PSY2042 Exam Notes - Personality Psychology PDF

What is the aim of personality Personality psychology aims to define and measure and define the broader psychology? implications of one's personality whilst also acknowledging there are also many other influences on behaviour. What...

What is the aim of personality Personality psychology aims to define and measure and define the broader psychology? implications of one's personality whilst also acknowledging there are also many other influences on behaviour. What are the personality subareas? Developmental psychology Neuroscience Clinical psychology Industrial/organisational psychology Social psychology Define personality “psychological qualities that contribute to an individual’s enduring and distinctive patterns of feeling, thinking, and behaving” – “Enduring”: consistent across time and across different situations – “Distinctive”: features that differentiate people from one another – “Contribute to”: factors that causally influence, and thus at least partly explain, an individual’s tendencies – “Feeling, thinking, and behaving”: all aspects of a person *this however does not account for situational factors/changes Components of personality -Has organisation – Is dynamic (some fluidity, not exactly the same across all situations) – Relates to physical systems and experiences – Is causal in terms of how the individual relates to the world – Has a predictive quality to it (patterns) – Is displayed in thought, behaviour and emotion Psychodynamic theory Biological theory psychodynamic refers to the notion of personality as dynamic – a forceful, changing, conflicting set of processes. Pursuing pleasure and avoiding pain: ▪ ‘Eros’ - life/sexual instinct or drive, libido is the psychic energy associated with sexual instinct. ▪ ‘Thanatos’ - death/aggressive instinct or drive Freud’s view of mental energy Three core ideas: – There is a limited amount of energy – Energy can be blocked but does not “just go away”; instead gets expressed in some other manner, along a path of least resistance. The urge to kill is merely suppressed and manifest in alternative behaviours – The mind functions to achieve a state of quiescence (balance) "Catharsis” - The release of the A release and freeing of emotions by talking about one’s problems mind's energy ▪ Two implications of catharsis – Mind is an energy system – The mind has more than one part ▪ A region of ideas of which people are consciously aware ▪ A more mysterious, hidden region of ideas that lie outside of awareness: “unconscious” Frued's view of the individual – Prevailing belief was that people are essentially good, but society corrupts them – In psychoanalysis, sexual and aggressive drives are an inborn part of human nature – Individuals function according to a pleasure principle, seek the pleasurable gratification of those drives causing conflicts – Society teaches the child that biologically naturally drives are socially unacceptable and maintains social norms and taboos that drive this lesson home, socialised out of certain behaviours/biological drives. Frued's structure of the mind – Two conceptual models of the mind ▪ Levels of consciousness – Conscious – Unconscious ▪ Functional systems in the mind: constantly in conflict – Id – Ego – Superego Levels of Consciousness -Conscious level includes thoughts of which we are aware (what are you eating right now?) – Preconscious level contains mental contents of which we easily could become aware if we attended to them (what is your primary school's friend's name) – Unconscious mental contents are parts of the mind of which we are unaware and cannot become aware except under special circumstances Methods of analysing unconscious – slips of the tongue – neuroses – psychoses – works of art – rituals – dreams Freud's interpretations ▪ Mental contents enter the unconscious for motivated reasons – Unconscious stores ideas that are so traumatic that they would cause psychological pain – We are motivated to banish such thoughts from awareness ▪ Freud’s fundamental message to the world – Thoughts in the unconscious influence ongoing conscious experience – Our conscious thoughts, feelings, and actions are fundamentally determined by mental contents of which we are unaware Why was the second model of mind Id, Ego, and Superego made? – Distinctions among conscious, preconscious, and unconscious proved to be inadequate b/c ignored a psychological agency (the “ego”) that ▪ Was unitary in its functioning ▪ Varied in its degree of consciousness – Needed another conceptual tool that distinguished among three systems and explanation of their interaction with each other. What is Id? Id – Source of all drive energy – the “great reservoir” of mental energies – Seeks the release of excitation or tension – Operates according to the biological pleasure principle: pursue pleasure and avoid pain – Does not: ▪ Devise plans and strategies for obtaining pleasure ▪ Wait patiently for a particularly pleasing object to appear ▪ Concern itself with social norms and rules Rather it: – Seeks satisfaction through action or merely by imagining that it has gotten what it wants – Functions entirely outside of conscious awareness Even though it may root from our unconscious we can become aware of our instinctive desires What is ego? -The middle ground - Seeks reality – Function is to express and satisfy the desires of the id in accordance with opportunities and constraints that exist in the real world, and the demands of the superego – Operates according to the reality principle: gratification of the instincts is delayed until a time at which something in reality enables one to obtain maximum pleasure with the least pain or negative consequences – Can distinguish fantasy from reality – Can tolerate tension and create compromises through rational thought – Changes over time, with more complex ego functions developing across the course of childhood, better rationalisation e.g., delayed gratification of receiving double cookie reward for waiting/obeying. What is superego? – Functions involve moral aspects of social behaviour – Contains ideals for which we strive, as well as ethical standards that will cause us to feel guilt if we violate them – Is an internal representation of the moral rules of the external, social world – Functions to control behaviour in accord with these rules, offering rewards (pride, self-love) for “good” behaviour and punishments (guilt, feelings of inferiority) for “bad” behaviour – Relatively incapable of reality testing due to it's idealistic/impractical nature – Can also be understanding and flexible Frued's iceberg theory Libido (life instinct) Motivational dynamics which involve mental energy ▪ Life and Death Instincts – Life instinct (libido) ▪ Includes drives associated previously with both the earlier ego and sexual instincts ▪ Impels people toward the preservation and reproduction of the organism Death instinct ▪ Opposite of the life instinct ▪ Aim of the organism to die or return to inorganic state ▪ One of the most controversial and least accepted parts of psychoanalytic theory ▪ Death instinct often turned away from oneself and directed toward others in acts of aggression ▪ Some analysts refer to the instinct as an aggressive instinct How did Freud think we accessed the Dreams are the "royal road" to the unconscious: dream analysis unconscious? ▪ Unconscious wishes express themselves in disguised form. ▪ Dreams cannot be understood from the content on the surface, or manifest content. ▪ Must look beneath the surface to find the real meaning, or latent content Dream theory All dreams are wish fulfillments based on unconscious wishes. ▪ The wish mixes images from the previous day (day residue) with dream