Midterm 1 Flashcards
1
Q
The 2 defining qualities of personality change
A
internal and enduring changes
2
Q
internal changes
A
changes that are internal to a person, not changes outside
3
Q
identify and describe the three level of personality analysis
A
LIKE OTHERS - how we are the same cross culturally and across humanity (HUMAN LEVEL OF ANALYSIS)
LIKE SOME OTHERS (GROUPS) - group differences and similarities (DIFFERENCES LEVEL OF ANALYSIS)
LIKE NO ONE - INDIVIDUAL UNIQUENESS OF ANALYSIS
4
Q
words describing traits, the attributes of a person that are reasonably characteristic of the individual and perhaps even enduring over time. 20,000 in the English language
A
trait descriptive adjectives
5
Q
describe the six domains of knowledge about human nature
A
personality is influenced by
dispositional domain -differences, traits the person is born with/develops over time. how many dispositions/nature of them?
cognitive-experiential domain - by personal/private thoughts, feelings,desires beliefs and subjective experiences. meaning of our conscious thoughts/experiences/beliefs tell us
intrapsychic domain - hidden processes in mind (motivations, unconscious)
biological domain - by biological events
social-cultural domain - by social, cultural and gendered positions in the world
adjustment domain - by theadjustments made as a result of life challenges
6
Q
fissure that exists in the field between levels of analysis
A
gap between grand theories of personality and contemporary research in personality, consequences of research focus on individual and group differences most often.
7
Q
DISCUSS the notion of a grand and ultimate theory of personality
A
freud tried to do a grand theory, but we follow the focused six domains. personality lacks a grand theory, one will need to unify all six domains as they will provide the foundation where a unified theory will be built.
8
Q
the role of personality theory (3)
A
provides a guide for researchers
- directing to questions in research
organizes known findings
- bring coherance and understanding to known world
makes predictions
- about behaviour and psychological phenomena that has not been observed
9
Q
the standards for evaluating personality theories (5)
A
COMPREHENSIVENESS
- explains most or all known facts
COMPATIBILITY/INTEGRATION ACROSS DOMAINS
- consistent with what is known in other domains, coordinated with other branches of knowledge
HEURISTIC VALUE
-guides researchers to new discoveries
TESTABILITY
- gives specific predictions that can be tested empirically
PARSIMONY
- contains few premises or assumptions
10
Q
the author of the first textbooks on personality that struggled with a definition
A
ALLPORT AND MURRAY
11
Q
Though establishing a definition of personality has been very difficult, what was the definition of personality as per the textbook?
A
set of traits and mechanisms in the individual that are organized and relatively enduring and influence how one interacts with and adapts to the intrapsychic, physical and social environments
12
Q
these describe ways in which people are different or the same from one another (ie. shy - anxiety in front of an audience)
A
psychological traits
13
Q
traits describe the ___ ____ of a person, for example over time people with a certain trait like talkativeness emit verbal behaviour more than those tho are low on this trait. on average they start more conversations too.
A
average tendencies
14
Q
research on personality traits ask 4 question:
A
how many traits exist?
how are traits organized?
what are the origins of traits?
what are the correlates and consequences of traits?
15
Q
traits are useful because (3)
A
they help describe people and differences, help explain behaviour, help predict future behaviour and differences
16
Q
these are like traits, except they specifically refer to processes of personality. most have an info processing dimension, where someone who is extraverted may look for opportunities to engage with others. ie. courage is activated under specific circumstances.
- have inputs, decision rules, outputs
A
psychological mechanisms
17
Q
for most psychological mechanisms, being sensitive to the environment is an example of a(n) ____, making one more likely to think of options (____), which can guide behaviour and action (___).
A
input, decision rules, output
18
Q
t/f - personality emphasized influential forces meaning traits and mechanisms can influence how we act, view or think of the world along with our interactions with others.
