Week 3) Evolutionary approach Flashcards
Distinguish btn trait approach and evolutionary approach?
Trait psychology: universal traits; individual differences
Evolutionary psychology: universally evolved preferences/mechanisms
What are traits?
Traits: Within-subject dispositions or tendencies. enduring tendencies to think, feel, & behave in consistent ways…”
Nomothetic approach
Dominant approach in personality research
Traits are typically taken to be unmodifiable primary determinants of behaviour
Strong empirical basis & predictive validity
Traits as biologically fixed human universals
“relatively untouched by life experience”
Nature over nurture (but interaction)
The problem with trait accounts?
Ignores cross-situation diffs. that people vary. Not always extraverted for instance. depends on context
Is the FFM (five factor model) universal?
Yes tests of FFM in 50+ societies across 6 continents; general replication of 5 factor structure (McCrae & Terracciano, 2005). Somewhat universal structure.
Replicated in Switzerland & 4 African regions (Zecca et al, 2012). NO such thing in/Not replicated in Bolivian indigenous sample (n = 632)(Gurven et al, 2013)
Possibility of cultures with >5 traits
What was the results from McCrae looking at geographical differences in personality factors with respects to the equator?
“… people who live farther from the equator tend to be more outgoing but less dutiful” (p. 18)
Cultures with the most similar personality profiles (FFM) are linked closest. Geographical proximity & personality profile similarity
What is Multidimensional scaling (MDS)?
When did they do this?
Multidimensional scaling (MDS) is a means of visualizing the level of similarity of individual cases of a dataset.
They did this for Neuroticism-extraversion axes.
Finding: Euro-American cultures distinct from Asian-African ones
True or false: theres more variation within a culture than cross cultures
True.
Personality differences across country exist but are small
Differences b/w individuals within country > differences b/w countries
Difficult to establish ‘true’ country ranking
Note: “Cross-country & cross-cultural differences in personality are very small compared with within-sample differences. Differences in personality b/w aggregate personality scores of countries/cultures are about 8 times smaller than differences b/w any two individuals randomly selected from the same sample” (Allik et al., 2017, p. 412)
fun fact
“European cultures tend to score high on Extraversion & Openness while African & Asian cultures gravitate toward the opposite pole, Introversion & Closeness”
(Allik et al. 2017, p. 410)
Describe the outstanding question regarding the problems in self-report cross-cultures? What is a solution?
“… whether the patterns seen here represent real differences in personality or merely differences in self-reports. Cultures may differ in response styles or self-presentational strategies, conceivably giving rise to the differences seen here” (Allik & McCrae, 2004)
Solution: using observers from outside the culture
Self-reports & observer ratings show similar profiles (Allik & McCrae, 2004)
If there are geographical differences in personality, then what causes them?
Why is it difficult to do research on this?
ppl with the same genes share the same environment etc so hard to separate apart.
“Personality similarities among people in close geographical proximity—if they exist— might have several causes. Shared culture, shared genes, & shared physical environment are all reasonable candidates. Unfortunately, these three classes of influence are usually confounded. People of a given culture also tend to constitute a single gene pool & to share many features linked to the physical environment…” (p.14)
Its possible that some national differences in personality traits may have a genetic basis. What is the counter evidence for this?
Recent immigrants from HK to Canada score similar to Canadians on E, O, & A. it shouldnt change when you go to another country (seems to challenge the theory).
Possible explanation for this: selective migration
“Chinese born & raised in Canada are more introverted than Canadians of European ancestry, suggesting a possible inborn difference in temperament”
Traits and genes. How much of personality is genes and how much is environment?
“… one of the most replicable findings reported in the social sciences [is that] about one-half of the total variance in personality trait scores is directly attributable to genetic differences b/w individuals & the other one-half to environmental influences”
Thats nice and neat! wow!
What are the core assumptions of evolutionary psychology EP?
Darwin’s theory of natural selection Adaptations Survival/reproductive success Psychological adaptations eg. preferences, biases Distal vs proximal explanations (distal causes= distant causes that have shaped our personalities). Interactionist framework Environment of Evolutionary Adaptedness
Evolutionary Psych: What is the theory of preparedness?
Evolved psychological mechanisms:
‘Preparedness’ (Seligman): fear of heights, snakes, dark, strangers.
e.g. easier to be scared of snakes than flowers say.
We are biologically prepared to fear some things over
others.
Evolutionary Psych: What does perceptual bias refer to?
Evolved psychological mechanisms:
Perceptual biases: spotting differences rather than similarities
