Personality Lecture 1 (Chapter 1) PDF

The study of the person Personality Lecture 1 Chapter 1 1 Objectives Identify what it is that is studied in personality psychology. Define personality. Discuss the goal of personality psychology and how this leads to the basic approac...

The study of the person Personality Lecture 1 Chapter 1 1 Objectives Identify what it is that is studied in personality psychology. Define personality. Discuss the goal of personality psychology and how this leads to the basic approaches. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of Copyright © 2024 W.W. Norton and company and Kathy 2 personality psychology. Foxall, © 2024.  Personality psychology is focused on the psychological triad The psychological triad = how people think, feel, and behave. Copyright © 2024 W.W. Norton and company 3 and Kathy Foxall, © 2024. Characteristics of personality psychology Normal versus extreme patterns of Overlap with personality Personality disorders clinical Both attempt to understand the whole psychology person The whole How all other areas of psychology come together person Copyright © 2024 W.W. Norton and company and K 4 athy Foxall, © 2024.  Definitions of Personality “An individual’s characteristic patterns of thought, emotion, and behaviour, together with the psychological mechanisms— hidden or not—behind those patterns” “An individual’s unique and relatively consistent patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving” 5 Copyright © 2024 W.W. Norton and company and Kathy Foxall, © 2024.  The Goals of Personality Psychology It can seem like an impossible task as it is so Task complex. Personality psychology involves many interacting parts. Explain the whole person in his or her daily Explain environment. Think of an important behavior that you performed Think recently and *all* of the reasons for that behavior. Copyright © 2024 W.W. Norton and company and Kathy Foxall, © 2024. 6 Basic Approaches to Personality 01 02 03 04 Basic Trait Biological Psychoanalyt approaches approach: approach: ic approach: or paradigms how people understand the focus on the differ mind in terms unconscious psychologically of the body mind and internal mental conflict Copyright © 2024 W.W. Norton and company and Kathy Foxall, © 2024. 7  Basic Approaches Phenomenological approach: focus on people’s conscious experience of the world Humanistic: how conscious awareness produces uniquely human attributes; understand meaning and basis of happiness Cross-cultural: how the experience Copyright © 2024 W.W. Norton and company and Kathy Foxall, © 2024. 8 of reality might be  Basic approaches Learning and cognitive processes approach Learning: how behavior changes as a result of rewards, punishments, and other life experiences Classic behaviorism: focuses on overt behavior Social learning: how observation and self- evaluation determine behavior Cognitive personality: focuses on cognitive processes, including perception, memory, and Foxall, © 2024. thought Copyright © 2024 W.W. Norton and company and Kathy 9  Different theories address different questions Major advocates of basic approaches have claimed their approach explains everything worth explaining. They are not mutually exclusive. They address different questions or key concerns. Each ignores many key concerns. One Big Theory (OBT) To explain everything But it’s difficult to do everything well. Copyright © 2024 W.W. Norton and company and 10 Kathy Foxall, © 2024. Advantages as Disadvantages and Vice Versa Funder’s First Law “Great strengths are usually great weaknesses, and surprisingly often the opposite is true as well” Copyright © 2024 W.W. Norton and company and K 11 athy Foxall, © 2024. Appreciation of Individual Differences Personality psychologists emphasize individual differences. This leads to sensitivity and respect for individual differences Other areas of psychology treat people as if they were the same. Copyright © 2024 W.W. Norton and company and Kathy Foxall, © 12 2024.  Would just one perspective, e.g., the biological approach, adequately account for your thoughts, feelings, and behaviour? Copyright © 2024 W.W. Norton and company and Kathy Foxall, © 2024. 13 Copyright © 2024 W.W. Norton and company, and Kathy Foxall, © 2024 Copyright © 2024 W.W. Norton and company and Kathy Foxall, © 2024. 14