Chapter 12 Personality PDF

Chapter 12: Personality Unit textbook 12.1 Study of Personality personality → a set of relatively consistent ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving that explain why diff ppl can react differently in same situations...

Chapter 12: Personality Unit textbook 12.1 Study of Personality personality → a set of relatively consistent ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving that explain why diff ppl can react differently in same situations assume that to some degree ppl hv stable characteristics and we can measure and identify those characteristics 12.2 Psychoanalysis: An Early Theory of Personality unconcious → thoughs and feelings that fall below the threashold of our awareness in directing our thoughts and behaviours Freud conceptualized three parts of personality, all unconcious: id → instinctual drives; pleasure principle; operates purely unconcious ego → largely concious awareness of reality; selg-conciousness indulgent parent to the spoiled child of id, trying to mediate compromises of need fulfillment vs current constraints superego → goodie-two-shoes; moral conciousness according to freud, every action thought and emotion stems from these three parts of personality 12.3 Coping w Intrapsychic Conflict: Defense Mechanisms defense mechanisms → how ego copes w conflict btwn unconcious desires of id and moral constraints of society ego’s tactics studied by Anna Freud Chapter 12: Personality 1  displacement → response to anger id’s reaction → anger superego → you can’t just go around slapping ppl on the head ego → use displacement to redirect unwanted agressive impulse onto innocent, defenseless target ex. I’ll lose my job if i act out a revenge fantasy but cruelty to my pet turtle will go unnoticed projection → instead of aknowledging you hv a feeling or trait, you think you see it in others ex. if given the opportunity to see dishonesty in someone else, these students rated themselves as being more honest repression → ego’s efforts at keeping unwanetd feelings, thoughts, and memories from concious awareness least amnt of research to prove → evidence that ppl repressess trauma is not conclusive denial → ego’s refusal to even perceive a paintful reality as it is occuring 12.4 Contributions and Critique of Psychoanalysis positive contributions: 1. existence of unconcious thought 2. importance of early development 3. influence of mind on body (mental illness could cause physical symptoms) 4. talking cure (psychoanalysis) but, psychoanalysis is not dominant theoretical perspective in current understanding of personality freud did not use scientific methodology to test theories approach was only case studies female patients were not a representative sample Chapter 12: Personality 2  12.5 Goldon Allport: A pioneer of the Trait Approach to Personality Allport resisted overanalysis of Freud and wanted more straightforward understanding of human behaviour three types of traits: 1. cardinal traits → dominate someone’s personality 2. central traits → general dispositions used to describe someone; do not utterly define person but provide insight into how they usually bejave 3. secondardy traits → relavent only in certain contexts a. ex. Joey not usually talkative, but with his best friends, he can’t shut up trait might lead us to behave in similar ways in very different situations, making these diff contexts functionally equivilent cue same response ex. consider airplane, coffee show, art museum. extraverted girl might consider these places to make new friends but introverted girl might consider these places of refelction 12.6 The Palette of Personality: Identifying the Central Traits how many traits differentiate ppl? lexical hypothesis → traits and attributes that are useful for differentiating among ppl hv become part of our language use dictionary, Allport did this traits → 4500 terms cautious, friendly, aggressive temporary states and moods → 4500 terms happy, bored evaluative judgements → 5200 terms Chapter 12: Personality 3  successful, annoying physical charactersitics and talents → 3200 terms tall, musical Cattell did factor analysis → groups large set of variables into smaller set of constructs factor analysis revealed two dimensions: 1. extraversion 2. neuroticism ppl vary along dimension of extraversion and neuroticism caattell’s work groundbreaking for bringing statistical rigor into personality assessment personality assessmnet → questionaire measures that ask participants to rate themselves on a series of traits self-report 12.7 The Big Five dominant model of building blocks that make up human variation Lewis Goldberg (1981) coined the term the big five Chapter 12: Personality 4 Chapter 12: Personality 5  12.8 Personality Stability and Change overall stability of personality give personality survey at 20 and again at 40, strong correlation btwn results of two tests ppl do though experience shifts in personality as they journey