A
T
19
Q
influence how people interact with the environment, characterized by perceptions (how we see the environment), evocations (reactions we produce in others) and manipulations (how we attempt to influence otherst) and selections (how we pick situations)
A
person-environment interaction
20
Q
how we see or interpret an environment
A
perception
21
Q
how we choose situations to enter (friends, hobbies, university)
A
selection
22
Q
reactions produced in others usually unintentionally
A
evocations
23
Q
how we attempt to influence others (ie. anxiety may influence people to wash hands)
A
manipulations
24
Q
conveys the notion that a central feature of personality concerns adaptive functioning—accomplishing goals, coping, adjusting, and dealing with the challenges and problems we face as we go through life. even non functional behaviours (worrying) may be functional and adaptive dew to rewarding characteristics (eliciting social support)
A
adaptations
25
research typically involving statistical comparison of groups or individuals, needing samples of participants. Usually applied to identify universal human characteristics and dimensions of individual or group differences
Nomothetic research
26
research typically focusing only on one participant/subject, trying to observe general priciples that manifest over a single lifetime. usually results in case studies or psychological biography of a person
Idiographic research
27
these address the human nature level of analysis, giving a universal account of the fundamental psychological processes and characteristics of our species. Freud ie. emphasized instincts of sex and aggression via the id, ego and superego
grand theories of personality
28
Most of the ___ research in contemporary personality addresses how groups and individuals differ (ie. literature on extraversion and introversion, anxiety and neuroticism on self esteem).
contemporary
29
deals centrally with the ways in which individuals differ from one another. As such,cuts across all the other domains. The reason is that individuals can differ in their 5 habitual emotions, their habitual concepts of self, their physiological propensities, and even their intrapsychic mechanisms. However, what distinguishes the domain is an interest in the number and nature of fundamental dispositions. The central goal of personality psychologists working here is to identify and measure the most important ways in which individuals differ from one another. also interested in the origins of the important individual differences and in how they develop and are maintained.
dispositional domain
30
assumes humans are collections of biological systems first. personality psychologists use the term to identify three areas of research here: genetics, psychophysiology(what is known of basis of personality in terms of ns functionning - cortical arousal) and evolution
biological domain
31
deals with mental mechanisms of personality, many operating out of conscious experience (dominant theory is freud psychosexual instincts stuff). includes sexual-aggressive forces, defence mechanisms and motives
intrapsychic domain
32
domain refers to how personality plays a key role in how we cope, adapt, and adjust to events in our day to day lives. outcomes for health have been implicated, like heart diesease, risk behaviours, coping behaviourand life expectancy.
adjustment domain
33
domain referring to how personality also affects and is affected by sociocultural context. Ie. groups differing tremendously in aggression (Yanomamo), and agreeableness (!Kung San). Individually, personality occurs socially, whether we are dominant submissive anxious or depressed effects social outcomes. gender differences and how persoanlity may operate differently
Social and cultural domain
34
domain focusing on cognition and subjective experience, like conscious thoughts, feels, beliefs and desires about selves and others. self and self concept is an important one. goals we strive for in personal projects. our emotions, if happy sad or fearful and how we use them, bottled up or express.
cognitinve experimental domain
35
identify sources of personality data
self report (s data)
observer report (o data)
Test data (t)
Life outcome data (L)
36
explain how personality measures are evaluated by researchers
reliability. - likeliness that measure will give us same info everytime we do igt
validity
generalizability
37
the different research designs in personality
experimental - determine causality
correlational - determining relationship
case studies
38
this data can be obtained via periodic reports from people, questionnaires, surveys, interviews and more. they can be structured (adjective checklist, Likert scale, questionnaires with statements NEOFFI or CPI) or unstructured (like 20 statement test)questions
self report
39
gathering information about ones personality by looking at others (impressions, reputation). multiple people can be used to provide information, allowing for interrater reliability. naturalistic and artifical methods employes
observation
40
use standardized testing situations to see how people react. designed to elicit behaviours that are indicative of personality (ie. bridge building test, meagre manifestations of dominance). use mechanical recording devices, physiological data(fmri and blood pressure), projective techniques (rorschach test). good because you cant fake it (objective) and useful for info about wishes desires and fanatsies person has but couldnt report, bad because artificial, hard to score, uncertain v/r, and accuracy of recording depends on participant perception of situation as experimenter hoped
test data
41
technique used to idenrify areas of the brain that light up when doing certain things
fmri
42
information that can be gleaned from the events, activities and outcomes in a persons life that are available to public scrutiny. can use s and o data to predict this often. ie. speeding tickets, medical files. can serve as important "real life" source. good because it is objective and verifiable, intrinsic importance, psych revalence, bad because it can lack relevance and
life outcomes (l) data
43
early temper tantrums in life ___ been linked to lower rank in military, more unemployment, less satisfying marriage, and erratic work lives
have
44
for women, early temper tantrums ___ effect their work lives, but they ___ often marry men who were significantly lower than themselves in occupational status and more likely to divorce by 40 years old compared to men.
