Do Now: Write down as many personality traits as you can think
of. Longest list wins!
Story time…
The Trait Perspective
Trait= An individual’s characteristic behaviors and conscious motives
Examples of Traits
HonestDependable
MoodyImpulsive
Personality Type
Personality types, assessed by measures such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, consist of a number
of traits.
Sympathetic
Appreciative
Tactful
Feeling Type Personality
Gordon Allport’s Theory
• Cardinal Trait- defining characteristic
Example: Mother Teresa= altruism
Central Trait: generalcharacteristic
Cardinal Traits
• Obama
• Lincoln
• George Bush
• Michael Jackson
• Lady Gaga
Exploring Traits
Factor analysis is a statistical
approach used to describe and
relate personality traits.
Cattell 16 Personality Factor (16PF) inventory. Raymond Cattell
(1905-1998)
Factor AnalysisCattell found that large groups of traits
could be reduced down to 16 core personality traits based on statistical
correlations.
Impulsive
Excitement
Imp
ati
en
t
Irritable
Boiste
rou
s
BasictraitSuperficial
traits
Personality DimensionsHans and Sybil Eysenck suggested that personality could be reduced down to
three dimensionsextroversion vs introversion, neuroticism vs stability,and psychoticism vs empathetic.
Eysenck’s Personality Traits
• Extroversion vs introversion
• Neuroticism- moody, anxious, unreliable
• Psychoticism- tough mindedness, hostile, ruthless, insensitive
Are our personalities genetically determined?
Assessing Traits
Personality inventories are questionnaires (often with true-false or
agree-disagree items) designed to gauge a wide range of feelings and behaviors
MMPI
The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) is the
most widely researched and clinically used of all personality tests.
MMPI Test Profile
Do Now: 1) What is the MMPI?2) How are traits evaluated today?3) Which movie won best picture last night?
Fortune telling.
Barnum Effect
Tendency to accept as valid descriptions of our personality that are true of everyone especially if favorable
AIM: How do psychologists determine our personality
traits?
The Big Five Factors
Today’s trait researchers believe that Eysencks’ personality dimensions are too narrow and
Cattell’s 16PF too large. A middle range (five factors) of traits does a better job of assessment.
Conscientiousness
Agreeableness
Neuroticism
Openness
Extraversion
Endpoints
Questions about the Big Five
Yes. Conscientious people are morning type and extraverted are evening type.
4. Can they predict other personal attributes?
These traits are common across cultures.
3. How about other cultures?
Fifty percent or so for each trait.
2. How heritable are they?
Quite stable in adulthood. However, they change over development.
1. How stable are these traits?
Evaluating the Trait Perspective
The Person-Situation Controversy
Walter Mischel (1968, 1984, 2004) points out that traits may be enduring, but the
resulting behavior in various situations is different.
The Person-Situation Controversy
Trait theorists argue that behaviors from a situation may be different, but average
behavior remains the same.
The Person-Situation Controversy
Traits are socially significant and influence our health, thinking, and
performance
Samuel Gosling
John Langford Photography
Consistency of Expressive Style
Expressive styles in speaking and gestures demonstrate trait consistency.
Observers are able to judge people’s behavior and feelings in as little as 2- 30
seconds
Humanistic Perspective
By the 1960s, psychologists became discontent with Freud’s negativity and the mechanistic psychology of the behaviorists.
Abraham Maslow(1908-1970)
Carl Rogers(1902-1987)
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Self-Actualizing PersonMaslow proposed that we as individuals are motivated by a hierarchy of needs. Beginning with physiological needs, we
try to reach the state of self-actualization—fulfilling our potential.
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Ted P
olumbaum
/ Tim
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etty Images
Growth and Fulfillment
Carl Rogers
-believed in an individual's self-actualization tendencies.
-He said that Unconditional Positive Regard is an attitude of acceptance of others despite their failings.
Michael R
ougier/ Life Magazine ©
Tim
e Warner, Inc.
Ideal versus Real
Assessing the Self
All of our thoughts and feelings about ourselves, in an answer to the question, “Who am I?” refers to Self-Concept.
Carl Rogers asked people to describe themselves as they would like to be (ideal) and as they actually are (real).
If the two descriptions were close the individual had a positive self-concept.
Evaluating the Humanistic Perspective
1. Humanistic psychology has a pervasive impact on counseling, education, child-rearing, and management.
2. Concepts in humanistic psychology are vague and subjective and lack scientific basis.
3. Gender identity may develop before 5-6 years of age.
Do Now: Which Theory of Personality (Psychoanalytic,
Humanist, Neofreud, Trait) do you agree with and why?
AIM: How does the interaction between the social context and the
person influence personality?
