BEHL3036 Personality Psychology Notes PDF

lOMoARcPSD|42273600 BEHL3036 Personality psychology notes (Auto Recovered) Personality Psychology (University of South Australia) Scan to open on Studocu Studocu is not sponsored or endo...

lOMoARcPSD|42273600 BEHL3036 Personality psychology notes (Auto Recovered) Personality Psychology (University of South Australia) Scan to open on Studocu Studocu is not sponsored or endorsed by any college or university Downloaded by James Smith ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|42273600 Chapter 1 Domains of Knowledge About Human Nature Introduction to Personality Psychology Features of personality make people different from one another, and these features usually take the form of adjectives, such as John is lazy, Mary is optimistic, and Fred is anxious. Adjectives that can be used to describe characteristics of people are called trait-descriptive adjectives. Personality defined Personality is the set of psychological traits and mechanisms within the individual that are organized and relatively enduring and that influence his or her interactions with, and adaptations to, the intrapsychic, physical, and social environments. Psychological traits are characteristics that describe ways in which people are different from each other. They describe ways one is different or similar to others. In this sense, traits describe the average tendencies of a person. Psychological traits are useful for at least three reasons. First, they help describe people and help understand the dimensions of difference among people. Second, traits are useful because they help explain behavior. Third, traits are useful because they can help predict future behavior. Thus, personality is useful in describing, explaining, and predicting differences among individuals. Psychological mechanisms are like traits, except that the term mechanisms refers more to the processes of personality. Most psychological mechanisms have three essential ingredients: inputs, decision rules, and outputs. A psychological mechanism may make people more sensitive to certain kinds of information from the environment (input), may make them more likely to think about specific options (decision rules), and may guide their behavior toward certain categories of action (outputs). Within the individual means that personality is something a person carries with him- or herself over time and from one situation to the next. Stable over time and somewhat consistent over situations Organized means that the psychological traits and mechanisms for a given person are not simply a random collection of elements. Rather, personality is organized because the mechanisms and traits are linked to one another in a coherent fashion. Hanger over intimacy. Our personalities are organized in the sense that they contain decision rules that govern which needs or motives are activated, depending on the circumstances. Psychological traits are also relatively enduring over time, particularly in adulthood, and are somewhat consistent over situations. In the definition of personality, an emphasis on the influential forces of personality means that personality traits and mechanisms can have an effect on people’s lives. His or Her Interactions with... This feature of personality is perhaps the most difficult to describe, because the nature of person–environment interaction is complex. interactions with situations include perceptions, selections, evocations, and manipulations. Perceptions refer to how we “see,” or interpret, an environment. Selection describes the manner in which we choose situations to enter —how we choose our friends, romantic partners, hobbies, college classes, and careers. Evocations are the reactions we produce in others, often quite unintentionally. To some extent, we create the social environment that we inhabit. Manipulations are the ways in which we intentionally attempt to influence others. Downloaded by James Smith ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|42273600 An emphasis on adaptation conveys the notion that a central feature of personality concerns adaptive functioning—accomplishing goals, coping, adjusting, and dealing with the challenges and problems we face as we go through life. Few things are more obvious about human behavior than the fact that it is goal directed, functional, and purposeful. Even behavior that does not appear functional—such neurotic behavior as excessive worrying—may, in fact, be functional. The physical environment often poses challenges for people. Some of these are direct threats to survival. Hunger, temperature, dangerous animals etc. Our social environment also poses adaptive challenges (struggle for belongingness, love, and esteem). We also have an intrapsychic environment (“within the mind”) We all have memories, dreams, desires, fantasies, and a collection of private experiences that we live with each day. This intrapsychic environment, although not as objectively verifiable as our social or physical environment, is nevertheless real to each of us and makes up an important part of our psychological reality. Three levels of personality analysis every human being is, in certain respects, 1. like all others (the human nature level) universals; 2. like some others (the level of individual and group differences) particulars ; and 3. like no others (the individual uniqueness level). Human nature The first level of personality analysis describes human nature in general—the traits and mechanisms of personality that are typical of our species and are possessed by everyone or nearly everyone. There are many ways in which each person is like most or all other people, and by understanding those ways we may achieve an understanding of the general principles of human nature. Individual and Group Differences The second level of personality analysis pertains to individual and group differences. Personality can have dimensions of individual differences, ways in which each person is like some other people (e.g., extraverts, sensation seekers). Personality can also be observed by studying differences among groups (e.g., men and women). Individual Uniqueness No two individuals, not even identical twins raised by the same parents in the same home in the same culture, have exactly the same personalities. One debate in the field concerns whether individuals should be studied nomothetically or ideographically. Nomothetic research typically involves statistical comparisons of individuals or groups, requiring samples of participants on which to conduct research. Idiographic (translated literally as “the description of one”) research typically focuses on a single person, trying to observe general principles that are manifest in a single life over time. A Fissure in the Field Many psychologists have theorized about what human nature is like in general. However, when doing research, psychologists most often focus on individual and group differences in personality. As a consequence, there is a fissure between the grand theories of personality and contemporary research in personality. Grand Theories of Personality Downloaded by James Smith ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|42273600 Statements about the universal core of human nature lie at the centre of grand theories of personality e.g., Sigmund Freud’s universal instincts of sex and aggression. Contemporary Research in Personality Most of the empirical research in contemporary personality addresses the ways in which individuals and groups differ. Six Domains of Knowledge About Human Nature The field of personality can be cleaved into six distinct domains of knowledge about human nature: personality is influenced by traits the person is born with and how they develop over time (dispositional domain); by biological events (biological domain); by processes within the person’s own mind (intrapsychic domain); by personal and private thoughts, feelings, desires, beliefs, and other subjective experiences (cognitive experiential domain); by social, cultural, and gendered positions in the world (social and cultural domain); and by the adjustments that the person must make to the inevitable challenges of life (adjustment domain). However, although each theoretical perspective may be focused on a critically important part of human psychological functioning, each perspective by itself does not capture the whole person. Dispositional Domain The central goal of personality psychologists working in the dispositional domain is to identify and measure the most important ways in which individuals differ from one another. They are also interested in the origins of the important individual differences and in how they develop and are maintained. Cuts across all domains. Biological Domain The core assumption within the biological domain is that humans are, first and foremost, collections of biological systems, and these systems provide the building blocks for behaviour, thought, and emotion. As personality psychologists use the term, biological approaches typically refers to three areas of research within this general domain: genetics, psychophysiology, and evolution. Intrapsychic Domain This domain deals with mental mechanisms of personality, many of which operate outside of conscious awareness (dominant theory Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis) Cognitive-Experiential Domain This domain focuses on thought processes and subjective experience, such as conscious ideas, feelings, beliefs, and desires about oneself and others. Social and Cultural Domain Personality affects, and is affected by, the social and cultural context. Adjustment Domain The adjustment domain refers to the fact that personality plays a key role in how we cope, adapt, and adjust to the ebb and flow of events in our day-to-day lives. Evidence, for example, shows that personality is linked with important health outcomes, such as heart disease. Personality is also linked with health-related behaviours, such as smoking, drinking, and risk-taking. Some research has even demonstrated that personality is linked with how long we live. Downloaded by James Smith ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|42273600 The Role of Personality Theory A good theory is one that fulfills three purposes in science: 1)provides a guide for researchers, 2) organizes known findings, and 3) makes predictions. We need to distinguish between scientific theories and beliefs (e.g., the positions of the stars at a person’s birth influence personality). Standards for Evaluating Personality Theories As we explore each of the six domains, it will be useful to bear in mind five scientific standards for evaluating personality theories: Is There a Grand Ultimate and True Theory of Personality? The field currently lacks a grand unifying theory. Chapter 2 Personality Assessment, Measurement, and Research Design Sources of Personality Data self-report data (S-data) - most common method for measuring personality Self-report data can be obtained through a variety of means, including interviews that pose questions to a person, periodic reports by a person to record the events as they happen, and questionnaires (most common S-data). Reason for s-data individuals have access to a wealth of information about themselves that is inaccessible to anyone. A prime example of the open-ended form of self-report is called the Twenty Statements Test (TST). In this test, a participant receives a sheet of paper that is essentially blank, except for the words “I am” repeated 20 times. The simplest form of the structured self-report questionnaire presents trait-descriptive adjectives in a checklist, such as the Adjective Check List (ACL). In completing the ACL, the individuals merely place a check beside adjectives that they feel accurately describes them. Limitations: people are not always honest, especially when asked about unconventional experiences & people may lack accurate self-knowledge. Observer-Report Data (O-Data)  Observers may have access to information not attainable through other sources. Downloaded by James Smith ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|42273600  Multiple observers can be used to assess each individual, whereas in self-report only one person provides information. The use of multiple observers allows investigators to evaluate the degree of agreement among observers—also known as inter-rater reliability. Furthermore, statistical procedures, such as averaging the assessments of multiple observers, have the advantage of reducing the idiosyncratic features and biases of single observers. Selection of Observers One strategy is to use professional personality assessors who do not know the participant in advance. The other strategy is to use individuals who actually know the target participants. An advantage of using intimate observers is to asses multiple social personalities but because intimate observers have relationships with the target person, they may be biased in certain ways. Naturalistic Versus Artificial Observation In naturalistic observation, observers witness and record events that occur in the normal course of the lives of their participants. In an Artificial Observation experimenters can instruct participants to perform a task, such as participation in a group discussion, and then observe how individuals behave in these constructed settings. Test Data (T-Data) Participants are placed in a standardized testing situation. The idea is to see if different people react differently to an identical situation. The situation is designed to elicit behaviors that serve as indicators of personality variables. Points about lab studies  it is possible to set up conditions to reveal key indicators of personality.  