didn't, did
45
two issues in personality assessment
using 2 or more data sources , links among various data sources
the fallibility of personality measurement - all sources have limitations
the use of multiple data sources can correct some of the problems (replicate through triangularity)
46
Traits that are easily observable (such as extraversion) show a _____ degree of self–observer agreement than do traits (such as calculating) that are difficult to observe and require inferences about internal mental states
higher
47
degree to which an obtained meaure represents the true level of the trait being measured. estimated by repeated measurement, degree of correlation of items in a test (internal consistency), test retest or inter ratedly
reliability
48
concept referring to the tendency of people to respond to questions on the basis that is not related to tje question content (noncontent) - includes acquiescence, and extreme
response set
49
tendency to simply agree with questionnaire items regardless of content
aqcquiescence
50
tendency to give endpoint responses of the scale (stongly agree or disagree)
extreme responding
51
extent to which a test measures what it claims to measure (face, predictive, convergant, discriminativw)
validity
52
test appears to measures what its supposed to
face validity
53
if the test predicts criteria external to the test. tells us that our scale is actually measuring/predicting behaviours underlying personality facet/trait we are looking at.
predictive/criterion validity
54
if a test correlates with other measures it should correlate with, has high this.
convergent validity
55
with convergant validity often, refers to what a measure should not correlate with. would not want measure for psychopathy to be correlated with extraversion ie.
discriminant validity
56
test measures what it claims to, correlates appropriately, and does not correlate woth what it is not supposed to. theoretical construct is measured. how we refer to a scale that includes all other 3 levels of validity, measures the theoretical construct it is supposed to measure.
construct validity.
57
degree to which measure retains validity across various contexts (groups, cultures, gender, conditions). more of this is not always better, must identify empirical contexts where a measure is and isnt applicable.
generalizability
58
describe the different research designs in personality psychology
experimental = used to determine causality, find out if one variable influences another by manipulation of one or more variables and use of equivalent participants (random assign, eg introvert-extrovert study)
correlational = statistical procedure is used to see if a relationship exists among variables, determine what goes with what in nature.
case studies = examining the life of one person in depth (outstanding people, rare phenomena)
59
a method to obtain equivalence by giving half the experimental condition participants a condition first and placebo secnond, and other part of experimental groups gets vice versa. done within-participant designs to make the experiment more just and reduce order effects
counterbalancing
60
measure of variability within each condition
sd
61
helps see if the difference is large enough to be called significantly different (an effect is observed). statistically significant is at the 0.05 level
p value
62
method that is effective at demonstrating the relationships among variables, establish a link between personality traits like extraversion and introversion under conditioins of high or low noise, manipulate conditions to cancel extraneous factors, calculate statistics to determine if differences among 2 conditions are statistically significant.
experimental method
63
method alloring us to identify relationships among variables as they happen naturally. ie. measuring preferences for studying with or without music in real life. use of a coefficint to gauge the degree of the relationships between variables. can examine the direction and magnitude of the relationship
correlational method
64
two reasons correlation can never prove causation
directionality problem (we do not know if related variables are causes or effects of the causes)
third variable problem (two variables can be correlated due to a third unknown)
65
the study of traits make up the ____ domain. which refers to the inherent tendency to behave in a specific way.
dispositional
66
identify and describe the two basic formulations of a trait
as internal causal properties
- traits are presumed to be
internal
- desires and needs are presumed to be causal/explain behaviour
-traits can lie dormant until expressed, assumed to exist nonetheless
As purely descriptive summaries
- used to describe a person without assuming where the traits come from
- argue we first need to identify and describe important individual differences then develop causal theories to explain them
67
describe the act frequency formulation of traits
traits are categories of acts, w specific members (objective behaviour) (dominance - issued orders organizing group)
traits describe a general trend in behaviour
after collecting acts and behaviours, look how acts are combined and fit together as
- act nominations
- prototypicality judgements
- monitoring act of performance
68
explain and evaluate the three fundamental approaches to identifying the most important traits
LEXICAL APPROACH
- all important traits forming individual differences have been listed and defined in the dictionary form the basis of describing differences among people. synonym frequency and cross cultural universality are used.
