PSYC150 - Personality (EXAM 2)

Biological Approach

• Assumes personality traits…

  • Reflect physiological differences

  • Are strongly influenced by genetics

  • Rooted in our evolutionary history

• Evolutionary —> Genetic Make-up —> physiological differences —> personality

Physiological Differences

TFB are affected by…

1. Structure, anatomy, of the brain

   1. E.g., Frontal Cortex = Plan/Self-Control / E.g., Amygdala & Emotion/ Fight or Flight

   2. Neurotransmitters

      1. E.g., Dopamine (“Go” Reward) = High Exploratory behavioe, positive emotion

      2. E.g., Serotonin (“Stop” Avoidance) = Low S more Dep and neuroticism

   3. Hormones

      1. E.g., Cortisol (Response to stress/threat F or F)

         1. Chr. High Cortisol = Anxiety & Dep

         2. Chr. Low Corisol = failure to respond to danger

What do SSRIs do?

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRIs) help to increase serotonin levels to reduce depression, anxiety, obsessive worrying

Neural Correlates and the Big Five

Openness = explore system (interests) — LEAST identified neural correlates

Conscientiousness = Self-regulation system (standards/control, exec. of planned axns)

Extraversion = Approach system (sensitivity to reward)

Agreeableness = Care system (LT bonds, Und. others’ TFB)

Neuroticism = Avoidance/Vigilance system (sensitivity to punishment)

Caveats to Personality Research

• personality is NOT in a specific place in the brain

• All parts of the brain are always active to some degree, so these figures are somewhat misleading

• Compares between mean levels of brain activation, not precise patterns of brain activation

• Multiple comparisons lead to false positives, especially with small sample sizes

Evolutionary Perspective

• We are biologically programmed to engage in behaviors that facilitate survival and reproduction

  • Bonding with mates, caring for offspring, competing for resources, cooperating with friends, etc.

• These behaviors maximize the likelihood that our genes will be passed to the next generation

• Not all the results of evolution are helpful in the modern environment

Evolutionary: Adaptive Benefits of the Big Five

• Openness

  • Exploration, learning, creativity (exploratory system)

• Conscientiousness

  • Conform to social standards, discipline, and persistence (self-regulation system)

• Extraversion

  • Seeking mates, social rank, competing for resources (approach system)

• Agreeableness

  • Bonding with mates and caring for offspring (caregiving system)

• Neuroticism 

  • Avoidance of danger (avoidance system)

Evolutionary: If extraversion is adaptive, why are some people introverted?

• What if everyone was extraverted?

• Certain traits are adaptive ONLY if there are enough people in the population who don’t have this trait

• Ecological context also matters (e.g., adaptiveness depends on social norms)

Frequency-dependent selection

• If only a few people have these traits, then these people may be successful (taking advantage of others)

• If many people have these traits, there are disadvantages for everyone

5 Limitations of the Evolutionary Perspective

• Evolutionary perspective on personality is not widely used because:

1. Falsifiability: Backward speculation is difficult to test empirically

   1. Largely impossible to test – there’s only 1 human species and we can’t go back in time to study how traits have evolved

   2. Not every trait or behavior pattern has an adaptive advantage (abuse of a child)

   3. Some behaviors and traits may be side effects of other adaptive behaviors (walking upright = back pain)

2. Reproductive instinct isn’t universal

   1. People generally are not trying to maximize their fitness

   2. I.e., people are not trying to have as many kids as possible

3. Cannot isolate biology from society

   1. Ecological context matters

   2. E.g., is extraversion always more adaptive?

4. Leads to system justification and reification of group differences

   1. E.g., “women are gatherers (and should be nice) and men are hunters (and should be powerful)”

5. Ignores human flexibility

   1. We can (and often do) overcome innate urges

What are Animal Models Useful for?

• Investigating assumptions of the biological approach

  • E.g., are individual differences in personality rooted in our evolutionary history?

• Answering longstanding questions in the field

  • E.g., what is the impact of early environment on personality development?

• Conducting experiments to witness evolutionary processes play out across generations in species with shorter life cycles

• Addressing issues in animal welfare

  • E.g., can pets be effectively matched with suitable owners? What are the traits, motives, and beliefs that lead people to eat meat?

• Can be applied in practical contexts

  • E.g., identifying dogs who are well-suited for explosive-detective work or therapeutic purposes

Feline Five (NADIE)

• Neuroticism

  • Insecure, anxious, fearful of people, suspicious and shy

• Dominance

  • Bullying, dominant, and aggressive to other cats

• Impulsiveness

  • Impulsive, erratic, and reckless

• Agreeableness

  • Affectionate, friendly to people and gentle

• Extraversion

  • Active, vigilant, curious, inquisitive, inventive, and smart

Dog vs. Cat Owner Personality

• “Dog People” tend to be more extraverted, agreeable, and conscientious

• “Cat People” tend to be more neurotic, but also more open

Arachnid Personality

• Boldness and aggressiveness may explain differences in spider behavior after web damage

• Bolder spiders more likely to usurp their neighbors' web after their own was damaged

• More aggressive spiders were more successful in taking over the web once they chose to go after it

Cross-Species Personality Evidence

• Evidence for Some of the Big Five across many species

  • Chimpanzees, gorillas, rhesus monkeys, etc.

