Personality Traits and Theories

Personality Traits

• Psychological structure behind enduring behavioral disposition
• Tendency to respond in specific ways under certain circumstances

Trait vs. Context Perspectives

• Trait perspective: personality traits in adulthood are biologically based temperaments, unchangeable over time; an extrovert is born and stays that way
• Contextual perspective: emphasizes life changes and role transitions, making personality fluid and prone to change; an extrovert at work may be reserved at home

Five-Factor Model of Personality

• Assumes five different personality factors
• These include: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism
• A spectrum exists with each factor, not distinct personality types

Claims of Trait Theories

• Adult personality traits are based on biological temperaments
• School-aged children's personality traits resemble adult traits
• Adults have a high degree of consistency in their traits

Research on Trait Claims

• Twin studies show a 40-60% correlation between personality and biology
• Roberts' meta-analysis indicates major personality occurs in young adulthood, with some traits changing

Assumptions Underlying Temperament Theories

• Refer to individual differences (intra and inter)
• Exhibit relative stability over time, overlapping with the 5PF
• Biologically based
• Modifiable by the environment

New York Longitudinal Study (NYLS)

• Longitudinal study followed 133 infants for thirty years
• Found similarities in infant reactions to stimuli, along with systematic differences evident early in development
• Nine temperament traits were identified

Nine Temperament Traits from NYLS

• Activity level: tempo and frequency of motor behavior
• Approach/withdrawal: nature of response to new stimuli
• Adaptability: ease with child responds to new stimuli
• Intensity of reaction: energy level of response (positive or negative)
• Quality of mood: balance of joyful versus crying behaviors
• Attention span: length of time a particular activity is pursued
• Distractibility: effectiveness of external stimuli in altering ongoing behavior
• Threshold of responsiveness: intensity level of stimulation to evoke a response
• Biological regularity: regularity of biological processes

Temperament Types

• Easy babies: adjust easily, establish routines, cheerful, and easy to calm
• Difficult babies: slow to adjust, react negatively and intensely
• Slow-to-warm-up babies: difficult at first, but become easier over time

Goodness of Fit

• Match between a child's temperament and their environment
• A family with parents commuting early needs a child with developed rhythmicity
• Good fit leads to healthy development; poor fit increases risk of behavior problems
• Understanding temperament helps adults support children's natural personalities, promoting healthier development

Freud's Theory: Key Assumptions

• Strong innate forces provide energy to the psychic system
• One strong force is libido (self-preservation and life instinct)
• Sexuality and aggression are connected

Structure of Personality (Psychoanalytic Theory)

• Id: operates on a pleasure principle, instincts, and sex
• Ego: operates on a reality principle, finds balance
• Superego: contains values, ideals, and morals

Levels of Consciousness (Psychoanalytic Theory)

• Conscious: what you are aware of
• Preconscious: memories that can be recalled
• Unconscious: wishes, feelings, impulses beyond awareness

Kahneman's System I/II Theory vs. Freud's Model

• Both describe dual processes: System I/Id is fast and automatic, System II/Ego is slow and deliberate.
• Both highlight the tension between emotion and logic in decision-making.
• Kahneman focuses on cognitive biases and reasoning.
• Freud explores unconscious desires and personality development.
• Kahneman's work comes from experimental psychology and behavioral economics.
• Freud's work comes from psychoanalysis and clinical observation.
• Both theories suggest human thinking is not purely rational but shaped by hidden influences.

Core Conflict (Psychoanalytic Theory)

• Coping with sex and aggression within civilized society's constraints
• Experiencing urges that cannot be freely acted upon

Role of Defense Mechanisms

• Ways for the ego to reach compromises between the id and superego

Defense Mechanisms

• Repression: keeping distressing thoughts and feelings buried in the unconscious
• Projection: attributing one's own thoughts, feelings, or motives to another
• Displacement: diverting emotional feelings from their source to a substitute target
• Reaction formation: behaving in the opposite way of one's true feelings
• Regression: reversion to immature patterns of behavior
• Rationalization: creating false but plausible excuses to justify unacceptable behavior
• Identification: bolstering self-esteem by forming an imaginary or real alliance with someone

Freud on Dreams and Slips

• Dreams are a way to access unconscious processes and reveal past experiences.
• Slips of the tongue reflect inner conflict.

