Personality Flashcards

Question

L8: The Five Factor Model - OCEAN 1. Openness to experience

Answer 1

``` Openness to experience • Intellectual curiosity • Emotionally open • Creative • Aware of feelings • Hold unconventional beliefs ``` One End - inventive and curious Other End - cautious and consistent

Answer 2

``` Conscientiousness • Self-discipline • Strive for externally-validated achievement - e.g., marks; approval • Regulate impulses • Planful rather than spontaneous ``` One End - efficient and organised Other End - Easy going and careless

Answer 3

``` Extraversion • Lots of activities - not done in depth • Engages with outside world • Lots of interaction with others • Action-oriented • Talkative • Assertive ``` Research note • Those who are more extravert are also likely to be happier • Possibly because they do more activities and mix more, so have more opportunity for positive reinforcement One End - Outgoing and energetic Other End - Solitary and reserved

Answer 4

``` Agreeableness • Focus on social harmony • Considerate • Trusting and trustworthy • Optimistic • Make compromises ``` Research note • Agreeable people are more likely to get on with team members • Seen as ‘transformational’ leaders One End - Friendly and compassionate Other End - Analytical and Detatched

Answer 5

``` Neuroticism • Experience of negative emotions - anger, anxiety, depression • Low stress tolerance • Reactive to emotion • Perceive threat and frustration • Higher levels of biological reactivity - skin conductance ``` Research note • Strong links to psychological distress and work stress One End - Sensitive and nervous Other End - Secure and confident

Answer 6

Even though there is agreement about the big five themselves, there is still debate about whether there are more useful levels to consider Factors vs facets (McCrae & Costa, 2003) For example... Factor: Extraversion Facets: Warmth; Gregariousness; Assertiveness; Activity; etc. Six facets per factor

Answer 7

1. Openness to Experience Fantasy, aesthetics, feelings, actions, ideas, values 2. Conscientiousness Competence, order, dutifullness, achievement striving, self-discipline, deliberation 3. Extraversion warmth, gregariousness, assertiveness, activity, excitement-seeking, positive emotions 4. Agreeableness trust, straightforwardness, altruism, compliance, modesty, tender-mindedness 5. Neuroticism anxiety, hostility, depression, self-consciousness, impulsiveness, vulnerability

Answer 8

Which predicts behaviour better? – Facets But is that just because they are descriptions of those behaviours? One very practical consequence – Big Five measures that include the facets (e.g., NEO-PI) have a lot more items than those that focus just on the factors.

Answer 9

Different Measures of the Big 5 There are lots of these, so here are a few at either end of the spectrum... o Nature of the measure varies with the target - Factors - Factors + Facets o And the pragmatic issue – how long does it take... *Facets and factors* > NEO-PI-R - Widely-used, and widely validated across cultures - Factors have better psychometric properties than the facets - 243 items > Big Five Inventory (John & Srivastava, 1999) - 44 items - Also exists in a ten-item version (no facets) *Factors only* >IPIP Big-Five Factor Markers - Good psychometric properties (Goldberg & Lewis, 1992) - 50 items > TIPI (Gosling et al., 2003) - Ten items - Correlates well with longer measures • also developed a five item version, but this is less robust

Answer 10

Controversies to consider * Phenomenological (experience based), rather than theory-based * Limited ability of the big five to predict behaviours • Does not cover all traits - e.g., masculinity/feminity; sensation-seeking; honesty Is there a sixth factor? • Honesty-Humility (Ashton et al., 2004) - suggested facets include: sincerity, modesty, fairness

Answer 11

1. Be able to detail different theories and data about the origins of personality 2. Be able to detail natural developmental changes in adult personality 3. Be aware of examples of therapies targeted at personality, and their limitations

Answer 12

First, it is unlikely that something so complex and interactive could ever be due to a single cause ``` Second, all of the following need consideration • evolution • genetics • environment • interaction of biology and environment ```

Answer 13

*Evidence of biological bases of personality* Familiar evidence that biological mechanisms are involved in personality > Phineas Gage - frontal damage resulted in loss of self-control and executive functions But what are the mechanisms that might be relevant? --> The Evolution of Personality Buss (1991) • Important to understand the role of natural selection in personality development over time • Sometimes forced more quickly by change in circumstances The Christchurch experience? - earthquake 1, then earthquake 2 - will there one day be a whole city of totally un-neurotic people? So what personality characteristics might we assume will thrive? - what will aid in reproduction and survival? ``` Assuming that humans will function best as social animals... • Agreeableness/Sociability? • Emotional stability? • Conscientiousness? • Openness to experience? ``` But that assumes that the world remains a social environment

Answer 14

*Genetic influence on personality* No-one could say that all personality is due to genetic factors - start by assuming genetic x environment interactions - the environment influences how genes are expressed And beware of the ‘it will be in that gene’ argument - never seems to work Cattell and Eysenck were ‘strong gene’ advocates - suggesting that most of our personality comes from genetic influences Goldberg (1990) argued that the interaction of genetics and experience explains personality Most convincing evidence comes from twin studies • looking for evidence that MZ twins are more alike than DZ twins, and that both are more alike than non-twins • still not a perfect approach, as MZ twins might be treated more alike than DZ twins • also involves some assumptions about how much shared environmental experience is allocated to models Lots of big twin registries around the globe that are addressing this issue • e.g., used to show some genetic loading for different psychological disorders

Answer 15

Loehlin & Nicholas (1976) Investigated some of the Big Five characteristics across several countries • Neuroticism • Extraversion * MZ twins – correlation = .50 (25% of shared variance) * DZ twins – correlation = .20 (4% of shared variance) One of the first big twin studies (850 pairs) MZ twins are more similar than DZ twins in their general abilities - e.g., intelligence Less different in terms of goals, interests, etc. - i.e., the stuff that has a big environmental influence But nowhere near 100% concordance for anything psychological