STATISTICAL APPROACH
- use of factor analysis or other procedures to identify major personality traits
THEORETICAL APPROACH
- reliance on theories to identify important traits
69
name the leading taxonomies of personality
eyesenicks hierarchical model of personality
cattels taxonomy
five factor model (big 5)
wiggins interpersonal complex
hexaco model
70
three fundamental questions guiding people studying personality traits:
how should we conceptualize traits?
how can we identify which traits are the most important traits from thousands of ways people differ?
how can we formulate a comprehensive taxonomy of traits - a system including all the major traits of personality?
71
an approach taken by myers briggs type indicator, attempting to describe people more strictly in terms of a limited number of personality types
categorical approach
72
part of the aff - designed to identify which acts belong to which trait categories (ie, act describing extrovert would be eye contact, positive emotions, being loud)
act nominations
73
part of the aff - identify which acts are most typical of each trait category (ie. controllong the outcome of meeting without others aware of it = trait of dominance)
protoypicality judgements
74
part of the aff - monitoring performance in everyday situations
behaviours are judged by self reports, or observers who look at how likely these behaviours are to show up in everyday life (ie. ask how people often engage in acts then refine list) (observational measures of dominant acts have been developed in the context of face to face groups)
monitoring act of performance
75
criticisms of the act frequency formulation of traits (4)
does not specify how much context should be included in the description of the trait relevant act
does not consider failures to act / covert acts that are not directly observable (ie. courageous person may not be able to display it because ordinary life doesnt allow)
nothing guides which traits are important or explain why people differ in frequency of act over time
may not caputure complex traits
76
accomplishments of the act frequency formulation of traits (aff) (4)
focuses on explicit criterion of trait (outward behaviour)
identifies behavioural regularities of traits (consistencies)
explores meaning of hard to study traits (ie. impulsivity/creativity)
helps explore cultural similarities and differences
77
part of the lexical approach in identifying important traits. means if an attribute has not merely one or two trait adjectives to describe it but many words, there is a more important dimension of individual difference. synonyms must refer to an individual personality trait.
synonym frequency
78
part of the lexical approach in identifying important traits. if an important individual difference is found that appears in many cultures, that means that it is an important trait/behaviour. some differences in cultures exist that dont in others, like words
cross cultural universality
79
limitations of the lexical approach to identifying important personality traits (3)
1. many traits are ambiguous and hard to define
2. personality is conveyed through different parts of speech, not only adjectives, including nouns and adverbs (not dictionaru)
3. many traits are defined as important in this method and noscientific method exists for narrowing them down.
80
uses factor analysis to identify major dimensions of personality (identifies groups of items that covary with other groups of items) to identify items that have some common property. factors include ___ ___, numbers of how much of the variation in each trait is explained by the factor
statistical approach, factor loadings
81
approach to identifying important dimensions of individual differences starts with a theory that determines which variables are important. dictates which variables are important to measure. ie. sociosexual orientation (scoring high = less likely to engage in casual sex- want love and committment, scoring low = more casual sex and dont palce value as much on love)
theoretical approach
82
theory where one scores high which indicates one prefers more love and commitmment and is less likely to engage in sexual behaviour, while low scores indicate more promiscuity, partner switching and less investment in love and children
sociosexual orientation theory (penke et al)
83
Name and summarize the leading taxonomies of personality (5)
Eysenick's Hierarchical Model
- model based on highly
heritable traits w a
psychophysiological
foundation , which
included PEN, the super traits. each super trait had traits in it, which have habitual responses, and each w specific responses (narrowing)
WIGGINS INTERPERSONAL COMPLEX
established trait terms specify different kinds of ways people differ. love and status are dominant axes correspond to human motives of agency and communion.circle emphasizing the relationship between each trait and others in model, and have explicit definition of interpersonal behaviour.
