Personality Theory and Assessment Flashcards
Personality trait
Differences among individuals in a typical tendency to behave, think, or feel in some conceptually related ways, across a variety if relevant situations and across some fairly long period of time
Strategies for the construction of personality inventories
- Empirical strategy
- Factor-analytic strategy
- Rational strategy
Common personality inventories
- EPQ-R
- NEO-PI-R
- IPIP
Factor analysis
Allows the researcher to reduce many, specific traits into a few general factors
- correlation refers t replaceability
- factor loadings > correlations corrected for unreliability
Lexical hypothesis
The most important aspects of human personality are reflected in the language we use to describe ourselves and others
Lexical approach
Using the dictionary as a source of personality characteristics
Big Five
- Extraversion
- Agreeableness
- Conscientiousness
- Emotional stability
- Openness to experience
Personality Types
- Internalising type
- Externalising type
- Resilient type
Four humours
- Sanguineus (blood)
- Phlegmaticus (phlegm)
- Cholericus (yellow bile)
- Melancholicus (black bile)
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
- 16 personality types
- 4 dichotomies
- extraversion vs introversion
- sensing vs intuition
- thinking vs feeling
- judging vs perceiving
HEXACO dimensions
H = honesty & humility
E = emotionality
X = extraversion
A = agreeableness
C = conscientiousness
O = openness to experience
Levels of analysis
- universal: entire population
- nomothetic: across groups (generations) and individuals (age)
- idiographic: individual trajectories
Birth cohort
People who are born in approximately the same period of time and share experiences in their formative years
Period effect
Effect of historical circumstances at/during a certain time period
Age effect
People may change as they get older
Issues with cross-sectional data
Age-related changes may be due to cohort effects
Issues with longitudinal data
Age-related changes may be due to period effects
Maturation principle
Personality changes due to changes in interpersonal and occupational functioning
Social Investment Theory
Maturation due to evolution of social role responsibilities
Four humours theory
Early theory on personality
the levels of ‘four humours’ in the body influenced personality:
- blood > sanguine (cheerful)
- black bile > melancholic (depressive)
- yellow bile > choleric (angry)
- phlegm > phlegmatic (calm)
Somatotypes theory
Theory that personality was based on physique
- endomorph (fat)
- mesomorph (muscular)
- ectomorph (thin)
Cloninger’s theory
Certain personality traits were based on the neurotransmitters in the Central Nervous System
- dopamine > novelty seeking
- serotonin > harm avoidance
- norepinephrine > reward dependence
Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory
By Jeffrey Alan Gray
theorised the BIS and BAS systems
BAS: behavioural activation system
- encourages pursuit of rewards
- high score: tendency to be impulsive and seek pleasure and excitement
BIS: behavioural inhibition system
- encourages avoidance of punishment
- high score: tendency to be anxious and avoid pain and danger
Zuckerman’s Model
- Activity
- Sociability
- Impulsive/sensation-seeking
- Aggression
- Neuroticism/anxiety
Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP)
Most common type of genetic variation among people; represent differences in a single DNA building block, called a nucleotide
Heritability
The portion of the total variance of a trait that is explained by genetic differences
- is a population measure, not an individual characteristic
- often changes across age
Methods in behavioural genetic
- selective breeding (not viable in human studies)
- family studies
- adoption studies
- twin studies
Contrast
Answering in a way that emphasises differences
Assimilation
Answering in a way that emphasises similarities
GE correlation
Passive GE correlation: parents do not just pass on their (heritable) reading skills to their children, but also a well-stocked bookcase
Reactive GE correlation: parents use harsh parenting especially on those children that have a genetic disposition for disruptive behaviour
Active GE correlation: also known as ‘niche picking’, musical/sporty children receive more, and better, piano lessons/hockey training than other children
Mental ability: Spearman
- created the idea of a general (g) factor of mental ability/’intelligence’
- invented factor analysis and the correlation coefficient
- found that the tasks involving reasoning had the highest g-loadings
- created several ‘group factors’: verbal, spatial, perceptual, and memory abilities
Mental ability: Thurstone
- believed in the existence of several kinds of mental ability
Found 7 primary factors:
1. verbal fluency
2. verbal comprehension
3. numerical facility
4. spatial visualisation
5. memory
6. perceptual speed
7. reasoning
Flynn effect
Increase in IQ across new generations; in both fluid and crystallised intelligence
- average IQ increases by 3 point per decade
- larger effects in disadvantaged countries
Mental ability: Gardner
“Theory of Multiple Intelligences”
- believed that people had different kinds of intelligences
-critiqued the g factor
- linguistic intelligence
- logical-mathematical intelligence
- spatial intelligence
- musical intelligence
- bodily-kinaesthetic intelligence
- interpersonal intelligence
- intrapersonal intelligence
