Personality

1. Personality

2. Personality Defined • Individual’s characteristic manner of interacting with the world, and other people in particular • Person’s unique pattern of thoughts, feelings, behaviors, that persist over time and across situations

3. Trait Theories • TRAIT: relatively stable disposition to behave a certain way • Characteristics or factors on which individuals differ • State vs. Trait • Traits triggered by environmental cues which elicit behavior • Traits are dimensional, not categorical

4. Trait Theories • Trait theories: specify a manageable set of distinct personality dimensions that summarize fundamental differences between people • Focus on describing personality

5. Hippocrates’ Humors • Black Bile: sad (melancholic) personality • Yellow Bile: excitable (choleric) personality • Phlegm: slow, sluggish (phlegmatic) personality • Blood: relaxed, playful (sanguine) personality

6. Constitutional Theory • William Sheldon: body type related to personality type • Ectomorphic: thin and frail • Mesomorphic: strong and muscular • Endomorphic: soft and round

7. Constitutional Theory • 3 Personality Types • Cerebrotonic: quiet, scholarly, timid • Somatotonic: bold and adventurous • Visceratonic: cheerful, calm, relaxed

8. Constitutional Theory • Ectomorphic  Cerebrotonic • Mesomorphic  Somatotonic • Endomorphic  Viscerotonic

9. Raymond Cattell (1950) • Chemist • Molecules to atoms • Traits to personality • 18,000 adjectives reduced to 170 • Self report surveys & factor analysis • Identified 16 central traits

10. Sociable – Unsociable Intelligent – Unintelligent Emotionally stable – Unstable Dominant – Submissive Cheerful – Brooding Conscientious – Undependable Bold – Timid Sensitive - Insensitive Suspicious – Trusting Imaginative – Practical Shrewd – Naïve Guilt proclivity – Guilt rejection Radicalism – Conservatism Self-sufficiency – Group adherence Disciplined – Uncontrolled Tense - Relaxed Cattell’s 16 Central Traits

11. Hans Eysenck (1952) • 2 basic personality traits • Introversion – Extroversion • Tendency to avoid or seek excitement • Extroverts = sociable, adventurous • Introverts = unsociable, introspective • Neuroticism – Stability • Emotional stability, tendency to be upset

12. Hans Eysenck (1952) • Psychoticism – Nonpsychoticism • Proclivity for aggression, lack of concern for others vs. cooperative, empathetic

13. The Big Five • Neuroticism – Stability • Extroversion – Introversion • Openness to experience – Non-openness • Agreeableness – Antagonism • Conscientiousness - Undirectedness

14. Neuroticism (Emotional Stability) • High Scorers: unexcitable, unemotional, autonomous, individualistic • Low Scorers: insecure, anxious, touchy, emotional, anxious

15. Extroversion • High scorers: enthusiastic, gregarious, playful, happy-go-lucky, energetic, talkative, confident, optimistic • Low scorers: unsociable, nonverbal, detached, unadventurous, moody

16. Openness • High scorers: introspective, deep, insightful, intelligent, creative, curious • Low scorers: shallow, unimaginative, unobservant, ignorant

17. Agreeableness • High scorers: accomodating, genial, understanding, leniant, courteous, flexible, affectionate • Low scorers: antagonistic, unsympathetic, demanding, irritable, distrustful, stubborn

18. Conscientiousness • High scorers: organized, efficient, reliable, persistent, cautious, punctual • Low scorers: disorganized, careless, inconsistent, forgetful, aimless, lazy, impractical

19. Stability of traits • Stable throughout adulthood • Especially after age 30 • r’s:.50 - .70 over 30-40 yrs • Personality may change somewhat in response to life changes (career, marital status, critical events)

20. Predictive value • Reliability vs. Validity • Do personality tests predict actual behavior? • YES • Extroverts: less startled by loud noise, live/work with more people, sexually open minded • Conscientiousness: better job performance, marital fidelity

21. Predictive value • Openness: job changes

22. Situationists • People behave in a certain way not because of their traits, but because of the situations we find ourselves in • Interactionism: compromise position • Acknowledges both traits and situations

23. Physiological Theory of Extraversion • Eysenck – arousability hypothesis • Extroverts: brains less easily aroused, sensation seeking • Introverts: hypersensitive to arousal, sensation avoidant • Learning in presence of loud noise, startle response, salivation response, tolerance for shock

24. Physiological impact of genetics • Relationship between Neuroticism and gene related to increased serotonin • Novelty seeking (impulsivity, excitability) and gene related to decreased dopamine

25. Heritability of Traits • Nature vs. Nurture • Heritability estimate for monozygotic twins = .50 (50% of variability) • Dyzygotic twins no more similar than unrelated individuals • University of Minnesota studies

26. Heritability of Traits • Traditionalism – measure of conservative values (.60) • Opposition to the death penalty (.50) • Genetic predispositions influence attitudes individual attends to and adopts

27. Environmental Influences • Not unimportant, but less important than assumed • 2 kids raised in same environment will experience that environment very differently • Scarr (1981) – compared non-twin adopted kids with (a) bio sibs and (b) adoptive sibs • Bio siblings more similar than adopted • No more similar to adoptive sibs than strangers

