Personality Psych Exam 3

openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism

the big 5

natural language to describe personality

five factor theorists use ___ to ___

heritability coefficient

represents proportion of observed variance in scores that can be attributed to genetic factors (h²)

limitations of big 5 model

• translating english into another language instead of using naturally occurring traits

• traits differ based on individualistic or collectivist cultures (Tsiname 2 vs triguna)

openness high score traits

curious, broad interests, creative, imaginative

conscientiousness high score traits

organized, reliable, hard working, punctual

extroversion high score traits

sociable, active, talkative, optimistic

agreeableness high score traits

kind, cooperative, good natured, trusting

neuroticism high score traits

worrying, nervous, emotional, insecure

openness low score traits

conventional, unimaginative, narrow interests, unartisitic

conscientiousness low score traits

aimless, unreliable, lazy, negligent

extroversion low score traits

reserved, aloof, quiet, task oriented

agreeableness low score traits

cynical, rude, suspicious, uncooperative

neuroticism low score traits

calm, relaxed, unemotional, secure

five factor theory

• trait psychologists view as purely descriptive constructs

  • everyone has to varying degrees

psychological development

traits causally influence ___ and causes certain behaviors, thoughts, feelings that are consistent throughout life

biologically based- nature only argument

based in ___

gives us ability to predict and control

being able to reference human differences between us ___

larger brain volumes in frontal cortex related to processing information about environmental rewards

Higher extroversion had ___

greater brain volume in brain region associated with processing of environmental threats

higher neuroticism correlated with ___

brain volume in regions of the brain that contribute to people’s ability to understand others’ mental states

agreeableness scores correlated with ___

volume in a region of frontal cortex known to be active when people plan events and follow rules

conscientiousness correlated with ___

not significantly related to any examined brain regions

openness to experience was ___

NEO- Personality Inventory Revised (NEO-PI-R)

• developed by Costa and McCrae

• correlates well with other personality questionnaires

• big 5 factors broken into 6 additional facets (based in Cattell’s 16 source traits)

• includes self and observer report options

  • O data more accurate

  • S better for more intrinsic traits

gregariousness, activity level, assertiveness, excitement seeking, positive emotions, warmth

extraversion under NEO-PI-R

straightforwardness, trust, altruism, modesty, tendermindedness, compliance

agreeableness under NEO-PI-R

self discipline, dutifulness, competence, order, deliberation, achievement striving

conscientiousness under NEO-PI-R

anxiety, self consciousness, depression, vulnerability, impulsiveness, angry hostility

neuroticism under NEO-PI-R

fantasy, aesthetics, feelings, ideas, actions, values

openness under NEO-PI-R

in N, E, O and _ in A and C

older adults score significantly lower in —, —, and — and higher in — and — than younger people

higher in N,E,O and lower in A,C

teens score higher in —, —, and — and lower in — and —

fairly culturally universal (biological basis?)

big 5 trends are __

changing social norms/cultural shifts

changes in Big 5 can occur in some groups based on ___

short periods than over long periods (stable in adulthood than in childhood)

personality more stable over __ than over _

big 5 practical applications

vocational, health and well being, clinical diagnosis

honesty/humility

what is the 6th trait that could be apart of OCEAN?

universality of 5 factor theory

• cross cultural research involves translating questionnaires originally written in English

• translation may impose certain psychological factors onto respondents

Hofstede and colleagues

• identified 126 trait related words and translated English, Dutch, German

• found congruence across 3 languages except for O factor

Di Blas and Forzi

• explored structure of personality terms in Italian and applied factor analysis

• 3 factors tracked: E, A, and C (not O or N)

trait theory research in South Africa

• studied 1000 people representing each of 11 different languages/ethnic groups of South Africa

• black south africans more likely to use social relational personality descriptions- terms referring to qualities that promote social harmony and close personal relationships

• white south africans more likely to use concepts that either

  • referred to personal growth (C and A terms)

  • referred to personal qualities without referencing concrete circumstances in which these qualities come into play

findings of trait theory studies in south africa

• raise possibility that trait perspective in general has underestimated the ways natural language of personality description involves (at least some cultural or ethnic groups) a language of concrete situated actions rather than abstract trait terms

Tsiname study

• people of Tsiname culture familiar with contemporary industrialized world, but live in village communities isolated from it

• researchers identified Big 2- reflected patterns of social life specific to that culture

Singh, Mishra, De Road study in Hindi

• no big 5 traits replicated

• individual differences aligned with the triguna- 3 personal qualities that have long been recognized in Hindu philosophy that don’t correlate to Western personality traits

• results combined qualities of restlessness, arrogance, prudishness, and disorganization

Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory (RST)