symbols. ▪ Many symbols in dreams are nearly universal. ▪ Some are more individual. ▪ Dream interpretation is a therapeutic technique that uncovers the hidden meaning of dreams (latent content). How do dreams affect personality? People high in neuroticism have more nightmares. ▪ People low in neuroticism and high in openness to experience tend to have more dreams about flying. ▪ People high in openness to experience see more strange and different people and are more likely to remember their dreams. ▪ Highly agreeable people see more people in their dreams. What are defence mechanisms (Anna Frued)? Psychological processes that keep us from consciously experiencing things that could cause us to suffer. Avoid painful experiences and pleasure maintenance What are the types of defence ▪ Denial mechanisms? – In conscious thought, deny the existence of a traumatic or otherwise socially unacceptable fact – Fact is so “terrible” that one denies that it is “true” – Avoidance may be initially conscious, but later becomes automatic and unconscious (we could start to eventually believe it never happened). – How important Denial is depend on the extent of distortion, intensity/ how pervasive it is, and the circumstances under which it occurs ▪ Projection – People defend against the recognition of their own negative qualities by projecting them on to others ▪ People tend to dwell on those features of themselves that they do not like ▪ Whenever one dwells on a topic, it becomes “chronically accessible” - neuroplasticity schema. ▪ Whenever one interprets the actions of other people, one does so by using concepts in one’s own mind ▪ One ends up “projecting” chronically accessible negative features onto others Isolation – Impulse, thought, or act is not denied access to consciousness, but is denied the normal accompanying emotion – Example: a woman may experience the thought or fantasy of strangling her child without any associated feelings of anger – Result of mechanism of isolation is intellectualisation: ▪ Emphasis on thought over emotion and feeling ▪ Individuals magically undoes one act or wish with another – Seen in compulsions, religious rituals, and children’s sayings. Rationalisation – A “mature” defence – Behaviour is reinterpreted so that it appears reasonable and acceptable – Ego constructs a rational motive to explain an unacceptable action that is actually caused by the irrational impulses of the id – Example: Some of the greatest atrocities of humankind have been committed in the name of love Sublimation – Original object of gratification is replaced by a higher cultural goal that is far removed from a direct expression of the instinct – Instinct is turned into a new and useful channel e.g., boxing out anger – Freud interpreted daVinci’s Madonna as a sublimation of his longing for his mother Repression  – The major defence mechanism of psychoanalytic theory – A thought, idea, or wish so traumatic and threatening that it is buried in the unconscious – Viewed as playing a part in all other defence mechanisms – Requires a constant expenditure of energy, mental process to keep it repressed, the expenditure of mental energy thus causing mental issues. – E.g., Forgetting childhood sexual abuse due to the associated trauma and anxiety Empirical Implications of defence Many other Defense Mechanisms (eg Regression, Intellectualisation etc.) mechanisms ▪ Considerable evidence for reaction formation and denial ▪ Some evidence for projection ▪ Little evidence for displacement or sublimation ▪ Defence mechanisms are more likely to protect self-esteem than to defend against unconscious drives. Are defence mechanisms adaptive or – Defence mechanisms are useful in reducing anxiety, but are also maladaptive? maladaptive as it turns the person away from reality as reality orientation fundamental to emotional health – Positive illusions and some forms of self-deception can be adaptive – Positive illusions about oneself and the future, and about one’s ability to control events, can be positive for mental health (achieving the pleasure principle of pursuing pleasure and avoiding pain) Frued's theory of development – A strong psychoanalytic position would suggest that most significant aspects of later personality are entirely determined by the end of the first five years of life. Freud: What is the nature of the – Theory of psychosexual stages of development instincts one must cope with during ▪ Development occurs in a series of distinct steps, or stages development? ▪ Each stage characterised by a bodily source of gratification: “erogenous zone” The development model of psychosexual stages. Phallic to Latency stage progression At around age four, children show increased preference for the parent of the opposite sex and an increased antagonism toward the parent of the same sex – These behaviours diminish at around the age of five or six What were Jung's criticisms of Jung: Frued? Freud overemphasised sexuality – Libido not a sexual instinct, but a generalised life energy – Deemed Freud too backward-looking: personality development has a forward-moving directional tendency Jung's idea of collective Emphasis on evolutionary foundations of the human mind consciousness: – Collective unconscious holds cumulative experiences of past generations; claiming it as universal – Contains universal images or symbols, or archetypes eg., the moon, the sun – Seen in fairy tales, dreams, myths, and some psychotic thoughts ▪ Mother archetype expressed in different cultures in a variety of forms: as life giver, as all giving and nurturant, as the witch or threatening punisher ▪ Evidence for archetypes being part of collective unconscious is their universality across cultures Jung's archetypes: Jung's psychological types: Jung's struggle with "personna" and Emphasis on people’s struggle with opposing forces "personal": – Struggle b/w persona and the private or personal self – Struggle between the masculine and feminine parts of ourselves (anima and animus) ▪ Fundamental personal task: integrate various opposing forces of the psyche, agreed with the collecting conscious and unconsciousness ▪ Self is an aspect of the collective unconscious: an "organising centre" Our goal as people should be to become fully integrated “a mandala is the psychological expression of the totality of the self” ▪ Mandalas serve as symbols of the struggle for knowledge of our true selves Strengths of Freud's revolutions: ▪ First comprehensive theory of behaviour and personality ▪ Emphasises the role of unconscious mind and early childhood experiences ▪ Emphasises dynamic nature of behaviour ▪ Stimulated further theoretical/research work in personality and influenced subject matter of personality research today ▪ Developed the first system of psychotherapy ▪ Defence mechanisms part of our language ▪ Identified key constructs such as regression and transference ▪ Brought attention to the importance of anxiety Limitations of Freud's revolutions: Concepts were poorly designed – What is psychic energy and what unit is it measured in? Can not test and undefined measure ▪ Not scientifically testable ▪ Role of environment overlooked ▪ Experiences beyond first 5 years of life affect personality ▪ Women seen as inferior - preliminary research was on "problematic women" ▪ Case study method/data (neurotic, wealthy European women, culturally inapplicable) ▪ Few child patients ▪ Over-emphasis on sexual drive ▪ Pessimistic psychic determinism- is there no free will after age 5? ▪ Time consuming, expensive therapy weekly sessions and of questionable efficacy (will two psychoanalysts have identical interpretations of the same dream? reliability and validity) (e.g., Eysenck, 1952) How does the trait theory view an