PERSONALITY

 

PERSONALITY:
STRUCTURE, THEORIES, MEASUREMENT

How would you describe yourself?

•      cool, reserved  or warm, easy going

•      concrete thinking or abstract thinking

•      easily upset or calm, stable

•      not assertive or dominant

•      sober, serious   or happy-go-lucky

•      expedient or conscientious

•      tough-minded or tender-minded

•      trusting or suspicious 

•      practical or imaginative

•      forthright or shrewd

•      self-assured or apprehensive

•      conservative or experimenting

•      group-oriented            or self-sufficient

•      undisciplined or self-disciplined

•      relaxed            or tense, driven

DEFINITION OF PERSONALITY

Personality consists of all the relatively STABLE and DISTINCTIVE styles of thought, behavior and emotional response that characterize a person’s adaptations to surrounding circumstances.

Why don’t people react in the same way to the same situation?

•      early life experiences

•      biological makeup

•      learning

Can we predict behavior? Does it depend on personality traits or on situation?

 Is personality assessment meaningful?

DIFFERENT PERSONALITY THEORIES

•      psychoanalytic approach

•      trait theories

•      social cognitive approach

•      humanistic approach

•      evolutionary/biological approach

PSYCHOANALYTIC APPROACH

•      Sigmund Freud

•      childhood experiences

•      the role of unconscious in motivating human actions

TRAIT THEORIES

•      What are fundamental elements of personality?

•      A trait: any relatively enduring way in which one individual differs from another

–     stable in time

–     consistent over situations

–     their combination is the cause of the individual differences

SOCIAL COGNITIVE APPROACH

•      active, conscious aspects of our personality

•      different ways in which individuals interpret events

•      personality styles are shaped by observational learning

–     self-efficacy

HUMANISTIC APPROACH

•      emphasizes human potential for growth, creativity and spontaneity

•      self-concept

BIOLOGICAL APPROACHES

•      evolutionary approach

•      behavioral genetic approach

GORDON ALLPORT

Themes in Allport’s work

•      Allport argued that humans are consistent (“remarkably recognizable”) in personality even though they may vary from situation to situation.

•      Some research supports Allport’s view; other studies suggest situations make people change their behavior.

THE CONCEPT OF THE SELF

•      Allport argued for the idea of self as a major focus of personality growth. 

•      Today, a good deal of research in clinical & social psychology focuses on the idea of the self (e.g., self-concept, self-esteem, self-efficacy). 

PERSONALITY & SOCIAL INFLUENCES

•      Although Allport focused on personality traits, he did recognize the importance of social factors & how they influence individuals. 

ALLPORT’S DEFINITION OF PERSONALITY

“Personality is the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine his unique adjustments to the environment.” (1937)

•      “Personality is the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine his characteristic behavior and thought” (1961)

•      This is not tacitly accepted by personality psychologists.

COMPONENTS OF ALLPORT’S DEFINITION

Dynamic organization

–     we need to integrate all parts of our personality into a whole. 

–     Organized and patterned personality

–     Subject to change, not static, but growing and changing

–     Criticisms:  the theme of unity isn’t shared by everyone.  Learning theorists focus on discrete units of behavior. 

Psychophysical Systems

–     Allport argued that biology influences our personality development.

–     He accepted the idea that temperament, constitutes an inherited biological foundation for personality.

–     There is some evidence that this might be the case.  The temperaments of young children tend to be consistent into adulthood.

Determinative

•      Personality is something an does something

•      Not merely mask we wear, nor is it simply behavior.

•      traits are not just predictor’s of behavior, they actually determine (cause) behavior. 

•      Allport felt these were actually physical (tangible) although he didn’t know how they related to the neural systems.

•      Accused to be circular reasoning

How does circular reasoning work?

•      Jane hits Mary (behavior)

•      We observe hitting behavior & say that Jane is high on “aggression” (a trait).