Psychoanalysis and Development

• Assumes personality changes with a redirection of psychic energy
• Individuals progress through stages

Four Main Stages of Development

• Oral (0-1 year): mouth (sucking); weaning
• Anal (2-3 years): anus (going to the bathroom); toilet training
• Phallic (4-5 years): genitals (touch); Oedipal complex
• Genital (12+ years): genitals (sex); intimate relationships

Criticisms of Psychoanalysis

• Lack of scientific evidence
• Overemphasis on childhood and sexuality
• Unfalsifiability
• Subjectivity
• Limited therapeutic effectiveness

Freud and Piaget

• Both describe stages and conflicts or advancements
• Early development is crucial to later behavior and thought

Erikson's Theory: Four Main Features

• Ego-psychology
• Identity
• Crisis
• Life-span development

Erikson's Stages

• Identity vs. role confusion: questioning one's purpose and direction in life

Erikson and Freud

• Stages of development with distinct conflicts
• Id vs. superego and personal self vs. social self
• Focus on internal being versus society

Attachment to Caregiver (Behaviorism)

• Child attaches to mother because she provides rewards (feeding)

Harlow's Experiments

• Rhesus monkeys prefer a cloth mother over a wire mother that feeds them

Ethology

• The branch of biology that studies behavior

Instinct/Fixed Action Pattern

• Unlearned behavior triggered by an external stimulus leading to a specific behavior
• E.g., a fish attacks when it sees red
• Has survival value

Imprinting

• An inborn response exists for certain instincts, but organisms learn specific characteristics of the stimuli
• Organisms learn the releasing stimulus in early development
• Instinct becomes more flexible, adapting to different environments

Releasing Stimulus

• A specific environmental trigger that automatically elicits an innate, fixed action pattern (FAP) in an animal

Lorenz's Experiments

• Baby geese attached to Lorenz, suggesting parental figure attachment is inborn, but the specific characteristics are learned

Types of Learning

• Experience-Independent (Innate): behaviors happen without learning
• Experience-Expectant (Needs a Key Experience): imprinting must happen at a specific time
• Experience-Dependent (Shaped by Individual Experience): imprinting depends on what the goslings see

Bowlby's Background

• Founder of attachment theory
• Trained as a medical doctor
• Interested in ethology, evolutionary theory, and cybernetic theory

Attachment Defined

• An enduring affectional tie uniting one person to another over time and across space

Benefits of Attachment

• For children: protection and nurturing
• For parents: positive emotions

Bowlby's Attachment Theory and Systems Theory

• Attachment is a behavioral system, not a trait
• Activated when needed (e.g., a threatened child seeks caregiver)

Internal Working Model

• Understandings of self, caregiver, and relationship
• Forms a working model of reliance
• Becomes more stable over time

Four Developmental Stages of Attachment (Bowlby)

• Preattachment phase (birth to 6 weeks): babies respond similarly to everyone; innate behavior to attract caregivers
• Attachment in the making (6 weeks to 6 months): social response becomes selective; trust and responses towards one caregiver
• Clear-cut attachment (6 months to 14 months): intense attachment to a specific caregiver; stranger anxiety; protest when parents leave
• Formation of reciprocal relationships (18 months+): increased understanding of symbols and language; acceptance of temporary departures

Bowlby and Ainsworth

• Both contributed significantly to attachment theory but with different focuses
• Bowlby emphasized the biological basis of attachment and its role in survival
• Ainsworth expanded on Bowlby's work by identifying different attachment styles
• Ainsworth concentrated on observing and categorizing attachment behaviors
• Bowlby provided the theoretical framework, and Ainsworth offered empirical evidence.

