Personality 1101 Flashcards
(39 cards)
What is personality
Enduring patterns of thoughts, feeling, motivation and behaviour that are expressed in different circumstances. Gives direction to persons life. Genetics and environment play a role. Includes the effects of the past also constructions of the present and future
What does personality psychology study
Peoples’ thoughts feelings and behaviours that remain somewhat stable across different situations. eg sad in all situations
What does social psychology look at
how the same situation has a similar effect on different types of people. Lots of people see the situation in the same way eg lots of people get nervous public speaking
What are some key questions of personality psychology
1) How stable is personality?
2) how is it organised,
3) do the parts work well together or are they in conflict
4) what is contribution of genes and environment
5)how can we understand individual differences.
Must also look at what environments people chose and how their environments affect them and their personality.
What are the two key questions in personality research
1) What are the basic elements of personality?
2) To what extent is personality stable across time and situations? Disagreement on these.
What are some questions they might study in personality psychology
What is given by nature and what by nurture, how do 2 interact?
How do you study people and their personalities?
How easily can people change?
Can we examine causes of people behaviour?
How do people understand their social world?
How is personality structured?
What are the three approaches to personality research
1) Clinical
2) Correlational
3) Experimental
What is temperament
Part of the personality, the inborn traits that determine how people behave and view the world eg quiet or loud. They have a strong genetic component but also affected by family, culture, life experiences
What is the clinical approach
Systematic in-depth research of individuals.
Uses observation and self-report
What are some temperament variables
How one does something
Inhibition to the unfamiliar
Reactivity
Impulsivity
Energy level
Response to stimuli (time)
Response to stimuli (consistency)
Who were the significant researchers in the clinical approach
Jean-Martin Charcot
Pierre Janet
Morton Prince
Sigmund Freud
Henry Murray
What are the strengths of the clinical approach
*Great variety of different presentations in great detail
*Considers functioning of whole person
*Seeks to go deeper then self- reported measures as people don’t have insight to their behaviour
What are the weaknesses of the clinical approach
*Difficult for others to confirm observations
*May be difficult to formulate lab-style tests of hypotheses
*Hard to replicate with questionnaires
What is the correlational approach
Looks at associations between measures eg trait approach to personality.
* Don’t study person as whole
* Assumes trait is fundamental unit of personality
Uses self-reported questionnaires and factor analysis
Who were significant researchers in the correlational approach
Sir Francis Galton
Gordon Allport
Raymond Cattell
Hans Eysenck
Paul Costa and Robert McCrae
What are strengths of the correlational approach
Self-report is easy to use on large groups and is cost effective
Can look at how an individual compares to the population
What are weaknesses of the correlational approach
Correlation does not equal causation
Factor analysis has subjective elements
Vulnerable to potential distortions of self-report, (e.g. Self-deception, social desirability, response style)
Can’t tap into unconscious processes (i.e. you can’t report on what you don’t know) but what you don’t know about yourself may still influence your behaviour /bodily symptoms
What is the experiential approach
Focus on experiments to manipulate variables to look at their relationships eg choose your own adventure
Looks at general laws not individual differences
Who were significant researchers in the experimental approach
Wilhelm Wundt
Ivan Pavlov (1849–1936):
Classical Conditioning Pioneer:
John B. Watson (1878–1958):
Behaviorism and Little Albert Experiment:
Clark L. Hull (1884–1952):
Drive Reduction Theory:
B.F. Skinner (1904–1990):
Operant Conditioning and Skinner Box:
What are the strengths of experimental approach
Close to scientific ideal
Doesn’t rely on self-report
What are the weaknesses of the experimental approach
Can you bring important features of personality into the lab (e.g. fantasies, unconscious desires etc.?)
Not in the context of the ‘whole person’
Participants bring own expectations into lab
Participants might know what you want them to do
Experiment is a social situation
Describe inhibition of unfamiliar
Temperamental trait. Occurs in 10% of children, includes sensitivity, restraint, anxiety and fear with unfamiliar things. Become distressed hard to settle as children when upset, it remains stable over time, change occurs when parents were not overprotective and place reasonable demands on them and encourage them to try new things. Long term inhibition may lead to stress and disease. Those inhibited at age 3 were found to be depressed at 21. Parenting techniques can help them conquer fears and go out to new experiences.
Describe impulsivity
Difficulty restraining impulses, risk taking, bored, stimulus hungry.
. Some people can control impulses better than others. Impulsivity can cause problems, addictions, violence.
How do they use twin studies to examine heritability of traits
Compare to twins reared in different houses to those reared together in same house. The more similar the correlation between those reared apart and those reared together the greater the heritability.
