P/I Differences Psych 1

Lecture 1- Intro trait approaches

Psychoanalytic approach-

Freud- unconscious drives and childhood conflicts shape personality.

Humanistic approach-

(Maslow; Rogers): self-actualisation and personal growth

Cognitive- Social Learning-

(Bandura): observational learning, reinforcement and self-efficacy.

Biological and Evolutionary-

(Buss): traits are adapative mechanisms shaped by evolution.

what is self-efficacy?

extent to which people believe they can control events in their lives.

What are the three ways via which self-efficacy is enhanced?

1.Mastery experiences - successful past experiences.

2.Vicarious experiences – observation of equal peer succeed.

3. Social persuasion – encouragement from a credible person and behaviour is within one’s skill set.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs?

1.Physiological (survival).

2.Safety.

3.Love and belonginess.

4.Esteem.

5.Self-actualisation.

According to Buss, what are core adaptive personality dimensions?

•Surgency (or extraversion)

•Agreeableness

•Emotional stability

•Conscientiousness

•Openness

Dispositional Trait Domain-

Focus on how we centrally differ from one another. Focus on origin, development and maintenance of traits.

What are the properties of personality traits?

•Temporal stability – relatively stable over time.

•Cross-situational consistency.

•Internal (biological) basis attributed to within the person.

•Predictive validity – traits should affect behaviour.

•Minimal overlap of characteristics within traits.

•Inter-individual differences.

Five ways to evaluate biological traits?

1.Physiological substrate

2.Hereditary/genetic contribution

3.Similar traits in non-humans

4.Cross cultural evidence (universal traits but expression may differ)

5.Temporal stability

What does Mischel say about personality?

Bhevaioural consistencies not observed. Should focus on situationism.

What is situationism?

explaining behaviour in terms of situational differences.

What is interactionism?

Interaction b/w personality traits and situations. Traits can predict aggregated behaviours.

What is the formula for interactionism?

B = f(P X S)

Three methods for questionnaires?

1.Lexical – traits expressed in natural language

2.Statistical – factor analysis to identify clusters

3.Theoretical – a priori theory on most important traits

Issues with self-report questionnaires?

•Carelessness when answering

•Faking/concerns social desirability

•Barnum statements – apply to everyone