laboratory experimenters should be sensitive to manifestations of personality that occur in incidental parts of the experiment, such as the discussions among the participants.  there are often interesting links between S-data obtained through questionnaires and T-data obtained through controlled testing conditions. Limitations for t-data  some participants might try to guess what trait is being measured and then alter their responses to create a specific impression of themselves.  difficulty in verifying that the research participants define the testing situation in the same way as the experimenter.  situations are inherently interpersonal, and a researcher may inadvertently influence how the participants behave Mechanical Recording Devices “actometer” is used to assess personality differences in activity or energy level. The actometer is essentially a modified self-winding watch, which can be strapped to the arms or legs of participants (typically, children). actometer-based activity scores are linked to other personality characteristics, traits that have important consequences for social interaction. These forms of T-data have several advantages and disadvantages. They provide a mechanical means of assessing personality, unhampered by the biases that might be introduced when a human observer is involved. A second advantage is that they can be obtained in relatively naturalistic Downloaded by James Smith ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|42273600 settings— such as a children’s playground. Their primary disadvantage is that few personality dispositions lend themselves to being assessed by mechanical devices. Electronic and Internet Recording Devices These include monitoring through Smart Phones, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and fitness devices such as Fitbit. Electronic and internet recordings cut across the categories of T-data, S-data, and O- data. Physiological Data A critical source of personality data is physiological measurement. Physiological measures can provide information about a person’s level of arousal, reactivity to various stimuli, and the speed at which he or she takes in new information—all potential indicators of personality. Sensors can be placed on different parts of a person’s body, for example, to measure sympathetic nervous system activity, blood pressure, heart rate, and muscle contraction. Brain waves, such as reactivity to stimuli, also can be assessed. And even physiological changes associated with sexual arousal can be measured via instruments such as a penile strain gauge (Geer & Head, 1990) or a vaginal bloodflow meter. A more recent physiological data source comes from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a technique used to identify the areas of the brain that “light up” when performing certain tasks such as verbal problems or spatial navigation problems. Benefits of physiological data: it is difficult for participants to fake responses, particularly on measures of arousal or reflexive responses, such as the eyeblink startle reflex. Limitations: recording is typically constrained by a relatively artificial laboratory situation. Projective Techniques Another type of T-data is projective techniques, in which the person is given a standard stimulus and asked what he or she sees. The most famous projective technique for assessing personality is the set of inkblots developed by Hermann Rorschach. Presumably, the person “projects” his or her concerns, conflicts, traits, and ways of seeing or dealing with the world onto the ambiguous stimulus. Life-Outcome Data (L-Data) Refers to information that can be gleaned from the events, activities, and outcomes in a person’s life that are available to public scrutiny. Issues in Personality Assessment Links Among Various Data Sources A key issue that personality psychologists must address is how closely the findings obtained from one data source correspond to findings from another data source. Traits that are easily observable (such as extraversion) show a higher degree of self–observer agreement than do traits (such as calculating) that are difficult to observe and require inferences about internal mental states. The Fallibility of Personality Measurement Each data source has problems and pitfalls that limit its utility. One powerful strategy of personality assessment, therefore, is to examine results that transcend data sources—a procedure sometimes referred to as triangulation. If a particular effect is found—for example, the influence of dominance Downloaded by James Smith ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|42273600 on the assumption of leadership—does the effect occur when dominance is measured with self- report as well as with observer reports? Evaluation of Personality Measures Once personality measures have been identified, the next task is to subject them to scientific scrutiny to determine how good the measures are. In general, three standards are used to evaluate personality measures: reliability, validity, and generalizability. Reliability Defined as the degree to which an obtained measure represents the true level of the trait being measured. Personality psychologists prefer reliable measures, so that the scores accurately reflect each person’s true level of the personality characteristic. here are several ways to estimate reliability. One is through repeated measurement. There are different forms of repeated measurement. A common procedure is to repeat a measurement over time—for example, at intervals of one month—for the same people. If the two tests are highly correlated, yielding similar scores for most people, the resulting measure is said to have high test- retest reliability. A second way to gauge reliability is to examine the relationships among the items themselves at a single point in time. If the items within a test—viewed as a form of repeated measurement—all correlate well with each other, then the scale is said to have high internal consistency reliability. The reliability is internal because it is assessed within the test itself. A third way to measure reliability—applicable only to the use of observer-based personality measures—is to obtain measurements from multiple observers. When different observers agree with each other, the measure is said to have high inter-rater reliability. A factor that reduces measurement reliability, especially for self-report questionnaires, is response sets. Response set The concept of response sets refers to the tendency of some people to respond to the questions on a basis that is unrelated to the question content. Sometimes this is also referred to as noncontent responding. One example is the response set of acquiescence, or yea saying. This is the tendency to simply agree with the questionnaire items, regardless of the content of those items. Psychologists counteract acquiescence by intentionally reverse-scoring some of the questionnaire items, such as an extraversion item that states, “I frequently prefer to be alone.” Extreme responding is another response set, which refers to the tendency to give endpoint responses, such as “strongly agree” or “strongly disagree” and to avoid the middle part of response scales, such as “slightly agree” or “slightly disagree.” Social desirability  One approach to the problem of socially desirable responses is to assume that they are erroneous or deceptive, to measure this tendency, and to remove it statistically from the other questionnaire responses.  A second way to deal with the problem of social desirability is by developing questionnaires that are less susceptible to this type of responding. Downloaded by James Smith ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|42273600  A third approach to minimizing the effects of socially desirable responding is to use a forced- choice questionnaire format. Although many psychologists view socially desirable responding as error to be avoided or eliminated, others see it as part of an important trait, one that is correlated with positive traits such as happiness, adjustment, and conscientiousness. These psychologists suggest that being mentally healthy may, in fact, entail possessing an overly positive view of oneself and one’s abilities. In her book Positive Illusions, social psychologist Shelly Taylor (1989) summarizes much research suggesting that self-enhancing illusions about oneself, the world, and one’s future can promote psychological adjustment and mental health. Indeed, research finds that unrealistic beliefs about the self (positive illusions) are related to better physical health, such as slower progression of disease in men infected with HIV. If psychologists were to measure such positive illusions in the form of social desirability and remove them from other personality measures, they might, in effect, be throwing the baby out with the bathwater. That is, social desirability may be part of being high on adjustment and positive mental health. Work on social desirability has attempted to disentangle self-deceptive optimism from impression management. Psychologist Delroy Paulhus has developed a social desirability inventory called the Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding, which contains two separate subscales. The Self-Deceptive Enhancement subscale was designed to tap self-deceptive overconfidence and contains items such as “My first impressions of other people are always right.” The Impression Management subscale was designed to measure the tendency to present oneself favourably, as in the distortion interpretation of social desirability, and contains items such as “I don’t gossip about other people’s business.” This subscale was intended to be sensitive to self-presentation motives, such as those that lead someone to want to create a good impression in others. Response sets also can influence a measure’s validity. Validity Validity refers to the extent to which a test measures what it claims to measure. There are five types of validity: face validity, predictive validity, convergent validity, discriminant validity, and construct validity.  