individual? Understand individuals by breaking down behaviour patterns into observable traits –A trait is a relatively enduring characteristic of a person thus the primary unit of personality description. –Traits are a disposition: a probabilistic tendency to act a certain way in particular circumstances –Represent a pattern of behaviour, thinking or feeling –Traits are variable between individuals What is dichotomous vs. continuous? Personality types are dichotomous eg., are you wither extraverted or introverted Personality traits are continuous eg., the extent to which someone is neurotic 0-100 What is the trait concept ▪The Trait Concept –Personality traits refer to consistent patterns in the way individuals behave, feel, and think –Two connotations: ▪Consistency (trait describes a regularity in behaviour) ▪Distinctiveness (trait theorists typically concerned with ways in which individuals differ from each other) e.g, what individuals traits perpetuate workplace concerns/behaviours –Implies that individuals are consistent in spite of the changes presented by social life –People possess psychological qualities that endure across time and place What is the science of trait –summarise a person’s typical behaviour and thus describe what a person personality? typically is like –provide basic descriptive facts that need to be explained by any theory of personality –tries to establish an overall descriptive scheme within which any and all persons can be described e.g, everyone falls into each trait as it is a spectrum ▪They try to establish a personality taxonomy – a scientist’s way of classifying the things being studied e.g, how many traits are there What are the basic trait theory ▪People possess broad predispositions, called traits, to respond in particular perspectives? ways –People who have a strong tendency to behave in these ways are high on these traits –People who have a lesser tendency to behave in these ways are low on these traits ▪There is a direct correspondence between: –the person’s performance on trait-related actions and their possession of the corresponding trait ▪Human behaviour and personality can be organised into a hierarchy What is the Lexical approach? ▪The Lexical Approach: There are potentially as many personality traits as there are words to describe individual differences! How do we determine the Factor analysis: fundamental personality traits that ▪A statistical procedure that uses correlations to reduce many variables into underlie human personality? a smaller set of common ‘factors’ empirically. ▪By looking at the mathematical/numerical correlations between many variables, the ones that are highly correlated are determined to belong to a group represented by a common factor. ▪Each factor represents underlying commonalities - e.g, Factor 1: Physical concerns, Factor 2: psychological concerns, Factor 3: social concerns Implications: if a client with anxiety attacks concerns arises, you could be more inclined to assess their scores in Factor 1 questions (physical signs) What are Cattels' 16 personality factors? Accompanied by his factor analysis. What traits did Cattel believe in? Surface vs. Source Traits –Surface traits represent behavioural tendencies that exist on the surface and can be observed (manifestation of source traits) e.g., angry, sad, happy –Source traits are the internal psychological structures that are the underlying cause of observed behaviour eg., intelligence What are the source traits further Grouped into three categories: divided into? Ability traits – skills that allow the individual to function effectively ▪Intelligence Temperament traits – traits involved in emotional life ▪Calm vs emotional Dynamic traits – traits involved WHY a person responds how they do ▪Highly motivated Strengths of Cattell Systematic research efforts laid a foundation for generations of trait–based researchers 16 PF continues to be widely used in applied settings eg., prison or forensic settings to understand an individual's personality Limitations of Cattell His work exerts little impact in contemporary personality science –His methods were somewhat arbitrary owing to his personal judgement being passed on the structural identity of the traits, this makes it hard to replicate the identification of each trait - reliability –He relied on subjective judgement –There has been difficulty replicating his work –16 factors is too much for some: many of his factors seem to correlate, indicating even more basic dimensions that underpin personality (redundant) What is the Five-factor model of ▪The Five-factor theory is backed by a huge body of evidence indicating that personality? five factors are necessary and sufficient for a taxonomy of individual differences –All five factors shown to possess reliability and validity and to remain relatively stable throughout adulthood ▪Evidence rests on factor analyses of three types of data: –Trait terms in the natural language –Cross-cultural research –The relation of trait questionnaires to other questionnaires What are the OCEAN traits of 1985 SURFACE SOURCE Big-5 theory? What is the reliability and validity of the Big-5? What were the implications suggested ▪Suggested that the five traits are more than mere descriptions of ways that by McCrea and Costa? people differ –Each trait is a universal psychological structure that everyone has in varying amounts that causally influence people’s psychological development. –Factors have a biological basis: e.g., certain bio indicators can have impact on neuroticism –Differences linked to the Big Five are determined by genetic influences on neural structures and brain chemistry e.g., neuroplasticity –The five traits are not influenced by the environment e.g., upbringing; strongest “nature” position possible What are the two functions that trait ▪According to McCrae and Costa, traits are not merely descriptions but are constructs serve? causal factors that influence the life course of everyone (everyone fits on this continuum) ▪Trait constructs such as agreeableness serve two functions: 1. a “dimension of individual differences that applies to populations rather than to people” (McCrae & Costa, 2003) e.g., examine the agreeableness of a community 2. also “the underlying causal basis [of] consistent patterns of thoughts, feelings” where this causal analysis “applies directly to people” e.g.,  people who are conflict avoidant is cautiously that behaviour is directly influenced by that trait of agreeableness, Are the Big-Five universal? ▪Methodological issue with cross-cultural research of the Big Five –Languages may lack one-to-one translations; words that translate the same do not necessarily mean the same (since the theory is developed in English it can be hard to mimic these classifications across diverse cultures) –Could lead researchers to question whether they have found the same factor in two languages e.g, have they found the same trait twice in a different language? ▪DeRaad and Peabody (2005) examined trait terms across 11 languages and concluded –that “the Big Three – Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness – are cross-lingually recurrent” –“the full Big Five Model is questionable” (p. 464) - Neuroticism and Openness to Experience are less cross-culturally reliable The NEO-PI-R Questionnaire Integration of Eysenck’s and Cattell’s Factors Within the Big Five –Eysenck’s E and N virtually identical to the same-named dimensions in the Big Five P - psychopathic trait –Eysenck’s P corresponds to a combination of low Agreeableness and low Conscientiousness What is the 6th Big Factor? A variety of nations, suggest that trait psychologists have missed a sixth factor: honesty or honesty/humility ▪Findings across seven languages indicate