• Extraversion, neuroticism, and agreeableness tend to be most evident across species – albeit in slightly different forms/terms

  • E.g., dominance, vigilance, cooperative

• Conscientiousness only clearly identifiable in chimpanzees (human’s closest relative)

• Openness is least found, potentially due to the way we conceptualize it in humans

Trait Approach

Building blocks of personality are traits, which are consistent over time and across situations, and are partially biologically based

Biological Approach

Personality tendencies are rooted in our physiology, genes, and evolutionary history

Psychodynamic Approach

• Personality is shaped by early life experiences and reflects the unique ways in which each person has resolved their intrapsychic conflicts (i.e. defense mechanism)

Psychodynamic Basic Assumptions

1. Psychological Determinism

2. Importance of the unconscious

3. Intrapsychic Conflict

4. Importance of early childhood experiences

5. Defense mechanisms

(Psychodynamic) Psychological Determinism

1. No behavior is random

2. Behavior is determined by conscious and unconscious drives, needs, wishes, and fears

(Psychodynamic) Importance of the Unconscious

1. Unconscious

   1. People are driven by the unconscious (e.g., sexual and aggressive urges) and how we behave is a repression of those urges

2. Contents of the unconscious want to come out

   1. Allport’s unconscious fear of being inadequate (just a “little boy” with a dirt phobia) came out of the story he “fished out of his mind”

3. Freudian Slips: “I don’t think we’ve been properly seduced”

4. Projective techniques

   1. Rorschach Test

(Psychodynamic) Intrapsychic Conflict

1. Conflicts between Id, Ego, and Superego determine behavior

2. Id

   1. All drives and urges

3. Ego

   1. Constrains the id to reality

4. Super-ego

   1. Internalized values and moral standards of parents and society

(Psychodynamic) Defense Mechanisms

1. Defense mechanisms help to resolve intrapsychic conflicts and reduce anxiety

2. Personality - set of defense mechanisms

   1. Conscientious people are trying to compensate for their chaotic inner feelings by creating a neat, organized, and orderly external world

   2. Socially inhibited people are repressing their true thoughts and feelings

   3. Creative people are sublimating their anxiety

   4. Neurotic People have “immature” defense mechanisms

   5. Narcissistic people are trying to repress their underlying feelings of insecurity and worthlessness

DM: Repression

Unpleasant thoughts and feelings are pushed out of awareness

DM: Denial

Refusal to believe bad news or other knowledge that might make you anxious

1. Convincing yourself that an unpleasant or traumatic event did not, or will not occur

Allport and Freud

got read to filth by Freud then developed a very neat and orderly theory - Trait Psych

• opposite of Freud’s unconscious forces battling for control of the mind

Dreams and the Unconscious

• Freud

  • Dreams are the “royal road to the unconscious”

  • “Wishes suppressed during the day assert themselves in dreams”

Psychodynamic vs. Trait Approach

• Psychodynamic posits that people are high AND low on certain traits

  • E.g., narcissism and confidence

DM: Displacement

Threatening impulse/desire is redirected elsewhere

DM: Rationalization

1. Generalizing a rational explanation for outcomes that otherwise would be unacceptable

   1. E.g., “I did poorly on the GRE, but I never wanted to go to grad school anyway”

DM: Reaction Formation

To block an impulse, the exact opposite behaviors/desires are displayed

DM: Sublimation

Convert unacceptable desire into acceptable behavior

DM: Intellectualization

1. Translate anxieties into theories or jargon that put emotions at a distance

   1. E.g., Reframing a threatening situation into intellectual (and possibly cold) terms

(Psychodynamic) Importance of Early Childhood Experiences

1. nce of early childhood experiences

   1. Early childhood experiences create the foundation for, and shape adult personality

   2. Developmental psychology (as a field) and our understanding of personality development is informed by this assumption

      1. E.g., attachment theory

   3. Psychotherapeutic practice is also informed by this assumption

   4. Attachment Theory

Attachment Theory

1.  psychoanalytic theory that is used to explain why maternal deprivation often leads to anxiety, anger, and depression

   1. Attachment as the basis of love

2. Tested via strange situation task

1. Child attachment to caregivers serves as the basis for internal working models and adult attachment to romantic partners