The simplest type of validity is face validity, which refers to whether the test, on the surface, appears to measure what it is supposed to measure. For example, a scale measuring manipulativeness might include the following face-valid items: I made a friend just to obtain a favour  Predictive validity refers to whether the test predicts criteria external to the test (thus it is sometimes called criterion validity). A scale intended to measure sensation seeking, for example, should predict which individuals actually take risks to obtain thrills and excitement, such as parachute jumping or motorcycle riding. Scales that successfully predict what they should predict have high predictive validity.  Convergent validity refers to whether a test correlates with other measures that it should correlate with. Convergent validity is high to the degree that alternative measures of the same construct correlate or converge with the target measure.  Discriminant validity is often evaluated simultaneously with convergent validity. Whereas convergent validity refers to what a measure should correlate with, discriminant validity refers to what a measure should not correlate with.  Construct validity is defined as a test that measures what it claims to measure, correlates with what it is supposed to correlate with, and does not correlate with what it is not supposed to correlate with. Thus, construct validity is the broadest type of validity, Downloaded by James Smith ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|42273600 subsuming face, predictive, convergent, and discriminant validity. This form of validity is called construct validity because it is based on the notion that personality variables are theoretical constructs. Generalizability Generalizability is the degree to which the measure retains its validity across various contexts & conditions. Research Designs in Personality There are three basic research designs in the field of personality psychology: experimental, correlational, and case study. Experimental Methods Experimental methods are typically used to determine causality—that is, to find out whether one variable influences another variable. In order to establish the influence of one variable on another, two key requirements of good experimental design must be met: (1) manipulation of one or more variables and (2) ensuring that participants in each experimental condition are equivalent to each other at the beginning of the study (random assignment, same participant in two conditions or counterbalancing). experimental method is effective at demonstrating relationships among variables. Correlational Studies Correlational method a statistical procedure is used for determining whether there is a relationship between two variables as they occur naturally. The most common statistical procedure for gauging relationships between variables is the correlation coefficient. Relationships between variables (-1… 0…1) can be positive, negative, or neither, as signified by positive, negative, or zero correlations. Correlations around.10 are considered small; those around.30 are considered medium; and those around.50 or greater are considered large. One cannot infer causation from correlations. There are at least two reasons correlations can never prove causality. One is called the directionality problem. If A and B are correlated, we do not know if A is the cause of B or if B is the cause of A. The second reason that correlations can never prove causality is the third variable problem. Two variables might be correlated because a third, unknown variable is causing both. Case Studies Sometimes a personality researcher is interested in examining the life of one person in-depth as a case study. There are advantages to the case study method. Researchers can find out about personality in great detail, which rarely can be achieved if the study includes large samples. Case studies can give researchers insights into personality that can then be used to formulate a more general theory to be tested on a larger population. They can provide in-depth knowledge of particularly outstanding individuals, such as Mahatma Gandhi or Martin Luther King. Case studies also can be useful in studying rare phenomena, such as a person with a photographic memory or a person with multiple personalities. Limitation: findings based on one individual cannot be generalized to other people. For this reason, case studies are most often used as a source of hypotheses and as a means to illustrate a principle by bringing it to life. Downloaded by James Smith ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|42273600 The Dispositional Domain Chapter 3 Traits and Trait Taxonomies (28) What Is a Trait? Two Basic Formulations 1. Traits as Internal Causal Properties These traits are presumed to be internal in the sense that individuals carry their desires, needs, and wants from one situation to the next. Furthermore, these desires and needs are presumed to be causal in the sense that they explain the behavior of the individuals who possess them. Internal desire influences her external behavior, presumably causing people to act in certain ways. psychologists who view traits as internal dispositions believe that traits can lie dormant in the sense that the capacities remain present even when particular behaviors are not actually expressed. Traits —in the sense of internal needs, drives, desires, and so on—are presumed to exist, even in the absence of observable behavioral expressions. The scientific usefulness of viewing traits as causes of behavior lies in ruling out other causes. (someone goes to parties because they are extraverted or because their partner drags them there). Traits as Purely Descriptive Summaries Proponents of this alternative formulation define traits (such as jealousy) simply as descriptive summaries of attributes of persons (expressed behaviour, such as, asking his wife to spend all her free time with him); they make no assumptions about internality or causality. Personality psychologists of this persuasion argue that we must first identify and describe the important individual differences among people, then subsequently develop causal theories to explain them. The Act Frequency Formulation of Traits—An Illustration of the Descriptive Summary Formulation A number of psychologists who endorse the descriptive summary formulation of traits have explored the implications of this formulation in a program of research called the “act frequency approach”: traits are categories of acts. Act Frequency Research Program The act frequency approach to traits involves three key elements: act nomination, prototypicality judgment, and the recording of act performance. Act nomination is a procedure designed to identify which acts belong in which trait categories. Prototypicality Judgment involves identifying which acts are most central to, or prototypical of, each trait category. Recording Act Performance consists of securing information on the actual performance of individuals in their daily lives. Evaluation of the Act Frequency Formulation Criticisms : technical implementation of the approach (like how much context is required) and about failures to act and covert acts that are not directly observable (like courage is not shown in ordinary life) Downloaded by James Smith ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|42273600 Benefits: helpful in making explicit the behavioral phenomena to which most trait terms refer—after all, the primary way that we know about traits is through their expressions in actual behavior. helpful in identifying behavioral regularities—phenomena that must be explained by any comprehensive personality theory. helpful in exploring the meaning of some traits that have proven difficult to study, such as impulsivity. useful in identifying cultural similarities and differences in the behavioral manifestation of traits. Identification of the Most Important Traits Three fundamental approaches have been used to identify important traits. 1. Lexical Approach : all important individual differences have become encoded within the natural language. Over time, differences among people that are important are noticed, and words are invented to talk about those differences. The lexical approach yields two criteria for identifying important traits—synonym frequency: if an attribute has not merely one or two trait adjectives to describe it but rather many words, then it is a more important dimension of individual difference and cross-cultural universality: if a trait is sufficiently important in all cultures that its members have codified terms to describe the trait, then the trait must be universally important in human affairs. This approach is a good starting point for identifying important individual differences but should not be used exclusively. 2. Statistical Approach: used to identifying important traits starts with a pool of personality items. Most researchers using the lexical approach turn to the statistical approach to distill self-ratings of trait adjectives into basic categories of personality traits. The most commonly used statistical procedure is factor analysis: identifies groups of items that covary (i.e., go together) but tend not to covary with other groups of items. 3. Theoretical Approach: The theoretical approach to identifying important dimensions of individual differences starts with a theory that determines which variables are important. In contrast to the statistical strategy, which can be described as atheoretical in the sense that there is no prejudgment about which variables are important, the theoretical strategy dictates which variables are important to measure. Evaluating the Approaches for Identifying Important Traits In practice, many personality researchers use a combination of the three strategies. Taxonomies of Personality Eysenck’s Hierarchical Model of Personality Of all the taxonomies of personality, the model of Hans Eysenck, born in 1916, is most strongly rooted in biology. PEN: extraversion–introversion (E), neuroticism–emotional stability (N), and psychoticism (P). Downloaded by James Smith ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|42273600 Two aspects of the model: Hierarchical Structure: levels in Eysenck’s hierarchical model, with each super-trait at the top and narrower traits at the second level. Subsumed by each narrow trait, however, is a third level—that of habitual acts. Biological Underpinnings: There are two aspects of the biological underpinnings of Eysenck’s personality system: heritability and identifiable physiological substrate. The behavioral genetic evidence confirms that all three super-traits in Eysenck’s taxonomy—P, E, and N—do have moderate heritabilities, although this is also true of many Downloaded by James Smith ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|42273600 personality traits. he second biological criterion is that basic personality traits should have an identifiable physiological substrate—that is, that one can identify properties in the brain and central nervous system that are presumed to be part of the causal chain that produces personality traits. Circumplex Taxonomies of Personality The two resources that define social exchange are love and status: “interpersonal events may be defined as dyadic interactions that have relatively clear-cut social (status) and emotional (love) consequences for both participants”. Hence, the dimensions of status and love define the two major axes of the Wiggins circumplex. Advantages: it provides an explicit definition of interpersonal behavior. Thus it should be possible to locate any transaction in which the resources of status or love are exchanged within a specific area of the circumplex pie. the circumplex specifies the relationships between each trait and every other trait within the model. it alerts investigators to gaps in investigations of interpersonal behavior. There are basically three types of relationships specified by the model. The first is adjacency, or how close the traits are to each other in the circumplex. The variables that are adjacent, or next, to each other within the model are positively