Personality

Question 1

What is personality?

Answer 1

It is a dynamic organisation of psychological systems that create a person’s characteristics, behaviours, thoughts and feelings

Question 2

What are the key features of the personality definition?

Answer 2

• Adaptive and organised internal system
• Interaction of body and mind
• A relatively stable part of a person
• Influences a wide range of human experiences

Question 3

What are the two methods of measuring personality?

Answer 3

1) Data provided by individuals (e.g projective tests, implicit measures and self-report questionnaires)

2) Reports from others (e.g known others, behavioural observations, face perception from unknown others)

Question 4

Data provided by individuals: What are projective tests?

Answer 4

• They involve presenting the participant with ambiguous stimuli and record their responses to it. These responses reveal underling emotions, thoughts and inner conflicts.

Question 5

Data provided by individuals: What are two examples of projective tests?

Answer 5

1) Rorschach Inkblot Test:
- Participants interpret inkblots
- Responses reflect underlying personality structures

2) Thematic Apperception Test (TAT):
- Developed by Henry Murray
- Participants are presented with 30 grayscale pictures that depict dramatic events of situations. They are asked to describe what is happening in each photo, focusing on:
- The relationship between the people
- Feelings of people in the picture
- Stories that reflect individual personalities and experiences

Question 6

Data provided by individuals: What are the criticisms of projective tests?

Answer 6

• Lack of reliability
• Lack of validity
• Poor convergence with psychometrically sound tests
• However, they can act as useful icebreakers in therapy

Question 7

Data provided by individuals: What are two examples of implicit tests?

Answer 7

1) Implicit Association Test (IAT):
- These tests measure automatic associations. They aim to determine if the participant responds quicker to certain category pairings
-A key advantage is that it is difficult for participants to fake responses

2) Emotional Stroop Test:
- Requires participants to state the colour of ink used to print emotionally charged words
- It assumes that emotional or anxiety-inducing words increase response time

Question 8

Mogg et al (1993): Research support for Stroop Test

Answer 8

• 20 participants with anxiety disorders, with 18 controls completed the Stroop Test
• They found that anxiety patients took longer to respond to negative words compared to controls

Question 9

Data provided by individuals: What are Self-Report Questionnaires?

Answer 9

• They were designed to be used with factor analysis to identify clusters that represent personality traits

Question 10

What are the 4 examples of Classic Inventories?

Answer 10

1) MMPI-2-RF (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory)
2) 16 PF
3) EPQ-R (Eysenck Personality Questionnaire)
4) NEO-PI-R

Question 11

Oosterhoof and Todorov (2008): Using faces to identify traits

Answer 11

• Participants freely described 66 faces (lexical hypothesis)
• There were 10 traits that came up more than any other
• From this two models were created: Two-factor model, which measured traits from faces across trustworthiness and dominance. The Three-factor model added youthful-attractiveness

Question 12

Culture and Personality: What is culture?

Answer 12

It is a shared framework that influences how groups make sense of reality and adapt

Question 13

Culture and Personality: Collectivist vs Individualistic views on personality

Answer 13

Collectivist: Personality is perceived as malleable
Individualistic: Personality is perceived as fixed

Question 14

Culture and Personality: Etic vs Emic approach to research

Answer 14

Etic approach: Compared universal traits across cultures
Emic approach: Focuses on culture-specific traits

Question 15

What are the Issues with Cross-Cultural research?

Answer 15

• Translation issues
• Responses bias (stronger in some cultures)
• Social desirability
• Assumes literacy

Question 16

Personality Types vs Traits

Answer 16

• Types: Discrete categories (e.g melancholic)
• Traits: Continuum reflecting how much of a trait a person possesses

Traits are fundamental units of personality, assumed to be stable across time and situations

Question 17

Allport’s contribution

Answer 17

• Used the lexical approach: identified 18,000 words, reduced to 4500 traits
• Advocated the idiographic approach for unique personality understanding
• Trait categories:
  > Cardinal Traits: Single dominant traits shaping behaviour
  > Central Traits: 5-10 traits that broadly describe personality
  > Secondary Traits: Preferences, not core to personality

Question 18

Cattell’s Approach

Answer 18

• Used factor analysis to identify clusters of traits
• Interested in how personality can predict behaviour
• Interested in the role of genetics and experience in personality

Question 19

Cattell’s traits

Answer 19

• Source trait e.g Extraversion
• Surface trait e.g sociable, easy-going, assertive

Question 20

Furnham et al (2013): research into Cattell’s 16PF

Answer 20

• Looked at differences between students who chose arts and science subjects
• Art students: Higher in warmth
• Science students high in conscientiousness and perfectionism

Question 21

Eysenck’s Theory of Personality

Answer 21

• He proposed that fundamental traits are biologically based but environment can impact on how how traits are expressed

Question 22

Eysenck’s Three Supertraits:

Answer 22

• Extraversion: Sociable, active vs introverted
• Neuroticism: Emotional, tense vs stable
• Psychoticism: Impulsive, cold, antisocial

These were measured using EPQ e.g Do you prefer reading to meeting new people? (Extraversion)

Question 23

Uses of the EPQ: Empirical findings

Answer 23

• Criminals score high in all three traits
• Creative people score high in Psychoticism
• Extroverts more willing to have sexual contact without commitment and report more sexual experience

Question 24

Biological causes of super traits

Answer 24

Eysenck suggested that neuroticism was related to autonomic nervous system reactivity. Those with highly reactive system are more likely to develop neurotic disorder