Personality Psychology Unit 1

Extroversion

Characterized by sociability, talkativeness, and emotional expressiveness.

Neuroticism

More stress sensitive, prone to emotional volatility

Emotional stability

Typically being able to be calm and composed, resilient, and confident

Agreeableness

Person's tendency to be cooperative, kind, trusting

Low agreeableness

Being skeptical, confrontational, competitive

Conscientiousness

Tendency to be hardworking, diligent, organized, and goal-directed

What is high openness to experience

Curiosity, creativity, preference for novelty

What is low openness to experience

Prefer routine, conventional, cautious about new ideas, typically focus on specific interests

What is personality?

Enduring configuration of characteristics and behavior

What does personality include?

Includes traits, interests, drives, values, self-concept, abilities, and emotional patterns

What is a trait approach to personality?

Measures how much of a characteristic you possess, based on statistics.

What is a personality inventory?

A measurement instrument to assess personality

What is s-data?

Self-report data; a person self describes

What is I-data?

Informant data; how someone who knows that person self-describes

What is L-data?

Life outcomes data; a person's life accomplishments

What is B-data?

Biological/behavioral data; person's biology/behavior

Why are there so many personality inventories?

It's self report data that is not really accurate

What is self-fulfilling prophecy?

Individuals hear a stereotype about themselves and go on to validate it

What is a factor analysis?

Using the relationship between each possible pair of measurements taken from a group of subjects to determine common factors.

What are traits?

Mental elements of personality.

What are traits according to Cattell?

Relatively permanent reaction tendencies that are basic structural units of personality

What are common traits?

Traits possessed in some degree by all persons.

What are unique traits?

Aspect of personality that is only shared by a few other people.

What are ability traits?

How effectively someone can work towards their goal. (Ex. intelligence)

What are temperament traits?

Our emotions and feelings help determine how we react to the people and situations in our environment (ex. assertive, fretful, easygoing)

What are dynamic traits?

Traits that describe our motivations and interests (ex. adaptability, curiosity, enthusiasm)

What are surface traits?

Characteristics that are observable and outward personality characteristics that are manifestations of deeper and underlying source traits

What are constitutional traits?

Ingrained personality traits from biological and physical makeup

What are environmental-mold traits?

Source traits that are learned from social and environmental interactions

What are source traits?

Stable characteristics considered to be at the core of personality

What are some personality developments during infancy? (birth to 6)

Weaning, toilet training, formation of ego, superego, and social attitudes

What are some personality developments during childhood (6-14)?

Independence from parents and identification with peers

What are some personality developments during adolescence (14 - 23)?

Conflicts about independence, self-assertion, and sex

What are some personality developments during maturity (23 - 50)?

Satisfaction with career, marriage, and family

What are some personality developments at late maturity (50-65)?

Personality changes in response to physical and social circumstances

What are some personality developments at old age? (65+)

Adjustment to loss of friends, career, and status

What is a univariate research approach?

Psychologist manipulates the independent variable to determine its effect on the subjects' behavior (dependent variable)

What is a clinical approach?

Uses case studies, dream analysis, free association and similar psychodynamic approaches. It is quite subjective and cannot really get quantifiable data.

What is a multivariate approach?

A statistical method to analyze more than two variables simultaneously to understand their complex relationships and patterns.

What is one problem with Cattell's 16PF test (and other personality tests)?

Results can be faked if you want to present yourself in a more favorable light

What were the three dimensions of personality Eysenck studied?

E: extraversion versus introversion, N: neuroticism versus emotional stability, P: psychoticism versus impulse control/superego functioning

What is psychoticism?

Characterized by traits such as aggression, impulsivity, coldness, egocentrism, and antisocial tendencies that suggests a predisposition to psychopathic or psychotic disorders.

What are the PEN traits (eysenck) derived from?

All three personality dimensions are determined primarily by heredity

What are the big five personality factors (McCrae and Costa)?

Openness to change, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism

What do women report higher levels of in the big five?

Neuroticism, Extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness

Are the big five hereditary or from the environment?

Agreeableness has a strong environmental component, all the others are hereditary

What are the six dimensions of the HEXACO model?

Honesty/humility, emotionality, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness to experience

What is narcissism?

Having an inflated sense of one's abilities and talents and the constant need for admiration and attention

What is Machiavellianism?

The need to manipulate others and is characterized by cunning, deceit, and unscrupulous behaviors

What is psychopathy?

Characterized by a profound lack of empathy and remorse, impulsivity, thrill-seeking, superficial charm, and antisocial behavior.

What is the lexical hypothesis?

All important individual differences are able to explained through commonly used adjectives. (From evolutionary theory, not really accurate)

What is phrenology?