correlated. Thus gregarious-extraverted is correlated with warm-agreeable. Arrogant-calculating is correlated with hostile-quarrelsome. The second type of relationship is bipolarity. Traits that are bipolar are located at opposite sides of the circle and are negatively correlated with each other. Dominant is the opposite of submissive, so the two are negatively correlated. Cold is the opposite of warm, so they are negatively correlated. Specifying this bipolarity is useful because nearly every interpersonal trait has another trait that is its opposite. The third type of relationship is orthogonality, which specifies that traits that are perpendicular to each other on the model (at 90º of separation, or at right angles to each other) are entirely unrelated to each other. The most important limitation is that the interpersonal map is limited to two dimensions. Other traits, not captured by these two dimensions, also have important interpersonal consequences. Five-Factor Model The broad traits composing the Big Five have been provisionally named (I) surgency or extraversion, (II) agreeableness, (III) conscientiousness, (IV) emotional stability, and (V) openness-intellect. Downloaded by James Smith ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|42273600 What Is the Empirical Evidence for the Five-Factor Model? The Big Five taxonomy has been measured in two major ways. One way is based on self-ratings of single-word trait adjectives, such as talkative and based on self-ratings of sentence items, such as “My life is fast-paced ”. Convergence between the factor structures of single-trait item formats and sentence-length item formats provides support for the robustness and replicability of the five-factor model. What Is the Identity of the Fifth Factor? although the first four factors are highly replicable across cultures and languages, there is uncertainty about the content, naming, and replicability of the fifth factor. Perhaps some individual differences are more relevant to some cultures than to others—intellect in some cultures, conventionality in other cultures, and openness in yet other cultures. What Are the Empirical Correlates of the Five Factors? Combinations of Big Five variables. Many life outcomes, of course, are better predicted by combinations of personality dispositions than by single personality dispositions. Here are a few examples. ∙ Good grades are best predicted by Conscientiousness (high) and Emotional Stability (high) One reason might be that emotionally stable and conscientious people are less likely to procrastinate ∙ Academic dishonesty is more likely among those low in Conscientiousness and low in Agreeableness ∙ What makes a good computer wiz? High Conscientiousness, high Openness, and Introversion. ∙ Obedience to authority in a Milgram-like experiment is more likely among people high in Conscientiousness and high in Agreeableness ∙ Educational attainment and earnings are predicted by high Emotional Stability, Openness, and Conscientiousness Risky sexual behaviors, such has having many sex partners and not using condoms, are best predicted by high Extraversion, high Neuroticism, low Conscientiousness, and low Agreeableness ∙ Alcohol consumption is best predicted by high Extraversion and low Conscientiousness ∙ Substance abuse disorders, such as illegal drug abuse, are linked to high neuroticism and low conscientiousness ∙ Pathological gambling is best predicted by a combination of high Neuroticism and low Conscientiousness ∙ Aggression against other people when angry is well predicted by Neuroticism, but being high on Agreeableness appears to cool the tempers that these emotionally unstable people sometimes experience ∙ Mount Everest mountain climbers tend to be extraverted, emotionally stable, and high on Psychoticism ∙ Happiness and experiencing positive affect in everyday life are best predicted by high Extraversion and low Neuroticism ∙ Proclivity to engage in volunteer work, such as campus or community services, is best predicted by a combination of high Agreeableness and high Extraversion Downloaded by James Smith ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|42273600 ∙ Forgiveness, the proclivity to forgive those who have committed some wrong, characterizes individuals who are high on Agreeableness and high on Emotional Stability Leadership effectiveness in business settings is best predicted by high Extraversion, high Agreeableness, high Conscientiousness, and high Emotional Stability ∙ Propensity to migrate within and among states within the USA is predicted by high Openness and low Agreeableness, although some studies show that high Openness combined with high Extraversion predicts intentions to emigrate to a new country ∙ Propensity to have children is predicted by high Extraversion (sociability) and high Emotional Stability ∙ Favorable attitudes toward being touched by an intimate partner are most strongly felt by those high in Agreeableness and high in Openness to experience Is the Five-Factor Model Comprehensive? “Personality taxonomies based on adjectives are unlikely to be comprehensive, because type-nouns have different content emphases. The HEXACO Mode Humility-Honesty (H), Emotionality (E), Extraversion (X), Agreeableness (A), Conscientiousness (C), and Openness to Experience (O) ( Chapter 4 Theoretical and Measurement Issues in Trait Psychology (34) These assumptions go beyond any one theory or taxonomy of personality traits and, so, form the basic foundation for trait psychology. These three important assumptions are ∙ meaningful individual differences, ∙ stability over time, and ∙ consistency across situations. Meaningful individual differences Trait psychologists are primarily interested in determining the ways in which people are different from each other. Differential psychology includes the study of other forms of individual differences in addition to personality traits, such as abilities, aptitudes, and intelligence. According to trait psychologists, every personality, no matter how complex or unusual, is the product of a particular combination of a few basic and primary traits. Stability over Time The second assumption made by all trait theories is that there is a degree of stability in personality over time. Attitudes, however, are much less stable over time, as are interests and opinions. Rank order stability: If all people show a decrease in a particular trait at the same rate over time, they might still maintain the same rank order relative to each other. Consistency Across Situations Downloaded by James Smith ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|42273600 Although the evidence for stability in traits over time is substantial, the question of consistency in traits from situation to situation has been more hotly debated. If situations mainly control how people behave, then the idea that traits are consistent across situations holds less promise as an approach to explaining behavior. If behavior differs from situation to situation, then it must be situational differences, rather than underlying personality traits, that determine behavior (situationism). Two of the most lasting changes that trait psychologists have embraced have been the notion of person–situation interaction and the practice of aggregation, or averaging, as a tool for assessing personality traits. Person–Situation Interaction Behavior is a function of the interaction between personality traits and situational forces. In the interactional view, differences among people are understood to make a difference only under the right circumstances. Situational specificity, in which a person acts in a specific way under particular circumstances implying that his or her behavior is caused by the situation. Strong situation refers to situations in which nearly all people react in similar ways. But when situations are weak or ambiguous, personality has its strongest influence on behavior. Situational Selection There are, however, more dynamic forms of Person × Situation interaction, where the situation is not really separate from personality. This is dynamic because situations are, in part, a function of personality just as much as personality is, in part, a function of situations. situational selection, the tendency to choose the situations in which one finds oneself. when it comes to person × situation interactions, situations can influence persons just as much as persons can influence situations. Evocation evocation, the idea that certain personality traits may evoke specific responses from the environment. In other words, people may create their own environments by eliciting certain responses from others. The idea of evocation is similar to the idea of transference, that occurs when a patient in psychoanalysis re-creates, with the analyst, the interpersonal problems he or she is having with significant others. In doing so, the patient may evoke in the therapist the reactions and feelings that he or she typically evokes in other persons. Manipulation Defined as the various means by which people influence the behavior of others. Manipulation is the intentional use of certain tactics to coerce, influence, or change others. Manipulation changes the social situation. Manipulation differs from selection in that selection involves choosing existing environments, whereas manipulation entails altering those environments already inhabited. Individuals differ in the tactics of manipulation they use. Aggregation Downloaded by James Smith ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|42273600 Aggregation is the process of adding up, or averaging, several single observations, resulting in a better (i.e., more reliable) measure of a personality trait than a single observation of behavior. This approach usually provides psychologists with a better measure of a personality trait than does using a single observation. Measurement Issues Trait psychologists have long concerned themselves with the circumstances that affect the accuracy, reliability, validity, and utility of trait measures. Carelessness me participants filling out a trait questionnaire might not be motivated to answer carefully or truthfully. A common method for detecting these problems is to embed an infrequency scale within the set of questionnaire items e.g. I make all my own clothes and shoes. Another technique used to detect carelessness is to include duplicate questions spaced far apart in the questionnaire. The psychologist can then determine the number of times the participant answered identical questions with different responses. If this happens often, the psychologist might suspect carelessness or another problem that invalidates the person’s answers. Faking on Questionnaires Faking involves the motivated distortion of answers on a questionnaire. There are two ways for psychologists to make a mistake when seeking to distinguish between genuine and faked responses. They may conclude that a truthful person was faking and reject that person’s data (called a false negative). Or they may decide that a person who was faking was actually telling the truth (called a false positive). Psychologists do not know for certain how well their faking scales perform when it comes to minimizing the percentages of false positives and false negatives. Because of this problem of undetected faking, many psychologists are suspicious of self-report questionnaire measures of personality. Beware of Barnum Statements in Personality Test Interpretations Barnum statements are generalities—statements that could apply to anyone—though they often appear to the readers of astrology advice columns to apply specifically to them. Personality and Prediction Personality traits may predict who is likely to do well in a particular job, so it makes some sense to try to select people for employment based on measures of these traits. Applications of Personality Testing in the Workplace Employers use personality assessment in the workplace for three main reasons: personnel selection, integrity