Schultz Chapter 1 (2) PDF

Welcome to PSYC 1520.2A Personality Theory: Normal and Abnormal In this course we will be studying, HUMAN personality as cute as this adorable ‘guy’ is, he is not a person – yes he has behavioral tendencies – he happens to be a pretty ‘cool cat’ – but a person he is not ...

Welcome to PSYC 1520.2A Personality Theory: Normal and Abnormal In this course we will be studying, HUMAN personality as cute as this adorable ‘guy’ is, he is not a person – yes he has behavioral tendencies – he happens to be a pretty ‘cool cat’ – but a person he is not  Speaking of ‘cool’ cats Do animals have a “personality”? Should animals have the same rights as a person? Are there similarities between people and animals? http://resources2.news.com.au/images/2012/09/27/1226482/758034-tardar-sauce-the-cat.jpg  Normal Versus Abnormal Think of the bell or ‘normal’ curve Normal Statistically Not Sick Healthy (within normal limits) Abnormal DMS-IV Personality Disorders Forensic (Criminal, Perverted, Bad ‘Evil’) Unhealthy Optimal Well-Being Exceptional personalities The heights of genius, social intelligence, self-actualization, success, sense of meaning and purpose, kindness, gratitude, resilience, grit, empathy, and compassion Personality Disorders Crash Course Video Psychology #34 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4E1JiDFxFGk  Chapter 1 Who Am I? Personality: What It Is and Why You Should Care Understanding The Building Blocks of Personality What Is Personality Psychology? The scientific study of what makes us who we are and the environmental and genetic factors that make us that way 3 questions What does it mean to have a personality? What determines our personality? Are our personalities something we inherit at birth or something we develop through life experiences?  Free Will Early Childhood Experiences Pr e n a t a l Genetics / DNA Classic Debate in Human Development Nature vs. Nurture Nurture Free Nature Will Nature Vs. Nurture Vs. Free Will Nature – genetics (genotypes) Nurture – environment Free Will.......... I will be what I choose... And the interaction? - and the result is the expression PHENOTYPE Brains on Trial (2013) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cx8xEUYrb74 The Word – Personality (in the dictionary) Dictionary definitions The state of being a person The characteristics and qualities that form a person’s distinctive character The sum total of all the physical, mental, emotional, and social characteristics of a person Everyone has a Personality Great Terrible 1/16/2025 11 Describing Your Personality 12 How Does Personality Develop? Conception Prenatal Temperament Early childhood Identity formation Changes across the lifespan 1/16/2025 13 Ways of Looking At Personality Psychological Definition Psychological definition Description is complex An enduring and unique Humans change according cluster of characteristics to different situations and manifest in patterns of people thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that may change in response to different situations 1/16/2025 14 How Others Perceive Us 1/16/2025 15 Stable and Predictable Characteristics ENDURING 1/16/2025 16 UNIQUE Characteristics 1/16/2025 17 Questions About Social Media Are You the Same Person Online? Many of us display another face, not in person, but through the internet on social media sites. How Does Social Media Influence Our Personality? The use of online social networking sites like Facebook can both shape and reflect our personalities. How Does Our Personality Influence Our Use of Social Media? Social media use can be affected by our personalities. 1/16/2025 18  The Role of Race and Gender in Shaping Personality Personality theorists traditionally consisted of White men of European and North American heritage (i.e., North American college students) Virtually all the subjects on which the earlier theories were based were also White people Tended to ignore or minimize the influence of class, race, and ethnic background. We know that children from different environments are exposed to vastly different influences Surely their personalities can be expected to differ as a result  The Role of Culture in Shaping Personality 50% of our personality is due to GENETIC predisposition. Cross-cultural psychology research Conclusion shows that personality is formed by genetic and environmental influences (cultural influences). Japanese people who emigrated to the United States became much more “American” in their personalities. Chinese immigrants who had lived in Canada at least 10 years scored significantly higher in extraversion. Anxiety may also be related to cultural differences. Cultural neuroscience—cultural differences in brain activity and genetic makeup  Differences in Cultural Beliefs and Values REGARDING destiny Karma (no choice) and free will (I choose) Happiness or unhappiness? KARMA - preordained and not based on my actions Free will (it matters what you do or how you think even) Individualism and collectivism Individualism emphasizes the individual, independence, and relationships with other