Intro to personality and individual differences (Helen Walters)

What are individual differences described by APA

traits or other characteristics by which individuals may be distinguished from one another

What is personality

the dynamic organisation, inside the person, of psychophysical systems that create the person’s characteristic patterns of behaviour, thoughts and feelings

• Allport, 1961

What does it mean by “dynamic organisation, inside the person”

internal adaptive process that continually evolves and adjusts to our experiences and changes in our lives

What does it mean by “of psychophysical systems”

involves both the mind and the body

What does it mean by “that create the person’s characteristic patterns”

remains relatively stable over time

What does it mean by “of behaviour, thoughts and feelings”

influences our thoughts, feelings, and behaviour

Why should we even study personality in the first place

• basic nature of human beings and the motivational basis for human behaviour

• the quality of human nature

• understanding how personality develops - nature (genetics) versus nurture (environment)

• measurement of personality

• provide descriptions or help categorise people based on how they behave

What are the two approaches to studying personality

• idiographic

• nomothetic

What is the strategy of idiographic approach

uniqueness of individuals

• sees each person as having a unique personality

• studies individuals one at a time and provides an understanding of the uniqueness of the individual’s personality

• considered that there are infinite differences between individuals with few similarities

What is the goal of idiographic approach

to develop an in-depth understanding of the individual

What is the research methodology used in idiographic approach

• qualitative methodologies for case studies

• some generalisation across case studies is possible

How do you collect data for the idiographic approach

• interview

• diaries

• narratives

• treatment session data

What is the advantage of idiographic approach

depth of understanding of the individual

What is the disadvantage of idiographic approach

challenge of making generalisations from the data

What is the strategy use in nomothetic approach

similarities between groups of individuals

• identifies personality characteristics that occur consistently across groups of people, individuals are then located within this set of variables

• studies large groups of people to establish average characteristics across populations (e.g. age, gender) and helps produce group averages (‘norms’) for different variables

  • individuals can then be identified as either above or below the norm for a particular variable

What is the goal of nomothetic approach

to identify the basic structure of personality, and the traits required to describe personality universally

What is the research methodology used in the nomothetic approach

quantitative methods to:

• explore structures of personality

• produce personality measures

• explore the relationships between variables across groups

What data collection is used for nomothetic approach

self-report personality questionnaires

What is the advantage of nomothetic approach

identify generalise principles that have a predictive function

What is the disadvantage of nomothetic approach

• a superficial understanding of any one person

• training to analyse personalty profiles accurately

What criteria should a good theory of personality satisfy

• description

  • should help organise the complexity of behaviours measured or observed

 

• explanation

  • should help understand the ‘why’ of behaviour

 

• empirical validity

  • should help generate predictions so it can be empirically tested shown to be valid

 

• testable concepts

  • should include concepts that can be operationalised so that they can be tested

 

• comprehensiveness

  • should incorporate and explain a wide variety of behaviour

 

• parsimony

  • should be economical in the number of concepts included

 

• heuristic value

  • should promote interest and research in an area

 

• applied value

  • should be useful in a wider context

What impact does culture have on an individuals personality

• culture shapes an individual’s personality

• no personality without culture

What is culture defined as by Chiu et al., 2011

a network of procedural and declarative knowledge, which answers the fundamental questions in life