testing, and concerns over negligent hiring. Personnel Selection Employers sometimes use personality tests to select people especially suitable for a specific job. Integrity Testing Personality tests that assess honesty or integrity are probably the most widely used form of personality assessment in the business world. They are commonly used in the retail and financial services industries in selecting people for low-paying entry level jobs where the employee handles Downloaded by James Smith ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|42273600 money or merchandise in an unsupervised setting. Integrity tests are designed to predict a tendency toward theft or other forms of counterproductive behaviors in work settings, such as absenteeism. There are two kinds of integrity measures—overt and covert integrity tests. Overt measures ask about past counterproductive workplace behaviors, such as theft and absenteeism, as well as general criminal history, delinquency, or school disciplinary problems. They also ask about attitudes towards theft and punishment, whether they had ever thought about stealing from an employer, and a general self-assessment of their honesty. Covert measures, on the other hand, do not directly ask about counterproductive behaviors per se, but rather assess aspects of personality that are correlated with counterproductive work behaviors. Concerns over Negligent Hiring A third reason some employers use personality testing arises from the fact that should an employee assault a customer or another coworker on the job, the employer may be held accountable in a court case. In such a case, the employer could be charged with negligent hiring, that is, hiring someone who is unstable or prone to violence. Legal Issues in Personality Testing in Employment Settings Disparate Impact To prove a case of disparate impact, a plaintiff must show that an employment practice disadvantages people from a protected group. The Supreme Court has not defined the size of the disparity necessary to prove disparate impact. Most courts define disparity as a difference that is sufficiently large that it is unlikely to have occurred by chance. Race or Gender Norming The Civil Rights Act of 1991 forbids employers from using different norms or cutoff scores for different groups of people. Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) The Americans with Disabilities Act states that an employer cannot conduct a medical examination, or even make inquiries as to whether an applicant has a disability, during the selection process. Moreover, even if a disability is obvious, the employer cannot ask about the nature or severity of that disability. Consequently, employers should be careful when they administer psychological testing to job applicants to make sure that the testing is not a medical examination. Psychological testing can be considered a medical examination if it provides evidence that would lead to a diagnosis or the identification of mental disorder or impairment. Tests of normal-range personality functioning, and measures of integrity, have never been considered equivalent to a medical examination. Personnel Selection—Choosing the Right Person for the Job Selection in Business Settings—The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Businesses confront critical decisions on which success or failure hinge. Different jobs pose different demands, and it’s likely that personality plays a critical role in determining success in different positions. By far the most widely used personality assessment device in business settings is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) (Myers et al., 1998). The test was developed by a mother- daughter team, Katherine Briggs and Isabel Myers, anchored in Jungian concepts. The test provides information about personality by testing for eight fundamental preferences. Downloaded by James Smith ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|42273600 Problems with the MBTI: The first problem is that the theory on which it is based—Jung’s theory of psychological types—is not widely endorsed by academic or research-oriented psychologists. For one thing, people don’t come in “types,” such as extraverted types and introverted types. Instead, most personality traits are normally distributed. One consequence of forcing a typology onto a trait that is normally distributed concerns the importance of cutoff scores for classifying people into one category or the other (e.g., as introverted or extraverted). scores will be unreliable. Reliability is often estimated by testing a group of people twice, separated by a period of time. With the MBTI, because cutoff scores are used to categorize people into groups, and because many people are very close to the cutoff scores, slight changes in people’s raw scores on retesting can result in a large percentage being reclassified into different personality types. Another problem with typological scoring systems is that it assumes large between-category differences, and no within-category differences, among people. For example, all extraverted types are assumed to be alike, and introverted types are assumed to be very different from extraverted types. Selection in Business Settings—The Hogan Personality Inventory Hogan’s theory states that, within such groups, people want three things: (1) acceptance, including respect and approval; (2) status and the control of resources; and (3) predictability. problems often occur when a manager violates one or more of these motives within a work group, for example, by treating staff with disrespect, by micromanaging in a way that takes away the staff’s sense of control, or by not communicating or providing feedback, thereby making the workplace unpredictable. Downloaded by James Smith ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|42273600 Why is the Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI) a better choice than the MBTI when it comes to employee selection? First, the HPI is based on the Big Five model, which has been modified specifically for applications to the workplace. Chapter 5 Personality Dispositions over Time: Stability, Coherence, and Change (28) Conceptual Issues: Personality Development, Stability, Coherence, and Change Personality development can be defined as the continuities, consistencies, and stabilities in people over time and the ways in which people change over time. Rank order stability is the maintenance of individual position within a group. Constancy of level, or mean level stability: e.g. If the average level of liberalism or conservatism in a group remains the same over time, the group exhibits high mean level stability otherwise mean level change. Maintaining rank order in relation to other individuals but changing the manifestations of the trait— is called personality coherence (dominance at age 8 (calling others sisseies) and at age 20 (insisting where the group eats lunch). Personality coherence includes both elements of continuity and elements of change—continuity in the underlying trait but change in the outward manifestation of that trait. Downloaded by James Smith ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|42273600 Personality change has two defining qualities. First, the changes are typically internal to the person, not merely changes in the external surroundings, such as walking into another room. Second, the changes are relatively enduring over time, rather than being merely temporary. Three Levels of Analysis We can examine personality over time at three levels of analysis: the population as a whole, group differences within the population, and individual differences within groups. Population Level This level of personality development deals with the changes and constancies that apply more or less to everyone. For example, almost everyone in the population tends to increase in sexual motivation at puberty. Similarly, there is a general decrease in impulsive and risk-taking behaviors as people get older. Group Differences Level Some changes over time affect different groups of people differently. Sex differences are one type of group differences. In the realm of physical development, for example, females go through puberty, on average, two years earlier than males. Individual Differences Level Personality psychologists also focus on individual differences in personality development. For example, can we predict, based on their personalities, which individuals will go through a midlife crisis? Personality Stability over Time Stability of Temperament During Infancy Most researchers define temperament as the individual differences that emerge very early in life, are likely to have a heritable basis (see Chapter 6), and are often involved with emotionality or arousability. First, stable individual differences appear to emerge very early in life, when they can be assessed by observers. Second, for most temperament variables, there are moderate levels of stability over time during the first year of life. Third, the stability of temperament tends to be higher over short intervals of time than over long intervals of time—a finding that occurs in adulthood as well. And, fourth, the level of stability of temperament tends to increase as infants mature. Stability During Childhood Individual differences in personality emerge very early in life—most likely in infancy for some traits and by early childhood for other traits, such as aggression. These individual differences tend to be moderately stable over time, so that people who are high on a particular trait tend to remain high. Indeed, childhood personality at age 3 turns out to be a good predictor of adult personality at age 26. The stability coefficients (correlations between the same measures obtained at two different points in time AKA test-retest reliability) gradually decline over time as the distance between testings increases. Rank Order Stability in Adulthood Across self-report measures of personality, conducted by different investigators and over differing time intervals of adulthood, the traits of Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness, Agreeableness, and Downloaded by James Smith ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|42273600 Conscientiousness all show moderate to high levels of stability. The average correlation across these traits, scales, and time intervals is roughly +.65. “trait consistency increases in a linear fashion from infancy to middle age where it then reaches its peak after age 50” (p. 3). As people age, personality appears to become more and more “set.” Mean Level Stability and Change in Adulthood both women and men gradually become more emotionally stable as they grow older, with the largest changes occurring between the ages of 22 and 40. People who experience very few stressful life events show the largest decreases in Neuroticism over time. In contrast, those who experience a lot of stressful life events tend to increase in Neuroticism over time. At the same time, being high on Neuroticism seems to cause people to get themselves into stressful life events. So the link between Neuroticism and stress seems to be bidirectional. Entering into a stable romantic relationship, transitioning to becoming a parent, and investing heavily in work all seem to have the effect of increasing levels of Conscientiousness compared to those who do not enter into these adult roles. While Neuroticism and Negative Affect decline with age, people score higher on Agreeableness and Conscientiousness as they grow older. Although personality dispositions generally show high levels of mean stability over time, predictable changes occur with age and perhaps also with therapy—lower Neuroticism and Negative Affect, higher Agreeableness, higher Conscientiousness. Personality Change Knowledge about personality change is sparse Changes in Self-Esteem from Adolescence to Adulthood Self-esteem was defined as “the extent to which one perceives oneself as relatively close to being the