Personality

Personality

characteristics of the PERSON that explain consistent patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving

stable, coherent, individual differences

• If a person's behavior changes frequently, it may not be indicative of personality

  • This perspective has changed over time, change in behavior may be a key component of someone's personality itself 

Historical perspectives

“grand theories” felt you fell into one singular category of personality

• Hippocrates ideas of humors and temperaments

• Aristotle postulated the brain to be the seat of the rational mind

• Freud and the unconscious

Levels of personality

• Trait-Dispositional Level: tries to identify consistencies in the basic expressions of personality, what you are generally like

• Biological Level: genetic basis for personality, nature vs nurture

• Psychodynamic-Motivational Level: unconscious personality

• Behavioral-Conditioning Level: analyzes behavior patterns, as well as how they are learned and can be used to change personality

• Phenomenological-Humanistic Level: inner experiences of the person and how they see the world

• Social-Cognitive Level: expectations, beliefs, goals, in combination with emotions and how this is influenced by social relationships

Data methods: interviews, self reports, projective measures, naturalistic observation

• Interviews: 

  • Favored by psychodynamic-motivational level and phenomenological level

  • Usefulness depends on how interview is guided as well as how responses are recorded and interpreted

    • Computers are making this pretty easy

  • Tend to be expensive and time consuming

• Test and Self Reports:

  • Self reports refer to any statements people can make about themselves

    • Often includes responding to questions with “yes, no, strongly agree, frequently…”

  • Performance tests could be using the SAT to see how personality measures in childhood predict academic performance later in life or asking a participant to repeat a long string of numbers backwards as a measure of anxiety

• Projective Measures:

  • Assessors present participants with ambiguous stimuli and ask ambiguous questions, such as inkblot tests

  • Used often on psychodynamic-motivational level

• Naturalistic Observation and Behavioral Sampling;

  • Often ethical concerns prevent psychologists from trying to create lifelike experiments in lab surrounding issues of childhood

  • Naturalistic observation is often preferred

  • Can be used to assess efficacy of treatment as well as identify issues

  • May utilize a one way mirror to minimize effect of observers presence 

Remote behavior sampling

A tiny computerized device carried by respondents pages them at randomly determined times of the day. When the ‘‘beeper’’ sounds, respondents record their current thoughts, feelings, or behaviors, depending on what the researcher or therapist is assessing

Gives insight into not typically observed thoughts and feelings

Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) with cell phones may ask them more detailed questions via app or otherwise like “how do you feel” “are you alone” “did anything weird happen to you today”

Ethics

• Informed consent

• If deception is necessary, participants must be debriefed after the experiment

• Data must be confidential

• Participants must be informed that they are free to withdraw without penalty

• Consent for children or the disabled can be obtained from a parent or guardian

• Scientific panels review the ethics of research proposals in advance 

Peripheral nervous system physiological functioning measures

• Electrocardiogram / EKG: measures heartrate, usually in relation to fight or flight response, might administer as a test of stress, generally cheap

• Galvanic Skin Response / GSR: measures sweating, fight / flight, how rested or alert you are

All measures of physiological functioning require

Establishing a baseline

Central nervous system physiological functioning

• Electroencephalogram / EEG: measures brain waves via cap with electrodes that records electrical activity from the scalp

  • Doesn't give info about specific regions, just overall electricity, therefore has lower spatial resolution than fMRI and PET

  • BUT has good temporal resolution meaning the time you measure activity at is very close to the time it actually occurred (milliseconds)

  • Event related potentials (ERPs): present a stimulus and measure changes in brain activity

• PET scans: measures glucose levels by inserting radioactive tracer that combines with glucose (brain regions use glucose when active)

  • Can also use tracers that bond with specific neurotransmitters like dopamine or serotonin to locate neurotransmitter receptors

  • Considered an invasive method

  • Worse spatial resolution than fMRI, but better than EEG, and more expensive than fMRI

• fMRI: measures magnetic fields, virtually lights up the active regions of the brain during certain tasks

  • Higher in spatial resolution, lower in temporal resolution

  • Much less invasive than a PET scan

  • Most commonly used method, unless research question cannot be answered such as if you are looking for neurotransmitter receptor location

  • Used to compare different parts of the brains (contrasts)

    • Ex. compare brain activity when shown a neutral face and a fearful face, then subtract the neutral face brain activity to find the brain response to fearful images

  • Blood oxygen level and blood flow measured in fMRI

    • BOLD response - blood oxygen level dependent

fMRI versus MRI

fMRI is like a moving feed versus a stagnant image

Hormonal measures of physiological functioning

• Ex. cortisol - stress hormone, high in the morning and decreases through the day

