl elevated on all 3 during novel situation
- shy ppl show stronger fight or flight response to new stimuli (limbic system)
- we can adapt behavior but physiology remains
According to Jay Belsky, what is the best way to help a shy child?
- sensitive encouragement
- not force child and overwhelm coping capacity
Fractions of population who are shy-inhibited at different ages
- 6mo: 20/100
- 2yo: 15/100
- 14yo: 10/100
- 30yo: 5/100 (in Japan, 15/100)
- in US, almost 75% of shy-reactive infants can shed these tendencies in adulthood!
Brian Little, Free Trait Theory
- we can act out of character at the service of core personal goals
- we need a recuperative niche after we act out of character (for Little this is hiding in bathroom stall after a big lecture bc he is very low on E)
3 important personality identities according to Little
- Biogenic: inborn personality (Big 5)
- Sociogenic: personality expected by culture, family, religion
- Ideogenic: desires and sense of what matters in life (levels 2/3 of McAdams)
Eli Finkel dating research
- romantic success hinges more on who they are or what they believe they want in a partner
- language style matching in speed dates can predict liking and relationship formation/stability
Study of self-critics and self-enhancers results
- both backfire!
- public response to self-critics is to reassure, but in private ppl will agree with critical comments
- publicly people will feed narcissism but in private say confederate isn’t as good as they think
Greg in Diary of a Wimpy Kid
- grade 5 or 6
- wrestling with status/popularity ranking
Rosenberg self-esteem scale
- self-report scale out of 30
Why doesn’t McAdams include self-esteem in his model
- se is an outcome variable reflective of adjustment or well being (does not predict personality)
- covaries strongly with social dominance
- social dominance scale has .80 correlation w Rosenberg self-esteem scale
Beaumeister’s critique of self-esteem
- success preceeds changes in se, not other way around
- argued self-esteem enhancement policies in US likely backfired, only benefit was happiness, also increased aggressivity and bullying
- self-control and conscientiousness will lead to more success and thus meaningful increases in se
Justin Bieber story
- mom suicidal as teen, thinks having wonderful son is gift from god
- dad had drug issues, left when Justin was a baby
- seemed kinda sweet as a kid, by 18 was an asshole and very good at winding up adults in room
- was impulsive and out of control
- in photos w him, fans cant touch him, talk to him, or look at him
- probably has 7/9 of DSM5 criteria for narcissistic PD
NPI
- Survey Assessment of Narcissism
- subclinical test (can score high w/o having a PD)
- average score 15, celebrities 18, justin bieber 30
Narcissism and Big 5 traits
- high E and low A
Sociometer Theory of Self esteem (Leary)
- se as internal representation of social acceptance and rejection (how popular/highly ranked we feel)
- most common theory of self-esteem
Self-Determination Theory (Deci and Ryan)
- Koestner endorses this
- healthiest functioning is reflected in not being preoccupied by self-esteem
- behaving according to true self not a contingent self
Key steps in Bieber comeback
- held comedy roast, laughed along (real narcissists can’t make fun of themselves)
- public apology for arrogant, disrespectful behavior
- high successful album with serious themes
Peter Parker and MJ Big 5 traits (Toby McGuire)
- Peter: lower E, high A, high C, low N
- MJ: average or higher E, high A, higher N
Peter Parker and MJ motives (Toby McGuire)
Peter: achievement oriented (spiderman is power motivated)
- MJ: power motivated
- both high on intimacy!
Big 3 motives
- achievement incentive (doing well, getting better)
- need for power (having impact, influence, being noticed)
- affiliation/intimacy (connecting with others – fear component associated w affiliation)
Thematic Apperception Test
- people given 6 images and have to tell story
- stories coded for content related to each motive
McCelland and motives
- motives are not suppressed, just unconscious
- one of most important things to do is learn ab motives
Validity evidence for big 3 motives
- motivation style reflected in behavior
- ring throwing activity
- nAch like tasks w 50% chance of success, like feedback, like personal responsibility
- nPow like to debate, lead, like larger groups
- nInt like 1-1 interactions
nAch and school achievement
- only predicts achievement if class is moderately challenging, involves personal responsibility and feedback!
Big 3 motives and occupational preferences
- motives affect what we are drawn to and what we do well at
- nAch: small business owner, research scientist, salespeople
- nPow: manager, clergy, do better as leaders
- nInt: counsellor, mediator
What motive are Obama, Trump, and Martha Stewart all high on?
power! (Martha is also achievement oriented – great combo for becoming a millionaire)
Big 3 motives and interpersonal relationships
- nInt: dyadic interactions with close friends
- nPow: agentic, assertive style in relations
- nAch: shared activities that are goal-oriented
Twin videos and motives (Rubberband, Sprinkler, Refrigerator)
- Rubberband: achievement
- Sprinkler: intimacy
- Refrigerator: power
Self-attribution vs implicit measures of motive and Big 5 traits!
- no relation between self-report and implicit measures
- self-reports linked to conscientiousness
- affiliation motive might be connected to agreeableness
