PSI 204 Lecture Notes

Flashcards for review.

Personality (PSI 204 definition)

Persistent patterns of thought, affect, and behavior

NOT a key question in personality study

How can personality be used to diagnose mental illness?

Personality Trait

A consistent pattern in behavior, thoughts, and feelings

Scientific function of traits

To describe, predict, and explain behavior

How traits are typically measured

Self-report questionnaires

Traits are dimensional, not categorical

Everyone falls somewhere along a continuum for each trait

Good or bad traits (trait theory)

No, traits are value-neutral descriptors

Lexical Hypothesis

Important personality traits are encoded in language

Identified 4,500 trait terms

Allport and Odbert

Goal of factor analysis

Data reduction by identifying underlying factors

Correlation coefficient of 0

No relationship between variables

Method to find patterns among trait questionnaire items

Factor analysis

Variables identified by factor analysis

Latent variables

Cattell’s three sources of data

L-data, Q-data, and OT-data

Core personality factors proposed by Cattell

16

Limitation of Cattell’s model

Some factors were correlated

Eysenck's trait model

A three-factor biological model

NOT one of Eysenck’s traits

Openness

NOT part of the Big Five

Psychoticism

OCEAN stands for

Openness, Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism

Big Five trait linked with positive emotions

Extroversion

Big Five trait associated with anxiety

Neuroticism

Trait includes punctuality

Conscientiousness

Big Five trait reflects compassion

Agreeableness

Trait includes imagination

Openness

Big Five traits are orthogonal

They are statistically independent

Argued Big Five traits could be reduced

Colin DeYoung

The Big Two meta-traits

Stability and Plasticity

Aspect of extroversion captures social activity

Gregariousness

Aspect of neuroticism and involves fear

Anxiety

Sally’s case study prominent traits

Extroversion and Neuroticism

Emotion most linked with extroversion

Positive affect

Emotion most linked with neuroticism

Negative affect

Quadrant describes someone high in both extroversion and neuroticism

High positive and high negative emotion

Example of someone with high positive and high negative affect

Whitewater rafting (exhilarating but scary)

Personality traits help us understand

Individual differences

Personality aspect for job prediction

Traits

Big Five trait linked with leadership

Extroversion

Trait involves vulnerability

Neuroticism

Trait includes creativity

Openness

Big Five trait to predict income and education

Conscientiousness

Big Five trait associated with more smiling and laughter

Extroversion

Why extroversion is not universally advantageous

Associated with greater risk-taking and relationship instability

Big Five trait linked with risk avoidance

Neuroticism

Benefit of high neuroticism

Increased alertness to danger

Arousal theory of extroversion

Extroverts have lower baseline cortical arousal

Eysenck's brain system to regulate arousal

ARAS (Ascending Reticular Activating System)

Needs less environmental stimulation to feel alert

Introverts

Reinforcement sensitivity theory is concerned with

Reward and punishment sensitivity

BIS system relates to

Neuroticism and punishment sensitivity

BAS system is linked to

Reward sensitivity and extroversion

Neurotransmitter central to the BAS system

Dopamine

Brain area tied to reward processing

Nucleus accumbens

fMRI correlates with extroversion during rewards

Greater activation in reward areas

Trait associated with liberal values

Openness

Two aspects of openness (DeYoung)

Openness and Intellect

NOT a facet of openness

Assertiveness

Kind of exploration and openness

Cognitive

Kind of exploration and extroversion

Social and environmental

Correlation between openness and IQ

Around 0.3

Intelligence correlated with openness

Crystallized intelligence

Task to generate uses for an object

Divergent thinking task

Trait seeing associations between unrelated ideas

Openness

Psychiatric trait overlaps with high openness

Psychoticism

Mental health with high openness and creativity

Bipolar disorder

Overrepresented in creative professions

First-degree relatives of people with bipolar disorder

Term for conflicting evidence: creativity/mental health

Mad Genius Paradox

Naka’s Law about

Disproportionate output by a small number of highly productive creators

Concept suggests openness correlates with low latent inhibition

Greater exposure to irrelevant stimuli

Latent inhibition

The ability to ignore stimuli previously judged irrelevant

Reduced latent inhibition correlates with

Increased creativity and psychosis risk

Group with less latent inhibition, more creativity

High IQ + High Creative Achievement group

Effect of high IQ on low latent inhibition

It may buffer against disorganized thought and promote creativity

Creative measure for life achievement

Creative Achievement Questionnaire

Brain network for goal maintenance and conscientiousness

Goal prioritization network

Trait associated with fewer relationships & higher self-control

Conscientiousness

Big Five predictive of job/academic performance

Conscientiousness

Neurobiological correlate: conscientiousness

Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex activation

Test to assess inhibition control

Go/No-Go task

Neural region associated with conscientiousness/executive function

Lateral prefrontal cortex

Task for suppressing a response

Stop-change paradigm

Facet of conscientiousness: being prepared & attentive

Orderliness

Facet: thinking before acting

Cautiousness

Personality trait linked to prosocial behavior/empathy

Agreeableness

Component of agreeableness

Trust

Trait facet: being cooperative, avoiding conflict

Compliance

Test used to assess theory of mind

Baron-Cohen’s Eyes Test

Understanding others’ beliefs and thoughts

Theory of Mind

False Belief Task

Understanding that others can hold incorrect beliefs

Typically performs better on theory of mind tasks

Women

Dunbar and Nettle task to assess social reasoning

Multi-level belief reasoning vignettes

Aspect of agreeableness: empathy, concern for others

Compassion

Brain network involved in theory of mind

Default Mode Network

Brain area active when observing social interactions

Dorsal medial subsystem

Key difference between compassion and empathy

Compassion involves concern and motivation to help

Anterior insula

Empathic responses

One risk of low agreeableness, low conscientiousness, high neuroticism

Aggression

Personality dimension correlates most with addictive behaviors

Low conscientiousness

Psychoticism, low agreeableness, and low conscientiousness predict

Antisocial tendencies

Personality traits most associated with social cooperation and trust

Agreeableness and conscientiousness