Personality Psychology Review

These flashcards cover key concepts related to personality psychology, including definitions and relationships between personality, traits, and measurement methods.

Personality

Dynamic organization of psychophysical systems that determine an individual's characteristic behavior and thought.

Key Characteristics of Personality

Personality is generally consistent across situations and over time, yet it can adapt and develop; it reflects both internal processes and external behaviors, creating an individual's unique identity.

Trait

The set of attributes that makes up personality.

Nature of Personality Traits

Personality traits are enduring patterns of thought, feeling, and behavior that are relatively stable over time and across situations. They describe a person's general tendencies and predispositions.

Temperament

General tendencies to feel or act in a certain way; predisposes personality traits.

Dimensions of Temperament

Include activity level, emotionality (e.g., intensity and negative affect), sociability, and attention span. These are believed to be biologically based and appear early in life.

Idiographic approach

Assess the unique central traits of an individual.

Methods in Idiographic Approach

Focus on understanding the individual in depth, often using case studies, personal narratives, and Q-sort techniques to identify traits that are personally relevant to the individual.

Nomothetic approach

Assess an individual's unique combination from a predetermined set of traits.

Methods in Nomothetic Approach

Search for universal laws of personality by studying large groups of people, often using self-report questionnaires (like the Big Five) to compare individuals against a common set of traits.

Rorschach Inkblot Test

A projective measure where individuals describe what they see in ambiguous images.

Administration and Interpretation of the Rorschach Test

Participants are shown a series of inkblots and asked what they see. Responses are then analyzed for content, location, determinants (e.g., form, color, shading), and originality to infer underlying psychological characteristics.

Critiques of the Rorschach Inkblot Test

Faces criticism for its questionable validity (does it measure what it claims to?), reliability (consistency of results), and subjectivity in interpretation, leading to debates about its scientific utility.

Validity

The extent to which a measurement accurately captures what it is intended to measure.

Types of Validity in Personality Assessment

Key types include construct validity (does the test measure the theoretical construct?), content validity (does it cover all relevant aspects of the construct?), and criterion validity (does it predict relevant outcomes?).

Reliability

The consistency of a measure; producing similar results under consistent conditions.

Types of Reliability in Personality Assessment

Methods to assess reliability include test-retest reliability (consistency over time), internal consistency (consistency among different items in a test), and inter-rater reliability (consistency across different observers/raters).

Big Five Personality Traits

Describes personality through five factors: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism.

Description of Openness (Big Five)

Characterized by imagination, intellectual curiosity, creativity, and a preference for variety; individuals high in openness tend to be unconventional and open to new experiences.

Description of Conscientiousness (Big Five)

Reflects organization, responsibility, self-discipline, and a drive for achievement; individuals high in this tend to be dutiful, hardworking, and orderly.

Description of Extraversion (Big Five)

Manifested in assertiveness, sociability, emotional expressiveness, and a preference for company; these people tend to be outgoing, energetic, and seek stimulation.

Description of Agreeableness (Big Five)

Involves compassion, cooperativeness, politeness, and prosocial behavior; individuals high in this tend to be friendly, trusting, and empathetic.

Description of Neuroticism (Big Five)

Characterized by emotional instability, anxiety, moodiness, and negative affect; individuals high in this tend to experience negative emotions more readily and be prone to stress.

Biological Trait Theory

Defines personality based on two major dimensions: introversion/extraversion and emotional stability.

Eysenck's Personality Dimensions

Personality is based on Introversion/Extraversion and Neuroticism/Emotional Stability (later adding Psychoticism). These dimensions are considered biologically determined and linked to specific arousal levels in the brain.

Biological Basis of Eysenck's Theory

Eysenck proposed that introversion/extraversion is linked to cortical arousal levels (extraverts have lower baseline arousal and seek stimulation, introverts have higher and avoid it), while neuroticism is linked to limbic system reactivity.

Revised Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory (rRST)

A theory that explains behavior based on three systems: Behavioral approach system (BAS), Behavioral inhibition system (BIS), and Fight-flight-freeze system (FFFS).

Behavioral Approach System (BAS) in rRST

Sensitive to rewards and signals of reward, driving behaviors related to approach, desire, and seeking out pleasurable stimuli. It is associated with positive affect and impulsivity.

Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS) in rRST

Sensitive to conflict and cues of punishment or non-reward, leading to behavioral inhibition, risk assessment, and anxiety. It generates feelings of worry and apprehension, leading to caution.

Fight-Flight-Freeze System (FFFS) in rRST

Activated by unconditioned (innate) threats and signals of punishment, leading to defensive behaviors such as fighting, fleeing, or freezing. It is associated with panic and fear.

Genetic Contributions to Personality

Helps by predisposing individuals to certain temperaments, cognitive styles, and physiological reactivities, which, in turn, contribute to the development of specific personality traits.

Environmental Contributions to Personality

Environmental factors shape personality through experiences such as family upbringing, peer relationships, cultural influences, socio-economic status, and unique life events, interacting with genetic predispositions.

Evidence for Genetic and Environmental Contributions

Twin studies (comparing identical vs. fraternal twins) and adoption studies are key methods used to disentangle the relative contributions of genetics (shared genes) and environment (shared/non-shared experiences) to personality traits, often showing a significant heritability for many traits.