FIVE FACTOR MODEL (and NEO-PI-R)
combo of lexical and stat approaches w greatest degree of consensus. broad traits including extraversion, openness to experience, neuroticism, conscientousness and agreeableness. o is troublesome, has not been replicated
HEXACO MODEL
result of revisiting the big 5, includes anger under agreeableness over emotionality. Honest humility, emotionality, extraversion, agreeableness, cnscientousness, open to experience.
CATTELS TAXONOMY
16 personality factor system to id and measure basic personality units. applied factor analysis to personality. believed true factors should be found across varying kinds of data.
84
if the traits are sociable, lively, and active, and habitual responses include liking parties, carefree easygoing, according to eysenik this persons super trait would be
extraversion (e)
85
if one is anxious, depressed, guilty, low se, tense, and habitual responses include worrying and anxiety , eysenick would say their super trait is
neuroticism
86
In eysnicks model, people scoring high on the super trait of are usually loners, are cruel, and aggressive. high score predicts preferences for violent films and enjoy them, unpleasent paintings, cynical about religion and are disposed to dangerous activities. Low scorers are more religious. men usually score twice as high on it, and if scoring high on machiavellianism endorse promicuous attitudes.
p (psychoticism)
87
in eysenicks model, those with the super trait of____ , are anxious, depressed, psychosomatic symptoms, high scorers experience overreactivity on negative emotions, more emotional arousal, vigilant to threats, stay mad longer. low scorers are emotionally stable, even tempered, calm, slow to react to stress, and is quick to get back to baseline.
n (neuroticism - emotional stability)
88
relationships specified by wiggins circumplex
adjacency - how close traits are to eachother (adgacent/next to eachother = correlated)
bipolarity - located on opposite sides, negatively correlated
orthogonality -traits perpendicular to eachother at 90 degrees of seperation are entirely unrelated
89
Developed by costa and mcrae, used a sentance length format to measure personality traits like neuroticism, openness to experience and extraversion. items are presented in a different order
Neuroticism extraversion openness personality inventory revised NEO-PI-R
90
why has there been trouble naming the fifth factor in the five factor model? how do we fix
different researchers have labelled it as intellect, culture, open to experience and more because different researchers start w different item pools to factor analyse and use different items endorsing intellect and openness to experience. to fix, return to lexical and look across culture and languages.
91
nouns describing personality, can include babe (beautiful darling doll) lawbreaker (pothead, drunk, rebel) clown (goof, joker) and jock
personality descriptive nouns
92
machievellanism, narcissim and subclinical psychopathy make up the _____. These traits are often linked due to socially problematic tendencies. ___ ___ has been proposed as a fourth trait, referring to enjoyment from hurting others
dark triad, dispositional sadism
93
name and define key conceptual issues in personality development, including stability, coherance, and change
Rank order stability
- maintaining individual position in the group (where you are relative to others)
(johnny is more likely to be extroberted as an adult compared to adults)
mean level stability
- average level of trait in the population is stable over time (high, low) (ie. sexual attitudes are instable over time)
personality coherance
- change in trait manifestation. keeping a rank order for a trait relative to others, but changing behaviour expression w time (change from acceptable behaviour as kid to unacceptable as an adult, so must change behaviour expression of the trait)
94
identify three levels of analysis at which personality stability and change can be studied
population level
- change of constancies that apply more or less to everyone (ie. freud psychosexual stages)(more sexual desire at puberty)
Group difference level
- change of constancy affect groups differently (neuroticism increases for girls, but boys decrease despite it being same at 10)
Individual difference level
change/constancies affecting people differently (can we prdict who will have psychological disturbance? behaviour inhibition leads to anxiety and you can see behaviour inhibition on the playground)
95
some of the ways personality stays stable over time (4)
Stability of temperament during infancy
- temperament is a precurser of adult personality, w individual heritable differences linked to behavioirs w emotionality and arousability (most have a moderate level of stability - adult personality also comes from environment)
Stability in childhood
- longitudinal studies examining differences from childhood. individual differences in personality emerge early in life and are moderately stable over time. child personality at 3 is a good predictor of adult personality at 26. bullying in boys is stable (ie.)
