Lecture 4 Traits Personality Disorders (2) Lecture Notes PDF

PERSONALITY PSYU/X2234 Lecture 4: Trait approaches to personality A/Prof Simon Boag email: [email protected] 1 Readings (suggested) Revision: Boag, et al. (2018). Personality. Additional: McCrae, R. R. (2004). Human nature & culture: A trait perspective. Jn...

PERSONALITY PSYU/X2234 Lecture 4: Trait approaches to personality A/Prof Simon Boag email: [email protected] 1 Readings (suggested) Revision: Boag, et al. (2018). Personality. Additional: McCrae, R. R. (2004). Human nature & culture: A trait perspective. Jnl of Research in Personality, 38, 3-14 Gore, WL & Widiger, T. (2013). The DSM-5 dimensional trait model & FFM. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 122, 816-821 2 Outline 1. Trait approaches What are ‘traits’? Lexical hypothesis & Factor Analysis 2. Five Factor Model & Theory Traits & the role of ‘nurture’ 3. Personality Disorders & personality traits PDs & maladaptive traits DSM-5 & the Alternative Model of Personality Disorders 3 1. Trait approaches (revision) Gordon Allport (1897-1967) Founded Personality psychology at Harvard Wrote the first textbook on personality: Personality: A Psychological Interpretation (1937) Introduced idiographic vs nomothetic distinction Interested in unique individual & traits Cardinal, Central, Secondary traits 4 Personality traits Traits: Dispositions or tendencies to act in meaningfully consistent ways across time & situations Traits are stable Nature over nurture (but interaction) Nomothetic approach Traits as dimensions Quantitative approach Application of trait research (eg. Organisational Ψ) How do we identify traits? 5 Identifying traits Lexical hypothesis: traits can be identified through language Factor analysis 6  Eysenck’s 3 Factor account 1) Extraversion-introversion 2) Neuroticism-normality 3) Psychoticism Biological basis of traits Ascending Reticular Activation System (ARAS) Cortical excitation & inhibition High ARAS arousal predisposes to introversion Limbic system (visceral brain) & neuroticism DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY 7 Personality traits 8 2. Five Factor Model/Theory Based on the lexical hypothesis 9 Five Factor Model & Theory (McCrae & Costa, 1990, 2004, 2015) Traits are “… enduring tendencies to think, feel, & behave in consistent ways…” Assessable via self-report NEO-PI-R (translated into at least 40 languages); 240 items; 5 traits/30 facets Useful for job selection/screening tool eg Black (2000): NEO-PI-R useful in police selection; used as screening measure in NZ 10 Five Factor Theory: role of environment? Limited impact of the environment on personality traits Traits are highly heritable: “relatively untouched by life experience” Role of culture? “According to FFT, traits are not affected by culture, but are instead shaped solely by biology, which is the common heritage of the human species” (McCrae, 2004) Culture shapes the expression of traits 11 12 Five Factor Model & Theory (McCrae & Costa, 1995, 2004, 2015) FFM as biologically-based human universals Traits are stable but universal age-changes Around age 30: N, E, O ↓; A, C ↑ Intrinsic maturational processes (McCrae, 2002; Terracciano, et al, 2010) Are the Five Factors universal? Replication of FFM in over 50 societies across six continents (McCrae & Terracciano, 2005) 13  How universal is the FFM? Gurven et al (2013): FFM tested with the indigenous Tsimane people in central lowland Bolivia (n = 632) Forager-horticulturalists FFM not replicated Tsimane Big Two personality dimensions: prosociality & industriousness Gurven, et al. (2013). How universal is the Big Five? Testing the FFM of personality variation among forager–farmers in the Bolivian Amazon. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 104, 354-370 14 3. Personality disorders & personality traits DSM-5 (2013): Personality disorders (PDS) are…. A) Enduring patterns of thinking/feeling/acting/relating B) Culturally deviant C) Pervasive & inflexible D) Lead to distress or social impairment 15 “A Personality Disorder is an enduring pattern of inner experience & behaviour that deviates markedly from the expectations of the individual’s culture, is pervasive & inflexible, has an onset in adolescence or early adulthood, is stable over time, & leads to stress or impairment” (DSM-IV-TR, 2000; DSM-5-TR, 2022) Categorical vs dimensional approach 16 DSM-5 categorical approach: Personality disorders types Cluster A: Paranoid, Schizoid, Schizotypal “Individuals with these disorders often appear odd or eccentric” Cluster B: Antisocial, Borderline, Histrionic, Narcissistic “Individuals with these disorders often appear dramatic, emotional, or erratic” Cluster C: Avoidant, Dependent, Obsessive- compulsive “Individuals with these disorders often appear anxious or fearful” 17 DSM-5 main approach: Personality disorders types Categorical model: Separate PD categories qualitatively distinct clinical syndromes Failure of the categorical model (Widiger & Trull, 2007; Schmeck et al, 2013) a) Extensive co-occurrence of PDs b) Extreme heterogeneity (eg. 256 different ways to diagnose BPD) c) PD NOS most common diagnosis d) Poor inter-rater reliability 18 19 Personality trait approach to personality pathology Alternative model of PD (AMPD): impairment & pathological traits An alternative, dimensional approach “… personality disorders represent maladaptive variants of personality traits that merge imperceptibly into normality & into one another” (DSM-5) PDs involve: Criterion A: impaired personality functioning Criterion B: pathological personality traits 21 Alternative Model of PD (AMPD): Pathological personality traits Organised into 5 broad domains Negative affectivity (Neuroticism) Detachment (Extraversion) Psychoticism (Openness) Antagonism (Agreeableness) Disinhibition (Conscientiousness) “… these five broad domains are maladaptive variants of the five domains of the extensively validated & replicated personality model known as the ‘Big Five,’ or the Five Factor Model of personality” (DSM-5, 2013) 22 AMPD & Clinical implications Widiger (2017): FFM & AMPD potentially better for treatment options Ext/Agr: interpersonal goals Neur: emotional stability goals Consc: work-related goals Open: cognitive goals Recent development of FFM PD assessment scales (Crego et al, 2018) 23 AMPD: evaluation Krueger & Hobbs (2020): Meaningful clinical correlates (eg. predicts self- harm; treatment dropout) Acceptable/improved inter-rater reliability Reasonable psychometric properties Krueger, RF & Hobbs, KA. (2020). An overview of the DSM-5 alternative model of personality disorders. Psychopathology, 5 3, 126-132 Still unclear whether the AMPD is superior to the categorical model (Widiger & Hines, 2022) 24  Questions? 25