Social-Cognitive Perspective
Bandura (1986, 2001, 2005) believes that
personality is the result of an
interaction that takes place between a person’s behavior
and their social context. Albert Bandura
Bandura called the interaction between personality and our environment
reciprocal determinism.
The three factors, behavior, cognition, and environment, are interlocking
determinants of each other.
Reciprocal Influences
Stephen W
ade/ Allsport/ G
etty Images
Reciprocal DeterminismTaylor is friendly (trait)1. Influences her behavior
(she talks a lot)2. Influences her
environment (she is more likely to go to parties where she will talk a lot)
3. Her environment influences her behavior: the more she talks, the more friendly she thinks she is and the more parties she goes to, the more she talks
Individuals & Environments
How we view and treat people influences how they treat us.
Our personalities shape situations.
Anxious people react to situations differently than calm people.
Our personalities shape how we react to events.
The school you attend and the music you listen to are partly based on your dispositions.
Different people choose different environments.
Specific ways in which individuals and environments interact
Bandura’s Self- Efficacy
• Self-efficacy is our belief that we can perform behaviors that are necessary to accomplish tasks
• Major factor in how we regulate our lives
Behavior
Behavior emerges from an interplay of external and internal influences.
We develop personal constructs
consisting of polar opposites (fair-unfair, exciting-dull, smart-
unintelligent) to understand our world
Personality differences result
from different constructs
George Kelly’s Personal Construct Theory
Role Construct Repertory Test
Too few constructs= stereotype others
Too many constructs- may have difficulty predicting other’s behavior
Social-Learning Theory: Personal Control
External locus of control refers to the perception that chance or outside forces
beyond our personal control determine our fate.
Internal locus of control refers to the perception that we can control our own
fate.
Julian Rotter emphasize our sense of personal control, whether we control the environment or the environment controls
us.
Internal Locus of Control
Internals believe they can control their destinies
• achieve more at school• act more independently• enjoy better health• better self control • less depression• Warm protective nurturing family
environment, 1st /earlier born
External Locus of Control
• Limited social power• Limited resources• low socioeconomic class• Socially Marginalized
Learned Helplessness
When unable to avoid repeated adverse events an animal or human learns helplessness.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFmFOmprTt0
Positive Psychology and Humanistic Psychology
Positive psychology, such as humanistic psychology, attempts to foster human
fulfillment. Positive psychology, in addition, seeks positive subjective well-being, positive
character, and positive social groups.
Martin Seligman
Courtesy of M
artin E.P. Seligm
an, PhD D
irector, Positive Psychology C
enter/ University of Pennsylvania
Do Now:1. According to Freud, fixation refers to a difficulty in the process
of: a. free association.b. psychosexual development.c. projective testing.d. hypnosis.
2. Who emphasized the importance of unconditional positive regard in healthy personality development? a. Allportb. Bandurac. Rogersd. Adler
3. Albert Bandura’s social-cognitive perspective highlights the importance of: a. free association.b. self-actualization.c. reciprocal determinism.d. factor analysis.
4. Is there a downside to too much freedom in decision-making?
Tyranny of Choice
Write down positive and negative qualities about yourself… Which
list is longer?
AIM: How does our self-concept influence our personality?
• http://www.videosift.com/video/Discovering-Psychology-The-Self
Optimism vs. Pessimism
An optimistic or pessimistic attributional style is your way of explaining positive or
negative events.
Seligman’s Positive Psychology aims to discover and promote
conditions that enable individuals and communities to thrive.
Positive Psychology and Humanistic Psychology
Positive psychology, in addition, seeks positive subjective well-being, positive character, and positive social groups.
Martin Seligman
Courtesy of M
artin E.P. Seligm
an, PhD D
irector, Positive Psychology C
enter/ University of Pennsylvania
Exploring the Self
1. Research focuses on the different selves we possess. Some we dream and others we dread.
2. Research studies how we overestimate our concern that others evaluate our appearance, performance, and blunders (spotlight effect).
3. Research studies the self-reference effect in recall.
Benefits of Self-Esteem
Maslow and Rogers argued that a successful life results from a
healthy self-image (self-esteem).
1. When self-esteem is deflated, we view ourselves and others critically.
2. Low self-esteem reflects reality, our failure in meeting challenges, or surmounting difficulties.
Culture & Self-Esteem
People maintain their self-esteem even with a low status by valuing things they achieve and comparing
themselves to people with similar positions.
Self-Serving Bias
1) We accept responsibility for good deeds and successes more than for bad deeds and failures.
2) We tend to view ourselves as better than average
3) Defensive self-esteem is fragile and egotistic whereas secure self-esteem is less fragile and less dependent on external evaluation.