• seeks to first identify fundamental properties of brain behavioral systems and then relate variations in these systems to known measure of personality

• attempts to identify neural subsystems that play a role in psychological functions related to emotion and motivation

• differences in these systems can help explain individual differences in personality

1) traits are actually possessed by individual

2) have causal force that contribute to personality style

2 goals of personality theory

top down: higher order traits explain lower level behaviors and tendencies and influence development

McCrae- big 5 fits __ approach

high level individual difference variables won’t correspond in any consistent manner to psychological structures that individuals actually possess

risk of topdown approach

agreeableness doesn’t fully explain why person has become that way

bottom up theory (critical of big 5 theory)

Behavioral Approach System (BAS), Flight Fight Freeze System (FFFS), and Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS)

3 neural subsystems identified by Gray and colleagues

Behavioral Approach System (BAS)

• responds to pleasurable, desired, appetitive stimuli (fulfills needs)

• related to classical conditioning

• procedures the tendency to move toward pleasure, rewarding stimuli

• produced emotional experiences including “anticipatory pleasure”

anticipatory pleasure

positive feeling that one has when looking forward to an upcoming positive activity

Fight Flight Freeze System (FFFS)

• responds to aversive stimuli (potentially harmful to us)

• 3 types of responses

• generates feeling of fear

Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS)

• resolves goal conflicts between other systems

• generates anxiety and a defensive approach (will pursue reward but with caution)

personality differences

differences in 3 neural subsystems would account for ___

differences in neural subsystems

• people with particularly active BAS would be expected to be more impulsive than others

• people with highly sensitive and active FFFS would be prone to fear related clinical disorders such as phobias

• people with more active BIS would be prone to experiencing anxiety

RST vs Big 5

• biological underpinnings more understood than big 5

• responses can be linked to each system- big may not allow for one to one mapping

• takes into account influence of person situation interaction (environmental cues etc)

Person Situation controversy

• can traits be center of personality theory given level of consistency/inconsistency?

• looks at longitudinal and cross situational consistency

• definition of consistent matters

• research suggests evidence of trait consistency but more so within domains of situations (school, work, home) rather than across domain

longitudinal stability

high in trait across 2 points in time

cross situational consistency

high in trait across different situations

• theorists claim we are relatively consistent, people differ in average display of trait related behavior

strengths of trait theory

• interesting hypothesis

• potential ties to biology

• active research effort

limitations of trait theory

• only uses factor analysis

• what a trait includes can be different

• only what you add is included so what is left out or neglected

temperament

biologically based individual differences in emotional and motivational tendencies that are evident early in life

• tendency toward positive or negative moods

• how responsive one is to stimuli

• ability to calm self

phrenology

founded by 19th century biologist Franz Joseph Gall

• claimed that specific areas of the brain are responsible for specific emotional and behavioral functions

• bumps on the head, differences in brain tissue were examinated

New York Longitudinal Study

• followed 100+ children from birth to adolescence

• used parental reports of infant’s activity levels, mood, attention span, and persistence

• developed 3 temperament types

• found link between early temperament and later personality characteristics

• easy (playful, adaptable)

• difficult (negative, unadaptable)

• slow to warm (low in reactivity and mild)

3 temperament types from NY longitudinal studies

• difficult babies= difficulty adjusting later in life

• easy babies= least likely to have adjustment problems later in life

• goodness of fit between parents and babies play a role

NY study link between early temperament and later personality characteristics

Buss and Plomin study

• used parental ratings to measure:

  • emotionality (ease of arousal in upsetting situation/general distress

  • activity (tempo and vigor of motor movements)

  • sociability (responsiveness to others, makes friends easily)

• individual differences in these temperament characteristics were stable across time

• identical twins highly similar across temperament dimensions

Jerome Kagan

Harvard psychologist, conducted temperament research from mid 90s and 2010s; used direct observations through lab studies as opposed to relying solely on parental reports (found children neither uninhibited or inhibited)

inhibited

reacts to unfamiliar situations with restraint, avoidance, and distress, takes a longer time to relax in a new situation, has more unusual fears and phobias; timid and cautious, may become quiet, seek parental comfort or run and cry

uninhibted

enjoys and seeks out novelty, new situations; responds with spontaneity in novel situations; laughs and smiles easily

• how early do differences in temperament emerge

• how stable are differences in temperament over time

• is there a biological basis to these differences

Kagan’s temperament study questions

infants inherit differences in biological functioning that lead them to be more or less reactive to novelty and it remains stable throughout development (infants born highly reactive should become inhibited and vice versa)

Kagan’s hypothesis for the temperament study

• videotaped 4 month old infants responses to familiar and novel stimuli in lab setting (mother’s face, stranger’s voice, balloon popping etc)

• classified infants as high or low reactive based on emotional responses

• studied children at 14 months, 21 months, 4.5 years, and 8 years and repeated lab observations

method for Kagan’s temperament study

• high reactive infants were more fearful in behavior, had higher heart acceleration, and increased blood pressure in response to the unfamiliar at 14 and 21 months

• smiled and talked less than low reactive children during social interactions at 4.5 years

• majority of children remained consistent in temperament at 8 years

results of Kagan’s temperament study

changes in temperament?

