Personality

Question 1

Define ‘personality’.

Answer 1

The characteristic ways in which a person thinks, feels and behaves that make them an individual.

Question 2

Define a ‘trait’.

Answer 2

An internal, relatively stable characteristic that defines an individual’s personality and is exhibited in all situations.

Question 3

What are the main assumptions of trait theories?

Answer 3

• personality is defined by biologically-determined traits
• traits are consistently present in a person’s behaviour and change little over time
• traits can be used to predict future behaviour

Question 4

How are trait theories studied?

Answer 4

Trait theories were initially studied using a lexical approach, which assumed that personality can be described and assessed using words.
Factor analysis (a statistical measure which identifies variability in related variables).

Question 5

Describe McCrae and Costa’s theory with reference to the five traits.

Answer 5

McCrae and Costa (1999) proposed five dimensions on which personality can be measured by, which they called the Five-Factor Model (FFM). These factors are:

1) openness, which assesses one’s readiness to new endeavours
2) conscientiousness, which is the extent to which one works thoroughly, is organised and acts carefully
3) extroversion, which is the extent to which one is outgoing/enjoys social situations
4) agreeableness, which measures a person’s willingness to help/be cooperative with others
5) neuroticism, which measures a person’s anxiety or emotional security

Question 6

How does the Trait Approach assess personality?

Answer 6

assesses personality through Likert Scales (self-reports, where people respond to statements with a score from 1-5 based on how much the individual agrees). The results show where people sit on the continuum for each factor.

Question 7

Evaluate McCrae and Costa’s theory.

Answer 7

+ high internal validity as it measures observable behaviour
+ high external validity - ecological (real-life applications e.g. used in the employment process) and population validity (McCrae and Costa found cross-cultural validity in 6 non-English speaking countries as well as Western cultures)
- measures personality through self-reports (influenced by social desirability)
- criticised by Mischel for ignoring situational factors and assuming people display traits in all situations

Question 8

Describe the Humanistic Approach.

Answer 8

Assumes all humans are inherently good, are rational and have free-will (which allows humans to strive towards self-actualisation)
Self-actualisation - full use and exploitation of talents and capabilities
Takes a holistic approach, studying the whole person

Question 9

Explain Maslow’s Theory of Motivation.

Answer 9

The theory assumes that a person must fulfil a hierarchy of needs to reach self-actualisation. The first 4 needs are D/deficiency needs, as a desire to satisfy these needs is motivated by their deficiency and needs become more intense if unmet. Self-actualisation is a B/being need as it is driven by a desire for one to be their best self. The hierarchy works on the Deprivation-Gratification Principle - one cannot reach higher levels until lower needs are met, and when a need is unmet, behaviour is focused on satisfying it. People can move up and down the hierarchy.

Question 10

Identify and describe the five levels of Maslow’s hierarchy.

Answer 10

1) physiological - most basic things a person needs to survive e.g food, water, sleep
2) safety - aspects that make one feel safe in their environment e.g. shelter, employment, the security of resources
3) love and belonging - the need to love others and feel loved, with friends, family and romantic relationships
4) esteem - need for self-respect and respect from others (results in confidence and sense of accomplishment)
5) self-actualisation - living at one’s highest capabilities and potential

Question 11

What are some characteristics of self-actualisers?

Answer 11

• focusing on world issues instead of one’s own problems
• creativity and spontaneity
• viewing the world objectively

Question 12

How did Maslow collect his findings of humanism?

Answer 12

conducted case studies on the biographies on 18 people he deemed self-actualised and compiled common characteristics that others do not possess

Question 13

Identify one way that Maslow’s levels are assessed.

Answer 13

Maslow’s levels can be tested through the CSAS (Characteristics of Self-Actualisation Scale) developed by Scott Kaufman. It is a 30-item questionnaire which uses statistical measures to quantify self-actualisation on 10 of Maslow’s criteria

Question 14

Evaluate Maslow’s theory.

