Personality

Question 1

Personality

Answer 1

One’s characteristic pattern of thought, emotion, and behavior, along with accompanying psychological mechanisms

Question 2

Debate on universal applicability of “personality”

variable

Answer 2

Some languages pay a lot of attention to personality

personality= trans-situationally stable; but many cultures do not discuss transsituational stability

Simply extension of studying western individuals

Question 3

personality as being universal

Answer 3

All cultural groups possess terms that describe one’s enduring characteristics

“Personality” exists (but may need to reconceptualize as something existing within relationships for certain cultures)

Ie personality within an individual within a relationship, but won’t be consistent across relationships

Question 4

Lexical approach to personality

Answer 4

all important individual differences in personality are encoded in natural language

1)look for all dictionary entries that are trait adjective
2)reduce list by eliminating synonyms, physical descriptors, temporary states, unfamiliar terms
3)administer list of traits to participants to answer
4)factor analysis

Question 5

Factor analysis

Answer 5

How many facets or factors underlie a particular construct

If people score high on question 1,3,4 this might be flagged as one factors

If people score high on question 2,5,6, this might be flagged as another factor

Terms given similar rating are addressing one factor

Question 6

Five Factor Model of Personality

Answer 6

1)Openness to experience= intelligence and curiosity about the world
2)Conscientiousness: how responsible and dependable someone is
3)Extraversion:how active and dominant someone is
4)Agreeableness: how warm and pleasant an individual is
5)Neuroticism: emotional instability and unpredictability

Question 7

Studies using NEO-PI-R across 50 cultures reveal universality in 5 factors structure

Answer 7

Started with english terms->broken up into 5 factors-> translate those same words in different language(carrying the same meaning)-> still should yield the 5 factors
Use same approach in different languages

Question 8

What if we used the lexical approach in another language such as Tagalog?
In tagalog they found:

Answer 8

Gregariousness: liking the company of others, talks a lot, humorous
Self assurance: assertive,brace, insensitive, not gullible
Concern for other vs. egotism: not violent, humble, generous
Conscientious: dependable, hardworking, religious
Intellect: clever, sensible, inquisitive, talented

Question 9

tagalog equiaveleny with FFM

Answer 9

High in gregariousness= high in extraversion
Low Self assurance= high in neuroticism
High on intellect= high openness to experience
conscientiousness= conscientiousness
High Concern for others= agreeableness

Question 10

In tagalog they also found 2 other factors not in english:

Answer 10

1)Temperamentalness: emotional reactivity, hot-headedness, irritable
2)Negative valence: sadistic, social deviance, crazy
These two above factors show there are some unique indigenous tagalog personality factors that are not universal

Question 11

Emic measure:

Answer 11

a measure is created from within a culture, and used to assess people from within the culture

Emic: sees more variability

Question 12

Etic measure

Answer 12

a measure is created from one culture, and exported for use in another culture
Etic: sees more universality

Question 13

self esteem in independent self construal

Answer 13

Strong emphasis on having and maintaining high self esteem

Self-enhancement: tendency to view selves positively and socially desirable

Motivated by desire to bolster self-image, demonstrate un

Question 14

self esteem in interdependent self construal

Answer 14

Social categories, affiliation, social roles

Self-effacement:tendency to view selves in critical/disparaging manner

Motivated by desire to fit in with others, self-improve

Question 15

self enhancement

Answer 15

More emphasis on positive traits
Try to not think about discrepancy between actual and ideal self
Predictive of depression symptoms

Question 16

self effacement

Answer 16

More attention paid to negative traits
Experience more actual-ideal discrepancy
Not as concerned about actual-ideal discrepancy
Bc its already part of what they think about

Question 17

Compensatory strategies in self enhancement

Answer 17

do things to compensate when they have shortcomings

1)downward social comparison
2)discounting
3)external attributions

Question 18

Self-enhancement
Often studied using rosenberg self-esteem scale

Answer 18

Euro-north American data tend to scale higher on scale, East asian data are more aligned at the midpoint of scale

Therefore, Euro-Americans are more likely to engage in self-enhancement compared to E. Asians/everyone else

We are seeing cultural variability in this data

Question 19

alternative explanation to roseberg scale findings

Answer 19

1)It is not that E. Asians don’t enhance, instead they group enhance and do less self-enhancing
~This is incorrect because european canadians self and group enhance

2)White people self-enhance across all domains, and E. asians might only self-enhance in specific domains that matter to them
~This is incorrect

3)Modesty norms: E.Asian people show less self-enhancement because they are taught to be more modest
~Correct

Question 20

Overconfidence:

Answer 20

having an unjustifiably positive belief in one’s characteristics or performance

Question 21

overestimation

Answer 21

thinking that you did better than you actually did, or thinking that you were better than you actually are

Question 22

overplacement

Answer 22

thinking you are better than more people than you actually are

Question 23

overprecision:

Answer 23

the extent to which people are certain about their guests when they have no information that warrants that certainty

Question 24

Implicit theory of the self:

Answer 24

are we able to change ourselves?

Question 25

Implicit theory of the world:

Answer 25

is the world around us malleable or fixed?

Question 26

Incremental theory of the self:

Answer 26

We can change ourselves

Belief that abilities are malleable and are capable of being changed with efforts

Question 27

Entity theory of the self:

Answer 27

we can’t change ourselves

Belief that abilities are largely fixed, reflecting innate features of the self
Implication for responding to failure

Question 28

Incremental theory of the world:

Answer 28

the world can change

Perspective that the world is seen as being flexible and responsive to our efforts to change it

We shape the world to how we want it to be

Question 29

Entity theory of the world:

Answer 29

the world can not change

Perspective that the world around you is fixed and beyond your ability to change it

Question 30

Primary control:

Answer 30

Independent view of self, Incremental theory of the world, entity theory of the self

Exercising agency by making changes in your environment to suit one’s own needs
Assume an internal locus of control

Question 31

Secondary control

Answer 31

Interdependent view of self, entity theory of the world, incremental theory of the self

Exercising agency by adjusting goals and desires to control the psychological impact of reality
Assume an external locus of control

Question 32

differences in control and expression of agency through choices:

independent self construal

Answer 32

Important decisions must be made by ourselves

Question 33

differences in control and expression of agency through choices:

Interdependent self-construal

Answer 33

Important decisions often made by close others

Question 34

If children were asked to play a game, how engaged would they be depending on who makes the choice in the game?

Answer 34

If made by themselves
European american most motivated by decision made my themselves

If made by a social circle (ie mother)/ ingroup choice?
Asian american most motivated by decisions made by mother

If made by a stranger
Lowest level of motivation for european and asian

Question 35

Too many choices:

Answer 35

Detrimental to have too many choices presented to us
Overwhelming choices deplete mental resources

Question 36

Paradox of choice

Answer 36

we dont want too much choice, we dont want too little choice

Too little choice-> leads to learned helplessness (person is unable to find resolutions to difficult situations)