that individual differences in the tendency to be truthful and sincere vs. cunning and disloyal are a reliable sixth factor Not implemented as Agreeableness or P trait might cover this (kindness, empathy) What are the applications of the In the workplace Big-Five? –Research suggest that the five-factor model is useful in predicting job performance –Conscientiousness is related to performance across a variety of jobs and tasks –Yet some writers caution that personality traits beyond those in the big Give are important to predictions of workplace performance. Are all people who score low on Conscientiousness bad at their jobs? –Others find weak results Health –More conscientious persons may live longer –Adults who were conscientious as children lived longer and were about 30% less likely to die in any given year, even when ruling out environmental variables –What explains the relationship: Conscientious individuals took fewer risks and were less likely to smoke and drink heavily. Clinical diagnosis and treatment –Compulsive personality might be seen as someone extremely high on C and N –Antisocial personality might be seen as someone low on A and C –Perhaps the five-factor framework can be a useful tool for clinical diagnosis (NEO-PI-R) Strengths of Trait theory 1. Trait theory has been built on a strong foundation of objective scientific data (age, socio-cultural backgrounds, financial landscapes) 2. Data is not only objective, but diverse: Large numbers of persons of varying ages, ethnicities, and sociocultural backgrounds have taken part in trait testing 3. Database not only includes self reports, but reports by observers, measures of objective (parents, partners) life events, and physiological indices of neural or biochemical systems that underlie traits 4. Have provided a simple and valuable technology for predicting individual differences in psychological outcomes Limitations of Trait theory 1. There is no “trait theory therapy If this has been identified as "nature, biomarker driven" we can establish that we cannot change them. So a neurotic patient, we are not trying to treat them out of neuroticism/make them not neurotic, rather we are trying to provide means of managing maladaptive neurotic behaviours, thoughts and feelings. How did personality theorists differ in ▪Theorists differed in degree to which they abstracted away from their data their adaption of trait theory? when posting structural variables (how many traits are there?) ▪Behaviourism’s response vs. social-cognitivists standards, goals, beliefs vs. psychoanalytic theory’s id, ego, superego ▪Implications for measurement ▪Theories also differed in complexity of structural organisation What is the proposed unified theory? ▪Mischel & Shoda (2008) have suggested such an integrative view in their proposal for a unified theory of personality ▪Such a unified theory would recognise the existence of: –Stable dispositions due to biological factors and cognitive structures (trait and social cognitive theory) –The existence of unconscious and motivated cognitive processes (psychodynamic theory) –The importance of perceptions of the self and situation (phenomenology, Kelly, and Rogers) What are the three key distinctions of trait theory currently? 1. Clinical applications include individual psychotherapy of the theories of Freud, Rogers, Kelly, and the social cognitive approach 2. Trait model emphasises stability relative to change and is not associated with any particular approach to psychotherapy 3. Trait approach is associated with work in organisational settings and is potentially useful in the selection of individual patients for one or another therapeutic approach e.g., sales role with high extroversion How are theories tool-kits? –Theories can be seen as “Tools”: ▪Theoretical concepts (consistent report findings and referrals, knowing what traits to look for) ▪Procedures for personality assessment ▪Techniques for psychological change Why do we investigate cultural -Socialisation – how you are raised/upbringing differences? -Geography – impact of climate, terrain etc Note that differences occur between and within the same nationality ◦Between social classes, lower mil and upper mil ◦Between generations What is the first strategy for cultural Strategy #1 = Personality and Culture testing? Start with a particular theory of personality Does this model differ across cultures? Do some cultures have higher or lower levels of personality traits? Limitations: ◦Fails to identify unique cultural traits the objective is to class pre-existing traits within other cultures not identify specific traits that arise within said culture....impacts the validity ◦Side-lines the influence of culture we don't know causational effects of culture elements on statistical data that is derived What is the second strategy for Strategy #2 = Culture and Personality cultural testing? Culture at the forefront Culture and personality “make each other up” Cultural psychology = investigations of deep relationships between individuals and their culture and how these differ amongst different people groups Derives theories based on cultural psychology. The mutual constitution model What is the emic and etic approach? -Emic Approach: cross-cultural approach comparing each different country and different groups within the culture ◦An approach that is culture specific focusing on a single culture at a time ○ hard to generalise beyond the one culture -Etic Approach ◦An approach that is cross-cultural, searching for generalities across cultures eg., Big-five comparison across cultures Are personality traits evolutionary? The element of biological basis of personality traits Do certain personalities help certain cultures to survive? ◦Conscientiousness = survival due to reliability and dependability/organisational ◦Neuroticism = lack of ability to cope with adversity IF they are evolutionary, they should be culturally universal….. What are the inconsistencies of the Although the Big_Five traits are universally acknowledged it does not always Big-Five universally? cover cultural elements: Why the inconsistent results? ◦Does not account for unfamiliarity with questionnaire style assessment (Western scientific cultural questions/approach to personality). ◦Western/English personality terms (lexical studies) (limitations of the English language being translated perfectly into a different language) ◦‘false universals’ (assumption that they are universal but do not actually appear across cultures. What is needed to combat the Lexical Studies – all the words that exist in a given language to describe inconsistencies in universality? other people. Norman (1963) collected thousands of words used in the English lexicon to describe other people: Combined into ‘like’ factors which confirmed the Big 5 structure in the US. This kind of Lexical Study is what needs to be done in other cultures – rather than using our own lexicon/questionnaires What were the Greek personality ◦Negative Valence/Honesty factors? ◦Agreeableness/Positive Affect ◦Prowess/Heroism ◦Introversion/Melancholia ◦Even Temper ◦Conscientiousness What was the CPAI? The Chinese adoption of the Lexical approach - Chinese novels, proverbs, psychology texts and everyday language Strategy #2 Culture and Personality Started with Chinese words to describe people from Chinese culture instead of imposing the Big-Five Not all Big-Five are culturally relevant: these were the results found 1.Dependability (Conscientiousness) 2.Interpersonal relatedness* 3.Social potency (Extraversion) 4.Individualism What can we learn from the ◦Not all Big 5 traits are seen in other cultures development of the CPAI? ◦There are traits other than the Big 5 traits -Not all Western personality