• Most hormones easily detected in saliva, blood is also an option but less accessible typically

• Can use in combo with fMRI to see how hormones affect the brain

Priming

presenting a stimulus just before another stimulus, can alter an individual's response or reaction time

• Ex. paper counting versus money counting

  • One group counted paper, one group counted money and then asked which bowl of chocolate they prefer between two bowls

  • The ones exposed to paper only ate enough to answer the questions while those who counted money just kept eating the chocolate

Memory tasks

• Ex. People who read a story about someone described as extraverted or introverted were more likely to misremember the associated traits with those personalities as having been included in the story, showing that people generally extract the gist of information more than anything else

• Can reveal how people organize information in their minds via associations

Constructs

• concepts, nonmaterial ideas, referring to classes of behavior

  • Ex: aggression - any form of behavior directed toward the goal of harming or injuring another living being who is motivated to avoid such treatment

Operationalization

• translates constructs into something observable and measurable by referring to the specific procedures used to produce or measure something in a specific study

  • Aggression can be operationally defined as: number of school infractions, detentions, kicks to another etc. or maybe a certain score on a personality measure / self-report or maybe brain activity in regions related to aggression

Correlation

• Correlation: relationship between variables

• Correlation coefficient: degree of relationship between variables from -1.0 to +1.0

  • Most common is pearson coefficient (r)

  • Squaring the correlation coefficient tells you what percent of the variation in one variable is accounted for by differences in the other (X explains 10% of change in Y)

  • Correlation does not equal causation (limit of correlational research), there can always be a third variable

    • Use experimental research if you want to say something about causation

    • X causes Y, Y causes X, or C causes X and Y

    • Ex. summer causes ice cream sales and crime to go up

Two main questions of trait dispositional level:

• What are the basic psychological qualities that characterize people?

• How can the consistent differences between people in these qualities be best captured and described

• BONUS - What role does situation play?

Types versus traits

Typologies are typically on discontinuous scales like male versus female, while traits like friendliness are on a continuum

Some psychologists also see traits as not only a label but a …

hypothesized explanation for behavior

• Traits are inferred from behavior

  • May simply begin as a way of describing behavior, “he behaves in a lazy way”

  • Then it becomes a generalization about the person “he is lazy”

  • And eventually used as an explanation “he has a lazy disposition, he's unmotivated”

others see it as simply act trends or behavioral trends, not an explanation

gordon allport two main goals

1. to understand the differences between people in personality

2. to see how the characteristics and processes within an individual interact in an integrated way

Raymond Cattell

• Distinguished between common traits, possessed by many, and unique traits, which only occur in a particular person

• Distinguished between surface traits, overt manifest responses, and source traits which can only be uncovered via factor analysis

• ex. of a surface trait might be being argumentative, whereas the source trait is dominance

  • Source traits can be further divided into environmental-molded traits and constitutional traits, as well as general traits that affect behavior in many situations and specific traits that affect behavior in a limited number of situations

  • Uncovered source traits via

    • Life records

    • Self-ratings

    • Objective tests

• Dynamic traits - relevant to the individuals being “set into action” with respect to a goal

  • way of inadvertently acknowledging the influence of situations

• Ability traits - concerned with effectiveness in gaining the goal

• Temperament traits - concerned with energy or emotional reactivity

common traits versus unique traits

common traits, possessed by many

unique traits, only occur in a particular person

surface traits versus source traits

surface traits, overt manifest responses

source traits can only be uncovered via factor analysis

environmental molded traits versus constitutional traits

environmental etiology versus intrinsic

general versus specific traits

general traits - affect behavior in many situations

specific traits - only come out in specific scenarios

dynamic traits versus ability traits

• Dynamic traits - relevant to the individuals being “set into action” with respect to a goal

• Ability traits - concerned with effectiveness in gaining the goal

temperamental traits

concerned with energy or emotional reactivity

Eysenck focused largely on

extraversion versus introversion as the first major dimension of personality

thought emotional stability to be the second major dimension of personality

Traits versus states

traits - enduring

states - temporary

multiple act criterion

using a pooled combination of many behaviors that are relevant to the trait measured over a period of time rather than during one instance, and a pooled combination of raters to find a correlation between behavior and personality scores

• Reliability increases when the number of items in a test sample is increased and combined

psycholexical approach

• Assumes that the most significant individual differences enter into the natural language of the culture as single-word trait terms

• In these studies many are asked to rate how well many trait terms fit a particular person, the results are then analyzed to see which clusters of words tend to “go together”

Big 5 traits via factor analysis

Conscientiousness

Agreeableness

Neuroticism

Openness to Experience

Extraversion

Can childhood characteristics predict later behavior and attributes?

