1 - Introduction to Personality Theory

persona

theatrical mask worn by Roman actors in Greek dramas

philosophy

love of wisdom

* epistemology: nature of knowledge
* deals with oughts and shoulds

speculation

theories rely on ______, closely tied to empirically gathered data and science

hypothesis

educated guess or prediction specific enough for its validity to be tested through the use of scientific method

deductive reasoning

general to specific, deriving a hypothesis from theories

inductive reasoning

specific to general, alters theory to reflect results of tests

taxonomy

classification of things according to their natural relationships

* without organization, data science can’t grow

personality

pattern of relatively permanent traits and unique characteristics that give both consistency and individuality to a person’s behaviour

personality psychology

study of whole human person; study of individual differences

goal of personality psych

gain a unified perspective on a person

personality traits

general, internal, and comparative dispositions that we attribute to people in our initial efforts to sort individuals into meaningful behavioural categories and to account for consistencies we perceive or expect in behaviour from one situation to the next and over time

trait attributions

from our first interactions in someone, gives us a guide on how to interact with them in the future

* shy, outgoing, etc.

labels

traits, ultimately, are ______

* are predictive, not explanatory

traits

contribute to individual differences in behaviour, consistency of behaviour over time, and stability of behaviour across situations

characteristic adaptations

aspects of our personality that are contextualized in time, place, and/or role

* speak to motivational, emotional/social-cognitive, and developmental concerns in personality
* more temporal

motivations

dynamic

personality as a ______ process

life story

internalized and evolving narrative of the self that integrates the reconstructed past, perceived present, and anticipated future in order to provide a life with a sense of unity and purpose

scientific method

personality psychologists use the ----- ----- with the goal of creating a more predictable and orderly understanding of the world

science three steps

1. unsystematic observation
2. building theories
3. evaluating propositions

unsystematic observation

first step in developing scientific understanding of anything

* creative observer, looking for patterns
* operating in context of discovery

building theories

second part in developing scientific understanding of anything

* organize observations from step one into coherent system that describes phenomenon of interest and attempt to provide a detailed explanation

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theory

set of related assumptions that allow scientists to use logical deductive reasoning to formulate testable hypothesis

* set of assumptions
* set of related assumptions
* logical deductive reasoning used by researchers to formulate hypotheses
* must be testable

evaluating propositions

third part of scientific process, empirically verifying theories developed in step 2

* needs falsifiability

empirical study

1. develop hypothesis
2. literature review
3. select sample
4. operationalize variables

goal: come to a best understanding of topic

correlational study

psychologist interested in what happens to value of one variable if the value of another variable changes

* no causality

experimental study

psychologist manipulates or alters one variable of interest in order to observe its impact on another variable of interest

reliability

extent to which a test or measuring instrument yields consistent results

validity

extent to which a test or other measuring instrument measures what it is supposed to measure, accuracy

construct validity

extent to which an instrument measures some hypothetical construct

convergent validity

scores on instrument correlate highly (converge) with scores on variety of valid measures of the same construct

divergent validity

low or insignificant correlations with other inventories that do not measure that construct

discriminant validity

discriminates between two groups of people known to be different

predictive validity

extent to which a test can predict future behaviour

30s-50s

(history of personality psych)

development of general systems

* psychology was looking for universal laws
* was mostly studied on animals, Allport suggested studying on people

50s-70s

(history of personality psych)

constructs, person-situation debate

* Post-Freud
* many distinct theories
* motivation to figure out post world war

70s-present

(history of personality psych)

critique of personality research, novel research approaches

* trait models became dominant
* statistical methods rose
* much of perosnality theory absorbed into social psych

trait and learning perspectives

* aim: describing and predicting behaviour
* assumptions:
* causal view of personality and behaviour
* reducing personality to traits
* trait: genetic, biological understanding
* learning: environment

psychodynamic perspectives

* aim: description of personality, interpretation/evaluation of behaviour, clinical evaluation and treatment
* assumptions:
* personality is historically contingent and rooted in unconscious forces
* behaviour is unconsciously motivated
* behaviour cannot be predicted but can be described and understood given their history
* direct therapeutic intervention
* focus on early childhood experiences and parent relationships

humanistic/existential perspectives

* aims: description of personality, interpretation/evaluation of behaviour, clinical evaluation and treatment
* personality is freely chosen but is rooted in the lived realities of a person’s life
* behaviour cannot be predicted but understood by talking to person and understanding their choices
* people always strive towards growth, well-being, happiness, and psychological health

presentist mindset

we are always reinterpreting theories in the present context

scientific theories criteria

* generates research
* is falsifiable
* organizes data
* guides action
* internally consistent
* parsimonious

parsimonious

as simple as possible, occams razor

descriptive research

can expand on existing theory, is concerned with measurement, labeling, and categorization of units employed in theory building

hypothesis testing

leads to indirect verification of the usefulness of the theory

operational definition

defines units in terms of observable events or behaviours that can be measured

strawman

when we replace an arguement or theory with a false equivalent and attack the false equivalent rather than the initial theory

scientific reductionism

occurs when we subject all forms of knowing or research to the standards of scientific inquiry, even when those forms of inquiry are not scientific

appeal to mysticism

occurs when we attempt to explain elements of a theory with an appeal to metaphysical or mystical forces that are not phenomenologically or scientifically verifiable