wk6_L_11&12. Personality: An Introduction 1/2 Flashcards
PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY studies?
anxiousness or extroversion (as examples)
SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY studies?
effect of a situation on a person remains stable across different types of people. E.G. tendency to stereotype those from outgroups or to conform to group standards
Burton et al (2011) definition of personality refers to?
“enduring patters of thought, feeling, motivation & behaviour that are expressed in different circumstances”
Burton et al (2011) definition of personality refers to?
“enduring patters of thought, feeling, motivation & behaviour that are expressed in different circumstances”
Genes & Environment, including memories & past experiences, Pervin (1994) noted as influencing what?
Personality
Personality research looks at things such as?
- structure
- processes (development)
- individual differences
- biology, culture & history contributions to development of personality
- effect of a situation; reciprocal forces
- impact of personality on important aspects of life (relationships, etc)
What are the three strong traditions in personality research?
- clinical
- correlational
- experimental
Clinical personality research involves?
- FOCUS; involves systematic, in-depth research
- METHODS; observation (and self-report)
- SIGNIFICANT RESEARCHERS_;_
- Charcot - hysteria brought on or alleviated by hypnosis
- Janet - believed suggestions could be therapeutic
- Morton Prince - the dissociation of personality. Different selves exist in all of us
- Freud - first comprehensive theory of personality development. Ambivalence & conflicts. Compromise formations
- Murray - clever ways to test personality. Used interviews, questionnaire’s etc
Advantage of clinical approach to personality psychology?
- observes great variety of phenomena & often in detail
- considers person’s whole functioning
- doesn’t assume everyone’s degree of insight is the same
Problems with clinical approach to personality psychology?
- difficult to confirm observations
- difficult to formulate lab-style tests
- hard to replicate with questionnaires
- doesn’t meet scientific ideal/ a lot is not particularly scientific
- more good than bad - but a lot needs to be added to what we know about people!!
Correlational method of looking at people’s personalities looks at what?
Certain ‘trays’ (trait approach)- ways we differ. DOMINANT METHOD currently
Breaking down into small parts/elements, using self report questionaries, and seeing how they relate to each other. gets a sense of what makes a person a person. Trays: extroverted? introverted? emotional?
Correlational Approach significant researchers…
- Sir Francis Galton - heredity, intellectual abilities
- Gordon Allport, Raymond Cattell, Hans Eysenck - Five factor model of personality
A lot of looking at I.Q.
What may be a question/s asked using the correlational approach to personality?
- Are there basic groups of characteristics on which people differ?
- Techniques of this approach; self report questionnaires, factor analysis
- Assumes; trait is a fundamental unit of personality
- Aim; sought periodic table of elements & personality
Correlational Approach is asking what?
- Are there basic groups of characteristics on which people differ?
assumes trait is fundamental unit of personality
uses self-report questionnaires & factor analysis
what are some strengths of the correlational approach?
self report is easy
compares and individual to an average
what are some drawbacks of the correlational approach?
correlation doesn’t equal causation
factor analysis has subjective elements
self reports subject to biases (self deception, social desirability, substance effected)
Experimental approach to personality investigation involves?
FOCUS -systematics manipulation of variables
METHODS - experimental manipulation
Experimental approaches to personality - give an example
Pavlov - induced experimental neurosis (circle=food / ellipse=shock)
OR
Wundt - changes in stimuli influence changes in immediate experience
Strengths of experimental approach?
- close to scientific ideal
- don’t need to worry about whether subject knows the truth
Weaknesses of the experimental approach?
- important parts of personality hard to test
- not in context of the whole person
- people bring own expectations into the lab
- experiment is a social situation
Temperament
generally very genetic, quite difficult to change, quite stable through lifespan
- how one does something
- inhibition to unfamiliar (shyness/anxiety when faced with new things)
- reactivity
- impulsivity (takes risks, lively, sensation seeking, easily bored. possibly evolutionary advantage - CRAIG PAINE)
- vigour or energy level
- strength of actions
- temporal features
- rhythm of responding
Heritability
how much does a genetic inheritance provide to ones personality
- twin studies
- big 5 trays are close to equally heritable (neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, conscientiousness)
- inherited 40% / environmental 60% across all studies of heritability
Tray approaches to personality involve…
- all people have enduring characteristics or trays (e.g. extraversion, conscientiousness, willingness to trust or emotional stability)
Trait models can be mapped on a continuum of?
low - high
Traits can be both?
Genetically determined and acquired through experience
Nomothetic Approach is?
test an individual and look at where their score compares to the average score, then make deductions made from that comparison
Think - extroversion on continuum scale from high to low. So, Nomothetic approach looks at?
where the persons score sits in relation to other peoples scores on the continuum
what is the average score! where someone stands in comparison to the average
Idiographic approach looks at?
emphasise uniqueness of the individual
Cattell’s’ (1957) 16 trays…
- Abstractedness - imaginative V practical
- Apprehension - insecure V complacent
- Dominance - aggressive V passive
- Emotional Stability (neuroticism) - calm/stable V high-strung
- Liveliness - enthusiastic V serious
- Openness to Change - liberal V traditional
- Perfectionism - compulsive and controlled V indifferent
- Privateness - pretentious V unpretentious
- Reasoning - abstract V concrete
- Rule Consciousness - moralistic V free thinking
- Self-Reliance - leader V follower
- Sensitivity - sensitive V tough
- Social Boldness - uninhibited V timid
- Tension - driven/tense V relaxed/easy going
- Vigilance - suspicious V accepting
- Warmth - open/warm hearted V aloof & critical
Hans Eysenck - ‘super-traits’ EXTRAVERSION v INTROVERSION, NEUROTICISM & PSYCHOTISIM
super traits: represented at a higher order
E.G. extraversion = liveliness + sociability + activity + sensation seeking
ARAS is?
Ascending Reticular Activating System
The Five Factor Model (most recent approach) O. C. E. A. N.
O. penness
C. oncientiousness
E. xtraversion
A. greeableness
N. euroticism
In the ‘Five Factor Model’ Openness consists of:
- fantasy
- aesthetics
- feelings
- actions
- ideas
- values
In the ‘Five Factor Model’ Conscientiousness consists of:
- competence
- order
- dutifulness
- achievement striving
- self-discipline
- deliberation
In the ‘Five Factor Model’ Extroversion consists of:
- warmth
- gregariousness (outgoing)
- assertiveness
- activity
- excitement seeking
- positive emotion
In the ‘Five Factor Model’ Agreeableness consists of:
- trust
- straightforwardness
- altruism
- compliance
- modesty
- tenderness
In the ‘Five Factor Model’ Neuroticism consists of:
- anxiety
- angry hostility
- depression
- self-consciousness
- impulsivity
- vulnerability
Personality development - FREUD facts
- clinician at turn of century
- hysteria (paralysis, numbness, fainting)
- no biological basis; patient outwardly trying to stop it
- must be an unseen force driving the effect - the unconscious
- maybe parts of the mind are in conflict?
Freud’s Psychosexual stage:
Freud’s view/work:
- ORAL STAGE - 0-18mths. child explores world through mouth. totally dependant on caretakers. cause=chronic dissatisfaction & discomfort at that time
- ANAL STAGE - 2-3yrs. child becomes aware of anus. contradictions appear
- PHALLIC STAGE - 4-6yrs. become aware of genitals and masturbation
- LATENCY STAGE - 7-11yrs. sublimation. taking energy from libido (for example) and sublimate into socially accepted activities
- GENITAL STAGE - 12+yrs. conscious sexuality emerges. relate to and love others in a mature way