•      When asked why Jane is aggressive—we say “Because he hit Mary.”

Unique

•      Allport felt that traits are highly individualized or unique. 

•      He disagreed with theorists who asserted that one or a few instincts motivate all people (sexual drives, striving for superiority). 

Adjustments to the Environment

•      Allport felt that our personalities develop as a function of learning to adapt to social situations while trying to achieve our needs.

Traits

•      Allport felt that our personality was made up of traits.

•      If you know a person’s traits, you can provide a description of their personality.

What are Traits?

•      A trait is a consistent, long-lasting tendency in behavior.

E.g., shyness, hostility

Can we all be described by the same traits?
What do you think?

Allport wasn’t willing to rule either of these out, although most researchers agree we have the same traits in different degrees.

INDIVIDUAL VS. COMMON TRAITS

•      Allport argued we have both individual traits & common traits.

•      Individual traits -- possessed by only 1 person.

•      Common traits-- possessed by all people to a varying extent.

How do we know what traits a person possesses?

•      We can infer them from language (Dictionary Study). 

•      Allport & Odbert identified 17,953 trait names, from the dictionary (4.5% of total words). 

ALLPORT’S PERSONAL DISPOSITION THEORY

Gordon Allport suggested that each individual has a unique set of personality traits called individual dispositions

1. Cardinal trait is a trait so dominant that a person’s entire life revolves around it
2. Central traits are qualities that characterize a person’s daily interactions
3. Secondary traits are characteristics that are exhibited in specific situations

CENTRAL TRAITS

•      Central traits are the major characteristics of an individual. 

•      These usually number from 5 to 10 in any one person  (e.g., honesty, sociability).

•      These are rather pervasive & effect many behaviors.  We can use a small number of adjectives to describe someone. 

SECONDARY TRAITS

•      These are characteristics that effect behavior in fewer situations & are less influential than central or cardinal traits.

•      A preference for ice cream or dislike of modern art would be considered a secondary trait. 

CARDINAL TRAITS

•      This is a single characteristic that directs most of a person’s activities. 

•      It is so pervasive that it dominates just about everything that a person does.

•      E.g., A person so power-hungry that they are solely driven by that need for control.

PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT

Functional Autonomy

–     Traits become independent of their origins in childhood

–     Childhood might be root of the trait or tendency but do not continue to influence the tendency in adulthood

–     It is not necessary to unearth where tendency or trait which dominates a person’s life originated in order to help person deal with the troubling tendency

Unity of the Personality

•      The Proprium: theoritical concept of “self” or “ego”

•      “A sense of what is peculiarly ours, including all aspects of personality that make for inward unity”

STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT OF SELF

•      Bodily Sense of Self (1styear)

–     Sensory information provides an “anchor” for our self-    awareness.

•      Self-Identity (1 or 2-4 or 5)

–     Sense of existence as a separate person

•      Ego Enhancement or Self-Esteem (2-3)

–     Sense of pride or shame depending achievement

–     Testing the limits of the environment

•       Ego-extension (3-4 or 4-6)

–     Identify with personal possessions.

–     With maturity this shifts to loved ones and later to ideal causes and loyalties.

•      Self-Image (4-6)

–     Learned expectations of the roles we are expected to enact

–     Aspirations for the future we seek to attain

•      Rational Agent (6-12)

–     Engage in reflective thought, problem solving

•      Propriate Striving (12 +)

–     “ego-involved” behavior, characterized by the unification of personality in pursuit of major life goals

•      The Knower (adult)

–     Integration of the previous seven aspects of proprium

–     Unified personality

RAYMOND CATTELL

Definition of Personality

Personality = that which permits a prediction of what a person will do in a given situation

Surface traits versus source traits

•      Surface traits = clusters of overt behavior responses that appear to go together

•      Source traits = underlying variable that determine surface manifestations

The Big Five Personality Traits

•      Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness

THE FIVE FACTOR MODEL

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE BIG FIVE AND THE FIVE FACTOR MODEL

