Personality and Exercise Flashcards
Def: Personality
Underlying, relatively stable, psychological structures and processes that organize human experience and shape a person’s actions and reactions to the environment
3 main facets of personality
- Personality Core: Developed from early environmental interactions and resistance to change
- Typical responses to situations: Predictable behaviour and reactions
- Role-related behaviours: daily behaviours influenced by the environment, most easily changed
structure of personality pyramid
Base: Personality Core
Middle: Typical Response
Top: Role-related behaviours
As you go up the pyramid behavior becomes more externally regulated and more dynamic
Learning/situational approaches of the study of personality
- More emphasis on environment
- Includes: Conditioning/ Behaviorist or social learning theories
- Endorse an interactionist perspective
Dispositional/Trait Theories to the study of personality
- Emphasis on the individual
- Includes: Biological and trait theories
- Endorse an interactionist perspective
Ancient Greek Theory of Humors
Balance of bodily fluids = personality
Blood = cheerful, optimistic
Yellow Bile = Irritable
Black Bile = sad, depressed
Phlegm = apathetic, indifferent
Constitutional Theory
- Individuals possess certain somatotypes (body types) determine personality
- Ectomorph (tall and lean) = Cerebrotonia (tense, introverted)
- Endomorph (Plump and round) = Visceratonia (Sociable and relaxed)
- Mesomorph (Athletic) = Somatotonia (adventurous and aggressive)
Traits
Relatively enduring dispositions that exert a consistent influence on behaviour in a variety of situations
States
The psychological reaction to the situation in which the individual finds him/herself
Trait Theories
- Emanate form inside the person
- Personality consists of specific traits and more general traits
- Examples of theories include Eysenck’s personality theory and five factor model
Dimensions of Eysenck’s Theory
Extraversion- Introversion (E)
Neuroticism - Stability (N)
Psychoticism - superego (P)
Extraversion - Introversion
- Outgoing, sociable, optimistic
- Driven by level of cortical arousal in cortex of brain
- Reticular formation mediates cortical arousal
- Introverts: Higher base level activation, avoid further stimulation, low pain tolerance
- Extroverts (Opposite)
Neuroticism - Stability
- Tense, anxious, moody
- Driven by limbic system and autonomic nervous system
- ANS drives fight or flight response
- High N - more labile, longer-lasting ANS reactions, continues to process stressors even when it is no longer present
Psychoticism- Superego
- Impulsive, aggressive, hostile
- Driven by hormonal function
- Increased androgen and relative absence of serotonin
- Lead to heightened aggressiveness, impersonal attitudes, and antisocial behaviour
- Very little attention in exercise domain; can be advantageous in certain sport situations
Factors of the five factor model
- Openness to experience/ intellect (O) : Ability to accept or adjust to new ideas
- Conscientiousness (C): Goal-oriented, self-discipline, determined and strong-willed
- Extraversion (E): Tendency to be outgoing
- Agreeableness (A): Compatible with others
- Neuroticism (N): Tense, moody, excitable