Personality Psychology - Final Exam

Cognitive Perspective: 

Premise 1: Thinking influences emotion and behavior.

Premise 2: There are individual differences in how people think.

Premise 3: Patterns of thinking are relatively consistent over time.

Information Processing Model

A cognitive framework comparing the human mind to a computer, explaining how we acquire, process, store, and retrieve information through stages like sensory, short-term (working), and long-term memory.

Field Dependence

• Externally oriented

• Need cues

• People-oriented approach 

• See whole 

• Learn in social settings 

• Recall names and faces 

• Lack details 

Field dependent seem to do better in open skill sports than in closed skill sports.

Field Independence

• Internally oriented

• Can separate figure
  and ground 

• Field Independent are more likely to be physically active and play organized sports.

• Analytical Approach 

• Seeing the parts 

• Impersonal relationship 

• Prefers data 

• Rely on perceptions 

• Perform better in academic settings 

• Field Independent people are better at sports that involve open skill, like baseketball, football, etc. and close skill like swimming

  
  

Rod and Frame Test - Witkins 1962 

Can tell if you’re field dependent or independent  

George Kelly - Personal Construct Theory

Proposes that individuals act like scientists who create their own "constructs" to interpret and predict events in their lives

• We have a NEED to predict actions and events

• With experience we revise our predictions

• Predictions flow from bi-polar categories we construct.

George Kelly - Personal Construct Theory More info

• What categories or theories does a person use to understand and predict the world?

• “Range of convenience”

• Construct = element of knowledge

• Two poles

• To understand what ”good” is you have to have a conception of bad

CAPS Theory:

Objective situations are viewed through personal C.A units/easily accessible schema, then that is processed and forms your behaviors/subjective interpretations/individual differences. 

Cognitive-Affective Units (CAUs):

Which are stable mental representations (like encodings, beliefs, goals, affects, competencies) 

If-then profiles:

CAPS (Cognitive-Affective Processing System) theory's "if-then" profiles are stable, situation-specific patterns of behavior that explain why individuals react differently to different situations, even though their underlying cognitive-affective system remains stable. 

• These profiles, also known as "behavioral signatures," illustrate that personality isn't about a person acting the same way everywhere, but rather about having a predictable, but situation-dependent, pattern of behavior

Trait theory tries to account for the average/predict hedonic tone, your average

CAPS theory (a mediational model) would try to account for the differences in the pattern

“Construals, Goals, Expectancies, Passions, Competencies” 

Albert Bandura
Social-Cognitive Theory

Reciprocal Determinism

Behavior, personal factors (cognition), and environmental influences constantly interact and shape each other

Self-Efficacy

not the same as global confidence, it is about specific task confidence 

• Situation/task specific confidence that you have the skills to achieve a certain level of performance/outcome.

Two parts:

• To what level do I believe I can achieve?

• How confident am I that I can reach that level?

(It can be too high if your skill level doesn’t match your self-efficacy) 

How to Raise Self-Efficacy

What does Self-Efficacy predict?

Self-Efficacy
Does it Predict Academically-specific Outcomes?

Who: Lent, Brown, & Larkin (1986)

What:

• 105 Freshman and Sophomores considering science and engineering majors

• Self-efficacy assessed

• Level of skills that could be successfully completed

• Degree of confidence that they could complete each level

• Several outcomes a year later

Relationships According to Jones

• A relationship exists when: 

“two people are aware of each other’s existence and, more important, both persons believe a relationship exists and both feel some sort of commitment or emotional bond toward each other” (pg 511).

Initiation

• Awareness, interaction, 

• acquaintance, affiliation 

Enhancement

Self-disclosure, feelings of a bond

Maintenance

Development after it is established

Termination 

All relationships come to an end

Attachment

• Bond that forms that has survival value

• Characteristic of a relationship but has implications for the organism 

Why do children form an attachment to a primary caregiver?

Bowlby’s Need for a Secure Base

• Need for safety

• Need to explore

Internal Working Models

A cognitive framework comprising mental representations for understanding the world, self, and others.  

