PERSONALITY 1

Question 1

Why do humans like predictability?

Answer 1

Allows us to plan and to commit resources

Question 2

Why do we study personality?

Answer 2

• Understanding individual differences in particular personality characteristics.
• Understanding how the various parts of a person come together as a whole.

Question 3

Define personality

Answer 3

The combination of characteristics or qualities that form an individual’s distinctive character

Question 4

What is the definition of personality lacking?

Answer 4

Consistency

Question 5

What are potential issues encountered in the measurement of personality?

Answer 5

• Trade off between precision and utility
• Fatigue
• Social desirability
• Misleading answers
• Most adult measures do not work with children
• Interpretation

Question 6

What is the role of factor analysis of personality studies?

Answer 6

Measurement of psychological space, • how do we see different characteristics correlating into bigger groups

Question 7

What are characteristics of a Type A personality?

Answer 7

Competitive, outgoing, ambitious, impatient, aggressive

Question 8

What are characteristics of a Type B personality?

Answer 8

Relaxed, calm, unflapping

Question 9

Why does this difference matter?

Answer 9

Type A men are more likely to develop cardiac problems than type B, but that difference is not found among women
Ragland & Brand (1988); Rosenmann et al. (1976)

Question 10

What are characteristics of a Type C personality?

Answer 10

• Detail oriented, unassertive, suppresses wants, needs and desires
• Appears unemotional, but suppressing anger
• Suggested link to development of cancers?
  Evidence is rather equivocal, but getting more convincing

Question 11

What are characteristics of a Type D personality?

Answer 11

-Negative outlook on life, fear of rejection, prone to depression
Not clear that this has health implications

Question 12

Describe the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) (4)

Answer 12

• Originally designed to allow us to label people with psychological problems- leans towards difficulties rather than strengths
• 15 different dimensions
• A lot of questions per dimension (567 in all)
• Widely used, without always being clear why

Question 13

Issues with the MMPI

Answer 13

• Question of if true/false answers are appropriate

- Out of date items

Question 14

Desribe the Cattell 16PF personality model (3)

Answer 14

• Less linked to psychological problems
• Similar approach, a lot of items, subjected to factor analysis
• Ended up with 16 personality factors

Question 15

Describe the basis for Eysenck’s three-factor model

Answer 15

Suggested that there are only three factors, suggested to be linked to brain function very closely (temperament)

Question 16

What are the three-factors of Eysenck’s model

Answer 16

1. Extraversion/Introversion
   Reflects our natural cortical arousal, and efforts to find an optimum point
2. Neuroticism/Stability
   Reflects levels of activation of the sympathetic nervous system

3.Psychoticism/Socialisation (more about aggression than psychotic states)
Reflects our level of testosterone, resulting in higher/lower levels of aggression

Question 17

Describe the Myers- Briggs model

Answer 17

Four components, presented as dichotomies that sum up to personality types
• not always clear that yes/no is the best way to split these scales
1. Intuition/Sensing
2. Introversion/Extraversion
3. Feeling/Thinking
4. Perception/Judging
The combinations are presented as one of 16 personality types