PSY230 - Trait approach

Walter Mischel’s findings about consistency of behaviour (podcast)

Behaviour is not highly consistent across situations, even with the same person

• study with children where the kids who lied or cheated in one situation were not consistently dishonest in other situations

Lee Ross concept of seeing consistency in personality (podcast)

People see consistency because of fundamental attribution error meaning that we overestimate traits as causes of behaviour and underestimating the power of situations

• we interpret behaviour through fixed personality labels

Marshmallow study findings (podcast)

Success in waiting is not just about willpower or our personality but it also depends on the context and strategies

• self-control is situational and learned, not a fixed trait

Define trait approach according to Fleeson & Jayawickreme (article)

Focuses on consistent and predictable patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviours that differ between individuals

• average levels of behaviour across time and situations

• How extroverted someone GENERALLY is

Define the social-cognitive approach according to Fleeson & Jayawickreme (article)

Views personality as a dynamic and situation-dependet. People behave differently across situations based on cognitive and motivational processes

What is the descriptive part of traits according to the Trait theory (article)

The distribution of states across situations and time = traits describe how often and to what degree a persona enacts trait-relevant states

• Average of tendencies

• Eg. moments of extroverted behaviour

What is the explanatory side of traits according to the whole trait theory

Traits are explained by social-cognitive processes and determine why a person behaves one way in one situation and differently in another

5 primary points of whole trait theory

1. Traits are patterns of states → distributions across time and situations

2. The Big Five need an explanatory account → why people differ or what causes someone to be high/low on a trait

3. Traits have a descriptive part and an explanatory part → mechanisms produce states, and repeated states form trait distribution

4. Social-cogntive mechanisms explain trait expression → Relevant traits in particular contexts

5. Identify mechanisms that produce the big five states

What is a trait

Characteristics about and individual that is relatively consistent across time and circumstances

Single trait approach

Focus on the trait and the behaviours it predicts

→ Understand why people with certain traits do certain things

→ understand trait itself to predict many outcomes

Many trait approach

Focus is on the behaviour rather than the trait

→ single behaviour predicted by different traits

Essential trait approach

Analysis by Allport and Odbert - idea of identifying which traits are important and matter the most

• lexical approach: most important traits may be understood through language

“Discovery” of the Big five

Using essential trait approach and factor analysis:

• Cattel identified 16

• Eysenck reduced it to 3 (extroversion, neuroticism, psychoticism)

The Big Five factor model

OCEAN = Openess, Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism

• spectrum of opposite ends

Agreeableness

Compassion + Politeness (follow social norms)

• from people pleaser to have bad relationships with people

Conscientiousness

Industriousness (self-control) + orderliness

• from going with the flow to be a responsible high achiever

Extroversion

Enthusiasm + assertiveness (lead and stand up for yourself)

• from craving social interaction to be Bella Swan

Neuroticism

Volatility (emotional deregulation)p + withdrawal (depressive symptoms)

• from getting angry easily to being emotionless

Openness/intellect

• from fantasize and play with ideas to learn new things slowly

Hexaco model

Looking at language across cultures and overlapping patterns lead to a 6th factor: Honesty/Humility

• not interested in material things or manipulation

The dark triad

idea that we have traits that are going to be interpersonally disruptive - dark traits

• machiavellianism - manipulation for personal interests (lord bailish)

• Narcissim - egocentric and needing others’ attention to fele better about mysefl (regina george)

• Psychopathy - impulsively doing things to make me feel good without care/guilt (joffrey)

Different types of stability in personality

• absolute = looking at the same level of trait over time → eg. Extroversion today vs. In 10 years

• Differential = rank-order of trait level compared to others → high in extroversion compared to my classmates

Active person-environment transactions

We seek out for Environments that amplifies the traits we have

• eg. As an extrovert i go to parties

Reactive person-environment transactions

We react differently to situations based on our personality

• professor gives critical feedback, anxious person feels distressed but conscientious person sees it as guidance

Evocative person-environment transactions

Evoke different reactions in situation because of personality

• extrovert person smiles and validates others and people respond friendly and with trust

Factors that drive stability of personality

• Attraction = we look out for settings aligned with our personality

• Selection = being selected for settings aligned with personality → eg. Employers

• Manipulation = change environment based on my personality

• Attrition = being able to stay in a setting we were selected for

• Transformation = choose to change due to traumatice events

Corresponsive principle of personality development

Personality traits become matched with environmental conditions such that an individual’s social context acts to accentuate and reinforce their personality

Personality disorders

Traits and characteristic patterns of behaviour that is consistently and extremely a problem for society

• unusual and extreme levels

• Extreme behavioural pattern causes problem with day-to-day functioning

3 main characteristics of personality disorders

1. Are social - manifest in interactions with other people

2. Stable over time - difficult to change with therapy

3. Ego-syntonic - symptoms seen as normal by the person but not others

Major clusters of personality disorders in the old system

A - odd and eccentric patterns of thinking

B - impulsive and erratic patterns of behaviour → interrupts functioning

C - anxious and avoidant emotional styles → overly dependent/independent of others

Social cognitive model of personality

By Michelle & Shona - situations altering part of a cognitive system that has internal interactions to decide how that situation makes us think/feel and affect on our behaviour

Parameters of the Descriptive components of the whole trait approach

• location (average levels)

• Width (variability within individual and their states)

• Shape (fitting into population’s averages)

Explanatory mechanisms of the whole trait approach

Involves affective, behavioral, and cognitive elements

• input - environmental and internal events

→ eg. Im in a library but im tired and dont feel like working

• Intermediates - interpretation of events

→ eg. Not seats available so i go back home and not work

Volitional personality change

Choosing to change your personality

Maturity principle of personality

Experiences that turn you into growing personality aspects (Increase or decrease)