Ainsworth's Attachment Styles

• Secure: parents loved and showed positive affection
• Avoidant: parents rejected the child who feels unloved
• Resistant: parents were angry and showed confusion
• Disorganized: inconsistent and unpredictable behavior

Attachment Styles and Parenting

• Secure: consistent, responsive caregiving
• Avoidant: unresponsive or neglectful caregiving
• Ambivalent (anxious): inconsistent caregiving

New Synthesis in Dev Psych

• Attachment styles are from complex interactions between genetic factors, temperament, caregiving, and the environment
• Responsive, consistent parenting is crucial for secure attachment
• Attachment is shaped by nature and experience

Strange Situation Test

• Introduction: caregiver and infant introduced to testing room
• First Separation: caregiver leaves, infant is left with stranger (researcher); tests reaction to separation
• First Reunion: caregiver returns, comforts infant; tests infant's reaction to return
• Second Separation: caregiver leaves again, infant alone; tests ability to cope with separation
• Stranger Interaction: infant is left with stranger, tests interaction with unfamiliar person
• Second Reunion: caregiver returns, stranger leaves; tests how infant responds to reunion
• Third Separation: caregiver leaves again
• Final Reunion: caregiver returns, comforts infant, tests reaction to final reunion.

Children's Response to Attachment Styles

• Secure: distress at separation, soothed at reunion; accepting, emotionally available parents
• Anxious-avoidant: unresponsive to parents; avoids/slow to greet parents on return
• Anxious-resistant: infants remain close, distressed by separation, clingy, insensitive parents
• Disorganized: no strategy, wants and is wary of comfort, disorganized parents

Major Claims

• Quality of infant-caregiver attachment is due to the interaction history with caregiver
• Variations in attachment are the foundation for later personality

Factors Affecting Attachment

• Infant temperament, special needs, genetics, attachment opportunities, family circumstances, and mental health

Affects on Development

• Secure young children develop positive relationships, friendship, and emotion understanding

Implications of Attachment Theory for Parenting

• Attachment theory underscores the importance of consistent, responsive, and nurturing caregiving
• This fosters secure attachment, promoting emotional stability, trust, and healthy relationship development
• Securely attached children explore confidently
• Inconsistent or neglectful parenting can lead to avoidant or ambivalent attachment styles

Impact on Romantic Relationships

• Early attachment patterns affect romantic relationships later in life, to an extent

Temperament Theory

• Philosophy: dualism
• Qualitative/quantitative: more quantitative (increase and decrease of trait intensity)
• Stability/plasticity: both stability (biological temperament) and plasticity (goodness of fit)
• Differences: people have unique temperaments
• Early/late: early experiences shape temperament expression and adaption
• Modularity/holism: modular temperament dimensions combine
• Conscious vs. non-conscious: neither
• Applications: parenting, education

Psychoanalysis Theory

• Philosophy: the unconscious mind
• Qualitative/quantitative: qualitative, subjective reality
• Stability/plasticity: stability in personality and consciousness structures
• Differences: intra-pleasures of the id, inter-fixations
• Early/late: early experiences shape psychic structures
• Modularity/holism: modular parts of personality
• Conscious vs. non-conscious: unconscious brain
• Applications: psychotherapy

Attachment (Philosophy)

• Philosophy: Darwin; evolutionary theory and ethology
• Qualitative/quantitative: qualitative; strange situation experiment and internal working model
• Stability/plasticity: stability; internal working model shapes relationships
• Differences: intra-secure/insecure w/ parents/siblings, inter-attachment styles
• Early/late: bond w/ caregiver affects later relationships
• Modularity/holism: modular attachment styles
• Conscious vs. non-conscious: unconscious, innate biological factors
• Applications: parenting

Piaget's Theory

• Sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational

Sensorimotor Stage Achievements

• Object permanence: understanding objects remain constant even when unseen
• Ability to imitate: imitating previously seen actions
• Intentionality: differentiating between ends and means
• All due to increased mental representation

The A-not-B Mistake

• Infants search in old location A, even when the object is moved to location B
• Demonstrates subjectivity in understanding objects; reliance on old information

Pre-Operational Stage Achievements

• Language and make-believe play due to increased symbolic activity
• Limitations: reversibility, compensation, and identity

Make-Believe Play

• It helps children solidify cognitive shemas
• It helps children engage in symbolic thinking,
• It helps their evolving understanding of the world

Concrete-Operational Stage Achievements

• Understand reversibility, compensation and identity.
• Thinking is flexible
• Thinking is decentered with the co-ordination of multiple dimensions.