assessments are culturally relevant ◦Not all Western personality theories are culturally relevant Criticisms of Western intellectual imperialism! The Big-Five in the Indigenous No ‘Big 5’ studies context Several documented differences between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians Indigenous communities are collectivist (family, tribe, elders) An ‘Indigenous Psychology’ ◦Connectedness (people and land) ◦Spiritual worldview (dreamtime, oral storytelling) ◦Community engagement in Psychology services What are the cultural differences with Westerners: self-enhancement? ◦Motivated to engage in self enhancement ◦Focus on strengths East Asians: Motivation for high individual self esteem lower in East Asians owing to their collectivist culture ◦East Asians enhance only in areas of high importance and only enhance privately ◦Focus on societal and cultures roles and responsibilities What did Heines's (2001) self-enhancement study reveal? Cultural difference in persistence owing to success and failure Canadians persisted for longer if they had succeeded at the task – that is they kept working on something they were already good at. However the Japanese participants persisted longer when they had not succeeded at the task – that is they kept working on something they had identified as a weakness. Support the hypothesis that East Asian people are more motivated by failure Westerners are more motivated by success: Westerners are more likely to engage in self enhancement and pursue tasks that will enhance their self esteem.  Why are there cultural differences in self-enhancement? 1. Independent (autonomous, self-sustaining, individual) vs Interdependent (interconnected, roles/responsibilities, situationally variable) view of self 2. Approach (focus on advancement, aspiration, accomplishment Concerned with whether or not there are positive outcomes to be had vs. Avoidance motivation (focus on safety, responsibilities and obligations. Concerned with whether or not there are negative outcomes to be had) Approach: Western vs. Avoidance: East Asian eg., Aaker and Lee (2001) chance to win a trophy (gain) vs. chance of not winning a trophy (loss) 3. Internal (Self enhancement = internal evaluation, personality factors) vs External (“saving face” = external evaluation, situations, chance) frame of reference Increased external evaluation leads to: eg., other's think I'm doing well ◦Heightened self awareness/self consciousness ◦More objective self evaluation 4. Dialectical reasoning about the self Tolerance for contradiction: Westerners try to dismiss or transcend contradictions, whereas East Asians are content to accept contradictions as they are. ◦Dialectical = holding opposing views of oneself ◦East Asians accepting that I am "introverted and extroverted" and "good and bad" Leads to acting less consistently across situations Leads to more moderate view of oneself overall i.e. moderate positive view of oneself 5. Relational mobility The perceived opportunity for forming new relationships People in individualistic societies generally feel that they have high relational mobility: frequently meeting new people and have the potential to develop new relationships on a day to day basis.  People in more collectivist societies generally have lower relational mobility: belong to non-overlapping groups and where membership is stable and there is little movement between groups. What is enemyship? -a personal relationship of hatred and malice in which a person desires the downfall of another person. Western individualistic - freedom from enemies, East Asian collectivism - trapped with/surrounded by your enemies Bilingualism in Australia Languages in Australia ◦200 spoken ◦19% bilingual -60 Indigenous languages Do two languages = two 1. Importance of oppositional vs compatible cultural identities personalities? 2. High vs Low Bicultural Identity Integration (BII) 3. Levels of BII have been found to influence assessments of personality, eg., feeling more extraverted in english vs spanish relatively 4. ‘Priming’ one culture or the other will influence personality ratings What are the implications of finding Possible explanations: differences in bilingual people? Not so much translation issues Rather ◦Cultural Frame Switching (CFS) = switching of values and attributions by bicultural individuals in the presence of culture-relevant stimuli eg., so identifying as more extroverted in English/confidence. ◦Is personality fixed and pervasive? Smits et al (2011) Netherlands 1st university research: Intergenerational differences Positive trendline - extraversion/agreeableness/conscientiousness scores rose across generations Neuroticism decreased - owing to increased mental health literacy? No clear result emerged with respect to the Openness to Experience factor. 2nd lifespan research: Seems to contradict that personalities are relatively stable over time, a dip in traits during teenage and an incline as you get older. No significant change to extraversion Possible explanations for the Cohort effects intergenerational differences Parenting styles and cultural/societal changes - Technology/Media, Economic change/ Global trends – migration, terrorism/COVID? Age effects ◦Development - do people develop their personalities over the lifespan, do biological developments stabilise neurotic effects? ◦Interpersonal factors - teenagers conforming to social expectations/peer pressure meaning increased agreeableness. How are the dimensions of social These dimensions, when combined, represent socioeconomic status. class, income level, and education level combined into a single cultural measure? People in India have been found to be Personality characteristics as this is an Internal factor not external less likely to attribute causes of actions to The physical items created within a Cultural products, physical objects, resources, and spaces that people use to given culture are called define their cultures. e.g., homes, neighbourhoods, schools, churches, temples. The pleasantness of emotional True as the avoidance approach outlines the avoidance of negative experiences is a strong predictor of outcomes to be had. life satisfaction in Eastern cultures. What is personality assessment Personality assessment – the way we measure and capture personality with a variety of quantitative methods (mainly quantitative) A common method is through self-report measures: Rating a list of adjectives or statements Limitations: socially desirable responding (refers to the inclination of survey respondents to answer questions in a way that portrays themselves in a positive or socially desirable manner) Acquiescence responding (refers to the inclination of survey respondents to agree with most of the presented items). Reverse-score items, certain statements assess the opposite of the construct eg., questions that assess low self esteem in a test. How can we evaluate the reliability of Reliability assessment? Internal consistency/Cronbach’s alpha – the items should demonstrate a meaningful degree of interconnectedness (relate to each other) at least.70 Test-retest reliability - Consistency of test scores over time Score for time 1 must correlate highly with score for time 2 (.70 and above) How can we evaluate the validity of assessment? 