person one wants to be and/or as relatively distant from being the kind of person one does not want to be, with respect to person-qualities one positively and negatively values”. Transition from early adolescence to early adulthood appears to be harder on women than on men, at least in terms of self-esteem. As a whole, females tend to decrease in self-esteem, showing an increasing gap between their current self-conceptions and their ideal selves. As a whole, males tend to show a smaller discrepancy between their real and ideal selves over the same time period. Autonomy, Dominance, Leadership, and Ambition A study that followed men from their 20s to 40s showed a steep drop in the ambition score. It is not that these men lost interest in their jobs or became less effective. Indeed, their scores on autonomy, leadership motivation, achievement, and dominance all increased over time. Sensation Seeking Sensation seeking increases with age from childhood to adolescence and peaks in late adolescence around ages 18–20; then it falls more or less continuously as people get older. The Sensation-Seeking Scale (SSS) contains four subscales: 1. thrill and adventure seeking, 2. experience seeking, 3. Disinhibition, 4. boredom susceptibility. Femininity Downloaded by James Smith ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|42273600 High scorers on femininity tend to be described by observers as dependent, emotional, feminine, gentle, high-strung, mild, nervous, sensitive, sentimental, submissive, sympathetic, and worrying. Low scorers (i.e., those who score in the masculine direction), in contrast, tend to be described as aggressive, assertive, boastful, confident, determined, forceful, independent, masculine, self- confident, strong, and tough. A fascinating change occurred in this sample of educated women— they showed a consistent drop in femininity as they moved from their early forties to their early fifties—a group level change in this personality variable. Women who choose not to have children also score lower in femininity than women who do have children, although this may not reflect change so much as choices made based on this preexisting personality dimension. Independence and Traditional Roles Although the evidence is sparse, there are enough empirical clues to suggest that personality traits show some predictable changes with age. First, impulsivity and sensation seeking show predictable declines with age. Second, men tend to become somewhat less ambitious with age. There are indications that both men and women become somewhat more competent and independent with increasing age. Finally, there are hints that changes in independence are linked with the role and lifestyle adopted, with traditional homemaking women increasing less on independence than women who get divorced or lead less traditional work lives. Personality Changes Across Cohorts: Assertiveness and Narcissism cohort effects— the social times in which they lived. Personality change that is likely to be caused by cohort effects. Personality Coherence over Time: Prediction of Socially Relevant Outcomes defined as predictable changes in the manifestations or outcomes of personality factors over time, even if the underlying characteristics remain stable. Marital Stability, Marital Satisfaction, and Divorce Three aspects of personality proved to be strong predictors of marital dissatisfaction and divorce— the neuroticism of the husband, the lack of impulse control of the husband, and the neuroticism of the wife. High levels of neuroticism proved to be the strongest predictors. Personality affects many aspects of romantic life: who is likely to get involved in a successful romantic relationship, which marriages remain stable and highly satisfying, which people are more likely to get divorced, and how people cope following the loss of a spouse. Alcoholism, Drug Use, and Emotional Disturbance In sum, neuroticism and impulsivity early in life are coherently linked with socially relevant outcomes later in life. Religiousness and Spirituality spirituality—the degree to which individuals embrace religion or seek to lead a spiritual life. Personality in youth, in short, appears to influence spirituality and religiousness later in life, regardless of the early socialization practices to which people are exposed. Education, Academic Achievement, and Dropping Out Downloaded by James Smith ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|42273600 just as personality at age 18 predicts work outcomes at age 26 (e.g., self-control predicts income), work outcomes predict personality change over time. We see again that impulsivity is a critical personality factor that is linked in meaningful ways with later life outcomes. Health and Longevity The most important traits conducive to living a long life are high conscientiousness, positive emotionality (extraversion), low levels of hostility, and low levels of neuroticism. Predicting Personality Change People married to spouses who were highly similar to themselves showed the most personality stability. Those married to spouses least similar to themselves showed the most personality change. The moderate group fell in between. Chapter 6 (27) Genetics and Personality The Human Genome Moderation The effect of A on B varies depending on levels of C A.k.a Interactions or Modifiers Mediation the effect of X on Y is a function of M Genome refers to the complete set of genes an organism possesses. Some genes that differ across individuals influence the behavioral characteristics that define human personality. Controversy About Genes and Personality Behavioral genetics: attempt to determine the degree to which individual differences in personality are caused by genetic and environmental differences. Eugenics is the notion that we can design the future of the human species by fostering the reproduction of persons with certain traits and by discouraging the reproduction of persons without those traits. Goals of Behavioral Genetics One of the central goals of genetic research is to determine the percentage of an individual difference that can be attributed to genetic differences and the percentage due to environmental differences. Even though some observed differences among people can be due to genetic differences, this does not mean that the environment plays no role in modifying the trait. Behavioral geneticists typically are not content simply with figuring out the percentage of variance due to genetic and environmental causes. Percentage of variance refers to the fact that individuals vary, or are different from each other, and this variability can be partitioned into percentages that are due to different causes. Behavioral geneticists also are interested in determining the ways in which genes and the environment interact and correlate with each other. And they are interested in figuring out precisely where in the environment the effects are taking place—in parental socialization practices. What Is Heritability? Heritability is a statistic that refers to the proportion of observed variance in a group of individuals that can be accounted for by genetic variance. the proportion of phenotypic variance that is attributable to genotypic variance. Phenotypic variance refers to observed individual differences, such as in height, weight, or personality. Downloaded by James Smith ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|42273600 Genotypic variance refers to individual differences in the total collection of genes possessed by each person. Thus a heritability of.50 means that 50 percent of the observed phenotypic variation is attributable to genotypic variation. A heritability of.20 means that only 20 percent of the phenotypic variation is attributable to genotypic variation. In these examples, the environmental component is simply the proportion of phenotypic variance that is not attributable to genetic variance. Thus, a heritability of.50 means that the environmental component is.50. A heritability of.20 means that the environmental component is.80. These examples illustrate the simplest cases and assume that there is no correlation or interaction between genetic and environmental factors. the percentage of observed variance in a group of individuals that can be attributed to environmental (nongenetic) differences is called environmentality. Misconceptions About Heritability One common misconception about heritability is that it can be applied to a single individual. It can’t! For an individual, genes and environment are inextricably intertwined. Both play a role in determining height, and they cannot be separated. Thus, heritability refers only to differences in a sample or population, not to an individual. Another common misconception about heritability is that it is constant. In fact, it is nothing of the sort. Heritability is a statistic that applies only to a population at one point in time and in a particular array of environments. If the environments change, then heritability can change. final common misconception is that heritability is an absolutely precise statistic. Large amount of variability in the heritability of attitudes and preferences  Belief in god – not heritable  Perseverance/grit = some heritability  Traditionalism - some heritability (perhaps related to conscientiousness or neuroticism and the conservative aspects of those traits) Drinking and smoking – Appear to be behavioural manifestations of personality traits such as sensation seeking, extraversion, neuroticism plus Additional influence of environment Nature–Nurture Debate Clarified Arguments about whether genes or environments are more important determinants of personality. The clarification of the debate comes from clearly distinguishing between two levels of analysis: the level of the individual and the level of a population of individuals. At an individual level Genes and environment for one individual are like flour and eggs for one cake—both ingredients are necessary, but we cannot logically disentangle them to see which is more important. At the level of the population, however, we can disentangle the influence of genes and environments. This is the level of analysis at which behavioral geneticists operate. It makes perfectly good sense to ask, “Which is more important in accounting for individual differences in trait X— genetic differences or environmental differences?”. Behavioral Genetic Methods 1. Selective Breeding—Studies of Humans’ Best Friend Selective breeding occurs by identifying the dogs that possess the desired characteristic and having them mate only with other dogs that also possess the characteristic. Downloaded by James Smith ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|42273600 2. Family Studies Family studies correlate the degree of genetic relatedness among family members with the degree of personality similarity. 