Chapter 13: Personality PDF

10/14/24 PERSONALITY CHAPTER 13 1 2 1  10/14/24 OVERVIEW Where does personality come from? What are the theories of personality? How stable is personality? How is personality assessed? How...

10/14/24 PERSONALITY CHAPTER 13 1 2 1  10/14/24 OVERVIEW Where does personality come from? What are the theories of personality? How stable is personality? How is personality assessed? How do we know our own personalities? 3 WHERE DOES PERSONALITY COME FROM? 4 2  10/14/24 PERSONALITY Characteristic thoughts emotional responses and behaviors 5 PERSONALITY TRAIT Pattern of thought, emotion, and behavior that is relatively consistent over time and across situations. 6 3  10/14/24 GENETIC FACTORS Genetic makeup may predispose certain characteristics, but whether these traits are expressed depends on circumstances Nearly all personality traits have genetic component 7 TWIN STUDIES Genetic influence accounts for ≈ 40-60% of variance between all individuals for all personality traits Also true for attitudes influenced by traits e.g. how much they enjoy rollercoaster rides 8 4  10/14/24 ADOPTION STUDIES Adopted siblings no more alike than any two strangers off the street parenting style has relatively little impact on personality Correlation between biological siblings and parents has genetic underpinning 9 WHY ARE SIBLINGS SO DIFFERENT? Siblings change as they establish friends outside of the home Their environments vary as a function of age, their siblings’ age, and the way their parent treats them Parents choose children’s environment 10 5  10/14/24 TEMPERAMENTS General tendencies to feel or act in certain ways Broader than personality traits 11 TEMPERAMENTS Three characteristics considered temperament (Buss & Ploman, 1984): 1. Activity level: overall amount of energy and behavior 2. Emotionality: intensity of emotional reactions 3. Sociability: general tendency to affiliate with others 12 6  10/14/24 LONG TERM TEMPERAMENTS Early temperaments influence behavior and personality throughout life Early inhibition linked with later social anxiety greater activation of the amygdala 13 WHAT ARE THE THEORIES OF PERSONALITY? 14 7  10/14/24 THEORIES OF PERSONALITY Psychodynamic Learning / Cognition Humanistic Trait Biological 15 PSYCHODYNAMIC Unconscious forces (wishes, desires, hidden memories) determine behavior Controversial and not well supported by research 16 8  10/14/24 17 FREUDIAN SLIPS Unconscious forces motivations revealed through misspeaking 18 9  10/14/24 DEFENSE MECHANISMS Conflict between id and superego causes anxiety Ego copes with anxiety through defense mechanisms (unconscious mental strategies we use to protect us from distress) Let’s Play Name that Defense Mechanism! 19 20 10  10/14/24 21 22 11  10/14/24 23 24 12  10/14/24 ONE LAST EXAMPLE… 25 PSYCHOSEXUAL DEVELOPMENT 1. Oral stage: birth to ≈ 18 months 2. Anal stage: 2-3 years old 3. Phallic stage: 3-5 years old 4. Latency stage: 6 years - puberty 5. Genital stage: adolescence and adulthood 26 13  10/14/24 OEDIPUS COMPLEX 27 LEARNING AND COGNITION B.F. Skinner and other behaviorists thought personality was the result of learned responses to patterns of reinforcement 28 14  10/14/24 LEARNING AND COGNITION Strict behaviorism was not sufficient, so psychologists added cognitive theory Julian Rotter (1954) emphasized person’s expectancies for reinforcement and values person attributes to specific reinforcers 29 LOCUS OF CONTROL How much control people believe they have over outcomes in their lives Internal locus of control: you make your own fate External locus of control: fate is result of forces beyond our control 30 15  10/14/24 SOCIAL COGNITIVE THEORY Reciprocal Determinism 31 HUMANISTIC APPROACH Emphasize personal experience, belief systems, the uniqueness of the human condition, and the inherent good of people People seek to fulfill their potential for personal growth through greater self-understanding (self-actualization) Abraham Maslow 32 16  10/14/24 MASLOW’S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS 33 PERSON-CENTERED APPROACH Emphasizes people’s subjective understandings of their lives Unconditional positive regard: people should be valued and accepted regardless of behavior Carl Rogers 34 17  10/14/24 TRAIT APPROACH Most modern personality psychologists focus on traits Focuses on how individuals differ in personality dispositions, such as cheerfulness, sociability, and aggressiveness 35 TRAIT APPROACH Descriptive approach, not explanatory theory Commonsense view of personality 1000’s of terms….. Identifying and classifying