- naturalistic intelligence
Mental ability: Sternberg
“Triarchic Theory of Intelligence”
- analytic intelligence
- creative intelligence
- practical intelligence
Mental ability
Capacity to solve problems that demand thinking-related skills
Positive manifold
All mental ability tests are strongly correlated with each other, indicating a common latent dimension with a strong influence
International Cognitive Ability Resource
Used for educational and research purposes
Four subtests:
1. Verbal reasoning (VR)
2. Letter and numbers series (LN)
3. Matrix reasoning (MR)
4. 3D rotations (R3D)
Emotional intelligence
The ability to accurately reason about emotions and to adequately use emotions
Dispositional insight
Ability to reason based on personality traits
Encephalisation quotient
Ratio of brain size to body weight > significant, positive correlation between brain size and IQ
Heritability of mental ability
- somewhat lower heritability in less enriched environments
- some variance is non-additive
- womb environment and chorion type explain some variance
Until now, genome-wide complex trait analysis (GCTA) studies cannot account for more than 10% of the variance in mental ability scores
Gender differences in mental ability
- no difference in average mental ability (g)
- men: on average, high spatial mental ability scores
- women: on average, higher verbal and memory mental ability
Men have a slightly higher SD of mental ability scores
Impact of nutrition on mental ability
- hazardous foetal environment: alcohol, smoking, lead poisoning, and malnutrition harm brain development, which may lead to a lower mental ability
- vitamin B12: lower blood levels of B12 have been associated with a higher risk of mental ability decline between childhood and old age
Impact of birth order on mental ability
On average, earlier born siblings have slightly higher IQ scores than later born siblings, likely due to the quality of the womb environment
Impact of mental ability on life outcomes
- academic achievement: r = .50
- job performance: r = .40
- criminality: r = -.17
- longevity and health: people with a higher mental ability tend to live longer, even when corrected for socioeconomic status
RIASEC
Most common set of vocational interest dimensions
Realistic
Investigative
Artistic
Social
Enterprising
Conventional
Gender differences vocational interests
- women are more interested in social careers
- men are more interested in realistic careers
‘The talking cure’
Freud’s greatest contribution to psychotherapy; “talking about it helps”
Four foundational ideas of Psychoanalysis
- Psychic determinism
- Internal structure
- Psychic conflict
- Mental energy
Psychic determinism
The assumption that everything psychological has a cause that is, in principle, identifiable
Id
Psychoanalytic structure in the mind; the repository of the drives, the emotions, and the primitive, unconscious part of the mind that wants everything now
Ego
Psychoanalytic structure in the mind; the relatively rational part of the mind that balances the competing claims of the Id, the Superego, and reality
Superego
Psychoanalytic structure in the mind; he part of the mind that consists of the conscience and the individual’s system of internalised rules of conduct, or morality
Psychoanalysis: Compromise formation
The ego finds a compromise among the different structures of the mind; what the individual actually thinks and does is the result of this compromise
Psychoanalysis: Libido
the drive toward the creation, nurturing, and enhancement of life (including, but not limited to, sex), or the energy stemming from this drive, aka psychic energy
Psychoanalysis: Thanatos
Freud’s other term for the drive toward death, destruction, and decay
Psychoanalysis: Doctrine of opposites
The idea that everything implies or contains its opposite
Psychoanalysis: Oral stage
The stage of psychosexual development from birth to about 18 months of age, during which the physical focus of the libido is located in the mouth, lips, and tongue
Psychoanalysis: Anal stage
The stage of psychosexual development from about 18 months to 3 or 4 years of age, in which the physical focus of the libido is located in the anus and associated eliminative organs
Psychoanalysis: Phallic stage
The stage of psychosexual development from about 4 to 7 years of age, in which the physical focus of the libido is the penis (for boys), and its absence (for girls)
Psychoanalysis: Genital stage
The final stage of psychosexual development in which the physical focus of the libido is on the genitals, with an emphasis on heterosexual relationships; this stage begins around puberty, but is only full attained when and if the individual achieves psychological maturity
Psychoanalysis: Identification
Taking on the values and worldview of another person (e.g. a parent)
Psychoanalysis: mental health
Freud defined it as “the ability to both love and work”
Psychoanalysis: Fixation
Leaving a disproportionate amount of one’s libido behind at an earlier stage of development
Psychoanalysis: Regression
Retreating to an earlier, more immature stage of psychosexual development, usually because of stress, but sometimes in the service of play and creativity
Psychoanalysis: Condensation
The method of primary process thinking in which several ideas are compressed into one
Psychoanalysis: Parapraxis
An unintentional utterance or action caused by a leakage from the unconscious part of the mind, aka a Freudian slip
