Psych of Personality

exam 3

Personality types

• you are only one of them 

• discontinuous 

• extroverted vs. introverted 

Personality traits

• continuous traits 

• you can be “in-between” 

• follows a bell curve 

McCrae + Costa’s Big Five theory 

The major five factors of personalities; extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness.

Lexical criterion of importance

Cattell’s belief that the importance of a trait is reflect by how many words there are to describe it 

Factor analysis

a statistical technique that follows the idea if two or more characteristics correlate when examined across a large number of people, they reflect a basic underlying personality trait.

test-retest reliability

Tested my administering the test to the same group of people at least two times. If the first scores of the participants correlate highly we the second ones, we can be more confident that the personality test has a good test-retest reliability.

internal consistency

Examined by administering the test to a large group of people. Examine the responses that the participants have made to each questions measuring one personality trait and see how they correlate with one another. Assumption is that if numerous items are used to measure one personality trait, the reposes to those items should be correlated.

criterion validity

examine whether the scores of the personality test relate to other variables that are assumed to be associated with the personality trait that the test is supposed to be measuring. 

convergent validity 

examined by seeing whether the results of our personality test correlates positively with test scores of personality tests measuring similar personality traits.

discriminant validity

makes sure that the personality test we are using is not measuring something else.

inter-rater reliability

type of reliability we examine when we use open-ended questions or behavioral observations for personality assessment. 

item total correlations

tells us how each item is correlated with the total scores of the remaining items in the measure. An item with a low item-total correlation may need to be replaced in a personality test.

interpersonal circumplex model

a way to describe and organize different types of social behavior and relationships by comparing dominance vs. submission and warmth vs. hostility

agency 

behavior patterns that correspond to dominating and submitting

complementary responses

made to sustain a natural interaction and allow an unfolding of events in an unbroken causal chain.

Hippocrates and Galen’s theory

explains people’s behavior and health based of the humors of blood, yellow bile, black bile and phlegm. 

Hans Eysenck’s theory

intoversion

extroversion

ARAS

arousal levels of introverts

arousal levels of extraverts

time of day and performance level of introverts

time of day and performance levels in extraverts

stimulus hungry 

stimulus shy

preferences in music and visual art

neurotic-emotional stability

limbic system

psychoticism

jeffery gray’s theory

approach system

stop system

impulsivity

anxiety (trait)

septal area

lateral hypothalamus 

septo-hippocampus

Eysenck’s and Gray’s two primary personality dimensions

cell body

dendrite

axon

myelin sheath 

bouton

synapse

neurotransmitters

dopamine

norepinephrine

serotonin

GABA

endorphin

drug interactions with neurotransmitters (Fluoxetine, MDMA, Cocaine)

situationism 

emphasis on the power of a situation to predict behavior

interactionism 

How much or little freedom you have to express you unique personality characteristics dependent on how strong or weak a situation is. 

evolutionary biology/theory

survival of gene pool

theories concerning gender differences (evolutionary, cultural, psychodynamic)

assertive instinct

nurturant instinct

mate preferences

infidelity concerns 

altruism

evolutionary explanation of homosexuality

based on correlation

relationship between 2 or more variables

positive correlation

when one variable goes up, other variable goes up

negative correlations

when one variable goes down, other variable goes down

How many personality traits did Cattell claim?

16

extraversion

how outgoing, assertive, or sociable a person may be.

agreeableness

reflects qualities like social warmth, likability, nurturance and emotional supportiveness.

conscientiousness

reflects qualities such as being responsible, organized, persistence and purposeful.

neuroticism

qualties of being emotionally unstable and experiencing high levels of anxiety.

openness

willingness to try and learn new things, consider new ideas, and having an open mind in general.

communion

behavioral patterns that show label loving and ignoring