through life older → more agreeable, conscientious, and emotionally stable openness icnr as enter adulthood, less open as adults social vitalit staus same through adulthood only decr slightly, we become more dominant until middle age, then growth levels off personality is not fixed by end of childhood but contineues to develop over lifespan 12.9 Cultural Variation in Personality og research in identifing big five conducted w WEIRD samples (western, edcated, industrialized, rich, and democratic) hv ppl in diff countries complete big five inventory in their language and factor analyze the results in each location to see if same five traits replicate accross culture ⇒ same five traits revealed themselves in nearly all countries surveyed openness dimension does not stand out as seperate trait in all samples studied ⇒ ambiguity abt universality of openness interpersonal relatedness (social harmony and tradition) is a trait identified in a chienese sample not reflected in big five how do cultures differ in traits? france and germany → neighbours and not diff on levels of extraversion, polar opposites on levels of neuroticism BUT ideas of national character do not necessarily reflect how ppl acc are and political ppl use national character for propaganda Chapter 12: Personality 6  ex. Canadiansa are so nice → universal health care 12.10 Perceiving Personality we do reaseonable job of perceiving personality in ourselves in and other ppl but certain biases stand in our way for ppl we know well, we sometimes hv better handle on who they are than they hv about themselves PERSON model → six factors shape how we perceive others P → personality of the person E → errors in judgement bc we’re just human R → residual idisoyncratic biases S → stereotypes abt traits we expect different groups of ppl to possess O → opinion N → norms that guide how we perceive certain bejaviours forming an accurate impression requires us to interpret clues to what a person is really like we can only perceive ppl accirately if they provide clues to who they really are ppl who are well-adjusged hv good understanding of what ppl are like some ppl drop clearer clues extraversion → easy to tell in person openness → not as imemdiately apparant as extraversion, but still easy to tell neuroticism → not as easy to tell 12.11 Determining the Heritablity of Personality is personality determined by genetics? personality is at least partly inherited Chapter 12: Personality 7  behavioural genetics → statistically compares patterns of similarilty in the behavioral or peresonality profiles of ppl who differ in their genetic relatedness prototypical method used in behavioral genetics → twin study monozygyotic twins → identical twins behavioral geneticisits gather up questionnaire and statistical software by having identical and fraternal twins take same personality measures and then correlating their scores ⇒ identical twins show greater trait similarity than fraternal heretability estimates for traits comparing identical and fraternal twsins → 50% means 50% genetics, 50% personality 12.2 Caveats and Complexities of Heritability heritability estimates only explain variability in sample of ppl, not in personality of a single person cannot say a given’s personality is entirely or partly inherited from a parent can say that ppl share the same trait in part bc they share the same genes (even this conclusion is sample specific) conclusions rely on assumption that there are no other systematic differences btwn identical and fraternal twins besides genetics ex bc identical twins look alike and are usually same gender, ppl more likely to confuse then adn treat them ins ame manner → could cause identical twins to act more similarly genetic essentialism → assume that just bc smthg has genetic basis it’s natural and unchangeable difficult to sepearte roles of genes and environment bc they’re interrelated identical twins might show similar personalities bc their genetic predispositions lead them to choose similar niches that shape personality development Chapter 12: Personality 8  gene x environment interactions → even if personality is partly heritable, environmental factors can shape whether they are expressed in behavior ex. genetic predisposition for drug use, drinking, but this relationship reduced for kids raised in strong religious upbrinigng underylying genotype for smthg might be less related to observable phenotype bc of the strong effects of smthg in environment 12.3 Personality Neuroscience researchers can use functional MRI to identify how personality dispositions relate to the structure or function of diff regions of brain genes and environment work together to wire neural circuitry of brains and produce noticeably diff patterns of behaving neuroticism → has evidence for biological mechanism → systems involved in threat and uncertainty higher activation in amygdala and hippocampus and insula alsolinked to genetic variations in serotonin