2. Early life experiences and internal working models with adult caregivers shape personality

Phenomenology

• Subjective experience of the world

• Basic Assumptions

1. People are innately good and society/life keeps us from reaching our full potential

2. Personality is…

   1. Rooted in one’s perceptions of reality (not objective reality)

      1. Culture influences our perceptions of the world

   2. An indication of our journey towards self-actualization

   3. Reflected in the way we construct meaning and tell our stories

Phenomenology — Assumption about Human Nature

• People are innately good and have the potential to reach their full potential

  • society/life keeps us from reaching our full potential

• Theoretical approach comparison: Psychodynamic vs. Phenomenological

  • Doctrine of “original sin”

    • People are inherently bad

    • Socialization inhibits sexual and aggressive urges

  • Doctrine of “innate purity”

    • People are innately good

    • We are born moral and pure; society corrupts us

Phenomenology — Importance of Subjective Perceptions

• Life has no objective meaning

• People have different perceptions of reality and these perceptions (not objective reality) shape our psychological lives and personality

• To understand a person, you must understand his or her unique view of reality and meaning

Authentic Experience

• You can find meaning by…

  • Accepting that life has no meaning except that which you create for yourself

  • Living an authentic life

  • Doing all you can to better the human condition

Humanistic (Client-Centered Therapy)

Associated with Importance of Subjective Perceptions

• Goal: help the client become a “fully functioning person”

• People are worthy of care and respect simply  for being human

• One way of promoting personal growth and self-actualization is by letting people express their true selves without judgment

• Therapist develops a genuine and caring relationship with the client, and expresses empathy and provides unconditional positive regard

Phenomenology — Journey towards self-actualization

• Self-actualization = the process of realizing one’s full potential

• People have a basic tendency to actualize, maintain, and enhance their own experience

• Personality reflects each person’s progress toward finding purpose, reaching their potential, and living an authentic life

Maslow-s Hierarchy of Needs

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

• People have an innate desire for self-actualization, self-esteem, belonging, etc.

• Goal of existence is to satisfy the need to be self-actualized

• Lower needs must be met first

• Can avoid existential anxiety because meaning of existencei s process of becoming self-actualized

Positive Psychology

• Developed in reaction to psychology’s traditional focus on disease and dysfunction

• Investigates th4e traits, processes, and social institutions that promote a happy and meaningful life – how can people become self-actualized?

• Emphasis on…

  • Finding meaning and purpose

  • Growth

  • Reaching one’s potential

  • Self-actualization

  • Flow

  • Flourishing 

  • Happiness

What are the Two Kinds of Well-Being?

• Journey towards self-actualization reflects two kinds of well-being:

  • Hedonic well-being (aka subjective well-being)

    • Pleasurable activities → positive emotions

    • The “pleasant life”

    • Feeling happy

  • Eudaimonic well-being (aka psychological well-being)

    • Find meaning & purpose (strengths) → flourishing

    • The “meaningful life”

    • Feeling purposeful

Phenomenology: Reflected in Life Stories

• Personality is reflected in the way we tell our stories and construe meaning from our experiences

• Phenomenological perspective emphasizes the whole person as being greater than the sum of its parts

• What is it that makes us like no other person?

Narrative Personality Psychology

• Many psychodynamic  theorists discussed narratives in terms of dreams, universal life myths, etc.

• However, no one explicitly conceptualized narrative theory until the 1970s-80s

Life Story Model of Identity (McAdams)

Three Levels of Personality and the SElf

• Level 1 (Actor): Dispositional traits

• Level 2 (Agent): Personal concerns such as motives, goals, and strivings

• Level 3 (Author): Identity and life stories

Psychobiography Methods

• A psychobiography draws systematically on psychological theories and research

  • Gather data from writings, speeches, information about life history, etc.

  • Interview subject and his/her friends, family, coworkers, etc.

  • Apply psychological theory and concepts to understand a specific event (“Why did Van Gogh cut off his ear?”) or the whole person (“The Mind of Donald Trump”)

Life Story Interview (McAdams)

• Divide your life into chapters

• Key events

  • High point, low point, turning point

• Future script

  • Next chapter, hopes & dreams

• Challenges

  • Health problems, loss, biggest failure/regret

• Personal Ideology

  • Religious, ethical, & social values

  • Most important single value

• Central life theme

Narrative Identity

An internalized and evolving story of the self that explains how you came to be the person you’re becoming

• Aka the story that you tell about your life

• Includes a reconstruction of the past and anticipation of an imagined future

associated with Level 3 McAdams

What are Common Narrative Identities

• Redemptive self = redemptive sequences often feature recounting scenes where the individual is delivered from suffering to an enhanced status or state

• Contaminated self = contaminated narratives have positive beginnings and negative endings

What is Culture?

