personality Flashcards
personality:
Personality is made up of — , – factors that are relatively — over time and that account for individual differences in behaviour
* Theoretical models sought to explain the — and — of personality
– How do they –
– What are the core driving –
– How can we explain individual —
* 4 major theories emerged, each with very different
underlying philosophy & orientation:
i) Psychoanalytic Theory
ii) Behavioural Theory
iii) Humanistic Theory
iv) Biological Theory
( info: “Attending to the multiple links between personality and health
within a lifespan perspective will aid
causal understanding and facilitate
the most appropriate interventions.”)
stable internal
constant
development and workings
develop
forces
differences
casual and non casual pathways linking personality and health:
1- Causal pathways:
* Health — and —
* — and — of
social relationships
* — to challenges
and psychophysiological —
* Situation — and— ( aka — )
2- Non-causal Pathways:
* – and early —
*—-caused personality changes
behaviours and habits
number and quality
reaction and stress
selection and evocation ( recalling)
genes and early experiences
disease causes
personality characteristics linked to health:
*—- : more
successful at coping with ill health
*— :
independent risk factor for death after MI
* Pessimism/Fatalism— associated
with — time in AIDS and Cancer
personality types and health related behaviours:
— behaviours = smoking, substance
abuse, and unprotected sex are linked to poor health
* — people are more likely to avoid social situations but also experience more loneliness, higher mortality risk
— behaviours = Exercising,
eating healthy, sleep, safe driving, and immunizations are linked to good health
*—- personality types are more
likely to adopt protective behaviours
optimisim
depression
inversely
survival time
risky
depressed
protective
Conscientiousness
biological perspective - big 5 theory of personality:
* Trait approach to personality that considers a person’s
personality profile in terms of stable and enduring
dimensions
* Eysenck - ‘Personality is determined to a large extent by a person’s — ’ differences in — functioning influences amount of conditioning experienced by an
individual e.g. introverted person
Introverts tend to have — levels of physiological arousal, which makes then more easily conditioned – therefore acquire more inhibitions which make them more bashful,
tentative and uneasy in social situations – this social discomfort leads them to turn
inward and become introverted
* 3 bipolar factors/dimensions originally – — (introversion), — (emotional stability) and — (self-control)
genes
physiological
high
extraversion
neuroticism
pyschotiscim
( info : the 5 personalities and extroversion , neurosism , consciousness , agreeableness , openness )
- Notion that personality
characteristics might influence
vulnerability to — and illness — has
attracted widespread attention - Focus has tended to be on
identification of relatively — personality constructs and their
association with specific
illnesses
illness
progression
circumscribed
personality variable 1 - type A & coronary heart disease CHD:
* Characterised by:
– high levels of – and— ,
– chronic sense of time–,
– – achievement
drive,
– hostility and anger,
– aggression
* Considered to be“—”
* CHD — as high in people with Type A
personality; Type A predictive of CHD — of other CHD risk factors (e.g., diet, family history)
* Collective evidence from
prospective studies: anger and
hostility aspects of Type A are
“ —components”, i.e., most— of CHD, not overall
Type A pattern
* e.g., 255 medical students in 1950’s
completed personality inventory
(MMPI); 25 year follow-up: those with
“hostility” scores above median had 5
times the incidence of CHD than
those below median;
* Relationship independent of other
CHD risk factors (hypertension, family
history)
competitive and ambitious
urgency
strong
coronory prone
twice
independent
toxic
predictive
personality variable 2 : type b :
* Opposite to Type – - relaxed, “laid back”
* – levels of competitiveness, time urgency, hostility
* “Coronary — ”?
* No studies investigating this so impossible to ascertain if this is true.
personality variable 3 : type c linked that is linked to — :
* Characterised by: —
and appeasing, compliant and
passive, stoic, and exaggerated suppression of— emotion e.g. anger; attitude of helplessness/hopelessness
* “—-prone”?
* Both studies controversial and widely criticised
* Many studies have failed to replicate their findings
* However, growing evidence of
association between suppressed
emotion and survival from cancer
a
low
immune
cancer
cooperative
-ve
cancer prone
type D personality:
* Characteristics:
– — affectivity (tendency
to experience — emotions, e.g., — )
– Social — (tendency to
be inhibited in social interaction to avoid disapproval)
* These 2 interact to produce
the TYPE D personality
- type D and recovery from MI:
* Present in approx. 25% of the population
* NOT considered an — ( — )
risk factor, as in Type A
* BUT IS considered a — risk factor in patients with confirmed CHD (Coronary Heart Disease)
* Associated with — risk of depression, social alienation, higher number of reinfarctions and higher mortality rates — OF established biomedical risk factors
-ve
negative emotions
anxiety
inhibition
aetiological ( causative )
prognostic
increased
independent
personality and illness summary :
1. Personality may predict disease onset.Stems from psychosomatic tradition (i.e.,mind to body), e.g. type —-behaviour pattern.
2. Personality may change as result of — , e.g., helplessness in chronic
disease - somatopsychic link, i.e. from body to mind
3 .Personality may promote unhealthy behaviours predictive of disease, e.g.
smoking - — link.
4. Personality may influence illness
progression/outcome because it
influences individual coping responses,
e.g., hostile individuals may not use
social support effectively.
type a
illness
indirect
- limitation to links between personality and health:
1. The theory that personality leads to health-related behavior (risky or protective), which then leads to health or disease is only — supported.
2. Very few studies provide evidence of how this relationship can be — reliably across different individuals, contexts, coping strategies, and physiologies across the lifespan
3. —,—, early— , and health
This link does not take into account
the underlying genetic and
biological dispositions and early
socialisation that influence both
personality and health outcomes
Example: Social environment: Child Temperament x Parent Style
Experiencing parental divorce during childhood predicted riskier health
habits, poor social relationships as adults (including their own divorce),
more mental and physical health problems, and increased mortality risk - relevancy for medical practice:
- Helps you develop an — of
individual differences - Different individuals respond best to different approaches – good clinicians
recognise this implicitly and act
accordingly - — medicine: Explicit
understanding of personality traits may facilitate tailoring medical practice to
the individual
partially
assessed
temperament , genetics , early experience
appreciation
personalised