Water Jar Experiment (Piaget)

• Pre-operational children think in one dimension
  • Mislead by their eyes
  • Don’t understand reversibility
  • Don’t understand compensation
  • Don’t understand identity (the substance is not changed)
• Concrete-operational child understands those key principles

What is "horizontal décalage"?

• Children don’t apply ideas to all situations, because they are in transitonal phases.
• Quantitative vs qualitative because children develop skills at different rates
• Aligns with the idea of qualitative shifts
• Aligns with stag-e based shifts
• Aligns with the gradual accumuliation of knowledge.

Formal-Operational Stage Achievements

• Abstract thinking.
• Don't Need concrete object to be thought of
• can do logical manipulation of abstract symbols.

Balance-Beam Task

• Concrete operational cant abstractly think
• Fail the balance because cant abstractly think.
• Presume will fall on the side it is weighted more heavily
• Formal operational understand that distance and weight matter.

Formal-Operational and Scientific Reasoning

• Formal operational thinking is related to scientific reasoning : theory -> hypothesis-> data

Kant and Piaget

• Piaget’s research derived from Kant
• Kant - knowledge is constructed through innate cognitive structures & interacting with experience
• PIaget expanded on this by doing emperical studies Piaget’s concepts :

· object permanence and understanding means-ends

• aligns with Kant that undestanding are the categories structure of understanding,
• particularly causality
• particularly substance
• structure how we perceive preistence, goal directed actions

Nativism vs. Maturational Theory

• Nativistic: Focuses on the inborn
• Maturational: biological processes are the "driving force"
  • Plato's theory

Motivation Behind Development of Neo-Nativism

• Dissastifaction with Behaviourism
• Dissatisfation with the abula rasa.

Chomsky's Criticism of Behavioristic Language Explanations

• Did not beleive learning language was conditionied
• Impossible because parents dont correct improper grammar -> instead correct syntax
• Instead children produce there own phrases.

Chomsky's Core Belief in regards to language

• The belief that foundations of language are : An inbornb ability instead of learnt behaviour

Language Acquisition Device and Universal Grammar

• LAD: Children born to special ability to learn language

• UG: Grammar database

Chomsky vs Skinner vs Vyotsky vs Piaget

• Chomsky: Inborn Wired into genome
• Skinner: Learn through conditions
• Vyotsky: Cultural tool
• Piaget: Symbolic representation of reality * role in thinking

Meaning of Chomsky Claims re: Language

• We have certain grammar ingrained = surface level differences

• Computer analogy = we all have windows

Language of Thought (LOT) - Who Proposed?

• Jerry Fodor
• All our thinking happens in general language of thought (mentalese)

Techniques for Neonativistic Research

• Babies looking at patterns

• Habitutaiton: Stimulis and response

• Evoked Potentials: Measure electrical response to some event.

• Amplitude of sucking: Baby's change in sucking

Critiques of Neo-Nativistic Interpretations

• Neonativist theory strongly relics on habitiatuion, preferential and violution of exception method
• Baby behvaoiur interprested as evidence of inante knowlegde
• Response can derive stem from perceptual bias
  • Stem from associative learning,or gradual decelopment
• Rather from prewired concepts

Core Idea of Neonativistic Theory

• Not blank slate

• born with small number of separable systemw of core knowledges

Definiton of Separabable ststemw of core knowledge

• Infants born with domain specific system
• (Object Number Space and Agent understanding) _ - operate independently,forming key knowldges essential for survival and learning

Core Knowledge system and experienments

• Ability to make categories/thinkings animals ,initiate objects, and people

Experiments

• Brick go through flap Babiea understand Physic
• A hand + a toy + a screem Babies understand Quantity

Disagreements

Children develope look at realiity Piaget = Cognitition structured foundations , infants = not blank slaves

• BOTH agree that chidlren see reality Piaget: Active learners, predicatable acorss all , chidlren Core knowledge vs intetaction and experience Innate srrucures vs assimilation and accommodation.

