McAdams & Pals' Theory of Personality

What is the PRIMARY focus of McAdams & Pals' (2006) model? (3 components of personality)

Most daily behaviour

- Dispositional Traits

- Characteristic Adaptations

- Integrative Life Narratives

Five principles of personality - McAdams & Pals

1. Human Nature: the evolved general design

2. Dispositional traits

3. Characteristic adaptations

4. Integrative Life Narratives

5. Culture: systems and practices

Evolved General Design - McAdams

Human lives are individual variations on a general evolutionary design

- natural selection

- environment of evolutionary adaptiveness (EEA)

Example of Evolved General Design - McAdams

Social learning is more efficient than individual, or asocial, exploration and learning. Individuals in practice tend to rely on social learning to acquire skills

What does the Evolved General Design component emphasize? - McAdams

It emphasizes commonalities among all humans based on evolutionary design.

What is natural selection?- McAdams

characteristics that promote survival and reproductive success become predominant over less-adaptive traits

- certain things are more useful like opposable thumbs

What is the Environment of Evolutionary Adaptiveness (EEA)? - McAdams

The hypothesized world of the Pleistocene epoch during which human beings evolved, characterized by small, migratory hunter-gatherer groups.

What is the significance of basic emotions in the Evolved General Design?- McAdams

emotional expression is important for communication

- communicative value

What does the Cultural Intelligence Hypothesis propose?

It proposes that social learning is more efficient than asocial learning, and humans tend to rely on social learning to acquire skills.

What did Hermann et al. (2007) find after testing monkey and human children

Physical domain - pretty similar

Social domain - humans were way better

Evolved General Design - Social learning: The Cultural Intelligence Hypothesis

Herman (2007)

Humans are super social, our reliance on social learning is evolutionarily adaptive

What are Dispositional Traits?

Broad dimensions of personality that describe internal, global, and stable individual differences in behaviour, thought, and feeling.

Are traits stable?

Traits are stable, and account for a person's consistency across different situations and over time

What does personality focus on?

Subjective, social, and emotional features of humans, not physical traits or learned speech patterns

Big Five Traits (OCEAN)

Openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism

What are Characteristic Adaptations?

More specific facets of personality that describe personal adaptations to motivational, cognitive, and developmental challenges and tasks

How are characteristic adaptations contextualized?

Usually in time, place, situation, or social role

Relatedness motivation

To develop close relationships with others

Agency motivation

Personal achievements

What role do life stories play in personality?- McAdams

Life stories are internalized narratives that integrate past, present, and future, providing a sense of unity, purpose, and meaning.

What ARE life stories?

idiosyncratic, complex, and sometimes contradictory

- contradicting self - maybe not best understanding of self?

What is the importance of emotional and social aspects in personality?

They are the most-discussed aspects of personality due to their significance in human evolutionary history.

What is the relationship between personality and individual differences?

Personality psychology focuses on the variations in social-emotional behaviors, thoughts, and preferences among individuals.

What does the term 'evolutionarily adaptive' imply in the context of social learning?

It implies that reliance on social learning has been beneficial for human survival and development.

What does the term 'punctuality' exemplify in personality psychology?

Punctuality exemplifies conscientiousness, a stable personality trait observed across different contexts.

What is a key takeaway from McAdams & Pals' theory regarding personality?

The theory highlights the importance of emotional and social dimensions in understanding personality.

How do individual differences contribute to personality psychology?

They serve as the primary focus of interest, revealing the complexity of human behavior and traits.

What is the significance of the Big Five personality traits in evolutionary theory?

The Big Five traits illustrate the costs and benefits of personality variations that have evolved in human populations.

How does the concept of social learning relate to human evolution?

Social learning is seen as an evolutionary advantage that enhances knowledge transmission across generations.

What is the role of stress coping mechanisms in personality?

Coping mechanisms reflect individual personality traits and adaptations to challenges.

What is the primary focus of personality psychology according to McAdams & Pals?

The focus is on understanding the subjective, social, and emotional features of human personality.

What is the working definition of culture? - McAdams

The rich mix of meanings, practices, and discourses about human life that prevail in a given group or society.

What are the three levels at which culture affects personality?

1. Modest effect on phenotypic traits, 2. Moderate effect on adaptations, 3. Powerful influence on life stories.

Examples of culture and its levels

Drinking age - huge differences in individual life stories and experiences

What is the difference between nomothetic and idiographic data?

Nomothetic - group cases

idiographic - individual cases.

Idiographic

individuals, SMALL SAMPLE, LARGE AMOUNT OF DATA, SPECIFIC CONCLUSIONS. goal is to understand complexity of individual

- case studies

Nomothetic

Groups, LARGE SAMPLE, SMALL AMOUNT OF DATA, GENERAL CONCLUSIONS, goal is to understand general themes, "laws", and principles

What type of research typically uses large samples and seeks general conclusions?

Nomothetic research

What type of research focuses on understanding the complexity of individuals?

Idiographic research

Pros of nomothetic approach

Produces generalizable knowledge, can make inferences about population. (can make future predictions)

cons of nomothetic approach

Generally, any single individual human in the sample may not be well described or predicted (only group averages)

Pros of idiographic approach

Allows in-depth knowledge about individual people and how they think (valuable in clinical work)

cons of idiographic approach

people may have unique circumstances, and results do not generalize to anyone else

- not useful for broad policies