Answer 16

Psychoanalytic theories There are a lot of these, so just dealing with Freud’s approach - mind you, Freud changed his mind a lot over the years... Personality as the interplay between: • id - the desire for immediate gratification of desires • ego – imposing reality on those desires • superego – the conscience (develops later, out of experience and parenting)

Answer 17

Humanist theories More optimistic than Freudian theories - focused on growth and self-actualisation Assume that we are creative experiencers of the world - less governed by fatalistic mechanisms - more governed by interactions with the world Unfortunately, the theory is rather difficult to test or disprove...

Answer 18

Behaviourist theories Characteristic patterns of behaviour, feeling and thinking that are influenced by the environment and other people Operant conditioning - e.g., reinforcement of conscientious or agreeable behaviour (or the other ends of the spectrum) Classical conditioning - e.g., development of neuroticism

Answer 19

Social-cognitive theories 1. Modelling of behaviours and attitudes - Bandura and the Bobo doll study - Example of aggressive style developing 2. Cognitive styles that influence how we see the world - e.g., attributional style influences our processing of the world • Positive/negative • Stable/unstable • Global/local - influences positive vs negative mood

Answer 20

*Natural developmental changes in personality* These life-long studies are just beginning to emerge - depended on the time point where stable models were established Is our personality in adulthood stable and unchanging, or are there natural developmental patterns? Need to distinguish any such changes from changes due to circumstances - e.g., becoming more conservative with age might reflect the same personality, but with more possessions to safeguard Past studies suggested stability from adolescence up to middle age - e.g., Edmonds et al. (2013); Hampson & Goldberg (2006)

Answer 21

Harris et al. (2016) – longitudinal Followed up on a sample of adults who were rated on their personality characteristics at age 14, now aged 77 Weaknesses > Recruitment rate - originally 1208 children - found 635, but only 174 completed the follow-up - completers were brighter than average at the beginning > Method of assessment - originally teacher-rated, now self-rated > Not quite the Big 5 personality factors Were personality characteristics stable between 14 and 77? Surprisingly poor correlations (none were significant) ``` Stability of moods – rho = .12 Self-confidence – rho = .02 Perseverance – rho = -.05 Conscientiousness – rho = -.01 Originality – rho = .11 Desire to excel – rho = -.01 ``` What do early personality traits predict later in life? Conscientiousness in childhood predicts lower wellbeing in old age (rho = -.17) Emotional stability in childhood predicts higher wellbeing in old age (rho = +.17) Dependability in childhood predicts higher intelligence in old age (rho = +.20)

Answer 22

Soto et al. (2011) – cross-sectional Used a web-based survey, using a big five personality measure • factors and facets N = 1,267,218 Ages 10-65 Males and females Weaknesses • Cohort effects (people of the same ages effect the results) Do levels of personality change with age? Looking at the big 5 factors first - then at the facet level > Conscientiousness over age - marked pattern - drop during adolescence (less vigilent or careful) - remember - this is the time of lower stability (temperament) > Agreeableness • Females become (and remain) more agreeable post- adolescence > Neuroticism • Females become more neurotic from adolescence and stay that way throughout early adulthood • Become closer to male levels in later adulthood > Extraversion • We all become less extravert as adolescence comes along, then stay stable • Males become more introvert than females, and stay there until late in the lifespan > Openness • Males are less open in childhood, then more open throughout adulthood • Females draw level in later adulthood What happens when we look at facets rather than factors? * The gender differences get less unequivocal * e.g., in Openness, males are more likely to express ideas, while females are more likely to express aesthetics

Answer 23

Summary: developmental patterns in personality • There are different change patterns over time, according to the factor being considered - less clear when looking at facets than when looking at factors • Biggest changes are in adolescence - In keeping with the notion of temperament rather than personality • Big gender differences - but they even out in later adulthood • Childhood personality is not a good predictor of late adult personality • Back to my early point – personality is not deterministic, but a steer, which is affected by context

Answer 24

Personality-level interventions This is a field with an appalling history None of the following is a recommendation... • Efforts to change personality surgically - e.g., lobotomy or leucotomy, damaging part of the frontal cortex, or cutting tracts • Use of massed electro-convulsive therapy • Use of aversion therapy to ‘cure’ aggression, homosexuality, etc. - seen as a personality-level issue More recently, those efforts have shifted to be less controlling and censorious • Psychological therapies that target personality disorders - rather than lifestyles - not forced on the individual (?) Less evidence of effectiveness with more antisocial personality disorders

Answer 25

Do personality disorders require intervention, or can they be left alone to fade away? Legend had it that personality disorders would ‘fade after 40’ - nothing could be done before then, so wait and see However, the 10 year symptom stability of some personality disorders is far less pronounced than that (Morey & Hopwood, 2013) • Antisocial PD – stability = .65 • Dependent PD – stability = .29 • Histrionic PD – stability = .15

Answer 26

Dissociative identity disorder (DID) or multiple personality disorder - Can one person really have more than one personality? Beck’s (1981) model suggests that we all have that potential - multiple personality ‘modes’ - we function smoothly because those modes communicate clearly This becomes a problem when those personalities ‘dissociate’ - usually to defend against awareness of traumatic experiences