PSYC 305 - midterm 1 content

what is personality?

what are the types of environments that personality influences?

what does personality not include?

what are the 3 levels of personality analysis?

what is the human nature level of personality analysis?

what is an example of human nature level of personality analysis?

what is the individual and group differences level of personality analysis?

what are individual differences and what is one example?

what are group differences and what is one example?

what is the individual uniqueness level of personality analysis?

what is an example of individual uniqueness level of personality analysis?

how does uniqueness arise in an individual?

why can uniqueness be difficult to describe?

what were the early attempts at studying psychology?

• astrology

• four temperaments

• physiognomy

• phrenology

what are barnum statements and what often uses them?

statements that can broadly apply to most people / situations

• often used in astrology / horoscopes

what is descriptive research for personality?

used to describe personality

what is explanatory research for personality?

used to discover relationships between traits or between personality and other phenomena

what are the sources of personality data for descriptive research?

• self-reports / surveys (S-data)

• observer-reports (O-data)

• test-data (T-data)

• life history / life-outcome data (L-data)

what is test data (T-data)?

individuals placed in an experiment under same conditions

• different responses are scored based on desired measures

what is life history / life-outcome data (L-data)?

data obtained from publicly available information using public records

what are the common concerns from descriptive research data?

• reliability

• validity

• generalizability

what are the ways of relating personality data in explanatory research?

• experimental methods

• correlational studies

what are experimental methods of explanatory research?

what are correlational studies for explanatory research?

what is replication in a study?

the process of repeating a study in a different population / context to gain confidence in findings

what is meta-analysis?

a statistical procedure for combining data from multiple studies

• data is standardized across studies and compared

• we gain confidence when the results are consistent

what is the NEO-FFI?

a personality survey

• consistent with the internal casual properties view of traits

what is WEIRD research?

Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic

• most published psych research in top journals is based on samples drawn from entirely WEIRD populations

what are case studies?

an in-depth examination of the life of one person

• descriptive, exploratory, or explanatory in nature

what are traits?

the basic building blocks of personality

• universal dimensions with individual differences

what are the two ways that traits are viewed?

• internal casual properties

• descriptive summaries of behaviour

what is the internal casual properties view of traits?

what is the descriptive summaries of behaviour view of traits?

what are the 3 approaches to determine what traits are most important?

• lexical approach

• statistical approach

• theoretical approach

what is the lexical approach and it’s 2 criteria to determine important traits?

all important individual differences have become encoded within language over time because trait terms are important for communication

• synonym frequency - there should be many words for it

• cross-cultural universality - people everywhere will have a word for it

what is the statistical approach to determine important traits?

factor analysis is primarily used to determine covariance

• covariance determines which items (trait terms) may go together based on self-reports / surveys

what is the theoretical approach to determine important traits?

starts with a theoretical framework which determines the variables / traits that are important to study

• multifaceted approaches are common (results from one approach influences another)

what are the 4 trait taxonomies?

• 1. Hierarchical Model of Personality (Eyenck)

• 2. The Interpersonal Circumplex / Big Two (Wiggs)

• 3. Five-factor Model of Personality (Big Five)

• 4. HEXACO Model of Personality

what is the Hierarchical Model of Personality?

contains 2 criteria for personality traits:

• must be heritable

• must have psychophysiological function

proposes 3 broad traits:

• extraversion, neuroticism, psychoticism

each consist of narrow traits → which consist of habitual actions → which consist of specific actions

• can predict down, not up

what are narrow traits of extraversion (Hierarchical Model)?

• sociable

• lively

• carefree

what are narrow traits of neuroticism (Hierarchical Model)?

• anxious

• moody

• irrational

what are narrow traits of psychoticism (Hierarchical Model)?

• aggressive

• unempathic

• impulsive

what is the psychophysiology of introversion?

introverts have higher cortical and nervous system arousal to moderate-to-high levels of stimulation

what is the psychophysiology of neuroticism?

neuroticism is associated with greater reactivity to stress and negative stimuli

what is the psychophysiology of psychoticism?

psychoticism is associated with higher testosterone and lower monoamine oxidase (neurotransmitter regulator)

what is the Circumplex Model of Personality?

primarily concerned with interpersonal traits / interactions between people involving social exchanges, with social exchange defined by 2 resources

• love - emotional component (communion)

• status - social component (agency)

looks at a graph intersecting status and love

what are the “Big Two” and what do they describe?

agency and communion

• describe two primary modes of existence, or motives of human behaviour

what is agency?

competence, assertiveness

• refers to existence of an organism as an individual

• to getting ahead and goal-pursuing

what is communion?

warmth, morality

• refers to participation of an individual in a larger organism

• to getting along and forming bonds

what is the Five-Factor Model of Personality?

the leading personality taxonomy today, based on 5 broad traits or factors

• extraversion (surgency)

• neuroticism (emotional stability)

• conscientiousness (dependability)

• agreeableness

• openness to experience

also has a hierarchical organization of traits (factors / broad traits → narrow traits → specific behaviours)

what is evidence for the Five-Factor Model of Personality?

it has been independently replicated in many cultures, countries, languages, item formats, and in every decade since 1949

what is extraversion / narrow traits of (Big Five)?

enjoy engaging with the external world

• warmth

• excitement seeking

• assertiveness

what is neuroticism / narrow traits of (Big Five)?

prone to negative emotions rather than being emotionally resilient

• anxiety

• self-consciousness

• anger / hostility

what is conscientiousness / narrow traits of (Big Five)?

task focused and organized rather than distractible and disorganized

• competence

• self-discipline

• order

what is agreeableness / narrow traits of (Big Five)?

cooperative and polite rather than antagonistic and rude

• altruism

• compliance

• modesty

what is openness to experience / narrow traits of (Big Five)?

broad range of interests, sensitive to art and beauty, prefer novelty to routine

• fantasy

• ideas

• aesthetics

what level of the organization of traits is best for prediction?

narrow traits

• broad traits are too broad

• specific behaviours are too specific

what is the HEXACO Model of Personality?

a six-factor structure of personality

• Honesty / Humility

• Emotionality (sentimentality / dependence)

• eXtraversion

• Agreeableness (low anger)

• Conscientiousness

• Openness to experience

what is Honesty / Humility and narrow traits of (HEXACO)?

honest, faithful, and modest rather that sly, deceitful, and greedy

• sincerity

• fairness

• modesty

what is low levels of Honesty / Humility correlated with?

dark personality traits - socially averse traits in the subclinical range associated with a callous-manipulative interpersonal style

• machiavellianism

• narcissism

• subclinical psychopathy

• dispositional sadism