Personality Psychology: Approaches, Traits, and Research Methods

What is personality?

An individual's characteristic patterns of thought, emotion, and behavior, plus the psychological mechanisms behind them, showing consistency across situations.

What does the Trait Approach study?

Stable individual differences in behavior and thought, and their underlying psychological causes.

Example of trait-related behavior?

Extraverts make more calls; agreeable people get longer texts.

What does the Biological Approach emphasize?

Brain structures, biochemistry, genetics, and evolution's role in shaping personality.

Example of biological influence on personality?

Phineas Gage's frontal lobe injury changed self-regulation and personality.

What is the Psychoanalytic Approach?

Focuses on unconscious motives and internal conflicts influencing behavior.

What is the Phenomenological/Humanistic Approach?

Emphasizes personal experience, free will, and the search for meaning.

What do Learning and Social Learning Theories propose?

Behavior changes through reinforcement, punishment, and observing others.

What does the Cognitive Approach focus on?

How mental processes and perceptions shape personality.

What does the Cultural Approach emphasize?

How culture and social context shape personality development and expression.

What are the four BLIS data sources?

Behavioral, Life Outcome, Informant, and Self-Report data.

Pros/cons of Behavioral Data?

Objective and controlled, but costly and open to interpretation bias.

Pros/cons of Life Outcome Data?

Real-world and objective, but lacks context and influenced by external factors.

Pros/cons of Informant Data?

Multiple perspectives and context, but biased and limited to observable behavior.

Pros/cons of Self-Report Data?

Rich in internal states, but prone to self-bias and social desirability.

What is reliability?

The consistency of a measure across time, items, or raters.

What is validity?

The degree to which a test measures what it claims to measure.

What are types of validity?

Face, predictive/criterion, convergent, discriminant, construct validity.

What are the main research designs in personality psychology?

Case studies, correlational studies, experiments, and longitudinal studies.

What are the pros/cons of case studies?

Rich detail but low generalizability.

What is the limitation of correlational studies?

They cannot establish causality.

What is the key feature of experimental studies?

Manipulation of variables to test causal relationships.

What are independent vs. dependent variables?

IVs are manipulated; DVs are measured outcomes.

What does WEIRD stand for?

Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic.

Why is WEIRD sampling a problem?

It limits generalizability to other cultures.

What is effect size?

A measure of the magnitude of a relationship or effect.

What is statistical significance?

Likelihood results occurred by chance (p < .05).

What are questionable research practices?

P-hacking, selective reporting, small samples, or post-hoc hypothesizing.

What is reproducibility vs. replicability?

Reproducibility = duplicating analyses; replicability = repeating the study.

What are key ethical principles in research?

Informed consent, minimal harm, debriefing, and participant rights.

What do IRBs do?

Review studies to ensure ethical compliance.

What is the central issue of the Person-Situation Debate?

Whether traits or situations better predict behavior.

What is the Situationist view?

Behavior depends mostly on context.

What is the Personality view?

Traits are stable and predict general patterns across situations.

What is situational constraint?

Situations can amplify or suppress personality expression.

What is the Fundamental Attribution Error?

Overemphasizing traits, underestimating situations.

What does RAM stand for?

Realistic Accuracy Model.

What are the four stages of RAM?

Relevance, Availability, Detection, Utilization.

What makes a good judge?

Attentive, motivated, and socially skilled.

What makes a good target?

Transparent, expressive, consistent behavior.

What are self-fulfilling prophecies?

Expectations that shape behaviors to confirm the expectation.

What are the three approaches to identifying traits?

Lexical, statistical, theoretical.

What are the Big Five traits?

Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness.

What is the typological approach?

Grouping people into personality types (e.g., over-controlled).

Critiques of the Big Five?

Too broad, not theory-based, lacks explanatory power.

What is mean-level change?

Average trait levels in a population change over time.

What is rank-order stability?

Individual differences in traits remain consistent relative to others.

What are person-environment transactions?

Active, reactive, and evocative interactions shaping personality.

What is the maturity principle?

Traits like conscientiousness increase with age.

What is narrative identity?

The self-story composed of actor, agent, and author roles.

What does the amygdala do?

Processes emotion and fear; linked to emotional learning.

Function of the prefrontal cortex?

Self-regulation, planning, and emotional control.

Role of the anterior cingulate?

Detects errors and regulates emotion.

What does the hippocampus do?

Forms and retrieves memories.

What does fMRI measure?

Blood flow (good spatial, poor temporal resolution).

What does EEG measure?

Brain's electrical activity (good temporal, poor spatial).

What is ERP?

EEG response time-locked to stimuli.

What is TMS used for?

Temporarily disrupts brain areas to test causal effects.

Why study brain damage?

Reveals functions of affected areas.

What are the two ANS branches?

Sympathetic (arousal) and parasympathetic (rest).

What is skin conductance?

A measure of sweat gland activity showing arousal.

What is the startle response?

Eye-blink reaction; larger with negative emotion.

Which hemisphere is linked to positive emotions?

Left (approach, reward).

Which hemisphere is linked to negative emotions?

Right (withdrawal, avoidance).

What does dopamine influence?

Reward, motivation, novelty seeking (↑ in extraversion).

What does serotonin regulate?

Mood and emotional impulses (low = anxiety, aggression).

What does norepinephrine do?

Triggers alertness and stress response.

What does cortisol indicate?

Stress level; chronic high = anxiety, low = risk-taking.

What does testosterone affect?

Dominance, aggression, and sexual behavior.

What do estrogen and oxytocin promote?

Bonding, nurturing, and social affiliation.

What biological systems are linked to Neuroticism?

Serotonin, cortisol, right frontal lobe, amygdala.

What systems are linked to Agreeableness?

Serotonin, prefrontal cortex, posterior cingulate.

What systems are linked to Conscientiousness?

Serotonin and middle frontal gyrus.

What systems are linked to Extraversion?

Dopamine, orbitofrontal cortex, striatum, nucleus accumbens.

What systems are linked to Openness?

Dopamine and prefrontal regions.