Personality Flashcards
What is Temperament?
The genetic component of personality
Describe the Thomas, Chess & Birch study?
Aim: To discover whether ways of responding to the environment remain stable throughout life
Method: They studied 133 children from infancy to early adulthood. The children’s behaviour was observed and the parents were interviewed. The parents were asked about the child’s routine and its reactions to change.
Results: They found out that the children fell into three categories: ‘easy’ ‘difficult’ or ‘slow to warm up’.
These ways of responding to the environment stayed with them as they developed.
What is personality?
The thoughts, feelings & behaviours that make you, you.
Describe the Buss and Plomin study?
Aim: to test the idea that temperament is innate.
Method: They studied 228 pairs of monozygotic twins and 172 pairs of dizygotic twins. They rated the temperament of the twins when they were five years old. They looked at 3 dimensions of behaviour.
• Emotionally - how strong the child’s emotional response was.
• Activity - how energetic the child was.
• Sociability - how much the child wanted to be with other people.
They then compared the scores for each pair of twins.
Results: There was a closer correlation between the scores of the monozygotic twins than between the scores of the dizygotic twins.
Conclusion: Temperament had a genetic basis.
Describe the Kagan and Snidman study?
Aim: To investigate whether temperament is due to biological differences.
Method: Kagan & Snidman studied the reactions of four-month-old-babies to new situations. For the first minute the baby was placed in a seat with the parent nearby. For the next three minutes the parent moved out of the baby’s view while the baby was shown different toys by the researcher.
Results: 20% of the babies showed distress by crying, vigorous movements of the arms and legs and arching of their backs. They were classed as high reactive. 40% of the babies showed little movement or emotion. They were classed as low reactive. The remaining infants fell somewhere between the two.
In a follow-up study, 11 years later, Kagan & Snidman found there was still a difference in the way the two groups reacted to new situations; the high reactive were shy while the low reactive were calm.
Conclusion: Kagan & Snidman concluded that these two temperaments are due to inherited differences in the way the brain responds.
Describe the Eysenck study?
Aim: To investigate personality differences between people.
Method: 700 servicemen completed a questionnaire. Eysenck analysed the results using a statistical technique known as factor analysis.
Results: He identified two dimensions of personality: extroversion - introversion & stability - neuroticism.
Conclusion: Everyone can be placed along these two dimensions of personality. Most people lie in the middle of the scale.
Define Extroversion?
A personality type that describes people who look to the outside world for entertainment.
Define Introversion?
A personality type that describes people who are content with their own company.
Define Neuroticism?
A personality type that describes people who are highly emotional and show a quick, intense reaction to fear
Explain Anti-Social Personality Disorder (APD) ?
A condition in which the individual does not use socially acceptable behaviour or consider rights of others.
What are the causes of APD?
Nature - Genes/Biological - you are born with it.
Nurture - Environment - how you were brought up.
Some people have APD because their “Amygdala” (in the middle of the two hemispheres of the brain) is affected, therefore they tend not to learn from their mistakes.
Describe the Raine et al. study?
Aim: To support the theory that abnormalities in the prefrontal cortex cause APD.
Method: MRI scans were used to study 21 men with APD and a control group of 34 heathy men. The subjects were all volunteers.
Results: The APD group had an 11% reduction in prefrontal grey matter compared with the control group.
Conclusion: APD is caused by a reduction in the brains grey matter.
Give the situational causes of APD
- Socioeconomic factors including low family income and antisocial behaviour in males studied from childhood to the age of 50
- Quality of life at home including poor parenting.
- Educational factors including low school achievements and leaving school at early age.
Describe the Farrington study?
Aim: To investigate the development of offending and antisocial behaviour in males studied from the ages 8 to 50.
Method: The researchers carried out a longitudinal study of antisocial and offending behaviour in 411 males all living in inner city London. The researchers interviewed teachers, parents and checked the criminal records of the participants.
Results: 41% of the males were convicted of at least one offence between the ages of 10 and 50. Biggest risk factors for offending were criminal behaviour in the family, low school achievement, poverty and poor parenting.
Conclusion: Situational factors lead to the development of antisocial behaviour.
Describe the Elander et al (2000a) study?
Aim: To investigate the childhood risk factors that can be used to predict anti-social behaviour in adulthood.
Method: Researchers investigated 225 twins who were diagnosed with childhood disorders and interviewed them 10-25 years later.
Results: Elander et al. found that childhood hyperactivity, conduct disorders, low IQ and reading problems were strong predictors of APD and criminality in adult life.
Conclusion: Disruptive behaviour in childhood can be used to predict APD in adulthood
