Lecture 12 PERSONALITY

Visiting Assistant PROFESSOR YEE-SAN TEOH

Department of PsychologyNational Taiwan University

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GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY

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PERSONALITY (P)

Differences in P are best characterized in terms of underlying, possibly innate, attributes (traits).

Traits predispose one toward patterns of thinking and behavior that are essentially consistent over time and across situations.

The Trait Approach

E.g. quick temper, or friendliness Traits serve as a basis for making predictions

about what a person is likely to do in the future.

Traits

Cattell eliminated redundant P terms from a larger number of terms– yielded 16 primary trait dimensions.

Overlap among the 16 trait dimensions was reduced to 5 major P dimensions.

5 major P dimensions are useful: describing people from childhood through old age, in many different cultural settings.

The Big Five Inventory (Cattell)

EXTRAVERSION

NEUROTICISM

AGREEABLENESS

CONSCIENTIOUSNESS

OPENNESS TO EXPERIENCE

The Big Five Inventory (Cattell)

Having an energetic approach to the social and physical world.

Often feel positive emotions and agree with statements like “I see myself as someone who is outgoing, sociable”

EXTRAVERSION

Prone to negative emotions or being emotionally unstable.

Agree with statements like “I see myself as someone who is depressed, blue”

Neuroticism

Having a trusting and easygoing approach to others.

Agree with statements like “I see myself as someone who is generally trusting”

Agreeableness

Having an organized, efficient, and disciplined approach to life.

Agree with statements like “I see myself as someone who does things ethically.”

Conscientiousness

Unconventional and intellectually curious. Interest in new ideas, foods, and activities. Agree with statements like “I see myself as

someone who is curious about many different things.”

Openness to Experience

We identify someone’s P by specifying where he or she falls along each trait dimension.

E.g. Low in agreeableness, high in neuroticism, etc.

Allows us to describe an infinite number of P profiles created by different mixtures of the 5 basic dimensions.

Big Five Dimensions

Informant data Information abt a person from parents,

coaches, teachers, and so on. Although potentially biased, the data generally

agree well with ratings of the Big Five. Informant data provide an important source of

info about a person.

The Big Five: Measurement & Meaning

Each major P dimension is made up of many more specific facets of that characteristic.

Each of which is, in turn, made of even more specific personality characteristics,

Which are themselves made up of specific behaviors.

Broader terms on top, more specific terms/behaviors on bottom.

Hierarchy of Traits

Openness to Experience

Feelings

Receptive to inner emotional

states

Value emotional experiences

AestheticsAppreciation for

art, music, poetry

Hierarchy of Traits - Openness

Studies that confirm the existence of the Big Five dimensions in a population, do not show us whether these are the most frequently used categories in that culture, or whether they are useful in predicting the same behaviors from one culture to the next.

Cultural Differences in Trait Taxonomies

When participants are allowed to generate P terms on their own, support for the cross-cultural generality of the Big Five has been mixed.

Cultural Differences in Trait Taxonomies

The Consistency Controversy

The Person-Situation Debate

Studies have shown inconsistency in behaviors in different settings.

Personality Paradox (Mischel, 1968): People behave much less consistently than a trait conceptualization would predict.

Low correlations between measures of traits taken in different situations.

How Consistent Are People?

Why Aren’t People More Consistent?

The Power of the Situation

Strong Situations

Ones in which the environment provides clear guidelines for our behavior.

Situation determines behavior.

E.g. courtroom, fancy restaurant, church.

Weak Situations

Ones in which the environment provides few guidelines for our behavior.

Personality determines behavior.

E.g. at home alone, in a park.

Self-Monitoring Scale Assesses degree to which people are sensitive

to their surroundings and likely to adjust their behaviors to fit in.

Consistency as a Feature of P

Self-Monitoring

High Self-Monitors

Care a great deal about how they appear to others.

Adjust behavior to fit the situation.

E.g. solemn at church, charming at party

Low Self-Monitors

Less interested in how they appear to others.

Behavior is much more consistent across situations.

E.g. quiet at church, party,

How consistently people in different cultures describe themselves.

How consistent individuals in different cultures want to be.

Consistency May Vary Due to Culture

Americans are relatively consistent in how they describe themselves, no matter whether they happen at the time to be sitting alone, next to an authority figure, or in a large group.

Japanese’ self-descriptions varied considerably across contexts – far more self-critical when sitting next to an authority figure than when they were by themselves.

Culture & Self-Descriptions

Use trait labels (“introvert”) to be descriptions of how a person tends to act in certain sorts of situations, rather than a description of what he or she is like at all times and in all places.

Personality traits have been shown to predict important life outcomes – career success, criminal activities, health, mortality.

Personality Traits as Predictors

Traits & Biology

P traits may grow out of an individual’s temperament.

Temperament: Characteristic pattern of emotion, attention, and behavior.

Evident from early age, determined considerably by genetic patterns (heritability ratio: .40-.60)

Genes & Personality

Eysenck: Introverts may react more strongly than extraverts to external stimuli.

Introverts often guard against stimulation from the outside.

Introverts have a lower tolerance for pain. When they are studying, introverts prefer less

noise & fewer opportunities to socialize.

Physiology & Personality

Introverts show a quicker response than extraverts, indicating more reactive brain stems.

Physiology & Personality

P style that tends to seek varied and novel experiences.

Look for thrills & adventure, highly susceptible to boredom.

More likely to engage in risky sports and activities.

Neurotransmitter systems are under-reactive. Seek thrills & take risks to jog sluggish NTM

systems into greater activity.

Sensation-Seeking

P style - fear of novelty. Evident in early life – as infants, tend to react

strongly when distressed. As young children, unwilling to approach novel

stimuli or people, anxious in new situations. Associated with introversion & neuroticism. Overreactive brain? Low threshold for activity

in the amygdala – higher levels of activation in novel situations.

Inhibited Temperament

Traits & the Environment

The idea that people in different cultures have different Ps.

E.g. a German or an Italian personality. Is national character nothing more than

stereotyping?

Cultural Effects: National Character

Subgroup who are more willing to take risks and are more open to new experiences.

Engage in practices that shape the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of those around them.

Conditions of the environment also play a role.

Where do cultural differences in personality come from?

Families differ in SES, nutrition, health, religion, attitudes about child rearing, etc.

Family Effects

Environments vary for different children within the same family.

Within-family effects include different friends, teachers, accidents, and illnesses.

Birth order effects: later-borns may be more rebellious & more open to new experiences than first-borns.

Within-Family Effects

Average correlation btwn P traits of adopted children and their adoptive siblings are very low.

Same environment, little influence on P characteristics.

Family Environment & Personality

Identical twin studies show same correlation for P scores whether the twins are reared together or apart.

So the differences in the environment didn’t play a role in P development.

But when identical & fraternal twins were compared, identical twins were more similar in P – strong heritability.

Family Environment & Personality

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