individuals. Collectivism emphasizes wholeness of the group, interdependence, and communality. Influences: Self-efficacy Subjective well being  Self enhancement Tendency to promote oneself aggressively and be conspicuous ▪ More common in Western cultures Child rearing practices Individualistic culture - parents tend to be more noncoercive, democratic, and permissive Collectivist cultures - parental practices tend to be more authoritarian, restrictive, and controlling A Diversity of Cultures 1/16/2025 Individualistic Versus Collectivist Cultures Figure 1.1 Comparing individualistic versus collectivist cultures Knowledge Check 1 Q&A How does one’s culture shape personality? Different cultural beliefs, individualism versus collectivism in cultures, levels of acceptance regarding self-enhancement, and child-rearing practices are four primary ways in which culture shapes one’s personality.  Free Will? Also called self-determination Regulation of Motivation: Self-Determination Theory (The Marshmallow Test) Do we have control over our behavior? DIShonesty (documentary with Dan Ariely) – how much control do we have over even simple truth telling Zimbardo Ted Talk http://www.ted.com/talk Nature vs. Nurture? Bad Apple? s/philip_zimbardo_on_t he_psychology_of_evil? Situation? Bad Barrell? language=en Systemic? Bad Barrell Makers? The purpose of studying personality (using the scientific method) is to understand individual differences. We tend to like to think of people as all the same. But that is not true. People are very different. We are similar It is the unique constellation of these individual differences which make us the person we are – one of a kind! We are different How did they become that way?  Personality Questions... What does it mean to be a person? How are we unique as individuals? What is the nature of the self? How do psychologists answer these questions? systematic observations about how and why individuals think, behave, and feel as they do (methods of scientific inference) not seeking a philosophical or theological answer (critical thinking?) Yet some approaches/theories do ‘add’ a spiritual component to understanding the whole person (e.g., Jung, humanistic)  WHAT IS PERSONALITY? From the Latin persona, meaning The mask used by actors in a play From this route we can see how personality has come to refer to our Public image, Outward appearance, The faces we show others Personality psychology can also be defined as the scientific study of the psychological forces that make people uniquely themselves When did this scientific study of personality begin? the 1930’s (Allport, Lewin, Murray) This is when the study of personality was recognized by academic psychologists Before that? – nada nada no Was personality examined or studied or queried at all before the 1930’s? Of course – literature, religion, the arts, theater, philosophy It all really began with Gordon Allport Harvard Psychologist Who Wrote: Personality: A Psychological Investigation (published in 1937) The ‘father’ of personality theory? marks the formal beginning of the study of personality Gordon Allport’s definition of personality “The dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine his unique adjustment to his environment”  Allport emphasized the uniqueness of the individual Emphasized idiographic approach idio Greek private, personal and distinct Built on or expanded the work of William James Rejected the idea of trying to break down personality into basic components (such as sensation of innate drives) – structuralism vs. functionalism Emphasized the importance of culture Lifelong concern with studying prejudice against blacks and Jews (one of the first American intellectuals to recognize the truth about the Nazi genocide) The Nature of Prejudice 1954 Lewin drew attention to “the momentary condition of the individual and the structure of the psychological situation” Gestalt tradition Europe Integrative and active nature of perception and thought Whole is greater than the sum of its parts By forming associations and creating meaning we develop ‘wholes’ Wolfgang Kohler lake-sugar boot-plate girl-kangaroo The whole is greater than the sum of its parts (Gestalt psychologists) ART The figure as a whole is more than the mere sum of the individual images MEDICINE you are more than simply the sum of your organs PSYCHOLOGY Likewise this is true in studying personality Mona Lisa Neil Farkas Dylan Neil Farkas Murray defined personality psychology as the “[concerning] itself with the study of human lives and the factors which influence their course, [and] which investigates individual differences” Emphasized the dynamic nature of individuals as well as the importance of needs and motivations Attempted to integrate the problems of real patients with theory & assessment Believed in being comprehensive and promoted longitudinal research To sum up... The modern view of personality? Complex Unique Whole What Nonscientific Methods Might One Use to Understanding People? http://enfant-prodigue.com/ep/images/zodiac-astrology.jpg Astrology