Rank order stability in adulthood
- across different measures, big 5 personality traits show moderate to high levels of stability. people keep their trait ranks compared to or relative to their group.
Mean level stability in adulthood
- big 5 show consistent mls, with small but consistent changes in 20's. O,E, and N decline w age until 50, A, C, increase w age
96
describe some ways that personality tends to change over time (6)
- decline in ambition scores as we age, but autonomy, leadership, dominance and more increase.
- sensation seeking peaks in late adolescence then falls as we age
- impulsivity declines from late adolescence to early adulthood, steeply
- slight ml decrease in openness, but can increase w cog reasoning, meditation and rec shroom using (experiences can impact openness and make it more)
- womens assertiveness had ml instability as more women now are assertive, pointing to a cohort effect
- narcissim scores increased in usa college studnets
97
explain how self esteem tends to fluctuate over time (daily changes and lifespan changes
from adolescence to adult
- no change in pop level, but womens decreases while men increases(group level)
older adulthood
- self esteem declines associated with elevated cortisol for people experiencing psychological distress
day to day
- high self esteem variability is a vulnerability to stressful life events and thought to come from sensitivity of self worth
- low variability often show less liekly to dev depression
98
explain how likely it is for a person to change their personality if they tried to.
uni students who expressed the desire to increase a big 5 trait had actual increases after 16 weeks. it may be possible to improve even with hardwired traits when having practical intentions to intervene, but studies have suggested that without clinical intervention this is difficult.
99
identify and give examples of personality coherance
predictable changes in manifestations or outcomes of personality factors overtime, even if underlying characteristics are stable
- ie. neuroticism/impulse of husband and neuroticism of wife predict marital dissatisfaction.
ie. temper tantrums manifest as road rage in adulthood
100
an introverted person as a child becoming more extroverted over time is demonstrating
rank order instability/change
101
people becoming more conservative as they get older is an example of___ ___ ___, while if the average level of liberalism or conservatism is stable over time would mean the group has ___ ____ ____
mean level change, mean level stability
102
the 2 defining qualities of personality change
internal - changes inside a person
enduring - changes endure over time
103
what age does personality stability peak, and implications for victoria longitudinal study
after 50 years old.
significant personality changes in old age are possible despite other research. consistent with life span perspectve on aging. critical life events are known to affect personality in mid life, defys preconceived notions of lack of change in old age.
104
___ ___ was predicted to cope well after losing a spouse
emotional stability (low n)
105
men who were high on ____ , were more likely to develop alcoholism or a serious emotional disturbance. alcoholic men had ____ impulse control scores compared to those who had an emotional disturbance. men who rated higher on ___ ____ tended to abuse alcohol more. for women and men high _____ linked to problem drinking of alc, along with low ___ and ___.
neuroticism, lower, sensation seeking, impulsivemess, agreeableness, conscientousness
106
______ has been shown to affect productivity at work and low academic performance. people who were high on ___ ___ at 18 had higher occupational attainment, more involvement w work, more financial security at 26, while those who did not have at 18 had less progress in work, lower financial security, less psychological involvement. trait that single best predicts successful attainment is _____.
impulsiveness, self control, conscientousness.
107
important traits conductive to a long life are: ____ (more health practices like good diet, not smoking, adhere to treatment plan, avoid hard drugs/illegal substances as teens , exercising, longitudinal outcomes from childhood) _ (have lots of friends - social support) _____/____ puts less stress on heart, less likely to do poor health behaviour, people high on it have difficulties adjusting to retirement, more at risk for suicide when perceiving selves as a burden)
conscientousness, extraversion, low hositility/neuroticism
108
men and women who are married to someone similar to their personality show the _______ level of stability over time, compared to those who married people different and therefore had most _____
higher, change in personality
109
research shows that personality ___ linked to physiological systems (brain, peripheral nervous system) and physical differences between people ___ associated w differences in emotion styles
is, is
110
refers to the complete set of genes possesed by an organism. complete had tens of thousands of genes on 23 pairs of chromozomes. project dedicated to sequencing the entirety of it
human genome
111
t/f - by knowing the sequence of the human genome, we know how genes function and how they interact together to give rise to personality
f - we dont, by identifying sequence doesnt mean we can id function
112
the human genome revealed 2 things:
1.most genes in a hunman genome are the same for everyone, small amount of differences
2. small amount of genes are different for different people, including those that indirectly code for physical and personality traits
113
two controversial ideas associated with genes and personality
1. eugenics
- humanity cpuld be improved via select breeding, rooted in ethnic cleansing/bad history
2. cloning
- complete physiological and psychological duplicate of a person
114
t/f - outcomes like intelligence, obesity, poverty, criminality and more are fixed in genes and are not malleable by the environment
f - this is ridiculous, environment plays a role and this is not proven at all.