Mary Ainsworth - Attachment

The course of development

• 6 - 12 months of age

• Sensitivity is the key issue

How it’s Attachment assessed in young children

• the Strange Situation (Ainsworth)

• A = Avoidant,
  B = Secure,
  C = Anxious,
  D = Disorganized

How it’s Attachment assessed in In Adolescents and Adults . . .

surveys

The Strange Situation (Ainsworth)

A =

Avoidant

The Strange Situation (Ainsworth)

B =

Secure

The Strange Situation (Ainsworth)

C =

Anxious

The Strange Situation (Ainsworth)

D =

Disorganized

How long does it take personality to form

Freud

Its from birth (Oral) til your 12 years old (Genital)

How long does it take personality to form

Erik Erikson

From Birth (Trust vs. Mistrust) til Death (Integrity vs. Despair)

Albert Bandura
Social-Cognitive Theory

Reciprocal Determinism

P =

Person’s awareness and thinking

Albert Bandura
Social-Cognitive Theory

Reciprocal Determinism

E =

Person’s environment

Albert Bandura
Social-Cognitive Theory

Reciprocal Determinism

B =

Person’s behavior

William James

“Set like plaster”
“In most of us, by the age of 30, the character has set like plaster, and will never soften again.” 

William James

Promoting Change / Consistency

Environment

• Same environments over time

• Cumulative experiences in environments

  • Gets harder and harder to have “new” experiences

William James

Promoting Change / Consistency

These all play a roll in why you either change or stay the same

• Environment

• Genes

• Psychological Makeup

• Interactions

• Identity structure

William James

Promoting Change / Consistency

Psychological Makeup

Resiliency

William James

Promoting Change / Consistency

Interactions

• Goodness-of-fit or Niche Development

• Types

  • Reactive = interpret experience consistently

  • Evocative = elicit consistent reactions in others

  • Proactive = select consistent environments

  • Manipulative = actively change environments to fit

William James

Promoting Change / Consistency

Identity structure

The better you “know” yourself, the more consistent you’ll be

William James

Promoting Change / Consistency

Interactions

Types - Reactive =

Interpret experience consistently

William James

Promoting Change / Consistency

Interactions

Types - Evocative =

Elicit consistent reactions in others

William James

Promoting Change / Consistency

Interactions

Types - Proactive =

Select consistent environments

William James

Promoting Change / Consistency

Interactions

Types - Manipulative =

Actively change environments to fit

Personality-Induced Hyper-reactivity Model

Different personalities react to stress differently, since there are more or less stressors in the environment. 

Proposes that certain individuals, due to inherent personality traits, experience exaggerated physiological (like heart/blood pressure) and emotional responses to everyday stressors, viewing them as more threatening, which can increase risks for conditions like cardiovascular disease (CVD) and affect emotional regulation, seen often in Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) where intense emotions stem from heightened self-relevance and stress sensitivity.

Primary Appraisal

When a person is in a situation with expectation of them, they ask what is there to gain and/or lose.

• Do I have the resources needed

the initial, immediate evaluation of a situation to determine if it's irrelevant, benign-positive, or stressful (a harm/loss, threat, or challenge) and how it affects your well-being

Constitutional Predisposition

Physiology causes the personality and the health risk 

Marker- we can predict health risk from personality because we can see personality first 

an individual's inherent, often genetic, susceptibility to developing certain diseases or traits, stemming from their fundamental makeup (constitution) rather than just external factors, encompassing inherited genetic variations (like BRCA mutations for cancer) or epigenetic changes, influencing health outcomes and even personality/behavioral tendencies

Risky Behaviors

Putting yourself in dangerous situations due to personality 

Type A Behavior

Friedman & Rosenman

• Observations in the waiting room

Personality differences

• excessive competitive drive

• intense striving for achievement

• exaggerated sense of time urgency

• easily provoked hostility

•  aggressiveness

• Impatience

Termed the Coronary Prone Behavior Pattern

a personality pattern characterized by impatience, time-consciousness, and a drive for achievement, often accompanied by stress and aggressive communication

Personality types are

a continuum and NOT a type

Western Collaborative Study

• 3524 employed men (1960-61)

• Assessed

  • Predictors

    • Type A

    • Host of other behavioral and medical variables

• Outcomes

  • Angina

  • MI

• Originally followed 8 years

• Additional follow-up for mortality in 1982-83

Western Collaborative Study

Findings

• TABP was positively associated with incidence of CHD at 2 years, 4.5 years, and 8.5 years of follow-up

BUT

• Not associated with 22-year risk of CHD death in three of 4 follow-up intervals. 