To some degree yes, depends largely on the characteristic

ex. can’t really predict antisocial behavior as an adult from teen boy antisocial behavior

individual differences in trait dimensions are related to

life outcomes

• Ex. low conscientiousness and open-mindedness combined with high extraversion predicts juvenile delinquency

personality factors that emerge from ratings may reveal more about

raters conceptual categories rather than the actual traits of the subject being judged

qualities of a person interact with

situations they function within

Gordon Allport believed traits to be…

the unifier between stimuli and responses

• Believed traits were all relatively general and enduring

  • Cardinal traits - highly generalized dispositions that influence most aspects of behavior, the personality of the individual becomes almost synonymous with these traits

  • Followed by central traits - less pervasive but still generalized and broadly influential like being honest or kind

  • Followed by secondary dispositions - narrow traits like being nervous about public speaking

    • Early way of including situational influences 

• Thought each person's behavior is determined by their unique trait structure

Raymond Cattell 16 factor personality test

• Warmth

• Reasoning

• Dominance

• Sensitivity

• Vigilance

• Provided info for development of Big 5 traits

Common features of historical trait theorists

• Generality and stability in traits

• Traits are seen to be enduring and states temporary

  • STAI - State trait anxiety inventory used to measure difference between immediate state and long term trait anxiety

• Paid little attention to situational differences

• Quantification via test scores

• Multiple-act criterion: using a pooled combination of many behaviors that are relevant to the trait and a pooled combination of raters to find a correlation between behavior and personality scores

  • Reliability increases when the number of items in a test sample is increased and combined

• aimed to reduce personality into a smaller and more manageable number of traits for the sake of measurement

  • similar to big picture theorists in this way

What is the personality paradox?

It turns out that individuals cross-situational consistency is much lower than expected

situationism

the belief that the situation is more influential than personality

fundamental attribution error

Idea that we tend to place too much emphasis on disposition as an explanation for behavior and not enough on situational effects

Social psych vs personality psych on error variance

social psych views people as the error variance and personality psych views the situation as the error variance

How do we reconcile that individuals differ across situations yet also exhibit stable personalities?

• Use “If… Then…” signatures of personality

  • Consistent behaviors within certain situations

  • Ex. Some children are aggressive with other children yet heed warnings and cooperate with adults

Two types of consistency

• Type 1: Average overall level of behavior tendencies

  • Ex. average overall aggression

• Type 2: If… Then… (situation-behavior) signatures

  • Ex. If challenged by a stranger, then my father acts aggressively

Interactionism

the idea that an individuals behavior can only be understood as an interaction between personality and situational factors

Triple typology

categorizes people, situations, and behavior

Ex. we can categorize “narcissists” and say “if they encounter situations that can bolster their grandiose self-concept, then they will seek to demonstrate their superiority”

Individuals who rate themselves as highly consistent in a given disposition have more stable…

if..then.. behavior signatures than those who see themselves as less consistent

BUT they are not more consistent across different types of situations

biological sciences treat the dynamic interaction between organisms and environments as a…

given

Why do some people but not all people develop depression out of stressful events?

• The short allele of 5-HTT gene is correlated with a stronger risk of developing depression out of adverse and stressful life experiences

  • More people who experienced maltreatment in childhood developed depression if they had this short allele compared to those who had two long alleles

• However these results have not been replicated consistently

Behavior genetics

study of the role of genes in social behavior and personality

G x E

how many chromosomes do we have?

23

DNA is arranged into long strings of small units called…

nucleotides

Every cell in our body has identical DNA so why are some cells skin cells, nerve cells, etc.?

What gets used within our DNA depends on what’s going on in the cell which in turn is influenced by what goes on outside of the cell, eg. what hormones are interacting with them

Gene

region of DNA that influences a particular characteristic in an organism and codes for a protein (or RNA)

People share approximately what percent of DNA?

99.5%

Since people share so much of their DNA, what causes differences in peoples personalities?

The differences between people depend on the intracellular environment and the physical and social environment to which a person is exposed

Who is more alike, monozygotic or dizygotic twins?

Monozygotic are much more alike than fraternal twin pairs in general ability, followed by personality inventory, and then goals, interests, etc.