•      Five Factor Model is an interpretation of Big
Five Factors

–     FFM asserts that we can describe personality in terms of five broad categories, each of which includes specific attributes

–     Suggests differences among people in these dimensions are

•      Stable

•      Genetic

•      Due to internal mechanism

APPLICATIONS OF THE BIG FIVE AND THE FIVE FACTOR MODEL AND THEORY

•      Job performance

•      Job satisfaction

•      Personality disorders

•      Determine types of therapy

Thinking Critically

•      How abnormal is abnormal?

–     Do personality disorders and psychopathology represent qualitative or quantitative difference in normality?

•      you from individuals who warrant clinical diagnosis?

•      Allport believed that disorders represent a radical discontinuity from normal (qualitatively different)

•      Five factor model suggests disorders are quantitatively different than normal (rather than qualitatively different)

What do you think?

•      Are people with personality disorders qualitatively or quantitatively different from normal people?

•      What impact does your answer have on our beliefs and feelings concerning what separates you from individuals who warrant clinical diagnosis?

Related Developments: Behavioral Genetics and Evolution

The genetic influence on traits

–     Behavioral genetics examines cause of individual differences in human behavior in terms of heredity

–     Twin studies

–     Heritability is degree to which a trait or characteristic is caused by the genotype rather than the environment

Using a genogram to chart personality traits in your family tree

–     Many traits seem to run in families

–     You can chart personality traits in your family tree by drawing a genogram

•      Start by interviewing relatives asking what traits have appeared throughout the generations and how the traits may have varied in specific appearance

•      Create the chart by drawing a symbol to represent yourself and other individuals.

•      Do such activities help you to answer the question of whether genes have an impact on our personalities?

EYSENCK TRAIT THEORY

He felt that many traits are biologically based and were shaped by evolutionary forces (e.g., extraversion, neuroticism).

He used factor analysis to identify traits.

Dimensions of temperament

neuroticism, introversion-extraversion, and psychoticism.

Neuroticism

            -Ranges from normal, fairly calm and collected people to nervous, stressed, and emotionally unstable individuals.

            -High levels of neuroticism may lead to anxiety, hysteria, and obsessive compulsive disorders.

            -Accepted Diathesis-Stress model, which accounted for some people’s predisposition for high levels of neuroticism.

Introversion-Extraversion

            -Ranges from shy, careful, thoughtful, quiet people to outgoing, impulsive, quick-witted, loud people.

            -Individuals with high levels of introversion avoid situations that will cause too much excitement.

            -Individuals with high levels of extraversion thrive in dangerous situations and enjoy adventure.

            -Difference due to physiological condition that is mainly inherited.

Introversion

     Tendermindedness; introspectiveness; seriousness; performance interfered with by excitement; easily aroused but restrained, inhibited; preference for solitary vocations; sensitivity to pain.

Extraversion

    Toughmindedness; impulsiveness; tendency to be outgoing; desire for novelty; performance enhanced by excitement; preference for vocations involving contact with other people; tolerance for pain.

TRAIT TYPE

Choleric- easily angered, hot-tempered, aggressive nature

Melancholic- despondent, sleepless, sad, pessimistic, irritable

Sanguine- courageous, hopeful, cheerful, optimistic, pleasant

Phlegmatic- calm, unemotional, slow, lazy, dull

MEASURING PERSONALITY: OBJECTIVE TESTS (INVENTORIES)

Standardized questionnaires asking a series of questions where people rate themselves

–      Typically include scales

–      Assumes that you can accurately report

–      No right or wrong answers

–     The responses help develop picture of you called a personality profile

–     2 common tests:

–     Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)

–     Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ)

GENETIC INFLUENCES ON PERSONALITY

•      Nature vs. Nurture debate

–     Nature: Biology/genetics determines personality

–     Nurture: Experiences determines personality

–     Not mutually exclusive

•      Biology and experience interact and shape our personalities together

•      How can biology influence our personality?