Answer 14

+ categorises behaviour and provides an explanation for it (different behaviours are motivated by different needs)

• ethnocentric (only accounts for Western needs) - 5 year long study by Diener (2010) found that while all needs were present in different cultures, they were no in the same order
• predominantly male sample (2 female) - cannot be generalised

Question 15

Explain Rogers’ Theory of the Self

Answer 15

Assumes that for self-actualisation to occur, people must be in an environment where they are accepted and can experience personal growth.
- organismic valuing process - humans know what they deem self-actualising without learning it
self-actualisation is shaped by the significant people in one’s life and allows for one’s self-concept (person’s view of themselves) to develop
- unconditional positive regard - person is surrounded by people who accept them as they are
- conditional positive regard - only feel acceptance in certain situations, may have a negative self-concept
- proposed 3 components of the self - self image, ideal self and true self
- when these components align (congruency), a person is said to be self-actualised, do not align=maldjusted
- well-adjusted personality - satisfied with themselves, act intuitively and live in the present
- person-centred approach - therapists are empathetic and responsive to allow patients to drive their own therapy

Question 16

How did Rogers study and assess personality?

Answer 16

Rogers studied personality through clinical case studies (collected self-reports from patients and conducted the q-sort)
- Q-sort - created by Stephenson (1953) where patients red a series of cards and put them in separate groups based on how applicable the patient views them

Question 17

Evaluate Rogers’ theory.

Answer 17

+ uses self-reports (results are reliable as they are not affected by a therapist’s bias)

• emphasises role of childhood on self-concept - unlikely that a maladjusted personality can be reversed in adulthood
• lacks validity - ‘self-actualisation’ is difficult to define and test

Question 18

Describe the Social-Cognitive Approach.

Answer 18

Combines the assumptions of behaviourism and humanism by concluding that behaviour is affected by the individual and their situation - uses cognitive processes to determine how to act on the environment. It assumes personality is not static - as different behaviours depend on the situation

Question 19

Explain Mischel’s Social-Cognitive theory.

Answer 19

5 variables which determine how an individual responds to a situation:

1) competencies - one’s physical,mental and emotional/social abilities that allow an individual to behave in their environment
2) expectancies - pre-concieved ideas/beliefs and individual has entering a situation - stem from personal experience
3) affective reactions - feelings a person has may affect behaviour, including mood
4) encoding strategies (interpretaion of situation) - waya person views a situation/processes it and stores it (also affected by mood/personal experience)
5) subjective goals and values - differ from perosn to person but provide similarity between situations
- personality signatures - patterns of behaviour that piffer between peopleand situations but are consistent whena person is in a similar situation
- explain inconsistencies in behaviour that trait theories do not, assumes people only behave the same way if the situation is percieved as similar

Question 20

How did Mischel and Shoda (1995) test personality signatures?

Answer 20

tested personality signatures through studying the aggressive behaviour of 2 boys at a summer camp - similar levels of overall aggression but were aggressive in different situation. Mischel concluded that unique personality signatures caused varying patterns of behaviour when experienceing the same situations

Question 21

Evaluate Mischel’s theory.

Answer 21

+ studies personality through an interactionist approach (situation and cognition+emotion)
+ explains differences in personality over situations which trait theories fail to account for
- his observational studies only involved children, meaning findings lack population validity and cannot be generalised

Question 22

Describe Bandura’s Social-Cognitive theory (1986).

Answer 22

• revised SLT (1977) - emphasises the importance of learning behaviour by observing models in the environment
• humans do not merely respond to their environment as behaviourists assumed - cognition, such as observing, processing and determining whether to imitate behaviour based on consequences (vicarious reinforcement) is involved
• reciprocal determinism - individual, environment and behaviour continuously influence one another to shape personality
• environmental - physical or social (friends and family), supplies role models which shape attitudes and values as behaviours are internalised
• human agency - fundamental quality that directs and regulates the experience of living
• outcome expectancies - learned expectations of behaviour - use this to evaluate whether to replicate behaviour
• self-efficacy - individual’s belief in his or her capacity to execute behaviours and produce attainments - determines actions a person is willing to do

Question 23

What study did Bandura conduct to test his theory?

Answer 23

Bobo Doll Study (1961):

• 72 children aged 3-6 years old
• shown a film of an adult acting violently towards a large, inflatable doll or a video where the model acts calmly
• children were taken to a room with toys - found that children who watched the aggressive model were more likely to play aggressively with the toys
• concluded that a person’s environment (models) influence a person’s behaviour and cognition

Question 24

Evaluate Bandura’s theory.

Answer 24

+ highlights the importance of pro-social role models on children

• Bobo Doll Study was conducted in a lab setting - lacks ecological validity and cannot be generalised to everyday environments
• theoretical constructs such as self-efficacy and outcome expectancies cannot be falsified or empirically tested