1. Face validity – appear to measure what it suppose to measure 2. Predictive validity – how well a measurement or test can predict or forecast a future outcome or behaviour (real-life implications) E.g. Extraversion score can predict the number of friends 3. Discriminant validity – does not correlate with unrelated scales 4. Convergent validity - the degree to which different methods or measures that are theoretically expected to measure the same construct actually demonstrate agreement or convergence in their results (known-groups validity) E.g. Extraversion score for my scale correlate with the Extraversion score from the Big Five Inventory What was Woodworth's Personal Designed to assess soldier personality, etiquettes and behaviours to discern Data Sheet/Psychoneurotic individuals who might be more prone to psychological issues as a result of Inventory(1919)? combat recognised for it's attempt to systematically assess psychological indicators but has since been replaced by more advanced methods screen recruits for "shell shock" risk - emotional reactions after experiencing trauma did not use this widely  ancestor to other personality test interviews (with psychologists) and case studies Deductive vs, Empirical What Cattel's 16 personality factors? What is triangulation? Triangulation – the use of multiple methods, data sources, perspectives, or approaches to investigate a research question or phenomenon Intended to enhance the validity and reliability of findings by cross-verifying information from different sources - Gaining a more well-rounded, cross-validated conclusion of an individual's personality What are methods of triangulation? 1. Informant reports: Usually for undesirable traits Children or individuals who do not have enough insights into their own characteristics/seeking of unbiased insights Informants can be teacher, parents, peers The agreement between ratings are dependent on: 1. The observability of the traits 2. The familiarity with the evaluated individuals Limitation: The general public may not understand psychological concepts e.g, confuse narcissism with extraversion - diminishes accuracy of information 2. Observation: Since personality traits correlate with certain behaviours E.g. Individuals with high level of dark triad are more likely to place large bets Narcissistic individuals are more likely to 1) place large bets, 2) seek immediate but small amounts of reward than waiting for a larger reward later. Causality has been a concern - which causes which? Does the composite score increase risk-taking behaviour or does risk-taking behaviour increase composite score? 3. Archival records: -Use existing records to justify the existence of certain traits 4. Projective tests: less prone to response bias -Elicit personality traits without directly asking The Thematic Apperception Test: a projective test that involves having people explain what is happening in ambiguous scenes. Rorschach inkblots 5. Clinical interviews 6. Physiological measures Highly neurotic/competitive individual might have a higher heart rate or sweating in response to stimuli psychological and physical traits may be dually inherited as a package E.g. Participants are able to detect facial features that correspond to narcissism, psychopathy, Machiavellianism How can you manipulate personality Priming - An individual's encounter with a specific stimulus unconsciously or individual differences? shapes their reaction to a subsequent stimulus. Individualistic statements or narratives tend to amplify self-centeredness, whereas interdependent stories tend to enhance a sense of collectiveness. What is over-determinism? whatever a person says or does reflects their personality What is a projective hypothesis? refers to the notion that when confronted with ambiguous and unstructured stimuli, the responses elicited by a person reflect one's unconscious needs, feelings, anxieties, motives, thoughts, conflicts, and prior behavioural conditioning. What is psychic determinism? any emitted behaviour is not random or accidental, all is influenced by external or internal MMPI scale? The original validity scales of the MMPI included: Response bias scale (RB) K scale (K) Back F (FB) Lie scale (L) Infrequency scale (F) What is behaviourism? Learning approach that focuses on observable behaviour rather than internal indicators. Nature vs. nurture: Behaviour is learned (nurture) through experience and nothing is inherited (nature) All behaviours are learnt from our environment. Focus on observable behaviour (behaviour that can be seen). Animals & humans learn in the same ways so behaviourists carry out experiments on animals and extrapolate the results to humans. Psychology should be scientific and objective therefore behaviourists use mainly laboratory experiments to achieve this. Who is the father of behaviourism? John. Watson: Explain behaviour through principles of conditioning, reinforcement, and stimulus-response associations. Classical conditioning(Pavlov): learning through association a dog would associate a previously neutral object (e.g. a bell) with a positive event (e.g. receiving food) so that in the future the dog would salivate when hearing the bell because of the expectation of receiving food. Operant conditioning(Skinner): learning through rewards and punishment if the consequences of a behaviour are good, we are more likely to repeat that behaviour, whereas if the consequences of a behaviour are neutral (or negative), we are much less likely to repeat it. Observational conditioning(Bundara): modelling the actions of others observed behaviour learning through observing other people's behaviour (and the consequences they receive for their actions). What is learning? -Learning can be defined as any relatively permanent change in behaviour that may occur as a result of experience. e.g, A reflex is not classified as being learned behaviour as it is innate, automatic reaction involving a simple rapid response to a specific stimuli However, reflexes can be modified by experience Classical conditioning a three-phase process (before conditioning, during conditioning and after conditioning) results in the involuntary association between a neutral stimulus and unconditioned stimulus to produce a conditioned response, including stimulus generalisation, stimulus discrimination, extinction and spontaneous recovery The ‘Little Albert’ experiment illustrates how classical conditioning can be used to condition an emotional response, including ethical implications of the experiment. 1. Before conditioning, the unconditioned stimulus (food) produced an unconditioned response (salivation). 2. During conditioning (ACQUISITION), the unconditioned stimulus was repeatedly paired with a neutral stimulus (a bell), to produce the same unconditioned response of salivation. An association was made between the unconditioned stimulus and the neutral stimulus. 3. 4. After conditioning, the neutral stimulus became the conditioned stimulus, producing the conditioned response of salivation. What is conditioning? Process of learning when behaviours, events and stimuli become associated with each other Unconditioned behaviours are unlearned and are usually reflexive in nature. What 4 key phenomena come from classical conditioning? 