–     Genes: functional units of heredity, composed of DNA and specify the structure of proteins

•      Specify how the brain and nervous systems should develop and function

•      Influence the behaviors that make up our personality

How do we measure genetic contributions to personality?

1. Studying personality traits in other species
2. Studying temperaments of infants and children
3. Heritability studies in twins and adopted individuals

PERSONALITY TRAITS IN INFANTS AND CHILDREN

Temperaments

Physiological dispositions to respond to the environment in certain ways

•      Present in infancy, assumed to be innate

•      Relatively stable over time

Temperaments:

• Easy/Flexible:  positive disposition, curious about new situations, adaptable, low-moderate emotional intensity

·         40% of babies

• Difficult/Feisty: negative moods, slow to adapt to new situations

·         10 % of babies

• Slow-to-Warm: inactive, calm reactions to environment, negative moods and withdraw from new situations, adapt slowly 15 % of babies 35 % have babies have combination of characteristics and can’t be categorized

THE HERITABILITY OF PERSONALITY TRAITS

Heritability

a statistical estimate of how much variation in a trait can be attributed to genetics within a given population

Heritability of personality traits is about 0.5

Within a group of people, about 50% of the variation associated with a given trait is attributable to genetic differences among individuals in the group.

Genetic predisposition is not genetic inevitability

How is heritability studied?

–      Adoption studies

•      Compare correlations between traits of children and their biological and adoptive parents

Twin Studies

•      Identical twins = share 100 % of genes

•      Fraternal twins = share about ½ genes, just like regular siblings

•      Compare same-sex groups of  identical and fraternal twins

•      Look at personality traits in adopted identical and fraternal twins

ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCES ON PERSONALITY TRAITS

1. Situational Influences (social learning)
2. Parental Influences
3. Social circles (peer pressure)

SITUATIONAL INFLUENCES:SOCIAL LEARNING

•      Behaviorist view:

–     Behaviors are rewarded and punished differently in different situations

•      Social-cognitive view:

–     Personality traits result from a person’s learning history and their expectations, beliefs, perceptions of events and other cognitions

–     Reciprocal (mutual) determinism

Situational Influences: Reciprocal Determinism

Two-way interaction between aspects of the

environment and aspects of the individual in the shaping of personality traits

Situational Influences: Non-shared environment

Unique aspects of a person’s environment and aspects of the individual in the shaping of personality traits

PARENTAL INFLUENCES

Parental child-rearing practices have a strong influence on who we become, but research has shown that it is not the primary determinant:

•      Few parents have a single child-rearing style that is consistent over time and that they use with all children.

•      Even when parents try to be consistent, there may be little relation between what they do and how their children turn out.

The shared environment of the home has little influence on personality.

•      The non-shared environment is a more important influence.

Nevertheless, parents still do influence their children in a number of ways:

•      Religious beliefs and values

•      Intellectual and occupational interests, skills

•      Feelings of self-esteem or inadequacy

•      Degree of helpfulness

Influence on traits that are highly heritable:

•      Aggressiveness

•      Shyness

SOCIAL INFLUENCE: PEER PRESSURE

How many of you have behaved differently around your parents that you do your friends?

Adolescent culture:

different peer groups, organized by different interests, ethnicity and status

Peer acceptance is so important to children and adolescents that being bullied, victimized, or rejected by peers is far more traumatic than punitive treatment by parents.

Cultural Influences on Personality

Culture

A program of shared rules that govern the behavior of members of a community or society

A set of values, beliefs, and attitudes shared by most members of that community

Individualist cultures

Cultures in which the self is regarded as autonomous, and individual goals and wishes are prized above duty and relations with others

Collectivist cultures

Cultures in which the self is regarded as embedded in relationships, and harmony with one’s group is prized above individual goals and wishes