Monozygotic twins have a correlation of about .50 on traits like extraversion and neuroticism while dizygotic twins have a correlation of about .20

What are temperaments

traits visible in early childhood and suggested to be influenced by genetic and early environmental factors

include:

• emotional reactivity / emotionality (tendency to become easily physiologically aroused and to experience frequent and intense negative emotions)

• sociability

• inhibition

• activity

More heritable beliefs tend to be

harder to influence and more important in determining a persons judgements

How people love is mostly due to…

the family environment

however the propensity to get married in genetically influenced

the cell is

the basic building block of living organisms

builds into tissue, organs, and finally organ systems

what occurs below the cell?

gene expression, molecular interference of proteins, and metabolism of the cell

cells contain organelles and molecules

differences in the cells we have result in…

differences in brain activation and observable behavior

what are the organelles?

nucleus - houses DNA

mitochondria - provides ATP

ribosomes - create proteins

golgi apparatus - packages and modifies proteins

endoplasmic reticulum - transports proteins

lysosomes - gets rid of things

DNA is

double stranded genetic material in the nucleus consisting of sugar, phosphate, and base groups

what are the bases? how many do we have

DNA - A, C, G, T (about 3 billion base pairs)

mRNA - A, C, G, U

what does a difference in bases result in?

genetic variation

bases are organized into

23 chromosome pairs

How many chromosomes do we have? what are they made of

23 pairs or 46 total

22 pairs or 44 are bodily chromosomes and 1 pair or 2 are sex chromosomes (XX female, XY male)

made of DNA + histone

where is DNA housed

the nucleus

how many genes does human DNA have and what do they do

around 20k genes per strand of DNA, they code for mRNA and protein

what do transcription and translation do

Genetic material (DNA) is turned into mRNA via transcription and then protein via translation

What is a gene

functional DNA parts that code for a protein (or RNA)

allele

different forms of a gene that you might inherit

alleles you have affect mRNA and then proteins and then cells

genetic polymorphism

common genetic variations observed in at least 1% of the population

genetic mutations

rare changes in DNA sequences observed in a population

genotype

form of the genes inherited from both parents

ex. A/G single nucleotide polymorphism: AA, AG, GG

Logic of MZ twins reared apart vs together studies?

if genes are constant and correlations are higher for twins reared together, the environment must be responsible for the variance observed

Found that twins who grow up in different environments show dramatic similarities in mannerisms, postures, attitudes, and interests

• However, even when identical twins are reared apart, their similarities on personality measures are not necessarily due to their genes for personality itself. For example, similar interests and values in identical twins may in part reflect their similar physiques and appearance, constitutions, abilities, skills, and physical characteristics rather than any genes for personality. These physical qualities may lead other people to treat them similarly even when the twins live in different environments.

what are some widely studied environmental factors

life experiences - exposure to stress, traumatic events

social factors - social relationships, support, isolation

socioeconomic status - income, education, occupation

lifestyle and habits - diet, exercise, smoking, alcohol and substance use

epigenetic mechanisms

environmental features can affect the expression of genes, but not the DNA sequence itself

gene-environment correlations

genetic features impact the environments experienced

environmental features can also change…

the hardwiring of the brain, thus producing stable changes within the person

ex. sustained stress increased glucocorticoids like cortisol which can have negative health effects such as impairment of the hippocampus which is essential for learning and memory

depression and ptsd are linked to reduction in size of the hippocampus

what are non shared environmental influences?

• The things that children growing up in the “same” family experience so differently that psychologically they are not having the same experience

  • Position in the family

  • Parental reactions

  • Accidents

  • Prenatal events

  • Peer groups

  • Interpersonal experiences such as partners

  • Educational and occupational experiences

Gene-behavior connections: PKU and Down Syndrome

• PKU - an inherited disorder where a genetic abnormality results in lack of an enzyme necessary to process phenylalanine, and consuming it can result in mental deficiencies

• Down syndrome - extra 21st chromosome resulting in mental deficiencies

How much DNA is shared by MZ vs DZ twins

100% in MZ and 50% in DZ (same as normal siblings)

what data collection methods are highest in ecological validity?

remote behavior sampling and naturalistic observation

what might be a limitation of self report methods like surveys or tests

limited in accuracy by subjective element

what are some limits of interviews

expensive, time consuming, hard to code responses, subjective

what are some limitations of naturalistic observation

cannot make causal inferences, hard to replicate, ethical concerns at times

what is a limit of remote behavior sampling?

potential compliance or technical issues

peripheral nervous system may also be associated with

sympathetic nervous system / fight or flight response

what are ERPs

Event related potentials

when you present a stimulus and measure changes in brain activity via EEG

what are contrasts?

comparing brain activity via fMRI under two different stimuli to find difference

what might be an issue with hormonal measures?

many things influence hormone levels like diet, sleep, exercise

People can process information faster when they are already…

having thoughts and feelings related to the stimuli

internal consistency

the correlation between parts of a single form

do all the questions on the test equally measure knowledge?

three year olds who are aggressive and competitive are more likely to have those traits…

later in development