How id neo naivism related to Plato V kant

neo claim only some system = Innborn kAnt - > substance angd gravitu are inorn

Neonativism And research

• Helps see children understand Quaiintut and math easier

Neonativsim vs Modulaltiy vs holism

Modularity component through the differnt system but not purely However Hollistitic as it connects system compromise that lower reasonimg = modular highter is holistics

Relating Neo Nativism ti neuroscience

Neo = Modulaity - argue that congitive system = SEparatable + domain child EB suggest neiral plasticity suggest dymaic interation.

Neo Nativism RElated To Evolutionary Theoru

Modules= based on edovlution based as they improve adaptation to environment , improving SURVIVAL

Position of Natavist Re: Empiriciam

Rejects struct empiriciam , the core cog structure = innate Does acknowledge experience

- Activation of domain knowledge rather constructs

Learning through rewards: Neo Nativist view

• Inefficient
• FUndamental knowledge is INNATE

Theory Of Mind

Understaanding that other have different BELIEPS describe meltzo EXperiment

• *adult is interuppted when building with two blocks ,. CHlid then buuilds
• -> shows byb undersrnainidmg

Exs of humaan behbaviour

John ate because hungrey

Smartie task

Asked chlid what is in smartly box --> says Pencil Then says what is in box => CHild still thinks pencil , children respond to there senses..

How tochildren respond.

Tow year olds: desiers Three years olds: can't fully affect someone Five: OK TH of Mind- > relatee to autism and schizopehornia Autisum = Difficultuy understanding perspective and communication Scrizos= false beliefs and perceptions

Moral decision factors

Harms 1/2/ Cheats

Moaral Judgement by

shaped by 6/ 5 factors, ideolologies

• Liberals emphasize caring
• Conserveratives = focus Loyal

Issue of gloabl issue is due to ...

Intuitive thinking

Rational - Recognise complesity

Daniel position that:

There is no universal grammar because in indegiinous laguages aligned with vygotisky, becausfe communication tools

BIG Key Questions

KANT, Plate innate Feat Quantitative More Quan More conitinous development STability Both more stability Differences- inborndiffeence but borne

• HOlsim Foundation . latetr devo holistic components Contiious -auto ratonal/deicsions Apps Teaching -clinical. psychological Parents Raise Cognititvely developewd

Bioogy

Prematiion and erigenisis HISTORic COncerpts to how comes is developped

Pre famoition

PREDeTERMined from start

Evigemnis

A process where function = graduallu emerg

Embryologu

Embyos from fertitlizattion to birth. Tissues and organs -> deveolpemetal

Evo theories

shaped by evoluntiary pressures + human.

Darwin

• no finla goal
• not anomla
• Science explais the pass

Haeckel

Ohtogen Recapturaes phylogeny However that IS outdated

MEndal

Gene heritate

galton galton clauim

Genetic shape human abilities and eugenic -> statistic methods

Pop genes

SHape trais genes inherit

Genes

Study disease link to disease

challenges against genese;

interactions is genes shaped

gene exp = non dna

environment factos

expiemnet cell tranpo

s

PKU factos mom daud

acis dont work and diet help

Mehtylatey = locj ON

DNA Tight and lose"

• determine SUITCASE open

Indepndent Process

stimis is gessel

Expercted PROCESS-

Brain and visual hubeal

DEPProcess

connections, violilns

Habits

Stimils respond

COnditions is operants and

differant

Clssic Assocations = stimils and

Ex

DOll exp