transporter gene serotonin → neurotransmitter that has known effects on mood states theory of depression is that dyregulation of serotonin in synapses of brain casuses depressed mood ppl w one or two short alleles of the serotonin transporter gene score higher on measures of neuroticism BUT this genetic variant only accoutns for 3 to 4 percent of the differences among ppl in their neurotic tendencies agreeableness → research starting to suggest agreeable ppl might hv more fine tuned mechanisms for socializing processes highly agreeable also related to hving ssmaller superior temporal sulcus and larger cingulate cortex and fuisform gyrus, areas involved in perceiving faces and decoding intentions Chapter 12: Personality 9  conscientiousness → regions in preforontal cortex for exerting self-control and anterior cingulate cortex for moniotring behavior for goals also hv a larger middle frontal gyrus and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex which si why they are so goal-directed evidence underpinning extraversion and openness is more mixed extraversion → reward systems, those w high extraversion hv larger medial OFC, brain region that monirors reward value of stimuli in environment evidence far from conclusive openness → neurological mechanisms associated w curiosity and creative thinking evidence is indirect ex. ppl who score higher on measures of openenss show greater activiation in defult mode netowrk, but clear links yet to be established 12.14 Person-Situation Debate: Critique of Trait Approach when we define personality in terms of traits, make assumption that those raits help us predict behavior 1. traits hv some effect in explaining behavior, but trait theorists might be overselling how influencial these traits are in directing what we do a. r= 0.30 → correlation btwn trait and behavior 2. assumes person w given trait will behave in consistent way accross diff situations a. can be closed mindedness in politics but open in music 3. maybe traits are not smthg internal to ppl that direct their behavior but templates we use ot perceive and categorize others personality and situation are both important influences on how we behave, each contributes peice to bigger puzzle traits are merely what we perceive in others → rebuttled w a lot of evidence demonstrating that traits map onto more objective measures of behavior Chapter 12: Personality 10  personality x situation interactions is best approach to understand and predict behavior 12.5 Social Learning Theory social learning theory → how ppl’s behaviors and personalities are shaped by observing and imitating the actions of others 1970s → cognitive revolution → cognitions play and intermediary role btwn context and behavior reciprocal determinism → our personality provides us w distinct cognitions about the world that can shape the environments we choose and the impact of those environments on us extraverts prefer loud party aggressive ppl like to play violent video games but once we are in environment, our traits shape how we see and interpret what goes on → role of cognition who we are can create and change the situation around us ex. if i am annoyed w ppl my behavior will make others hostile and annyoed too → reinforces my likelihood of being agfressive Bandura showed children will imitate aggressive acts they observe in series of studies, children watched model enter room w toys and kick the doll when children were left alone in the room, they tried out kicking the doll too children did not imitate the violence if they saw the model get punished children do not just elarnbehavior but also consequences by observing others behavioral tendencies also shaped through media and cultural norms Chapter 12: Personality 11  12.6 Having and Lacking Control we are much better off when we think we are in control of our actions than when we feel we are merely pawns being manipulated by environment high internal locus of control → believe they can contorl their fate, control is located internally predicts greater success at school and work, lower levels of depression, better physical health high external locus of control→ believe outside forces determine what happens to them outcome efficacy → belief that if person can perform a behavior, a desired outcome will result self-efficacy → the belief that one can succesfully execute a behavior linked to a desired outcome learned helplessness → we develop a passive resignation to our situation bc we have past experience of being unable to control it ex. dogs who received shock on left side of cage could escape by jumping hurdle to right side; most dogs quickly learned to jump; dogs who had no contorl over shocks in earlier study did not learn to jump hurdle; dogs had learned helplessness positive illusion of control argued to be hallmark of good mental health depressive realism → depressed ppl painfully aware of their limitations and things outside their control 12.7 Gender and Personality