• a shared set of customs, habits, beliefs, and values that shape emotions, behavior, and life patterns

  • Dress, food, music, religion, language, architecture

• Culture influences our construal of the physical and social world

• Culture provides the “rules” of the game

  • Expectations, norms, values, etc. shape how people behave

Cross-Cultural Psychology

• examines psychological differences between and within different cultural groups

• Most research based on countries that are primarily white, westernized, highly educated, and resourced

How Culture Influences Personality

Culture → Socialization → personality (traits, goals, motives, values, self, identity, narratives) → Behavior

Types of Socialization

• Enculturation: process of socialization thru which an individual acquires his or her native culture

• Acculturations: process of socialization thru which an individual partially or fully acquires a new cultural outlook

“Big Four” Cultural Characteristics

• Individualism vs. Collectivism

  • Focus on individual vs. group

• Power Distance

  • Hierarchical vs. egalitarian 

• Motivation to Achieve/Succeed

  • Motivation to be the best (competition, achievement, success) vs. liking what you do (quality of life)

• Uncertainty Avoidance

  • Clear rules and codes of conduct vs. tolerance for ambiguity and comfort in unstructured situations

Cultural Characteristics and Personality Traits Findings

• More individualism is related to higher levels of Extraversion

• More power distance (hierarchical value) is related to higher levels of Conscientiousness

• More uncertainty avoidance is related to higher levels of Neuroticism

Culture and Personality Trait Structure

• The Big Five are found in more than 50 cultures

• However, most work applies Big Five structure and measures to other populations by translating the English scale to other languages

• Lexical investigations starting from the bottom up are starting to emerge

Social Investment Theory

•  Personality development is a result of universal social roles in adulthood

  • Earlier transition to adult job and family roles, earlier personality maturation

  • Later transition to adult job and family roles, later personality maturation

• The earlier transition to the job role, the earlier individuals from that country…

  • Decrease in neuroticism

  • Increase in agreeableness

  • Increase in conscientiousness

• Age of transition to family role was not associated with personality change

Culture and Self-Identity

• There are cultural differences in how people represent the self

• Individualistic

  • Self is a non-overlapping individual

• Collectivistic

  • Self is a collective

Biculturalism

•  any individual who has been exposed to and internalized 2 cultural systems (e.g., beliefs, values, behaviors, languages)

  • 25% of U.S. population identifies with both American culture and a second culture

  • Multiculturalism = more than 2 cultures!

Bicultural Identity Integration

Degree to which a bicultural individual perceives his/her 2 cultural identities as in harmony (or conflict) and blended (or compartmentalized)

Challenges for Cross-Cultural Research

• It is difficult to define culture

  • Important subgroups exist within large cultures

  • People can belong to more than one culture!

• Ethnocentrism

  • Observations of other cultures will be influenced by the observer’s own cultural background

• Exaggeration of cultural differences

  • The focus of research has been on differences

  • Outgroup homogeneity bias

Behaviorism

• Philosophical roots in empiricism

  • Empiricism: the contents of our mind come from the contents of the world

  • Implication: at birth, the mind and “personality” is essentially empty

    • Tabula Rasa (“Blank Slate”)

• Philosophical roots in hedonism

  • Hedonism: organisms learn in order to maximise pleasure and avoid pain

    • Aka rewards and punishments

  • Implication: people will do whateve they need to do to experience pleasure and not pain

Assumptions of Behaviorism

• Personality = a set of behavioral responses to stimuli

  • No real personality or underlying traits, just learned behavioral patterns

  • Personality changes as situation changes (because the stimulus changes)

  • All about studying observable behavior

    • Personality is the sum of everything you DO

Behaviorism: Classical Conditioning

• Paired association

• “Personality” is patterns of stimulus-response associations

• Personality is in quotes because no real personality exists according to this view

• People differ because they have different paired association histories and are in different situations

Behaviorism: Operant Conditioning

• Reinforcement and punishment

• “Personality” is a set of behavioral responses that have been reinforced by rewards and punishments

  • If you are rewarded for a behavior, then you will do it more often

  • If you are punished for a behavior, then you will do it less often

• “The consequences of behavior determine the probability that the behavior will occur again” – B.F. Skinner

• Generally, rewards are better than punishment to obtain the “correct” behavior

• Punishment can have negative consequences

  • E.g., Spanking/hitting children and personality development

Social Learning

• Personality = set of conditioned responses + what we learn from others and our expectations for the future

• Expected consequences: People are aware of expected consequences (or rewards) and behave in response to anticipated consequences (or rewards)

• Observational learning: people can learn by watching others experience rewards/punishments

Contemporary Cognitive Perspectives

• Personality = a reflection of how we behave and how we represent/process information about ourselves, others, and the world

  • I.e. learned thought patterns

• Schemas, or scripts = the ways we represent/process information about ourselves, others, and the world

  • E.g., the world is a dangerous place

  • E.g., i am not a worthy person

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

• Goal: retrain your brain to think about the world in different ways and to make these more adaptive ways of thinking automatic