28. Personality as mental processes • Psychodynamic • Social cognitive • Humanistic

29. Psychodynamic Theories • Emphasize the interplay of mental forces • people are often unconscious of their motives • processes called defense mechanisms work to keep unacceptable drives/urges out of consciousness • Personality differences lie in unconscious motives & how they are ultimately manifested

30. Psychodynamic Theories • Freud - to understand patient’s problems/personality, must learn about content of unconscious • Conscious thought a poor reflection of true wants, needs, desires • unconscious “leaks” (Freudian slips, dreams, free associations)

31. Psychodynamic Theories • Drives equivalent to physical forms of energy • build up, must be released • to function in society, must learn to direct sexual/aggressive drives in acceptable ways • Defense mechanisms serve to reduce anxiety by keeping unacceptable drives out of consciousness

32. Defense mechanisms • Repression: anxiety-produc9ing thoughts pushed and kept out of consciousness • “I don’t remember much about my childhood” • repression dams up mental energy • “leaks” are dealt with via other defense mechanisms

33. Defense mechanisms • Displacement: unconscious wish/drive that would be unacceptable to conscious mind is redirected toward acceptable alternative • breast feeding --> cigarette smoking, eating • Sublimation: channeling one’s energies towards behaviors valued by society • E.g., corporate killers, surgeons

34. Defense mechanisms • Reaction formation: turning a frightening wish into its safer opposite • Norman Bates - Hate Mom vs. Love Mom • Homophobia • “The lady doth protest too much”

35. Defense mechanisms • Projection: person consciously experiences an unconscious drive or wish as though it were someone else’s • Holden Caulfield - Catcher in the Rye • Rationalization: use of conscious reasoning to explain away anxiety-provoking thoughts/feelings • “I only hit you because I love you”

36. Neo-Freudians • Karen Horney - focused on security as inborn need • parents influence kid’s personality via ways in which they succeed/fail at alleviating kid’s anxiety • 3 unhappy personality styles • Moving away from people (Avoiding others) • Moving towards people (Giving in to others) • Moving against people (Dominating others)

37. Neo-Freudians • Alfred Adler: drive for competence, striving for significance, sense of achievement • we all begin with sense of inferiority (helpless, dependent) • Inferiority complex: act inadequate, dependent • Superiority complex: better than others, overcompensation

38. Social-Cognitive theories • Personality has a lot to do with our own perceptions of ourselves and our abilities • Social learning theory • learned beliefs and habits become ingrained and automatic (unconscious) • learned beliefs/habits in thinking increase or decrease ability to take control of own life

39. Julian Rotter - Locus of Control • Locus of control: beliefs about whether outcomes are under internal vs. external control • Internal: belief that one controls one’s own fate • takes credit for successes • responsibility for failures

40. Julian Rotter - Locus of Control • External: belief that one’s fate is governed by luck, chance, or forces beyond one’s control • Internal generally better than external • preventive health care measures, resist group pressures in social situations (jury), prefer games of skill over chance • promotes hard work, perseverance, success

41. Bandura’s Social Learning Theory • Personality is behavior, and behavior is dependant on our expectancies • expectancies: what a person thinks will result from behaving in a certain way under certain circumstances • self-efficacy - expectation that one will be successful in his/her efforts

42. Bandura’s Social Learning Theory • Reciprocal determinism: we act as a stimulus on the social environment and the environment, in turn, acts on us • attractive, socially adept child is well received and valued by peers, which in turn increases self-esteem and self-efficacy, which makes him more well liked • reverse also true

43. Bandura’s Social Learning Theory • Self efficacy vs. locus of control • Self efficacy - person’s sense of own ability • Locus of control - subjective sense of whether or not that ability will produce rewards • Child-rearing that emphasizes abilities/successes lead to future success

44. Humanistic theories • Any personality theory that asserts the fundamental goodness of people and their striving toward higher levels of functioning • Carl Rogers • self-actualizing tendency: drive of all humans to fulfill their potential • fully functioning person: congruence between actual and ideal self

45. Humanistic theories • Unconditional vs. Conditional positive regard • the individual’s perception/experience is the only one that really matters • “I am not being my real self” • “I don’t want people to know the real me” • Natural tendency for self-actualization stunted by demands and judgments the world places on us

46. Maslow’s Hierarchy • Self-actualization needs (self expression, creativity, connectedness with the “broader universe”) • Esteem needs • Belongingness and love needs • Safety needs • Physiological needs

47. Personality as adaptation • Personality in terms of function, ruvival value • Diversification of investment - reduces potential for dramatic loss, maintains likelihood of long term gains • Alternative niches

48. Sibling contrasts • Parents and individuals emphasize sibling differences • sibling contrast: if sibs seen as having different abiliities, needs, etc, less likely to compete, more likely to be valued for uniqueness • split parent identification: reduces competition for parental investment

49. Birth Order • Earlier born are bigger, stronger, wiser, more competent • First borns tend to adopt parental roles and values • respect for authority and conservative attitudes • Later born, higher on Openness factor

50. Sex Differences • Nature vs. Nurture • Agreeableness - Antagonism (females more concerned about establishing/maintaining relationships) • Women higher on Conscientiousness and Neuroticism • Men tend to be higher on sensation seeking (decreases with age)