AND

• If you survived a heart attack for at least 24 hours you were MORE likely to die if you were Type B

Measurement of Type A Behavior

• Structured Interview

  • 25 questions

  • Deliberately challenging

  • Scoring

• Jenkins Activity Survey

  • 21 self-report items

  • Correlates .30 with the structured interview

Type C Behavior

• The opposite of Type A

  • Non-emotional, non-assertive, passive, self-sacrificing 

• for a long period of time

Type C-like statements

• I have difficulty showing anger.

• I have trouble confronting people when I think they've hurt me.

• I tend to have a few close relationships.

• I feel as if I can do little to change my life.

• When a disappointment occurs, I tend to  dwell on it for a long period of time.

The three super traits with personality types

Does Type-C and Cancer Hold Up?

• Perhaps Not  . . .

• Lemogne et al (2013)

  • 16 year follow-up of 13,768 people (1993- 2009)

  • Suppressed emotion type decreased risk of breast cancer

Reciprocal determinism (Textbook Definition)

The mutual, back-and-forth effects of variables on one another; in social-cognitive theory, a fundamental causal principle in which personal, environmental, and behavioral factors are viewed as causally influencing one another.

Abnormal

Having a characteristic that is very different from the general public

Ex, abnormally short, abnormally smart - statistical

Maladaptive Abnormal

Does it inhibit you from performing your life?

• Do you cut yourself

The DSM System

Purpose

Provide a listing of mental disorders and their associated systems, criteria for diagnosis

The DSM System

Use

Provide common language, 3rd party reimbursement

Personality Disorders

A set of behaviors that are:

• Inflexible, Maladaptive

• Pervasive Across Life Activities

• Chronic - Early Origin (by Adolescence)

• Functional Impairment or Subjective Distress

Issues With Personality Disorders

• What precisely is being talked about? What is meant by certain terms?

• Does a categorical approach to disorders make sense?

• Reliability issues, internal consistency, inter-rater, test-rater

• Too much overlap between the 10 PDs

• Heterogeneous symptoms within clusters, two people can receive the same diagnoses and have different symptoms.

What’s Sort of the NEW DSM? Alternative Model

• A reduced number or disorders

  • Antisocial

  • Avoidant

  • Borderline

  • Narcissistic

  • Schizotypal

• Rating on five traits domains

  • Negative Affectivity

  • Detachment

  • Antagonism

  • Disinhibition

  • Psychoticism

• Further broken down into 25 facets

What’s Sort of the NEW DSM? Alternative Model

To be diagnosed with a PD

Significant impairment is

• Self Functioning

• Interpersonal functioning

One or more pathological trait domains or facets

Stability in impairments across time and situations

Impairments can’t be accounted for by substance, medical condition, developmental stage, cultural facets

Eaton et al CAPS

• I can or can’t view differences in situations/diagnosis

• I respond the same to different situations even though I can see differences in the situations

• I have many different ways to respond to different situations but I always pick the wrong response

• I don’t see the situation correctly

Antisocial Disorder

• More likely to be diagnosed in Men, 3.6 present in the U.S

“Psychiatric conditions characterized by chronic behavior that manipulates, exploits, or violates the rights of others. This behavior is often criminal.”

Person with this order:

• Breaks the law repeatedly

• Lies, steals, and fight often

• Disregard the safety of self and others

• Demonstrates a leak of guilt

• Had a childhood diagnosis (or symptoms of disorder) in misconduct

Aaron Beck’s Cognitions

• Force or cunning is the best way to get things done

• People will get me if I don’t get them first

• It is not important to keep promises or honor debt

• Lying and cheating are ok as long as you don’t get caught

• I have been unfairly treated and am entitled to get my fair share by whatever means I can

• Other people are weak and deserve to be taken

• I should do whatever I can get away with

Amygdala

Approximately 18% smaller in psychopaths

Borderline personality Disorder

Emotions

• Shifts in mood lasting only a few hours

• Anger that is inappropriate, intense or uncontrollable

Borderline personality Disorder

Behavior

• Self-destructive acts, such as self-mutilation or suicidal threats

• Two potentially self-damaging impulsive behaviors

Borderline personality Disorder

Identity

• Marked

• Chronic feelings of emptiness or boredom

Borderline personality Disorder

Relationships

• Unstable, chaotic intense relationships

• Transient

BPD Linehan’s Diathesis-Stress Model

BPD Linehan’s Diathesis-Stress Model

Explained more

They have a significantly smaller hippocampus and somewhat smaller amygdala