1. Stimulus discrimination - the ability to see the difference between two or more stimuli, even if they are similar. When the organism only responds to the original CS, but not to any other that is similar (Pavlov’s dogs only responded to that particular bell, no other) 2. Stimulus generalisation - involves the likelihood that stimuli that are similar in nature will elicit the same response. In CC, it is when organism responds in the same way (CR) to stimuli that are like the CS (Pavlov’s dogs may have salivated to the phone ringing) 3. Extinction - termination of the CR. In CC, extinction occurs when the UCS is no longer presented and therefore the association between in at the NS is eroded. The CS loses its strength and eventually stops producing the CR (dog stops salivating the to sound of the bell) 4. Spontaneous recovery - this may occur after extinction, when the CR suddenly reappears when the CS is presented (after not salivating to the bell for a period of time, the dog suddenly salivates when the bell is rung) What was the process of the Little - NS- white rat. Albert experiment? - UCS- loud noise (of steel bars being hit) - UCR- crying to the loud noise. - NS + UCS- conditioning phase of showing the white rat and hitting the steel bars. - CS- white rat. - CR- crying to the white rat. What is a phobia? an irrational and persistent fear of an object or situation in which one would do anything possible to avoid the feared object or situation How does CC relate to personality? CC can create emotional associations that increase our reactions to our environment. These established emotional responses contribute to personality traits e.g. fear of authority figures as a result of strict father when a child e.g. life long love of piano/orchestra/classical music as a result of going to concert with family when young What is Operant conditioning? Operant conditioning - a type of learning in which the consequences that follow a response determine how likely it is that that behaviour will be repeated. Theory of Operant Conditioning - Behaviour operates on the environment and our behaviour is instrumental in producing the consequences - Rewards/Punishments Operant - a response (or set or responses) that occurs in the absence of any stimulus and acts upon the environment in the same way each time Also a three-phase model (antecedent - the events that trigger a behaviour, behaviour - the voluntary actions/response, consequence - outcomes that follow immediately after) Reinforcers (positive and negative) and punishment (including response cost) that can be used to change voluntary behaviours, including stimulus generalisation, stimulus discrimination and spontaneous recovery 1. Pushing the lever = operant response (desired outcome) Positive reinforcement 2. Food pellet is the reinforcer 3. Pushing the lever = operant response (desired outcome) Negative reinforcement 4. Avoid electric shock 5. Before reinforcer introduced, rat presses lever randomly 6. If response followed by reinforcer, frequency of the action increases 7. Operant conditioning measured by the change in rate of responding What is negative and positive reinforcement? What are primary and secondary Primary: Events that are inherently reinforcing because they satisfy reinforcers? biological needs Eg. food, water, warmth, affection Secondary: Events that acquire reinforcing qualities by being associated with primary reinforcers. Therefore secondary reinforcers are conditioned Eg. money, good grades, attention, flattery, praise, and applause What factors affect reinforcement? 1. Order of presentation – reinforcement needs to occur after the desired response not before! So the organism associates the reinforcement with the behaviour 2. Timing – Reinforcers need to occur as close in time to the desired response as possible. Most effective reinforcement occurs immediately after the desired response 3. Appropriateness of the reinforcer – For a stimulus to be a reinforcer it must provide a pleasing or satisfying consequence for its recipient. OC stimulus generalisation and Stimulus generalisation - occurs when the correct response is made to discrimination? another stimulus which is similar to the stimulus for which reinforcement is obtained Stimulus discrimination - organism makes response to a stimulus for which reinforcement is obtained but not for any other similar stimulus Extinction and spontaneous recovery in OC? Extinction – the gradual decrease in the strength or rate of responding after a period of non- reinforcement. Extinction occurs after the termination of reinforcement Spontaneous recovery – the response is (after a rest period) again shown in the absence of reinforcement What are the key differences between CC and OC? What are the implications of OC? Punishment to control behaviour has several shortcomings: Causes the punished person to become fearful Indicates what the person should not do instead of what he/she should do (how do you work out what to do?) Justifies inflicting pain on others Often causes aggression (modelling) Always 2 organisms whose behaviour is being modified: E.g., smacking the child stops the whinging; more likely to smack next time they whinge. How does OC influence Behavioural pathology (maladaptive behaviours) is a response pattern psychopathology? learned according to the same principles of behaviour as are all response patterns Individuals are not sick, they merely do not respond appropriately to stimuli due to their experience of learnt behaviours Either they... 1. Fail to learn a response (and there is a behavioural deficit) e., never learning how to cope with stress they may develop anxiety 2. Learn a maladaptive response eg., avoidance behaviour experienced may lead to social anxiety One possible result of an absence of reinforcement in the environment is depression. The depressed person is not responsive because positive reinforcement has been withdrawn - contributes to depression. What is observational learning? Observational learning occurs when someone uses observation of another person's actions and their consequences to guide their future actions Because the person being observed is referred to as a model, observational learning is often called modelling + observer. This is not to say that every time we watch someone do something we learn how to do it Observational learning is a more active process than either classical or operant conditioning It is not entirely different from conditioning. Normal Operant Conditioning the learner is directly reinforced or punished 1. Vicarious reinforcement – viewing a model being reinforced can strengthen behaviour in an observer 2. Vicarious punishment – viewing a model being punished can weaken a behaviour in an observer What are the stages of SC? 1. Attention (stimuli focus) - observer must be focused on the task being learned. 2. Retention (practice encoded) - observer must be able to retain the learned information in memory 3. Initiation (rehearsal) - observer must be able to perform the learned task 4. Motivation (reward reinforcement) - observer must want to perform the learned task What was the SC experiment? All experiments involved children witnessing adult models be in the room with a bobo doll Some models were aggressive some calm and some ignored the doll altogether Children are more likely to copy a same sex model and boys are more likely to be more aggressive than girls Children were then given the opportunity to play in a room with the doll Aggressive acts by the child towards the doll were recorded What is SC useful for? Using conditioning to improve behaviour - Effective for treating behaviour problems and psychological disorders -Also useful for changing typical behaviour E.g., Token economy -Good behaviour is rewarded with tokens that can be exchanged for privileges. Behavioural activation -Effective therapy for depression based on behaviour modification -People are encouraged to do specific things that will lead to rewards. e.g., therapist encouraging a depressed person to engage in desirable social settings What are the personality implications We are born with certain tendencies, but our environment also shapes how of SC? we behave. Reciprocal determinism People choose the environments they enter and then change them. e.g, someone who surrounds themselves with partygoers is more likely to be extroverted Reciprocal nature of life experience Reactions to new experience is adjusted based previous experience, but new experiences push us to re-evaluate old experiences What is effective SC dependent on? Reinforcement value the expressed preference an individual has for one source of reinforcement