Fun With Yourself!Personality Psychology

Personality

An individual’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting.

Each dwarf has a distinct personality.

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The Trait Perspective

An individual’s unique constellation of durable dispositions and consistent ways of behaving (traits) constitutes his or her

personality.Examples of TraitsHonest

DependableMoody

Impulsive

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Exploring Traits

One way to condense the immense list of personality traits is through factor analysis, a statistical approach used to describe and

relate personality traits.

Each personality is uniquely made up of multiple traits.

Allport & Odbert (1936), identified almost 18,000 words representing traits.

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Factor AnalysisHans and Sybil Eysenck suggested that

personality could be reduced down to two polar dimensions, extraversion-

introversion and emotional stability-instability.

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Biology and Personality

Personality dimensions are influenced by genes.

1. Brain-imaging procedures show that extraverts seek stimulation because their normal brain arousal is relatively low.

2. Genes also influence our temperament and behavioral style. Differences in children’s shyness and inhibition may be attributed to autonomic nervous system reactivity.

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Assessing Traits

Personality inventories are questionnaires designed to gauge a

wide range of feelings and behaviors assessing several traits at

once.

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Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)

• Most widely researched and clinically used of all personality tests. Originally developed to identify emotional disorders.

• Developed by empirically testing a pool of items and then selecting those that discriminated between diagnostic groups.

MMPI 2 TEST QUESTIONS IN ORDERTRUE OR FALSE (567 QUESTIONS)

1.I like mechanics magazines2.I have a good appetite3.I wake up fresh & rested most mornings4.I think I would like the work of a librarian5.I am easily awakened by noise6.I like to read newspaper articles on crime7.My hands and feet are usually warm enough8.My daily life is full of things that keep me interested9.I am about as able to work as I ever was10.There seems to be a lump in my throat much of the time.

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The Big Five FactorsToday’s trait researchers believe that earlier trait

dimensions, such as Eysencks’ personality dimensions, fail to tell the whole story. So, an expanded range (five factors) of traits does a

better job of assessment.Conscientiousness

AgreeablenessNeuroticism

OpennessExtraversion

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Endpoints

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Questions about the Big Five

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?

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Evaluating the Trait PerspectivePerson-Situation Controversy

Walter Mischel (1968, 1984, 2004) points out that traits may be enduring, but the resulting behavior in various situations is different. “Traits are not good predictors of behavior.”

Christian Bale Freak Out

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Fun with Kids!!Developmental

Psychology

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Developmental Psychology

Issue Details

Nature/Nurture

How do genetic inheritance (our nature)

and experience (the nurture we receive)

influence our behavior?

Continuity/StagesIs development a

gradual, continuous process or a sequence of

separate stages?

Stability/Change

Do our early personality traits persist through life, or do we become

different persons as we age.

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Prenatal Development: Teratogens

Viruses: e.g. HIV, flu-Flu & Schizophrenia

Drugs: e.g. alcohol, crack-FAS & “crack babies”

Chemicals: mercury, cigarettes

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Cigarettes:Commercially Produced: 599 Additives

http://quitsmoking.about.com/cs/nicotineinhaler/a/cigingredients.htm

General Development

• Brain development

• Motor Development– Sit Crawl Stand Walking!!

• Cognitive Development– Schemas + Assimilation + Accommodation

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Research With Babies

Your answer is only as good as your question!

Habituation works with babies.Babies can do “

novelty-preference procedures.”

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Babies also recognize the “impossible!”

Wynn (1992, 2000) showed children stared longer at the wrong number of objects than the right ones.

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Baby Math!• Dr. McGrink’s (McCrink & Wynn, 2004)

• Work looks at large number math with infants/children– Babies stare longer at wrong “math answers”– http://www.wjh.harvard.edu/~mccrink/multimedia.html

• (Think of it less in terms of concrete numbers and more in terms of “‘A lot’ minus ‘some’ shouldn’t equal ‘a lot’.”)

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Another Way to Study the Developing Mind

Dr. Santos’ work explores the evolutionary origins of the human mind by comparing the cognitive abilities of human

and non-human primates

Magic Showsfor Monkeys!

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Piaget’s Theory of Development

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Sensorimotor Stage• Babies take in the world — through looking, hearing,

touching, mouthing and grasping (i.e., the senses)• Children younger than 6 months generally do not have object

permanence, i.e., objects that are out of sight are also out of mind.– It’s why playing peek-a-boo with infants is so fun for them. You

literally disappear in their mind!

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Preoperational Stage• From 2 to about 6-7 years, children are in

preoperational stage– too young to perform mental operations.

• Focus is on words, images and intuition. Not logic– Why trying to engage in deep, explanatory

discussions with children does not work.• Lack understanding of conservation

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Preoperational Stage: Criticism

DeLoache (1987) showed that children as young as 3-years-old are able to use

mental operations. When shown a model of dog’s hiding place behind the couch, 2½-year-old could not locate the stuffed dog in an actual room, but the 3-year-old

did.

Monkeys can do this too!

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Preoperational Stage

Sally Boysen’s Brilliant Monkeys!Thinking Monkeys

Number Crunch Monkeys

Note: Watch “Chimps Minds” for the “hide & seek”(start it where Alda says “This is Sally Boysen”)

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Formal Operational Stage• Around age 12 we move from concrete

thinking to abstract thinking– Can now use symbols and imagined realities to

systematically reason– Junior Socrates: you can now understand “If A,

then B” logic• If John is in school, Mary is in school. John is in

school. What can you say about Mary?– Why you aren’t doing calculus before this age

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Origins of Attachment

Harlow (1971) showed that infants bond with surrogate mothers because of bodily contact and not nourishment.

Harlow

Primate Laboratory, U

niversity of Wisconsin

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Attachment Theory

Harlow’s studies showed that monkeys experience great anxiety if their terry-

cloth mother was removed & were frightened. H

arlow Prim

ate Laboratory, University of W

isconsin

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Attachment Differences

Placed in a strange situation, 60% children express secure attachment, i.e., they explore their environment happily in

the presence of their mothers. When mother leaves they show distress.

The other 30% show insecure attachment, these children cling to their mothers or caregivers, and are less likely

to explore the environment.

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Separation Anxiety

Separation anxiety peaks at 13 months of age. No matter whether the children are

home or day care raised.

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Deprivation of Attachment

What happens when circumstances prevent a child from forming

attachments?

In such circumstances children become:

1. Withdrawn2. Frightened3. Unable to develop

speech

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Prolonged Deprivation

If parental or caregiving support is deprived for long, children are placed at risk for physical, psychological and social problems, including alterations in brain

neurochemical levels.

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Child-Rearing PracticesPractice Description

Authoritarian Parents impose rules and expect obedience.

Permissive Parents submit to children’s demands.

Authoritative Parents are demanding but responsive to their children.

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Authoritative Parenting

Authoritative parenting correlates with social competence — other factors like common genes may leading to a easy-

going temperament may invoke authoritative parenting style.