Denial
A defence mechanism which prevents perception of the source of anxiety
Repression
A defence mechanism which prevents recall of anything that might remind one of the source of anxiety
Reaction formation
A defence mechanism which protects against a forbidden thought or impulse by instigating the opposite
Projection
A defence mechanism which attributes an unwanted impulse or attribute in oneself to other people
Rationalisation
A defence mechanism which creates a seemingly logical reason for doing something shameful
Intellectualisation
A defence mechanism which translates a threatening situation into cold, intellectual terms
Displacement
A defence mechanism which redirects a forbidden impulse onto a safer target
Sublimation
A defence mechanism which converts base impulse into a noble cause
Psychoanalysis: Transference
The tendency to bring ways of thinking, feeling, and behaviour that developed toward one important person into later relationships with different persons
Five big shortcomings of Psychoanalytic theory
- Excessive complexity
- Case study method > lack of empirical proof
- Vague definitions
- Untestability
- Sexism
After Freud:
Pro:
- analytic humanities
- affective neuroscience
- psychodynamic therapies
Against:
- historical criticism
- cognitive science
- cognitive-behavioural therapies
Core tenets of Psychoanalysis
- Human behaviour is largely driven by innate, irrational, and unconscious drives
- Defence mechanisms keep drives from awareness
- Early childhood experiences shape personality (besides inherited traits)
- Conflicts in the conscious mind and repression lead to mental problems
- Problems are resolved by bringing repressed issues into consciousness (through psychotherapy)
Humanistic psychology
The approach to personality that emphasises aspects of psychology that are distinctly human
Phenomenology
The study of conscious experience
Introspection
The task of observing one’s own mental processes
Existentialism
The approach to philosophy that focuses on conscious experience, free will, the meaning of life, and other basic questions of existence
Human virtues identified by positive psychology
- Courage
- Justice
- Humanity
- Temperance
- Wisdom
- Transcendence
Person-centred Personality Theory
Defines the ‘fully functioning person’ (Rogers, 1961, 1963)
- Open to experience, not defensive
- Inner values (vs approval seeking)
- Unconditional self-regard
- Live in harmony with others
- Realistic impressions of expectations
- Creative and full of purpose
- Move towards self-actualisation
Person-centred Psychotherapy
- therapist seeks to foster client self-actualisation through:
- genuineness
- unconditional regard
- empathy
- what should the therapist bring into the therapeutic relationship (rather than only focusing on the client)
Existential psychotherapies
- Daseinanalysis
- Logotherapies
- British School
- Existential-humanistic
Major concerns of experimental existential psychology
- Death
- Isolation
- Identity
- Freedom
- Meaning
Flow
Occurs when there is a match between the skills one possesses and the challenge presented
Happiness (positive psychology)
- General satisfaction with life
- Satisfaction with specific life domains
- High positive affect and low negative affect
Hedonic treadmill
If life circumstances change, expectations also change, therefore life circumstances don’t affect happiness all that much
What determines happiness?
Set point > 50%
Intentional activity > 40%
Circumstances > 10%
Etics
The universal components of an idea; aspects of something that all cultures have in common
Emics
The locally relevant components of an idea; aspects of something that are specific to a culture
Cultural essentialism
Belief in fundamental differences between cultures
Schizotypal personality disorder
An extreme pattern of odd beliefs and behaviors, and of difficulties relating to others
Narcissistic personality disorder
An extreme pattern of arrogant, exploitative behavior combined with a notable lack of empathy
Antisocial personality disorder
An extreme pattern of deceitful, manipulative, and sometimes dangerous behavior
Borderline personality disorder
An extreme and sometimes dangerous pattern of emotional instability, emotional emptiness, confused identity, and tendencies toward self-harm
Avoidant personality disorder
An extreme pattern of feelings of inadequacy accompanied by fear of social contact
Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD)
An extreme pattern of rigidly conscientious behavior, including an anxious and inflexible adherence to rules and rituals, perfectionism, and a stubborn resistance to change
‘The Bad Five’
- Negative Affectivity: tendency to feel negative emotions such as anxiety, depression, and suspicion
- Detachment: tendency to withdraw from and to avoid emotional contacts with other people
- Antagonism: includes deceitfulness, grandiosity, callousness, and manipulativeness
- Disinhibition: characterised by careless and impulsive behaviour
- Psychoticism: tendency to have bizarre thoughts or experiences, and to exhibit eccentric behaviour
Ego-syntonic
Refers to thoughts, feelings, beliefs, or behaviors that one accepts as part of oneself and does not want to be cured of, even if others find them difficult to deal with
Ego-dystonic
Refers to troubling thoughts, feelings, beliefs, or behaviors that one experiences as alien or foreign and would like to be rid of