• overall consistent, some evidence it can shift especially in response to environmental factors

• some high reactive infants didn’t become consistently fearful

  • result of mothers who were not overly protective and placed reasonable demands on them

• some low reactive infants became less relaxed but rare to completely switch groups

• brain regions may contribute to inhibited and uninhibited tendencies

• amygdala (fear response), frontal cortex (regulate emotional responses- influences amygdala)

• regions influenced by social experiences

brain involvement in temperament

Schwartz and colleagues study

• studied group of young adults that were or weren’t highly inhibited at 2 years

• while in fMRI scanner, viewed familiar or novel faces

• imaging results show that uninhibited vs inhibited people differ in amygdala functioning, inhibited children had higher levels of amygdala activity when viewing new faces

Shumyatsky and colleagues study

• identified a gene that contributes to levels of a protein stathmin that influences the functioning of amygdala

• mice with and without stathmin gene differed in behavioral measures of fear

proximate causes

biological processes operating in the organism at the time of behavior is observed

ultimate causes

why do we respond to the environment in a particular way (darwinian theory is example)

they have been adaptive to survival and reproductive success

our psychological mechanisms exist and endure because __

fundamental motives and emotions; how they help us to adapt

certain aspects of human nature like our — and — can be understood in terms of —

those that solve problems to reproductive success

which features of the mind are evolved?

mental mechanisms; adaptive; we may have evolved psychological tendencies that are no longer good for us

some evolved — are — to the way of life hundreds of centuries ago; what is the implication of this?

mental modules

special purpose mechanisms that carry out a domain specific mental function

information processing devices; processes information

mind contains multiple — — —, each of which — — from one specific domain of life

Leda Cosmides research

• conducted research involving exchange of goods and services (social exchange) which had been part of social interaction throughout evolution

• Hypothesis- cheating detection had been so important to survival that a distinct mechanism for cheating has evolved

• method- presented people with difficult abstract logic problems

• results- majority could more easily solve if an element of cheating was added

• repeated in US with college students and with nonliterate people in cultures isolated from industrialized world

amygdala and frontal cortex

injuries to — and — can negatively impact reasoning related to social exchange

differences in sex in evolutionary theory

• biological differences between sexes are cause for different roles and behaviors

• different problems that males and females have faced lead to differences in brain development → distinct thoughts, feelings, emotions

parental investment theory

biological investment makes parenting more costly for women

• age, fertility limits, 9 months of pregnancy

• women more selective with mates- focused on resources and protection

parenthood probability theory

women carry their fertilized eggs, can be more sure that their offspring are own

• males can’t be as sure and are motivated to ensure that their resources are directed to own offspring

• suggestions that males have greater concerns about sexual rivals and chastity

her reproductive capacity (youth/attractiveness) and chastity (increased probability of paternity)

woman’s mate value for a man determined by

more evidence of resources he can supply (income/ambition)

man’s mate value for a woman determined by

what men and women consider cheating

men- sexual infidelity and threat to paternal probability

women- emotional attachments (threat to resources)

alternative explanations to sexual differences

• differences also product of features of society (gender equality/opportunities)

• smaller differences in societies where men and women had similar roles

• more support for biosocial perspective sexual differences result from interactions between biology and social factors (economic conditions and division of labor)

• when skewed ratings of jealousy and mate choices is corrected- less differences

behavioral genetics

• study of how genes contribute to behavior

• genes don’t directly determine traits- they’re biological functioning of body and genes interact with environment

• 3 primary research methods

• selective breeding studies

• twin studies

• adoption studies

3 primary research methods for behavioral genetics

selective breeding

• animals with a desired trait for are selected and mated; repeated until a consistent strain of animals with that trait are achieved

• researchers then subject the different strains to different experimentally controlled developmental conditions to study the impact of environment and genes

  • aggressive dogs

  • alcoholism

twin studies

• using monozygotic (MZ, identical) and or dizygotic (DZ, fraternal) twins to study the degree to which genetic factors explain person to person variations in personality

• MZ twins genetically identical, so difference would be from environment

• difference in similarity between MZ twin pairs and DZ twin pairs that can help estimate the effects of genetics

more similar

if genetics influence a personality characteristic more, then MZ twins should be — on given characteristic than DZ twins;