Chapter 12

Question 1

Personality

Answer 1

Individual’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling and behaving.

Question 2

Approaches to studying personality

Answer 2

Ideographic and nomothetic

Question 3

Idiographic approach

Answer 3

Creating detailed descriptions of a specific person’s unique personality characteristics.

Constructing a theory of the way someone is, why they behave that way.

Intuitive rather than scientific.

Question 4

Nomothetic approach

Answer 4

Examining personality in large groups of people, making generalizations.

Question 5

Personality traits

Answer 5

Specific psychological characteristics that make up a person’s personality.

How a person behaves most of the time.

Question 6

State

Answer 6

Temporary physical or psychological engagement that influences behavior.

Question 7

Barnum Statements

Answer 7

Used to refer to certain personality factors that’s designed to trick you in some way.

Overgeneralized statements about your personality.

Question 8

Five factor model

Answer 8

Openness
Conscientious
Extraversion
Neuroticism
Agreeableness

Question 9

HEXACO model of personality

Answer 9

Generally replicates FFM but with an extra factor:
Honesty-Humility

Question 10

Openness traits

Answer 10

Low: prefer to follow rules, down to earth.

High: lots of curiosity and creativity, artistic, imaginative, potentially unconventional, non-conforming

Question 11

Conscientiousness traits

Answer 11

Low: less organized, less detail oriented, spontaneous

High: organized, efficient, self-disciplined, punctual, dependable, may experience higher levels of work-related stress

Question 12

Extraversion traits

Answer 12

Low: ‘introverted’ or ‘reserved’

High: enjoy socializing, seek attention, assertive, prefer high levels of stimulation and excitement

Question 13

Agreeableness traits

Answer 13

Low: not afraid to disagree, competitive, not the same as disagreeableness

High: try to please others, minimize conflict, conflict resolution may come at a cost to well-being, success, trusting

Question 14

Neuroticism traits

Answer 14

Low: secure, confident, usually good at managing emotions

High: anxious, insecure, react strongly to negative events, may focus on perceived flaws

Question 15

Dark triad

Answer 15

Psychopathy: Demonstrating shallow emotional responses, feel little empathy for others.

Narcissism: Egotistical preoccupation with self-image and self-importance.

Machiavellianism: Tendency to use people, to manipulate and deceive.

Question 16

Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA)

Answer 16

A set of personality characteristics that may predispose people to certain violent or anti-social tendencies.

Question 17

3 categories of temperament

Answer 17

Well-adjusted, under controlled, inhibited

Question 18

4 primary indigenous Chinese personality traits

Answer 18

Dependability (similar to neuroticism)
Social potency (similar to extraversion)
Individualism (similar to agreeableness)
Interpersonal relatedness

Question 19

How are personality and genetic related?

Answer 19

Identical twins show stronger correlations for personality than fraternal twins.

Also true for identical twins raised apart.

Question 20

Past approaches (brain and personality)

Answer 20

Humourism → Imbalances in particular bodily fluids explained illness and personality.

Phrenology → Personality characteristics could be predicted by shape of one’s skull.

Question 21

Current approaches

Answer 21

Association between personality characteristics and systems within the brain.

The way some neurons communicate with each other can contribute how different behaviors are expressed.

Question 22

Extraversion in the brain

Answer 22

Increase in impulsive behaviors with a reward available.

Stronger dopamine response to rewarding stimuli.

More positive emotions in a range of situations.

Less activation in the amygdala.

Question 23

Arousal theory of extraversion

Answer 23

Extraversion is determined by a person’s threshold of arousal.

Question 24

Ascending reticular activating system (ARAS)

Answer 24

System in the brain that plays a central role in controlling arousal response.

Less reactive in extroverts.

Question 25

The approach/inhibition model of motivation (Jeffrey Grey)

Answer 25

Behavioral Activation System (BAS)
“Go” system, arousing the person to act in the pursuit of a particular goal.
Responsive to rewards.

Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS)
“Danger” system, motivating the person to act in order to avoid punishments or other negative outcomes.
Activation associated with Neuroticism.

Question 26

Neuroticism in the brain

Answer 26

Dorsomedial prefrontal cortex: regulating emotions

Hippocampus: control of obsessive negative thinking.

Mid-cingulate gyrus: detecting errors and perceiving pain.

Question 27

Openness to experience in the brain

Answer 27

Greater activation in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex → creativity and intelligence.

Greater activation in the brain systems involved in integration of self and environment.

Question 28

Reciprocal determinism

Answer 28

Personality is an interaction between behaviors, internal (personal/cognitive) factors, and external (situational) factors.