Psych 201 - Chapter 13 Personality

attribution theory

framework that seeks to explain how individuals make sense of their successes and failures by attributing them to various factors

Attribution- something within the person observed - their personality

-internal attribution making a dispositional attribution

attribution- caused by something outside the person observed - their situation

-external attribution making a situational attribution

milgram observations: what percent completed the experiment and administered the highest level of shock

65%

Milgram findings accounting attribution

When everybody was put in the same situation, not everybody behaved the same way- must be dispositional (internal)

disposition accounts for

the disobedience of 35% of people in the Milgram experiment

situation accounts for

the obedience of 65% of people in the Milgram experiment

why are topics in personality and social psychology combined in one journal?

represents the attempt to explain and predict behavior by studying the separate and joint influences of persons and situations on a wide variety of phenomena

personality

defined as an individual’s unique set of consistent behavioural traits (disposition)

personality is used to explain:

-The stability in a person’s behaviour over time and across situations (consistency)
-The behavioural differenced among people reacting to the same situation (distinctiveness)

personality trait

a durable disposition to behave in a particular way in a variety of situations

why are people not the same

-demanding an explanatory answer

in what way are people not the same

-demanding a descriptive answer

The five factor model

a hierarchical organization of personality traits in terms of five basic dimensions
-also nicknamed OCEAN

what are the five factors that best characterize personality structure

-openness to experience

-conscientiousness

-extraversion

-agreeableness

-neuroticism

adjectives to describe openness to experience

creative, intellectual, open-minded, curious, flexible, empathetic

adjectives to describe conscientiousness

organized, responsible, cautious, diligent, punctual, dependable, self-disciplined

adjectives to describe extraversion

talkative, energetic, assertive, outgoing, sociable, friendly

adjectives to describe agreeableness

sympathetic, affectionate, warm, trusting, compassionate, cooperative

adjectives to describe neuroticism

anxious, unstable, insecure, hostile, self-conscious, sensitive, vulnerable, impulsive

what is the appropriate tern for neuroticism

emotional stability

people’s varying poles of personality factors

do not explain why they differ but how - descriptive answer

orthogonal or perpendicular factors

are factors that have no correlation
-having an even distribution of cases in the fours quadrants

Eysenck’s biological trait theory

argues strongly that biological predispositions towards certain personality traits combined with conditioning and socialization during childhood in order to create our personality

extraversion

introversion

stabilizing selection for extraversion and introversion

selection is against the two extremes, it is equally good to be a moderate introvert and extrovert

behavioural/evolutionary view

focuses on environmental factors

biological view

focuses on biological factors like genetics

humanistic view

focuses on the bright side of human nature - Maslow’s pyramid

psychodynamic view

focuses on the dark side of human nature