3. Twin Studies Twin studies estimate heritability by gauging whether identical twins, who share 100 percent of their genes, are more similar to each other than are fraternal twins, who share only 50 percent of their genes. If fraternal twins are just as similar to each other as identical twins are, in terms of a particular personality characteristic, then we can infer that the characteristic under consideration is not heritable: the greater genetic similarity of identical twins, in this case, is not causing them to be more similar in personality. Conversely, if identical twins are substantially more similar to each other than are fraternal twins on a given characteristic, then this provides evidence that is compatible with a heritability interpretation. equal environments assumption. The twin method assumes that the environments experienced by identical twins are no more similar to each other than are the environments experienced by fraternal twins. Although it is true that identical twins do tend to dress more alike than fraternal twins, spend more time together, and have more friends in common, there is no evidence that these environmental similarities cause them to be any more similar in their personalities than they are to begin with. Adoption Studies If one finds a positive correlation between adopted children and their adoptive parents, then this provides strong evidence for environmental influences on the personality trait in question. If we find a positive correlation between parents and their adopted-away children, with whom they have had no contact, then this provides evidence for heritability. The most important potential problem is the assumption of representativeness. Another potential problem with adoption studies is selective placement. If adopted children are placed with adoptive parents who are similar to their birth parents, then this may inflate the correlations between the adopted children and their adoptive parents. Major Findings from Behavioral Genetic Research Personality Traits Downloaded by James Smith ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|42273600 Twin studies have yielded very similar results, suggesting that Extraversion and Neuroticism are traits that are approximately half due to genetics. Correlations between adoptive parents and their adopted children tend to be around zero, suggesting little direct environmental influence on these traits. Overall, major personality traits show a modest degree of heritability. The same studies, however, also suggest that a substantial portion of the variance in personality traits is environmental in origin. Attitudes and Preferences Behavioural geneticists have examined the heritability of attitudes. Genes also appear to influence occupational preferences. Not all attitudes and beliefs show these levels of moderate heritability, however. Drinking and Smoking Heritability studies of alcoholism, as opposed to everyday drinking habits, show even stronger heritabilities. Indeed, nearly all show heritabilities of.50 or greater. Marriage and Satisfaction with Life A fascinating study revealed that genes can even influence the propensity to marry or stay single. Genes also play an interesting role in marital satisfaction. Shared Versus Nonshared Environmental Influences: A Riddle One critical distinction behavioral geneticists make is between shared and nonshared environmental influences. Consider siblings—brothers and sisters in the same family. Some features of their environment are shared: the number of books in the home; the presence or absence of a TV, DVD player, or computer; the quality and quantity of food in the home; the parents’ values and attitudes; and the schools, church, synagogue, or mosque the parents send the children to. All of these are features of the shared environment. On the other hand, the same brothers and sisters do not share all features of their environment. for most personality variables, the shared environment has either little or no impact. But, Shared environment might be more important in explaining Big Five personality traits than is typically revealed by studies using self-report. Genes and the Environment Genotype–Environment Interaction refers to the differential response of individuals with different genotypes to the same environments. Extraversion–introversion is a perfect example of genotype– environment interaction, whereby individuals with different genotypes (introverts and extraverts) respond differently to the same environment (e.g., noise in the room). Genotype–Environment Correlation: , the differential exposure of individuals with different genotypes to different environments. E.g., parents might promote sports activities for athletically inclined children more than for less athletically inclined children. kinds of genotype– environment correlation: passive, reactive, and active. Passive genotype–environment correlation occurs when parents provide both genes and the environment to children, yet the children do nothing to obtain that environment. Suppose, for example, that parents who are verbally inclined pass on genes to their children that make them Downloaded by James Smith ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|42273600 verbally inclined. However, because the parents are highly verbal, they buy a lot of books. Thus, there is a correlation between the children’s verbal ability and the number of books in their home, but it is passive in the sense that the child has done nothing to cause the books to be there. Reactive genotype–environment correlation occurs when parents (or others) respond to children differently, depending on the child’s genotypes. E.g., a mother starts out touching and hugging each of her two children a lot. One child loves it; the other hates it. Over the course of several months, the mother reacts by continuing to hug the cuddler but cuts down on hugging the non-cuddler. This example illustrates the reactive genotype– environment correlation, which is achieved because people react to children differently, based in part on the children’s heritable dispositions. Active genotype–environment correlation occurs when a person with a particular genotype creates or seeks out a particular environment. High sensation seekers, for example, expose themselves to risky environments: skydiving, motorcycle jumping, and drug taking. AKA niche picking. Active genotype– environment correlation highlights the fact that we are not passive recipients of our environments; we mold, create, and select the environments we subsequently inhabit, and some of these actions are correlated with our genotypes. These genotype–environment correlations can be positive or negative. That is, the environment can encourage the expression of the disposition, or it can discourage its expression; meaning environments can go against a person’s genotype, resulting in a negative genotype–environment correlation, or they can facilitate the person’s genotype, creating a positive genotype–environment correlation. A study found that personality and perceptions of family environment were genetically mediated. One interpretation is that personality affects the subjective manner in which people remember their early environments. Perhaps calm, controlled individuals are more likely to forget about real family conflict that was present during their childhood, and so may simply recall greater family cohesion than actually existed. An alternative interpretation is in terms of genotype– environment correlation: Individuals with calm, controlled personalities (high Constraint, low Negative Emotionality) may actually promote cohesion among family members—in essence, creating a family environment that further fosters their calm, controlled personality. Molecular Genetics The methods of molecular genetics are designed to identify the specific genes associated with personality traits. The details are quite technical, but the most common method, called the association method, is to identify whether individuals with a particular gene (or allele) have higher or lower scores on a particular trait than individuals without the gene. The most frequently examined gene is called DRD4. Individuals with socalled long repeat versions of the DRD4 gene were found to be higher on novelty seeking than individuals with so-called short repeat versions of this gene. Reason: people with long DRD4 genes tend to be relatively unresponsive to dopamine. This causes them to seek out novel experiences that give them a “dopamine buzz.” In contrast, those with the short DRD4 genes tend to be highly responsive to whatever dopamine is already present in their brains, so they tend not to seek out novel experiences, which might boost their dopamine to uncomfortable levels. Chapter 7 (34) Physiological Approaches to Personality Downloaded by James Smith ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|42273600 This approach assumes that differences in physiological characteristics are related to differences in important personality characteristics and behavior patterns. From the perspective of personality psychology, physiology is important to the extent that differences in physiology create, contribute to, or indicate differences in psychological functioning. However, most physiologically oriented psychologists would agree that physiology is only one cause among many for explaining behavior. A Physiological Approach to Personality Physiological Measures Commonly Used in Personality Research Most of the common physiological measures in personality research are obtained from electrodes, or sensors placed on the surface of a participant’s skin. Electrodermal Activity (Skin Conductance) The skin on the palms of the hands (and the soles of the feet) contains a high concentration of sweat glands. These sweat glands are directly influenced by the sympathetic nervous system, the branch of the autonomic nervous system that prepares the body for action—that is, the fight-or-flight mechanism. When the sympathetic nervous system is activated (such as during episodes of anxiety, startle, or anger), the sweat glands begin to fill with salty water. The more water present in the skin, the more easily the skin carries, or conducts, electricity. This bioelectric process, known as electrodermal activity (dermal means “of the skin”), or skin conductance, makes it possible for researchers to directly measure sympathetic nervous system activity. A person who is high in anxiety and neuroticism appears to have a sympathetic nervous system that is in a state of chronic activation. Cardiovascular Activity Researchers have been interested in what happens to a person’s cardiovascular system when he or she is challenged by having to perform a stressful task in front of an audience. One technique used to induce temporary stress is to have participants perform backwards serial subtraction. Not surprisingly, everyone’s blood pressure and heart rate goes up during this task, but some people show much larger increases than others. This phenomenon has been called cardiac reactivity and has been associated with the Type A personality—a behavior pattern characterized by impatience, competitiveness, and hostility. Brain Activity The brain spontaneously produces small amounts of electricity, which can be measured by electrodes placed on the scalp. This measure is called the electroencephalogram (EEG), and EEG recordings can be obtained for various regions of the brain while the participant is asleep, is relaxed but awake, or is doing a task. Another technique in measuring brain activity is called the evoked potential technique, in which the brain EEG is measured but the participant is given a stimulus, such as a tone or a flash of light, and the researcher assesses the participant’s brain responsiveness to that stimulus. personality neuroscience: brain imaging techniques are now being applied to the study of personality. pattern of findings is consistent with the notion that personality is associated with brain reactivity to emotional stimuli. Other studies tried to see whether personality correlates with the size of various areas of the brain. So, instead of measuring how active a region is, fMRI can be used instead to measure the volume of various brain areas but, authors implicitly assumed that structure Downloaded by James Smith ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|42273600 and function are related, whereas there is no evidence of this fact. Other studies focus on the connections between specific regions. Other Measures biochemists can extract indicators of how competently a person’s immune system is functioning. Hormones, such as testosterone, that play a role in important behaviors can also be extracted from saliva samples. Monoamine oxidase (MAO) is an enzyme found in the blood that is known to regulate neurotransmitters. Physiologically Based Theories of Personality Extraversion–Introversion Eysenck proposed that introverts are characterized by higher levels of activity in the brain’s ascending reticular activating system (ARAS) than are extraverts. The ARAS is a structure in the brain stem thought to