over others influenced by the expectancy that reinforcement will meet your needs and choices available Situation: what is valued in one situation may not be valued in another subjective response to given situation So... the likelihood of performing a particular behaviour in a given situation is a function of the expectancy you have that the behaviour will produce a reinforcement that is desirable to you What is the locus of control? ‘Locus of control’ refers to how much control a person feels they have in their own behaviour. A person can either have an internal or external locus of control. Internal locus of control: Believing that one's actions have an effect on events Strong predictor of getting better grades External locus of control: Believing that events are a matter of luck or the arbitrary decisions of powerful people More likely to be anxious and depressed Have lower conscientiousness and self-control Implications of Locus of Control lower perceived risk might be related to higher self-efficacy and higher levels of extraversion, openness, emotional stability, and agreeableness dimensions of personality. external locus of control might perceive higher risk An external locus of control predicted higher risk perceived: eg., those who thought their health depended on fate, God, others Experience of deaths among relatives or close friends Working in contact with COVID-19 patient Perceived adequacy of the information received Experiencing the loss of significant others Being in contact with people affected by COVID-19 high levels of anxiety (but not depressive symptoms) Greater levels of openness displayed lower risk perception high levels of intellect, reflection, creativity, and imagination lowered the perceived risk. None of the other personality dimensions was associated with risk perception. External locus of control lead to reduce COVID-19 health compliance due to fatalistic approach (consider it pointless to engage in recommended behaviours) Learned helplessness theory - in response to unchangeable events Negative, pessimistic vision of the future, low motivation Individualistic cultures believe in an internal locus of control whereas collectivist cultures believe in an external locus of control What are the strengths and weaknesses of Learning Theories? What does personality neuroscience 1. Identify the underlying neural substrates of personality - what brain aim to do? regions relates to personality 2. Better understand how genetic and environmental influences create the relatively stable patterns in brain function which are associated with particular personality traits. What is the neural basis of Modern approaches to studying personality traits have identified the personality traits? importance of certain brain regions in the context of specific personality traits. What was the case of Phineas Gage? The damage to the frontal lobes evident in the case of Phineas Gage has impacted our understanding of: Decision making ability Behavioural regulation Emotional control How do we discern the changes in Through f(functional)MRI imaging - blood oxygen levels activation brain function? Which parts of the brain influence Extraversion: Medial Orbito-frontal cortex each trait? Conscientiousness: Middle frontal gyrus Agreeableness: Superior temporal sulcus, posterior cingulate cortex Neuroticism: Dorsomedial PFC, Cingulate gyrus/Caudate, Medial temporal lobe What is the relationship between Highly agreeable people tend to make emotion attribution decisions more agreeableness and temporoparietal quickly. junction? This is associated with greater temporoparietal junction activity during these types of decisions. What is the Role of the Amygdala: The Fear Response System? 1. Higher trait neuroticism= Higher activation in the amygdala. -The amygdala is involved in emotion regulation which is negatively impacted by high levels of neuroticism. It is also the part of the brain responsible for processing fearful stimuli. The relationship is inconsistent Associated with the activation of the medial temporal gyrus where we see reduced emotional regulation - mindfulness and muscle relaxation therapy all aim to target this deregulation. 2. Extraversion = the tendency to experience positive emotions/heightened emotional responses. The amygdala’s role in emotion processing also means that it is also associated with increased activation of the amygdala. 3. What are genotypes and Genotype= the inherited genetic profile which is evident at the time of phenotypes? conception for an individual. Phenotype= the observable characteristics of the individual which result from a combination of genetic and environmental influences. Personality is an example of a phenotype. What are shared and nonshared Shared environments= environmental factors that are shared by family environments? members and which differ between families. parenting style is shared (aggressive, strict, gentle) Non-shared environments= environmental factors that distinguish among relatives within a family (e.g., individual differences). These are particularly important for personality development. exposure to trauma outside of the family environment or having a more extraverted group of friends. What is the relevance of twin studies? Twin studies are the most common way to assess the influence of nature and nurture. Monozygotic twins are identical genetically meaning that any differences in personality can be attributed to the environment. Dizygotic twins are different genetically but have the same environment. Differences can be attributed to genetics. With relevance to twin studies what is Heritability=the proportion of the variability in a trait within a particular heritability? population owing to genetics. What is the heritability coefficient? A single number ranging from 0 to 1.0 representing the amount of heritability 0 means no variance due to genetics 1 means all variance is due to genetics e.g.,.20 means that 20% of variance is due to genetics and 80% is due to environment across the population What is the Heritability of Personality? Twin studies have found that approximately 50% of the variation in personality is due to genetics. The other 50% is accounted for by non-shared environmental factors. Neuroticism: Genetic studies have found that neuroticism is associated with several DNA sequences. It has been found to have a heritability rate of between 30 and 40% Extraversion has a higher heritability rate! Heritability/personality traits do not relate to one specific gene they are polygenic What are epigenetic factors? Epigenetics is the study of genetic modifications that impact gene expression but do not involve changes to the gene itself. It shows how environmental influences (e.g., experiences) affect the expression of genes. e.g, if your mother is exposed to toxins, stress and poor nutrition in the womb this will affect your phenotype What is the process of a gene? We have different transcription of genes DNA is converted into RNA into a protein that affects the body(phenotype) Epigenetics and Personality Epigenetics has been found to have an influence in personality disorders. Disorders? Methylation patterns - the differences in DNA sequences. Different methylation patterns within personality disorders could indicate different subgroups which suggest the need for different treatment approaches. What are some epigenetic factors that influence our phenotype? Exposure to teratogens/toxins Stress in the womb Nutrition Stress in childhood/adulthood What is temperament? Temperament refers to the in-built physical, mental and emotional traits that are present at birth. It is heritable and is stable over time and situations. Individual differences early in development have been later