115
contribution of behavioural genetics
expands our understanding of sources of personality development to include how genes and the environment i teract
116
how behavioural geneticists describe themselves
basic scientists pursuing knowledge
117
2 goals of behaviour genetics
1.determine the percentage of individual differences in a trait that can be attributed to genetic and environmental differences
2. determine how genes and environment interact and correlate to produce individual differences
118
a statistic, includes proportion of phenotypic variance that is attributable to genotypic variance (proportion of observed variance in a group that can be explained by genetic variance)(how much of the differences/variance we can see(pheno) can be accounted for/explained by genotype). non precise estimates are developed by running numbers via captured similarities in correlating groups of people
heritability
119
proportion of observed variance in a group of individuals that can be attributed to environmental, non genetic variance (ie. ww2 food shortage stunting growth)
environmentality
120
both ____ and ____ create a genetic finished product (equation)
heritability and environmentality. h + e = 1 (both combinations give us finished product)
121
if the heritability of silliness was.40, what percentage of this trait is accounted for by genes and what percentage by environment?
40 by genes 60 by environment
122
if environmentality of neuroticism was .30, what would be accounted for by genes?
environment = 30, genes = 70
123
3 misconceptions about heritability:
1.it cannot be applied to an individual, must be group level
2. it is not constant or immutable (can change w time and be different across populations)
3. not a precise statistic (based on correlations which fluctuate across samples)
124
t/f - the nature/nurture debate exists at the individual level
f - at the group level, infl of genes and environment is only relevant for group level variation
125
4 behavioural genetics methods
selective breeding
twin studies
adoption studies
family studies
126
cannot ethically be done with humans, but has been done with plants and animals. can only do if trait to be passed on is heritable. based on dogs, can be done for certain traits
selective breeding
127
heritability estimates provided. correlates the degree of genetic overlap between family members with the degree of similarity in personality traits. if trait is very heritable, members w more genetic relatedness should be more similar to eachother on trait that members who are less close (ie. share 50% w siblings, so if heritable would share more with siblings than cousins) (share more w parents than uncles, grandparents = heritable). issue s that usually environment is shared between these people who share genes, posing a confound meaning they are never definitive
family studies
128
provide heritability and environmentality estimates. by gauging if identical/mz (100% sharedf genes) are more similar than fraternal/dz twins sharing 50% of genes. if mz are more similar, evidence for heritability. again, must assume equal environments (identical twin environments are no more similar than those by fraternal) and representativeness (twins are = to rest of population).
twin studies
129
two assumptions of the twins study method
equal environments - environments experienced by identical twins are no more similar than those experienced by fraternal twins
representativeness - twins are representative of the rest of the population (= pop). hard to establish because twins have traits differen from pop (health issues, low birth weight, differential treatment, more attention by drs and parents)
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provide heritability, environmentality estimates while getting around. = environments. one of the most powerful behaviour methods because we look at similarities among them and parenst who share genetic makeup, along with parents who do not. look at similarities between bio and child. traits between them and non genetic parent show evidence for environmental influence, along with similarities w bio parent on heritable trait showing genetic influence. assumption that they and both sets of parents are representative of general population, is questionable (circumstances of why they were placed).
adoption studies
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gold standard study in behavioural genetics
twins seperated at birth-- correlation between identical twins reared apart is an index of heritability. very rare tho
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research suggests that when children are placed for adoption, guidelines are all the same, indicating ____ selective placement.