Neurobiology of Traits and Temperaments

The study of brain structures, neurochemicals, and neural circuits that underlie and influence the expression of personality traits and temperaments.

Examples of Neurobiological Links to Traits

Neurotransmitters like dopamine are linked to extraversion and reward-seeking (BAS), while serotonin is associated with mood regulation and impulsivity. Brain regions like the amygdala and prefrontal cortex play roles in emotional reactivity (neuroticism) and executive functions (conscientiousness).

How Temperaments Shape Traits

Temperaments, as general predispositions, provide a foundational biological basis that can influence the development and expression of more specific, stable personality traits over time.

Developmental Pathway from Temperament to Trait

For example, a child with a 'highly reactive' temperament (predisposition to strong emotional responses) may, through consistent environmental interactions, develop traits such as shyness or neuroticism if not buffered by supportive experiences.

Relationship between Temperament, Traits, and Behavior/Personality

Temperaments provide foundational predispositions upon which more specific personality traits develop; both then interact with situational factors to shape an individual's characteristic patterns of behavior and overall personality expression.

Interplay of Temperament, Traits, and Situation

An individual's innate temperament (e.g., high emotionality) influences their emerging personality traits (e.g., neuroticism), which then predispose certain behaviors (e.g., anxiety in social situations). The actual behavior expressed is also modulated by the specific social context.

Situationism

The view that behavior is primarily determined by external situational factors rather than stable internal personality traits.

Key Argument of Situationism

Proposed prominently by Walter Mischel, situationism suggests that people's behavior is highly variable across different situations, implying that personality traits are less influential than environmental cues in predicting behavior.

Interactionism

The perspective that behavior is a result of the continuous interplay between an individual's personality traits and the specific characteristics of the situation.

Principles of Interactionism

Interactionism asserts that both person factors (traits, cognitive processes) and situation factors influence behavior, and they often interact in complex ways. People choose situations, and situations also influence people.

Reciprocal determinism

A concept proposed by Bandura, stating that personality, behavior, and environmental factors all mutually influence each other.

The Three Interacting Factors of Reciprocal Determinism

In reciprocal determinism, an individual's personal factors (e.g., beliefs, traits), behavior (actions they take), and environmental factors (e.g., social context, rewards/punishments) continuously interact and influence one another in a dynamic loop.

Example of Reciprocal Determinism

A person (internal factors) with high self-efficacy might choose challenging tasks (behavior). Success in these tasks (environmental outcome) then reinforces their self-efficacy (internal factor), leading them to seek out more challenges.

Locus of control

An individual's belief about the extent to which they control the outcomes of events in their lives (internal locus) versus external forces (external locus).

Internal Locus of Control

People with this believe that their own actions, efforts, and characteristics are primary determinants of their life outcomes. They tend to be more proactive and responsibility-taking.

External Locus of Control

Individuals with this believe that external forces, such as luck, fate, powerful others, or circumstances beyond their control, largely determine their life outcomes. They may feel less empowered to change their situation.

Expectancy-value theory

A theory stating that motivation for a behavior depends on an individual's expectation of success and the value they place on achieving that success.

Components of Expectancy-Value Theory

Motivation for a specific behavior (e.g., studying) is determined by two main factors: the individual's expectancy (their belief that effort will lead to success) and the value (how much they personally care about or benefit from that success).

Personality and Age

The study of how personality traits may change, develop, or remain stable across different stages of the lifespan.

Personality Stability and Change Across the Lifespan

While core personality traits show considerable stability from young adulthood, there are also systematic changes: conscientiousness and agreeableness tend to increase with age, while neuroticism, extraversion, and openness may decrease or remain stable, especially after midlife (maturity principle).

Personality and Life Events

The examination of how significant life experiences (e.g., marriage, trauma, career changes) can influence and shape an individual's personality development.

Impact of Positive Life Events on Personality

Things such as getting married or starting a new job can foster growth in certain personality traits like conscientiousness or agreeableness, reflecting increased responsibility and social connection.

Impact of Negative Life Events on Personality

Things like experiencing trauma, unemployment, or divorce, can lead to changes in personality, sometimes increasing neuroticism or decreasing agreeableness, though resilience often plays a role in adaptation.

Methods of Personality Measurement

Various techniques used to assess personality, including self-report questionnaires (e.g., Big Five inventories), observational methods, and projective tests (e.g., Rorschach). Each method has strengths (e.g., efficiency, depth) and weaknesses (e.g., social desirability, low reliability/validity).

Self-Report Questionnaires (Personality Measurement)

Individuals respond to questions or statements about their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors (e.g., NEO-PI-R for Big Five). Pros: easy to administer, standardized. Cons: prone to social desirability bias, lack of insight.

Projective Tests (Personality Measurement)

Individuals respond to ambiguous stimuli (e.g., Rorschach Inkblot Test, Thematic Apperception Test). Pros: may reveal unconscious processes. Cons: low reliability and validity, highly subjective interpretation.

Observational Methods (Personality Measurement)

Directly observing an individual's behavior in natural or structured settings. Pros: reduces self-report biases, provides real-world data. Cons: can be time-consuming, observer bias, may not capture internal states.

Physiological Measures (Personality Measurement)

Assessing biological indicators such as heart rate, skin conductance, or brain activity (e.g., fMRI) in relation to personality. Pros: objective, less prone to conscious distortion. Cons: complex interpretation, specific links to traits not always clear, expensive.