useful traits Personality as prediction Rooted in temperament 36 18  10/14/24 BIG FIVE 37 OPENNESS TO EXPERIENCE Fantasy - vivid imagination and fantasy life Aesthetics – appreciates art and music Feelings - receptive to emotional states and experience Actions – tries new things Ideas - intellectually curious and open Values - re-examine traditional values 38 19  10/14/24 CONSCIENTIOUSNESS Order / meticulous Industriousness Control / self-discipline Responsible 39 EXTRAVERSION Sociable Lively Active Assertive Sensation seeking 40 20  10/14/24 AGREEABLENESS Accommodating Empathetic Friendly Generous Seeks social harmony Sees the good in things 41 NEUROTICISM Emotional instability Moody Nervous Worrisome Self-conscious 42 21  10/14/24 BIG FIVE Consistent across lifespan Predict wide variety of behaviors & satisfaction with job, marriage, and life in general Conscientiousness predicts grades in college but not standardized tests Openness predicts standardized test scores but not grades in college 43 44 22  10/14/24 45 EXTROVERSION 46 23  10/14/24 BIOLOGICAL TRAIT THEORY 47 BEHAVIORAL ACTIVATION & INHIBITION Behavioral approach system (BAS): brain structures that lead organisms to approach stimuli in pursuit of rewards linked to extroversion Behavioral inhibition system (BIS): sensitive to punishment; inhibits behavior that might lead to pain or danger linked to anxiety 48 24  10/14/24 HOW STABLE IS PERSONALITY? 49 HOW PREDICTABLE ARE YOU? Extraverted at parties… will you be the same way in a study section? Friendly with people you know… are you friendly to strangers? Open to trying out new music, how about new food? Conscientious about how you dress, how about the papers you turn into your instructor? 50 25  10/14/24 CONSISTENCY Situationism – behaviors are determined more by situation than personality traits Social vs. Personality psychologists Walter Mischel 51 PERSON/SITUATION DEBATE Centrality of trait: more consistent in primary traits than their secondary traits Aggregation of behavior: when behaviors are averaged across situations personality, is more predictive of behavior Type of trait: some traits are more consistent than others honesty vs. shyness 52 26  10/14/24 PERSON/SITUATION INTERACTIONS Strong situations: mask personality differences because of power of social environment (e.g. church, elevators, funerals) Weak situations: reveal differences in personality (e.g. home, bars, parks) 53 INTERACTIONISM Most trait theorists agree that behavior is determined by both situation and underlying disposition People choose their environments 54 27  10/14/24 AGE-RELATED CHANGES Personality is pretty stable, but, as people age, they tend to get: Less neurotic, extroverted, and open to new experiences More agreeable and conscientious 55 CULTURAL DIFFERENCES Big 5 are valid across all countries, but… People from East Asia rated themselves lower on E, A, & C and higher on N. People from Africa rated themselves higher on A & C and lower on N 56 28  10/14/24 SEX DIFFERENCES Men and women are much more similar than different, but: Women report higher levels of empathy, agreeableness, and neuroticism Men report higher levels of assertiveness 57 SEX DIFFERENCES Largest in North America and Europe where there is more gender equality Could be that these countries allow greater personal expression of individuality Could be that people from individualist societies are more likely to compare themselves against a group women differentiate themselves from men 58 29  10/14/24 Myth: Astrology predicts peoples’ personalities better than chance Fact: Astrology is useless for predicting people’s personality traits 59 HOW IS PERSONALITY ASSESSED? 60 30  10/14/24 61 BuzzFeed quiz 62 31  10/14/24 PROJECTIVE MEASURES Explore the unconscious by having people describe or tell stories about ambiguous stimuli 63 RORSCHACH 64 32  10/14/24 RORSCHACH 10 inkblots Tester shows each card, client explains what s/he sees Tester records all responses verbatim & takes notes about response time, position of card, emotional responses. Scoring and interpretation is complex Little incremental validity, poor overall validity and reliability. APA excluded courses in Rorschach from curriculum recommendations 65 THEMATIC APPERCEPTION TEST (TAT) 66 33  10/14/24 TAT 31 cards: 30 show drawings of people, objects, and landscapes; 1 is blank Usually 10 cards chosen by tester are administered Client is asked to tell story about it, including what led up to the scene, what is happening now, what led up to it, and what is going to happen. Client is asked to draw on blank card and follow same procedure. Analysis can focus on content and structure. 