no
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summaries of behavioural genetic data show heritability estimates for major big 5 traits are 20-45%, indicating that heritability of personality is ___ ____ for the stability of it over time. but 50% of hertiability means a big part is related to _____
very responsible, environment
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why tv watching is heritable.
no netflix gene, but a number of underlying traits interact to produce behaviour like less sensation seeking (highly heritable), more lethargy and craving for blue light,
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while conservative/trad views have ____ heritability estimates, belief in god has a _____ one
high, low
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t/f - because of the important predictors of maritial status (neuroticism of husband and wife and husbands impulsivity), divorce is heritable (1 or more genetically influenced traits are related to divorce)
t
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drinking and smoking are behavioural manifestations of ____, ___ and ____. alcohol and smoking is _____ over time, and both are heritable. (moderate for ______, high for _____)
extraversion, neuroticism, sensation seeking. stable. alcohol drinking, alcoholism
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longitudinal hertability estimates show that happiness and positive perception tells us that certain traits make us more ____ regardless of environment change. Tendency to look at the bright side of things is _____.
resilient, heritable
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two types of envirnonmental influences
shared - family environment features are shared by siblings (subject to same parenting practices, vacations, home)
nonshares - features of environment differ across siblings (moving lots, different schools and friends, different treatment by parents)
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for most personality traits, environment has major influence primarily in the form of ___ ___ variables, ___ environment has little impact on personality traits. do not know which __ ___ have a key impact on personality
non shared, shared, ns again
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people respond differently due to genotypic predispositions in same environments (ie. introverts perform badly in noisy conditions compared to extroverts). individual differences interact to affect performance.
genotypie environment interaction
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differential exposure of individuals with different genotypes to different environments (no longer in same enviro). can be positive or negative (positive encourages the expression of geno, while negative discourages). three kinds exist - passive, reactive and active
genotype environment correlation
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in genotype environment correlation, parents provide genes and create environment. children have no say in environment (ie. active parents - active children) (child verbal ability and number of books at home)
passive
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in genotype environment correlation, parents/others repond to children differently based on child genotype (ie. baby liking cuddling and mom cuddling behaviour). (give more book opportunities so phenotype can be expressed after rearing child in same environment)
reactive correlation
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in genotype environment correlation, person w particular genotype seeks out a specific environment (ie. high sensation seekers seek risky environments ( extroverts like stimulating environments)
active correlation
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describe the role of the DRD4 gene in behaviour and personality
DRD4 codes for a dopamine receptor, most freqeunt association is between it and novelty seeking (seeking new experiences especially risky ones).
- people w long repeat drd4 gene were higher on novelty seeking than those with shorter ones, because long genes are relatively unresponsive to dopamine so they try to get the rush. only a small association, and unlikely a single gene will explain more than a small amount of variation in personality.
- 7r allele of drd4 has different rates globally (higher proportion of allele in migratory populations, men have an advantage w acess to mates and competitive societies)
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method is to identify the specific genes associated w personality traits. most common method is the association method to identify if people w a specific gene(allele) have higher or lower scores on a specific trait compared to those without it. ie. DRD4 gene
molecular genetics
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research method that relies on report from the participant, is most commonly used in personality. common form is questionnaire, but can include unstructured (20 statements) and structure (likert scales, experience sampling, daily diary)tests. good because simply and easy, definitional truth, and have access to thoughts, but bad due to response bias, lack accurate knowledge, too easy and the potential of over use
s data (self report)
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information reported about someone by someone else. multiple other people looking at an individual can be used. they can be professional assessors, people who know the person,in naturalistic or artificial settings. advantages include intterrater reliability and access to infor that could not be received via other sources. disadvantages include lack access to private experiences, bias and error
o data (observational)
150
the four horsemen of the apocalypse communication patterns, contributing to a higher chance of marriage dissolution:
stonewalling
criticism
defensiveness
contempt
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combining a number of personality measures involves better outcomes for precision and predictability
triangulation
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estimated by repeated measurement, degree of correlation of items in a test
internal consistency reliability
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t/f - sometimes combining experimental, correlational, and case study data to increase chances of accuracy/ validity and reliability/precision in complementary ways can help us explore personality
t