http://www.vaastu-numerology.com/static/upload/images/1362881426-Numerology1.jpg Numerology http://askgrandmaapp.com/images/logo.png Ask Grandpa  Example A person might be able to learn a great deal about personality by reading about Raskolnikov in Dostoyevsky’s Literature novel Crime and Punishment, or by William Shakespeare seeing Hamlet at a 1564-1616 Shakespeare festival. Crime and Punishment Dostoyevsky http://i.imgur.com/Vkw7e.jpg What insights, if any, can be gained from works like Crime and Punishment on human personality? Does Dostoyevsky know much about human personality? Did he use the scientific method? Hamlet, King Lear, Romeo & Juliette Shakespeare http://sphotos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/p480x480/15091_586369778054634_1613010589_n.png What insights, if any, can be gained from works like Hamlet on human personality? Does Shakespeare know much about human personality? Did he use the scientific method? Physiognomy http://25.media.tumblr.com/ca39ee8d4f6a322d20346b9f01e5fee2/tumblr_mfr406xvHL1r8x8h2o1_r4_500.jpg What is physiognomy? Is it a valid technique for measuring personality? Differentiate from Lie to Me  First studied in 1948 Also called Forer effect Gave students questionnaire Results? Personalized personality Description Rate accuracy? 1-5 poor to perfect 4.26 average The Barnum Effect The tendency to believe in the accuracy of vague generalities about one’s personality circus showman had ‘something for everyone’ Horoscopes for example You will face new challenges today and it is important that you have learned from the past in order to navigate these new and tricky waters. MMPI study ½ Barnum ½ actual 59% picked Barnum You can imagine this is kind of what you get with a lot of so-called personality tests?  EIGHT Perspectives Psychoanalysis (intrapsychic foundation) Neo-Analytics (self/identity) Caroline McHugh TED Talk Behaviorism Cognition Biological/Genetic/Neuroscience/Evolution Trait Humanistic/Existential Interaction Measuring and Assessing Your Personality Schultz | Schultz | Maranges, Theories of Personality, 12th Edition. © 2025 Cengage Learning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 58 The Concepts of Reliability and Validity Evaluation of personality Used for diagnosis, education, counseling, and research Principles of measurement Reliability: Consistency of response to a psychological assessment device Validity: Extent to which an assessment device measures what it is intended to measure Reliable and/or Valid Figure 1.2 Personality measures can be reliable and/or valid Source: https://pierzgal.github.io/STAT101.en/reliability-and-validity.html Methods of Assessment Self-report measures Projective techniques Clinical interviews Behavioral observations Experience sampling Objective versus subjective Quantitative versus qualitative Self-Report Inventories Subjects answer questions about their behaviors and feelings Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) (time intensive) TIPI (10 questions related to the Big 5 personality traits) Advantages Disadvantages Objective scoring Not suited for people who possess limited Quick assessment reading skills Can be administered online Tendency to provide socially desirable answers  Projective Tests Tradition of Freud (unconscious) ambiguous stimulus Project needs, fears, values 1/16/2025  Projective Tests Rorschach Inkblot Technique Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) Word association Sentence completion Interpretation is subjective Reliability and validity (conclusions are mixed) Low when used for diagnostic purposes (eg. Inter-scorer reliability often low) Useful for research purposes POPULAR 1/16/2025 Clinical Interviews Involve asking relevant questions about: Past and present life experiences Social and family relationships Reasons for seeking psychological help Advantage Disadvantage Problem areas can be Subjective explored in detail Lacks QUANTITATIVE data QUALITATIVE DATA Behavioral Assessments Observer evaluates a person’s behavior in a given situation. Assessment occurs during clinical interview Advantage Disadvantage Provides valuable insights Less systematic  Experience Sampling Participants are asked to describe social and environmental context in which the experience being sampled occurs. Smartphone apps Daily diaries online Advantage Disadvantage Determines how context influences Participant may forget to record activities thought and mood Emotions and mood affect nature of information reported Diversity Considerations in Personality Measurement and Personality Differences Schultz | Schultz | Maranges, Theories of Personality, 12th Edition. © 2025 Cengage Learning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 68  Culture, Race, and Ethnicity Cultural differences influence personality assessment techniques. What is normal in one culture may be judged as abnormal in other cultures. Potential problems with cross-cultural application: A test is designed for the population of a Western culture and administered to people in a non-Western culture Difficult topics include help seeking versus keeping things