Personality III Flashcards
Outline evidence of the biological bases of personality
Phineas Gage - frontal damage resulted in a loss of self control and executive functions
Outline the evolutionary origin of personality
The role of natural selection in personality development over time, sometimes forced more quickly by change in circumstances.
Outline research looking at the genetic influence on personality
Large scale twin study (850 pairs)
Investigation of some of the big 5 characteristics across several countries
MZ twins: r= .50 (25% of shared variance)
DZ twins: r= .20 (4% of shared variance)
MZ more similar than DZ in their general abilities e.g. intelligence
Environment still had big influence, nowhere near 100% for anything psychological
Outline psychosocial influences on personality
Long history, varying levels of evidence
Outline the psychoanalytic theory of personality
Personality as an interplay between:
Id - desire for immediate gratification
Ego - imposing reality on those desires
Superego - the conscience that develops later out of experience and parenting
Outline humanist theories of personality
Focused on growth and self-actualisation
Assume that we are creative experiencers of the world - less governed by fatalistic mechanisms and more governed by interactions with the world
BUT the theory is quite difficult to test or disprove
Outline behaviourist theories of personality
Characteristic patterns of behaviour, feeling and thinking that are influenced by the environment and other people
Operant conditioning
Classical conditioning
Outline social-cognitive theories of personality
Modelling of behaviours and attitudes: Bandura Bobo doll study, aggressive style developing
Cognitive styles that influence how we see the world e.g. attributional style influences our processing of the world
Does personality change and develop naturally?
Past studies have suggested stability from adolescence up to middle age
Look at studies which are longitudinal and those that are cross-sectional
Outline a longitudinal study of personality developmental changes
Harris et al. (2016) followed up a sample of adults who were rated on their personality characteristics at age 14 , now aged 77
Weaknesses: recruitment rate decreased, method of assessment was originally teacher-rated and now self-rated, not quite the big five factors
Surprisingly poor correlations for personality characteristics, none were significant
Outline a cross sectional study of personality developmental changes
Soto et al. (2011) Used a web-based survey using a big 5 personality measure
N = 1,267,218
Do levels of personality change with age?
Females become more agreeable post adolescence but become more neurotic
All become less extravert as adolescence comes along and then stays stable
Males become more introvert than females
Males are less open in childhood and more open throughout adulthood
Weakness: cohort effects
Outline some examples of personality level intervention
Surgically e.g. lobotomy, damaging frontal cortex
ECT
Aversion therapy to ‘cure’ homosexuality etc.
Psychological therapies that target psychological disorders rather than lifestyles and not forced on the individual
What does Beck’s (1981) model suggest?
We all have that potential to have more than one personality
Multiple personality ‘modes’
We function smoothly because those modes communicate clearly
Becomes a problem when those personalities ‘dissociate’ usually to defend against awareness of traumatic experiences
What are some relative contributions to personality of biology, genetics and experience?
Anatomical sites of the brain have been identified as important for personality traits: amygdala and aggression, frontal lobes for foresight and anticipation
Testosterone is important for sociability, aggressiveness and sexuality
Serotonin important for affect regulation but issue of parsimony thinking its a direct cause
Tabula Rasa is wrong - identical twins reared apart have similar traits
How does personality theory influence other domains of psychology?
Clinical psychology - personality disorders, concept that disorders such as anxiety might be extremes of normal states
Developmental psychology - temperament
Social psychology - interaction of situation and disposition
Biology and neuroscience
Evolutionary