67 OBJECTIVE TESTS Relatively clear, specific stimuli to which people respond with direct answers, choices or ratings Self-report NEO-PI Myers-Briggs MMPI Behavioral Data EAR 68 34  10/14/24 NEO-PI Originally designed to measure Neuroticism (N), Extraversion (E), and Openness (O). Now includes Agreeableness (A) and Conscientiousness (C) Five factor model (Big 5) 240 items 5-pt agree-disagree 69 70 35  10/14/24 MINNESOTA MULTIPHASIC PERSONALITY INVENTORY (MMPI) Developed by gathering over 1,000 questions from older personality tests and other sources and administering to thousands of patients and non-patients. Important differences in patterns of responses emerged, differentiating patients and non-patients. 71 MMPI 566 true-false questions 10 clinical scales Validity scales Administration time 90-120 minutes Good psychometric properties 72 36  10/14/24 MMPI Scale 1 Hypochondriasis Scale : preoccupation with health Scale 2 Depression Scale : depressive symptoms Scale 3 Hysteria Scale : emotionality of a person Scale 4 Psychopathic Deviate Scale : need for control Scale 5 Femininity/Masculinity Scale : stereotype of a man/woman 73 MMPI Scale 6 Paranoia Scale : inability to trust Scale 7 Psychasthenia Scale : anxiety levels Scale 8 Schizophrenia Scale : unusual/odd cognitive, perceptual, and emotional experiences Scale 9 Mania Scale : person's energy Scale 10 Social Introversion Scale : enjoy and comfort around other people 74 37  10/14/24 MMPI F scale: endorsement of unusual symptoms – high F score suggests faking bad or true distress L scale: endorsement of socially laudable but unusual traits – faking good K scale: defensiveness – more subtle scale to measure faking good or bad 75 MMPI 76 38  10/14/24 MYERS-BRIGGS Uses Jungian personality theory 126 forced choice questions Mixture of word pairs and short statements Can skip questions if unable to choose 5 point difference necessary for clear preference 77 MYERS-BRIGGS Sort people into 16 types based on combinations of scales: Extraversion / Introversion (E or I) Sensation / Intuition (S or N) Thinking / Feeling (T or F) Judging / Perceiving (J or P) 78 39  10/14/24 79 80 40  10/14/24 BEHAVIORAL DATA Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR): tracks person’s real-world, moment-to-moment interactions Correlates with self-report of Big 5 e.g. extroverts talk more and spend less time alone 81 HOW DO WE KNOW OUR OWN PERSONALITIES? 82 41  10/14/24 SELF-SCHEMAS Integrated set of memories, beliefs, and generalizations of the self Helps us quickly perceive, organize, interpret, and use information about the self 83 WORKING SELF-CONCEPT Limited in amount of info we can process cognitively, so sense of self varies by situation We often emphasize characteristics that distinguish us from others 84 42  10/14/24 SELF-ESTEEM Evaluative aspect of self-concept Reflected appraisal: self esteem is based on how they believe others appraise them 85 SELF-ESTEEM 86 43  10/14/24 Myth: Low self-esteem is a major source of psychological problems Fact: Low self-esteem is not strongly associated with poor mental health 87 88 44  10/14/24 SELF-ESTEEM One elementary school in Santa Monica banned children from playing tag because the “children weren’t feeling good about it” 89 SELF-ESTEEM Some schools refer to students who spell poorly as “individual spellers” to avoid hurting their feelings. 90 45  10/14/24 SELF-ESTEEM Is not strongly associated with: 1. interpersonal success 2. smoking, alcohol or drug abuse 91 SELF-ESTEEM Is associated with: 1. Greater initiative and persistence 2. Happiness and emotional resilience 92 46  10/14/24 SELF-ESTEEM Better school performance contributes to better self-esteem – not the other way around 93 Myth: Positive self-affirmations (I like myself) are a good way of boosting self-esteem Fact: Astrology is useless for predicting people’s personality traits 94 47  10/14/24 95 BETTER THAN AVERAGE EFFECT Most people describe themselves as better than average in nearly every way. 96 48  10/14/24 SOCIAL COMPARISONS When people evaluate their own actions, abilities, and beliefs by contrasting them with other people’s. People with high self-esteem make downward comparisons People with low self-esteem make upward comparisons 97 SELF-SERVING BIASES People with high self-esteem tend to take credit for successes but blame failure on external factors 98 49  10/14/24 CULTURAL INFLUENCE People in individualist cultures tend to be more concerned with self-enhancement than collectivist cultures 99 50