control overall cortical arousal. Introverts engage in introverted behaviors (are quiet and seek lowstimulation settings, such as libraries) because they need to keep their already heightened level of arousal in check. Conversely, extraverts engage in extraverted behaviors because they need to increase their level of arousal. A good deal of evidence now suggests that the real difference between introverts and extraverts lies in their arousability, or arousal response, not in their baseline arousal level. Extraverts and introverts do not differ in their level of brain activity while sleeping, for example, or while lying quietly in a darkened room with their eyes shut. However, when presented with moderate levels of stimulation, introverts show enhanced physiological reactivity compared with extraverts. Sensitivity to Reward and Punishment Jeffrey Gray has constructed a model of human personality based on two hypothesized biological systems in the brain. The first is the behavioral activation system (BAS), which is responsive to incentives, such as cues for reward, and regulates approach behavior, most likely through the Downloaded by James Smith ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|42273600 dopamine system. When the BAS recognizes a stimulus as potentially rewarding, it triggers approach behavior. The other system is the behavioral inhibition system (BIS), which is responsive to cues for punishment, frustration, and uncertainty. The effect of BIS activation is to cease or inhibit behavior or to bring about avoidance behavior. A person with a reactive BIS is especially sensitive to cues of punishment, frustration, or novelty. He or she is vulnerable to unpleasant emotions, including anxiety, fear, and sadness. BIS is responsible for the personality dimension of anxiety. A person with a reactive BAS, on the other hand, is especially sensitive to reward. Such a person is vulnerable to positive emotions and tends to approach stimuli. The ability of an individual with a reactive BAS to inhibit behavior decreases as he or she approaches a goal. the BAS is responsible for the personality dimension of impulsivity, the inability to inhibit responses. Impulsive persons, it seems, do not learn as well from punishment as from reward. Sensation Seeking Sensation seeking is another dimension of personality postulated to have a physiological basis. Sensation seeking is the tendency to seek out thrilling and exciting activities, take risks, and avoid boredom. Research on the need for sensory input grew out of studies on sensory deprivation. Hebb’s Theory of Optimal Level of Arousal: Hebb’s theory states that people are motivated to reach an optimal level of arousal. If they are underaroused, relative to this level, and increase in arousal is rewarding; conversely, if they are overaroused, a decrease in arousal is rewarding. Zuckerman’s Research: Zuckerman’s questionnaire about preferences for stimulation in everyday life predicted how well people tolerated the sensory deprivation sessions. High sensation seekers found sensory deprivation to be particularly unpleasant, whereas low sensation seekers were able to tolerate it for longer periods of time. Certain enzymes, particularly monoamine oxidase (MAO), are responsible for maintaining the proper levels of neurotransmitters. MAO works by breaking down the neurotransmitter after it has allowed a nerve impulse to pass. If an excessive amount of MAO were present, it would break down too much of the neurotransmitter, and nerve transmission would be diminished. If there were too little MAO present, an excessive amount of the neurotransmitter would be left in the synapse, allowing for too much nervous transmission to take place. High sensation seekers tend to have low levels of MAO in their bloodstream, compared with low sensation seekers. If high sensation seekers tend to have low MAO levels, and low MAO means more neurotransmitter available in the nerve cells, then perhaps sensation seeking is caused by or is maintained by having high levels of neurotransmitters in the nervous system. MAO acts like the brakes of the nervous system, by decomposing neurotransmitters and thereby inhibiting neurotransmission. With low MAO levels, sensation seekers have less inhibition in their nervous systems and therefore less control over behavior, thoughts, and emotions. Neurotransmitters and Personality: Whereas Zuckerman’s theory concerns levels of MAO, which breaks down neurotransmitters, other researchers hypothesize that levels of neurotransmitters themselves are responsible for specific individual differences. One neurotransmitter, dopamine, appears to be associated with pleasure. Low serotonin is associated with irritable behavior. norepinephrine, is involved in activating the sympathetic nervous system for fight-or-flight. tridimensional personality model - three personality traits are tied to levels of the three neurotransmitters. The novelty seeking trait, is based on low levels of dopamine. Harm avoidance is Downloaded by James Smith ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|42273600 associated with abnormalities in serotonin metabolism (expect that harmful and unpleasant events will happen to them, so they are constantly on the lookout for signs of such threatening events). reward dependence is related to low levels of norepinephrine (work long hours, put a lot of effort into their work, and often continue striving after others have given up). Genes Work Through Neurotransmitter Systems to Influence Personality many researchers interested in personality and genetics are focusing on the genes involved in regulating our neurotransmitter systems. Morningness–Eveningness Differences between morning and evening types of persons, sometimes called “larks” and “owls,” appear to be due to differences in underlying biological rhythms. Individuals with short biological rhythms hit their peak body temperature and alertness levels earlier in the day and thus begin to get sleepy earlier than do persons with longer circadian rhythms - those with shorter biological rhythms tend to be morning persons, and those with longer biological rhythms tend to be evening persons. evening types adjust to disruptions in sleep-wake cycles better than morning types. Brain Asymmetry and Affective Style Study results suggest that the left hemisphere is relatively more active than the right when a person is experiencing pleasant emotions and vice versa, that the right frontal hemisphere is more active than the left when the person is experiencing unpleasant emotions. with a left- or right-sided pattern require less of the affective stimulus to evoke the corresponding emotion. The person who displays a right-frontal-activation pattern may have a lower threshold for responding with negative emotions when an unpleasant event happens. It may take less of a negative affective event to evoke unpleasant feelings for right-dominant persons. For an individual who displays a left-frontal- activation pattern, the threshold for experiencing pleasant emotions in response to positive events is lowered. A person’s affective life-style may have its origins in, or at least may be predicted by, his or her pattern of asymmetry in frontal brain activation. Chapter 8 Evolutionary Perspectives on Personality (30) Evolution and Natural Selection Natural Selection The evolution of characteristics because of their mating benefits, rather than because of their survival benefits, is known as sexual selection. Intrasexual competition the same sex compete with each other, and the outcome of their contest gives the winner greater sexual access to members of the opposite sex Downloaded by James Smith ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|42273600 intersexual selection—members of one sex choose a mate based on their preferences for particular qualities. Genes and Inclusive Fitness According to modern evolutionary biologists, evolution operates by the process of differential gene reproduction, defined by reproductive success relative to others. The modern evolutionary theory based on differential gene reproduction is called inclusive fitness theory. The “inclusive” part refers to the fact that the characteristics that facilitate reproduction need not affect the personal production of offspring. They can affect the survival and reproduction of genetic relatives as well. Products of the Evolutionary Process The evolutionary process acts as a series of filters. In each generation, only a small subset of genes passes through the filter. The recurrent filtering process lets only three things pass through: adaptations; byproducts of adaptations; and noise, or random variations. Adaptations are the primary product of the selective process. An adaptation can be defined as a “reliably developing structure in the organism, which, because it meshes with the recurrent structure of the world, causes the solution to an adaptive problem”. all adaptations must contribute to fitness during the period of time in which they evolve, by helping an organism survive, reproduce, or facilitate the reproductive success of genetic relatives. Some of the personality traits that make up human nature may be vestigial adaptations to an ancestral environment that no longer exists. By-products of Adaptations The human nose, for example, is clearly an adaptation designed for smelling. But the fact that we use our noses to hold up our eyeglasses is an incidental by-product. Exaptation: Adaptions that initially arouse through natural selection and were subsequently co-opted for another function – E.g. Large size of human brain and its function of enabling humans to produce speech Spandrels – Features that did not arise as adaptations through natural selection but rather as side effects of adaptive processes and that have been co-opted for a biological function – By- products of a large brain: Reading, Writing, Fine arts Epigenetics The study of changes in organisms caused by modification of the gene expression rather than alteration of the genetic code itself Noise, or Random Variations are neutral with respect to selection. Such as surface texture of the bulb in the creation of light. And noise is the residue of non-functional variation that is selectively neutral. Evolutionary Psychology Premises of Evolutionary Psychology Evolutionary psychology involves three key premises: domain specificity, numerousness, and functionality. Domain Specificity Downloaded by James Smith ([email protected])  lOMoARcPSD|42273600 Adaptations are hypothesized to be domain specific because they are designed by the evolutionary process to solve a particular adaptive problem. Numerousness Evolutionary psychologists suggest that the human mind, our evolved psychology, also contains a large number of mechanisms—psychological adaptations. Functionality The third key premise of evolutionary psychology is functionality, the notion that our psychological mechanisms are designed to accomplish particular adaptive tasks. Empirical Testing of Evolutionary Hypotheses Evolutionary hypotheses have sometimes been criticized as being vague, speculative however there are implications of an evolutionary perspective for the three key levels of personality analysis: human nature, sex differences, and individual differences. Human Nature First question is what makes humans different to other animals? Need to Belong According to Hogan, the most important social problems early humans had to solve in order to survive and reproduce involved establishing cooperative relations with other members of the group and negotiating hierarchies. Achieving status and popularity likely conferred a host of reproductively relevant resources on an individual, including better protection, more food, and more desirable mates. First, groups can share food, information, and other resources. Second, groups can offer protection from external threat, or defense against rival groups. Third, groups contain concentrations of mates, which are needed