Specific parts/bumps of the brain is linked to certain functions (innacruate)

What is physiognomy?

Judging a person's character, personality, or temperament from their facial features (also inaccurate)

What is an operational definition?

A clear and precise definition of a variable that allows it to be measured.

What is a reliable survey/scale?

Able to get consistent results

What is a valid survey/scale?

Is it accurate (does it measure what it should?)

What is naturalistic observation?

Observing people's behaviors as they are, usually unobtrusively

What is random assignment?

Everyone has an equal chance of being in the experimental and control groups.

What is a quasi-experimental study?

It's an experimental study where variables cannot be randomly assigned

What is an independent variable?

The variable that is manipulated

What is a dependent variable?

Variable that the researcher measures to see how much effect the independent variable had.

What is the goal of an experimental study?

To establish cause and effect relationship between at least two variables.

What are the three variables in McClleland's Achievement theory?

Need for power (desire to influence/lead/coach others), need for achievement, and need for affiliation (acceptance/friendship and being cooperative with others)

What is achievement motivation?

A desire for significant accomplishment, a motivation to challenge themselves but not showing off

What is mastery & approach motivation?

Motivation that stems from desiring to master a skill

What is mastery & avoid motivation?

Motivation stems from consequences of NOT mastering the skill

What is performance & approach motivation?

Motivation is from desiring to outperform other students

What is performance & avoid motivation?

Motivation stems from consequences of NOT outperforming other students

What is an attribution?

A broad explanation for behavior

What is the stability attribution?

How often does this happen?

What is controllability?

How much control does the person have?

What is locus?

Did this happen because of something about the person (internal) or the environment (external)?

What is internal locus?

The belief that one is in control and take responsibility for their own actions

What is external locus?

Blame external forces for their own circumstances

If someone overslept and missed class, what attributions would someone with high achievement motivation have?

High internal locus (probably due to person), low stability (does not often oversleep), and higher controllability

What is high achievement linked to?

Associated with:

- More encouraging and supportive parenting style

- Higher conscientiousness

- However too high of a need for achievement might not necessarily be helpful

What research has been conducted about Type A personalities?

Those with higher type A personality is typically more stressed out and might lead to high stress and health risks such as heart disease

What are some traits for type A personality?

Higher competitive achievement striving, strong sense of time urgency, respond to frustrating situations with anger hostility, increased chance with negative health outcomes

What are some traits for type B personality?

More relaxed and patient, calm and unhurried, more low stress and easy-going, and better health outcomes

What is social anxiety?

Phobia related to social interactions or anticipated social ineractions

What are some traits of social anxiety?

High concern about what others think of the self, harsh internal self correction for perceived wrongdoings, detectable by the people they are interacting with

Differences between social anxiety and introverts?

Although introverts enjoy quiet and low-stimulation environments, they might not necessarily be afraid of socializing. Conversely, those with social anxiety often fear, dread, or feel physical discomfort in social situations.

What is emotional affectivity?

How frequently one experiences positive/negative emotions

Describe positive emotional affectivity:

Tendency to frequently feel emotions such as happiness, enthusiasm, and interest. Also correlated with extraversion.

Describe negative emotional affectivity:

Tendency to experience distress, anxiety, anger, or sadness and correlates with neuroticism.

What is emotional intensity?

How strongly we react (either positively or negatively) to emotional events

What is greater emotional intensity associated with?

Greater intensity is associated with greater mood fluctuations.

Is emotional intensity linked to overall life satisfaction?

Not in adults, in children it has an effect

What is emotional expressiveness?

An outward display of emotions

Emotional expressiveness in men versus women:

Women are more expressive and are better at gauging others' emotional expressiveness compared to men.

What is higher emotional expressiveness linked to?

Correlated with better psychological health, less guilt, and less anxiety

Why are women more likely better at emotional expressiveness?

Gender roles, are child bearing, also self-fulfilling prophecy likely plays a role.

What is a typological approach?

Personality is organized into discrete categories or types.

Strengths of single-trait approach

High specificity and provides in-depth insight

Limitations of single-trait approach

Very narrow perspective, over-generalization and stereotyping, possible high subjectivity

How is a typological approach different from a trait-based approach?

A typological approach groups people into distinct categories based on qualitative patterns of traits (ex. introvert/extrovert) while trait approach quantifies traits on a continuum scale.

What was the four humors theory proposed by Hippocrates/Galen?

Four personality types (sanguine, choleric, melancholic, and phlegmatic) are based on balance of bodily fluids.

Sanguine (blood and heart) personality type:

Cheerful, sociable, energetic

Choleric (yellow bile and liver) personality type:

Irritable, aggressive, ambitious

Melancholic (black bile and spleen) personality type:

Sad, anxious, thoughtful