Personality II Flashcards
Trait approach - 3 basic assumptions
- Personality traits remain stable and therefore predictable over time
- Personality traits remain relatively stable across situations
- People differ with regard to how much of a particular personality trait they possess
Traits versus types
Traits involve quantitative differences between people (how much of a characteristic…).
Types involve qualitative different (Is she X type or Y type?
Personality types - humours
Theories go back as far as Hippocrates, physician for Ancient Greeks
Sanguine (optimistic)
Phlegmatic (slow, lethargic)
Melancholic (sad, depressive)
Choleric (angry, irritable)
Allport’s trait theory
He spent 30 year searching for traits to combine to form personality. Looked at the 18,000 dictionary terms which describe human behaviour, but many are similar - mean, hostile, etc. He narrowed it down to 7.
Central traits: traits that organise and control one’s behaviour in many situations and are usually apparent to others
Secondary traits: traits more specific to certain situations, control less behaviour
Big Five Personality Dimensions
Openness to experience
Conscientiousness
Extraversion
Agreeableness
Neuroticism
Eyesenck’s Major Personality Dimensions
Most people’s traits described using two main dimensions
Introversion-extraversion
Emotional-stability or neuroticism
Eyesenck
People differ due to inherited differences in their nervous systems, especially the brain
These differences affect ongoing physiological arousal, sensitivity to stress and environmental stimulation
E.g. someone born with nervous system operating low level of arousal will look for social contact, change, risks etc… to stimulate arousal but ‘over-aroused’ will be introverted
Evaluating trait approach
Trait theories, especially Big Five widely accepted
However, Trait theories better at describing people than understanding them
Little said on how traits relate to the thoughts and feelings that precede, accompany, and follow behavior
Criticized for failing to capture how traits combine to form a complex and dynamic individual
Social-Cognitive Approach
Differs from psychodynamic and Trait approaches two main ways:
Conscious thoughts and emotions are important for understanding how people differ from one another and what guides their behavior
Approach did not come from clinical cases or descriptions but derived from the principles
of animal and human learning
Roots of the
Social Cognitive Approach
Elements can be traced back the behaviorism of John B. Watson, all human behaviour is learned – classical conditioning
Skinner’s functional analysis – operant conditioning
Behavior is understood in terms of the function
it serves in obtaining rewards or avoiding punishment
However, focus only on observable behavior has limited usefulness
Rotter’s Expectancy Theory
Learning creates cognitive expectancies that
guide behavior. A person’s decision to engage in a behavior is determined by:
- What the person expects to happen following the behavior
- The value the person places on the outcome
People also develop generalized expectancies about the world, such as internal versus external forces determining how life’s rewards and punishments are controlled
Locus of control
Locus of Control
> Internals – expect that the rewards they receive are due to efforts they make themselves
> Externals – expect events to be determined by external factors outside their control, if they succeed they attribute it to luck
Internals (Locus of Control)
More likely to work harder at staying healthy
More likely to exercise, wear seat-belts
Less likely to smoke, drink
‘Internals’ - students more likely to be informed about their courses, what they need to do to do well, so get higher grades.
Externals are the opposite.
Bandura – Perceived Self-efficacy
Learned expectation of succes. Higher our belief that we can succeed –the better our accomplishments
Self-Efficacy and
Psychological Well-Being