private, introversion versus extroversion, trust, and openness regarding sex Question formats  Gender Personality assessment is influenced by gender. Assessment measures indicate differential rates of diagnosis based on gender for emotional disorders. Big Five personality traits Men less agreeable and neurotic than women Smaller differences with men being less conscientious and extraverted No differences in openness to experience Differential rates may be related to gender bias or gender stereotyping in interpreting the assessment results. Research in the Study of Personality Schultz | Schultz | Maranges, Theories of Personality, 12th Edition. © 2025 Cengage Learning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 71  The Clinical Method Case study: Detailed history of an individual Contains data from various sources Consistencies in the patient’s lives are used by theorists to generalize their findings Advantage—Provides an in-depth view of one’s personality Disadvantages No precision and control of the experimental and correlational methods Subjective Accuracy of childhood memories cannot be checked Experimental Method Involves determining effects of variables or events on behavior An experimental situation is arranged by psychologists. Independent variable Dependent variable Variable that is manipulated Variable that is measured Experimental group Control group Exposed to experimental Does not receive experimental treatment treatment Advantages Well controlled and systematic Disadvantages Safety and ethical reasons restrict control over some aspects of personality and behavior. Dependent variable is influenced by the subject’s attitude. Correlational Method Measures the degree of relationship between two variables. Expressed by the correlation coefficient, which ranges from -1.00 to +1.00 Advantage Disadvantage Helps make predictions in the real world Cause and effect conclusions may be flawed  Online Research Online test administration Psychological tests, opinion surveys, and subject responses to experimental stimuli Advantages Fast responses, inexpensive, and reaches a broad range of subjects Disadvantages A couple of sites with SELF HELP tools: www.authentichappiness.org Sample may not represent the population www.ggia.berkeley.edu Online test-takers may have different characteristics Includes ONLINE tests Honesty and accuracy of data is questionable  The Role of Theory in Personality Theories and Questions About Human Nature: What Are We Like? Schultz | Schultz | Maranges, Theories of Personality, 12th Edition. © 2025 Cengage Learning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 76 The Role of Theory in the Study of Personality Theory: Provides the framework to describe data in a meaningful way A set of principles that must: Be testable and capable of stimulating research Be able to clarify and explain data by organizing those data into coherent framework Help understand behavior and predict behavior It may be applied to help people. 6 Questions About Human Nature: What Are We Like? Free will or determinism? (historical determinism) Nature versus nurture? Dependent or independent of childhood? ▪ Historical determinism Is human nature unique or universal? Stay satisfied or seek growth? Optimism or pessimism? Theories and Why Beneficial to Science What is the benefit of a theory in the scientific field of psychology? A theory provides that framework for describing empirical data in a meaningful way. A theory can be considered a kind of map that represents and explains all the data in their interrelationships. It attempts to bring order to the data, to fit them into a meaningful pattern. Theories help us to understand, predict and change behavior  Personality Disorders Personality (we all have one) MOST of us do not have a personality disorder (DSM-5) We have TRAITS in varying amounts (on a spectrum/continuum) A UNIQUE combination (influenced by genetics and "nature" and through conditioning aka the environment aka "nurture") When in the EXTREME, sometimes a person will MEET the CRITERIA for a personality disorder o It is important that this diagnosis come from a trained clinician o It is important to not diagnose self or others (e.g., as tempted to via the internet) ▪ Due to our subjective bias o KEEP IN MIND most of us meet at least some of the criteria for the personality disorders (IOW we have some traits which may fit a disorder) BUT this does not mean that we would meet the criteria for a diagnosis 1/16/2025 10 Personality Disorders 3 clusters A. odd/eccentric B. dramatic/erratic C. anxious/fearful 1/16/2025 Example - NPD 9 items listed Must show 5 And to what level must the person be in order to meet any of the 9 – e.g., you may be a little arrogant, but are you arrogant enough? and how do we know? or I may think you have no empathy b/c of my subjective experience of not being validated by you (maybe it is me who has an excessive need for validation?) - either way, leave it to the clinicians to DIAGNOSE.. you think they have no capacity for empathy but they do (and how do you know the difference?) 1/16/2025