assigned sex → biological and anatomical differences that make us male and female gender identity → psychological identity we hv as being male, female, or nonbinary gender expression → ways in which our personality and behavior are expressions of mascule and feminine traits Chapter 12: Personality 12  agency → makes someone asserive, dominant and independant feminity/communion → makes someone caring, cooperative, gentle women score higher on average in communion and men in agency sexual selection → evolutionary position suggesting men and women develop distinct personality traits bc of different reproductive challenges they face higher agency in men and communion in women testoerone five times more in men than women oxytocin higher in women than men large meta analysis of all studies finds more evidence for similarity than difference between men and women cultural and social roles hv power to magnify or diminish differences social role theory → roles we find ourselves in can shape our personality 12.18 Humanist Perspectives on Personality humanist perspective → school of thought emphasizes intrinsic value of human nature optimistic view of ppl we can acheive our potential when accepted by others self-actualization → process of fulfilling our true potential, gaining a sense of personal autonomy, accepting ourselves for who we are, and accepting those around us when accept who we are, which helps if others value us unconditionallu, we find ourselves on path to self-actualization and growth abraham maslow (1958) → this is climb up hierarchy of needs experience of flow → body moves without conscious effort, exertion, or evaluation from mind intuitive appeal of humanist approach is a common critique → its osbervations are not investigated w scientific methodology Chapter 12: Personality 13  self-determination theory → well-being and success are most likely to be acheived when a person’s environments support three key motivations: autnonomy, competence, and relatedness (feeling affiliated w others) 12.19 The Self-Concept: Shaping How We View the World self-theorists interested in ppl’s own perceptions of traits (merges w humanist approach) self-concept → broad network of mental representations that ppl hv of themselves reflected appraisals → means by which we gather information abt ourselves are through interactions w others social comparison → sizing ourselves up to ppl around us self-concept works diff in diff contexts ex. you feel like completly diff person w one set of friends than w another representation of possible selves can play an importnat role in motivating our behavior ex. low income children perform better academically if they are given strategies to guide their progress toward an ideal concept of themselves as students 12.20 Self-Esteem: A Motivation to See Ourselves Positvely self-serving biases → ways of processing information to maintain a positive attitude twoard self self-serving biases: 1. self-serving attributions → the tendency to attribute good outcomes to smthg about us but discount bad outcomes due to situation or bad luck 2. above-average effect → we hate to think that we are average or below 3. idiosyncratic trait definitions → define traits in ways that seem true to us Chapter 12: Personality 14  a. ex. straight A student and street hustler might both see themselves as above average intelligent, but define intelligence very differently 4. overestimating our contributions → ppl hv general tendency to overestimate their own contributions ppl who hv more positive views of themselves are happier, more succesful, and hv better social relationships sociometer theory → self-esteem is a judgement of self-worth to assess where they stand in society and how likely they’ll be accepted by others terror management theory → downside of human consciousness is awareness of our mortality thoughts of death can be kept at bay by hving sense of self-worth self esteem is derived from feeling that we are living up to the standards dictated by our preferred cultural worldview if you believe you are good person → thoughts of death will not make you as anxious narcissism → tendency to hv unrealistic and self-aggrandizing views of one’se self linked to more unstable forms of high-self esteem report positive views of themselves even though their automatic tendency is to associate self with bad behave agressively to those who threaten their positive self-view 12.21 Collectivism, Individualism, and Self-Eesteem independant self-construal → notion of the self as a bounded and stable entity distinct from others individualistc cultures interdependant self-cosntrual → notion of self as defined by one’s connections to other ppl motivation to fit in and maintain grou pharmony takes precedence Chapter 12: Personality 15  although being raised in diff culture establishes diff frames of self → they are flexible ex. when you immigrate, you get incorporated into that group’s culture Chapter 12: Personality 16