Personality part 1 (week 10)

What is the definition of personality?

A set of behavioral, emotional, and cognitive tendencies that people display over time and across situations and that distinguish individuals from one another.

What are traits, states, and situations in personality theory?

Traits are constant and exist on a continuum, states are temporary, and situations are contextual.

How is personality measured using factor analysis?

By analyzing patterns of correlation among items to extract underlying factors or traits.

What is the Big Five Personality Inventory?

A widely used personality test measuring five broad traits: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism.

What are the facets of Openness in the Big Five model?

Ideas (curious), Fantasy (imaginative), Aesthetics (artistic), Actions (wide interests), Feelings (excitable), Values (unconventional).

What are the facets of Conscientiousness?

Competence (efficient), Order (organized), Dutifulness (not careless), Achievement striving (thorough), Self-discipline (not lazy), Deliberation (not impulsive).

What are the facets of Extraversion?

Talkative (sociable), Assertiveness (forceful), Activity (energetic), Excitement-seeking (adventurous), Warmth (outgoing).

What are the facets of Agreeableness?

Trust (forgiving), Straightforwardness (not demanding), Altruism (warm), Compliance (not stubborn), Modesty (not show-off), Tender-mindedness (sympathetic).

What are the facets of Neuroticism?

Anxiety (tense), Angry hostility (irritable), Depression (not contented), Self-consciousness (shy), Impulsiveness (moody), Vulnerability (not self-confident).

What does high Openness predict?

More likely to major in humanities, change careers in midlife, perform better in job training, play musical instruments.

What does high Conscientiousness predict?

Sexual fidelity, better job ratings, healthier lifestyle, longer life, lower Alzheimer’s risk, musical engagement.

What does high Extraversion predict?

More parties, popularity, leadership, sociability, and reduced disturbance by intense stimuli.

What does high Agreeableness predict?

More generosity, better childhood grades, fewer adult arrests.

What does high Neuroticism predict?

Higher threat sensitivity, stress under pressure, higher divorce rates, susceptibility to depression and anxiety.

What is the biological theory by Eysenck on personality?

Extraverts are under-aroused and seek stimulation; introverts are over-aroused and avoid stimulation.

How stable is personality over time?

It correlates between .50 and .70 across 30–40 years of life.

What is the Social Desirability Scale?

A validity scale to detect denial of common faults, used to control bias in self-reported data.

What is temperament?

An innate, biologically based tendency to behave in a certain way, broader and more observable than traits.

What did Kagan et al. (1988) find about high-reactive babies?

They have faster heart rates, heightened sympathetic nervous systems, and avoid arousing situations.

What do neural correlates show about extraversion?

Extraverts show more amygdala activation to positive images, while introverts react more to negative stimuli.

What is the debate between personality and situation?

Some behaviors are more influenced by personality traits, while others are situation-dependent (e.g., Mischel & Peake, 1982).

How is every person unique according to Kluckhohn & Murray (1948)?

Every person is: like all other persons (shared human traits), like some other persons (shared traits within groups), and like no other person (individual uniqueness).

What is the difference between traits, states, and situations?

Traits are enduring and consistent characteristics; states are temporary conditions; situations are the external contexts influencing behavior.

Who are trait theorists and what do they aim to do?

Trait theorists aim to identify a manageable set of underlying personality dimensions that explain individual differences in behavior.

What is factor analysis in personality research?

A statistical method that identifies clusters of related items (traits) by analyzing correlations among them, revealing underlying personality dimensions.

What is temporal stability in personality?

The idea that personality traits are relatively consistent over time, with correlations of about .50 to .70 across 30–40 years of life.

What is the evidence from the Mischel & Peake (1982) study on personality vs. situation?

They measured conscientiousness across 19 behaviors and found behavior varied by situation, suggesting personality alone doesn't always predict actions.

What is the evidence from Kagan et al. (1988) on temperament and personality?

Highly reactive infants (15–20%) showed biological markers like higher heart rates and sympathetic nervous activity, predicting inhibited behavior.

What did Schwartz et al. (2003) find about temperament and brain response?

Amygdala response to novelty in adults correlates with childhood temperament, linking early reactivity to later neural processing.

What did Canli et al. (2001) find about extraversion and brain activity?

Extraverts showed greater amygdala activation to positive images, while introverts reacted more strongly to negative stimuli, indicating neural differences in personality.