social: personality Flashcards
pseudoscience =
statements, beliefs, practices that are claimed to be scientific but are not
what is the definition of personality?
stable, individual differences believed to be present in early life and are consistent across time and place
there are personality differences in:
emotions, behaviours, cognitions, motivations, social tendencies
why do we take personality tests?
→ to learn and confirm about ourselves
why do we need to take a scientific approach to investigating personality?
theoretical assumptions must be carefully evaluated
→ decreases the BARNUM EFFECT
what is the barnum effect?
tendency to accept general statements as applicable to oneself
what are the different approaches to personality?
→ psychodynamic (freud)
→ humanist (abraham maslow, carl rogers)
→ motivational (henry murray)
→ conative (Brian Little)
→ trait ( gordon all port, hans eysenck, ashton & lee)
describe the humanist view
abstract view, how you view the world = persons personality
Rogers → viewed personality as an organism shaped by experiences
→ underlying drive of self acceptance and to trust own reality → then person can reach their full potential
person centred approach
describe the motivational view/approach
henry murray
developed theory called ‘personology’
based on ‘need’ from within individual and based on ‘press’ from environment
press interacts with needs
personality theory that focuses on needs, motives, and drives
relatively stable aspect of personality that is inferred from behaviour =
trait
collection of characteristics/qualities that categorise people =
type
what is the difference between traits and types?
trait = continuous type = discrete (categories)
why are traits continuous?
people can have more or less of a trait by demonstrating behaviour more or less frequently and with more or less intensity
traits assume characteristics are:
(relatively) stable over time and across situations
What are Gordon allports 2 research strategies?
nomothetic and idiographic approach
humans share traits, described along a single dimension, common traits apply to everyone.
what approach is this?
nomothetic
certain traits make each person an individual, identifies the combination of traits that best accounts for the personality of an individual. what approach is this?
idiographic
what are the 2 different types of traits in the idiographic approach?
central traits
cardinal trait → single dominating trait in personality
who came up with the big 3 theory?
Hans Eysenck
what 3 traits are part of the big 3 theory?
3 super traits → heritable and genetic
P-psychotocism (ego control)
E-extroversion dimension (introvert or extrovert)
N-neuroticism (emotional stability)
describe the idea of the big 3 theory (PEN)
based on the idea that we are born with different levels of NS arousal → cortical and autonomic
neuroticism → autonomic NS arousal → high levels = very erratic → low threshold for ANS arousal
highly extroverted → high threshold for cortical arousal → takes more to become cortically aroused
why do extraverts like parties, socialising, extreme sports etc?
cortical arousal = stimulated/interested in something,
have high cortical threshold → find most situations boring → seek out fun activities to become aroused
how does the Big 5 theory use a lexical approach?
came up with every single adjective (18,000 terms) to describe a persons personality/behaviour → then list reduced by categorising into 5 personality factors
what are the Big 5?
Openess Conscientiousness Extraversion Agreeableness Neuroticism
describe the facets of the big 5
they are lower order personality traits → connections/relationships with the big 5
use lower order personality traits to explain peoples thoughts, feelings and behaviours
can be + or - associations with the Big 5 or have no relationship at all
discuss criticisms of the Big 5
→ frequent objection that 5 dimensions can’t possibly capture all the variation in human personality
→ dimensions are too broad
→ may not consider cultural variations in language and terms
→ low fidelity → how precisely can these traits predict behaviour
(but facets address this issue)
good points:
enormous bandwidth and extremely useful with some initial rough distinctions
describe the connative approach
personal goal directed activity, focuses on how the person negotiates their tasks, projects within a social interaction, looks at what people do in their lives
idea of ‘you are what you do or at least what you plan to do’
connative approach
how is the connative approach assessed?
PACs - personal action constructs
discuss the Big 6 HEXACO model suggested by Ashton & Lee (2008)
Big 5 (OCEAN) + H (honesty/humility)
H factor → still considered controversial by some researchers
6 not 5 higher order dimensions of personality
used recent research based on large, representative sets of personality adjectives from many diverse languages
describe evidence in support for the Honesty/humility trait in HEXACO
→ selfie posting behaviour
→ 750 young people (13-30 years old)
→ research has shown selfie posting behaviours → high levels of narcissism
findings:
lower honesty, lower conscientiousness, higher emotionality, higher extraversion = significantly predict own and group selfies
lower honesty and higher emotionality = predict selfies with partner
narcissism negatively correlates with ________ traits.
narcissism has a positive, strong correlation with ________ traits
honesty/humility
extraversion
the joint function of person and situation on behaviour =
interactionism
what are the 2 models for interactionism?
mechanistic model (how the situation impacts behaviour) reciprocal model (the interplay of person and situation on behaviour)
view that the situation produces changes in behaviour and renders that personality traits are not stable or assumed
situationism
define the 3 main goals of personality research
description → what are the key features of personality?, explanation → where do differences in personality originate?,
prediction → is personality stable across time and place?
can personality change or is it stable?
REFER TO NOTES (LEARN STUDIES)
all 3 dark triad traits have a strong negative correlation with which HEXACO trait?
honesty/humility
what are the 3 traits that make up the dark triad?
psychopathy, narcissism, machiavellialism
who’s idea was the dark triad?
Paulhus & Williams (2002)
the dark triad traits show behaviour tendencies such as?
→ self promotion
→ emotional coldness
→ duplicity
→ aggressiveness
is narcissism increasing? describe a study that investigates this
Twenge et al (2008)
→ examined how narcissism scores have changed over time in college students
→ 85 samples
→ n=16,475 from 1979 to 2006
→ found that since 1982 narcissism has increased significantly
→ 30% increase
trait that describes those who deceive and manipulate others for personal gain
Machiavellian personality
how is the McV personality studied?
measured using christies MACH-N scale → 20 self report items
why is the McV trait less studied?
less studied because its scale has a lot of criticism → less internally consistent
→ is McVism a trait or blend of other traits?
but appears to be a stable personality trait based on research
what describes successful psychopaths and narcissists?
when triad factors are combined with other factors like intelligence and appearance → help an individual acquire positions in leadership e.g. politicians
‘idea of get ahead of but not along with’ people in the workplace
__% of people in their 20s show narcissistic traits compared to __% of people in their 60s
10, 3
what are the characteristics of a narcissistic personality?
→ sense of importance, entitlement → preoccupation for unlimited success → feel special, unique → exploit others → lack of empathy, arrogance, jealousy of others
if extreme can be seen as a personality disorder
