Phil's lectures

Question 1

MODELS OF ADULT PERSONALITY PT.1:
Why have trait theories replaced type theories in personality research?

Answer 1

Trait theories have replaced type theories because type theories tend to overgeneralize by placing individuals into distinct categories, whereas trait theories allow for more nuanced descriptions and predictions of individual differences.

Question 2

MODELS OF ADULT PERSONALITY PT.1:
What is the lexical hypothesis, and why is it important in trait theory?

Answer 2

The lexical hypothesis states that traits important to personality will be more frequently used in language and have more synonyms. This idea helps identify which traits are most significant for understanding personality.

Question 3

MODELS OF ADULT PERSONALITY PT.1:
What were Gordon Allport’s key contributions to trait theory?

Answer 3

Allport reduced over 18,000 personality-related words to 4,000 key traits and proposed three levels of traits:
Cardinal traits – Dominant, overarching traits influencing all behaviors.
Central traits – Key traits defining an individual.
Secondary traits – Traits evident only in specific situations.

Question 4

MODELS OF ADULT PERSONALITY PT.1:
who took over from allport and what did they do?

Answer 4

Using factor analysis, Raymond Cattell reduced Allport’s 4,000 traits to 16 key traits, each scalable and capable of being positive or negative.

Question 5

MODELS OF ADULT PERSONALITY PT.1:
What are the key components of Eysenck’s hierarchical theory of personality?

Answer 5

Eysenck proposed a hierarchical model of personality with the following structure:
Specific reactions → Habitual actions → Traits → Supertraits.

The three supertraits are extraversion, neuroticism, and psychopathy.

Question 6

MODELS OF ADULT PERSONALITY PT.1:
What role do brain subsystems play in Gray’s theory of personality?

Answer 6

Gray identified three main brain subsystems that influence personality:
Behavioral Approach System (BAS): A positive feedback loop encouraging new situations, linked to extraversion.
Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS): A negative feedback loop causing caution and anxiety, linked to neuroticism.
Fight/Flight System: Governs responses to threats.

Question 7

MODELS OF ADULT PERSONALITY PT.1:
What are the key considerations when studying traits in personality?

Answer 7

Important considerations include:
The ability to describe individual differences.
The ability to predict behavior.
Explaining the origin of traits.

Question 8

MODELS OF ADULT PERSONALITY PT.1:
explain the difference between situational and dispositional explanations

Answer 8

same situation) james wants to stay at home from a party. a situational explanation would be that hes ill ( external factors)/ a dispositional factor would be that hes an introvert and hates parties ( internal personality factors)

Question 9

MODELS OF PERSONALITY PT.2:
What is the Five-Factor Model (FFM), and why is it considered a cumulative approach?

Answer 9

The Five-Factor Model (FFM) is a comprehensive personality framework that identifies five core traits: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism (OCEAN). It is considered cumulative because it integrates ideas from previous personality theories and was validated through factor analysis.

Question 10

MODELS OF PERSONALITY PT.2:
What is a natural language approach?

Answer 10

a natural language combines the lexical hypothesis with factor analysis in order to simplify and reduce the many many dimensions of personality

Question 11

MODELS OF PERSONALITY PT.2:
How does the Five-Factor Model use a hierarchical structure?

Answer 11

Similar to Eysenck’s theory, the FFM is hierarchical, with each of the five broad traits containing subtraits/facets e.g. openness to experience contains imagination . This allows for a detailed yet broad description of individual personalities.

Question 12

MODELS OF PERSONALITY PT.2:
how do these traits come about- whats the explanation for it?

Answer 12

mcrae suggests that the traits are genetically inherited e.g. extroverted parents make extroverted kids. also related to brain function

Question 13

MODELS OF PERSONALITY PT.2:
What is extraversion associated with in the brain?

Answer 13

• extraversion was associated with larger volume of medial orbitiofrontal cortex ( involved in coding the reward values of stimuli as extroverts are sensation seeking

Question 14

MODELS OF PERSONALITY PT.2:
According to DeYoung, What is neuroticism associated with?

Answer 14

• neuroticism associated with reduced volume in dorsomedial PFC and a section of left medial temporal lobe and with increased colume in the mid-cingulate gyrus ( sensitivity to threat and punishment)- as they overpercieve threats

Question 15

MODELS OF PERSONALITY PT.2:
According to DeYoung, What is agreeableness associated with?

Answer 15

agreeableness associated with social areas of the brain- reduced volume in posterior left superior temporal suculus and with increased volume in posterior cingulate cortex involved in the interpretation of others’ actions, intentions and beliefs

Question 16

MODELS OF PERSONALITY PT.2:
According to DeYoung, What is conscientiousness associated with in the brain?

Answer 16

conscientiousness associated with increased volume of the middle frontal gyrus in left lateral PFC ( involved in maintaining information in working memory and execution of planned action
- openess wasnt associated with any brain differences

Question 17

MODELS OF PERSONALITY PT.2:
According to DeYoung, What is openness associated with in the brain?

Answer 17

Nish really

Question 18

MODELS OF PERSONALITY PT.2:
What supports the validity of the Five-Factor Model?

Answer 18

The FFM has high validity due to its use of self-report and other-report studies, which show high correlations. Self-report data is collected through the NEO index, a personality questionnaire with 240 items on a 1-5 scale.

Question 19

MODELS OF PERSONALITY PT.2:
Is the Five-Factor Model universal across cultures?

Answer 19

The FFM is somewhat universal, as traits have been translated into other languages (an emic approach/ only looking at behaviours relevant to one culture) with reasonable success. However, the etic approach ( looking at relevant behaviours outside of ones culture) —synthesizing traits from local languages—has revealed variations, such as a potential sixth trait, Honesty-Humility, leading to the HEXACO model.

Question 20

MODELS OF PERSONALITY PT.2:
What is the Dark Triad, and how is it related to the Five-Factor Model?

Answer 20

The Dark Triad—psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and narcissism—is an extension of the negative end of the Honesty-Humility spectrum. It focuses on manipulative and self-serving personality traits

Question 21

MODELS OF PERSONALITY PT.2:
Prompt: How well does the Five-Factor Model predict behavior?

Answer 21

The FFM can predict general tendencies, such as an extraverted person being more likely to engage with strangers. However, it cannot entirely predict behavior, as personality interacts with situational factors

Question 22

MODELS OF PERSONALITY PT.2:
Prompt: What are the strengths of the Five-Factor Model?

Answer 22

High parsimony (simplicity).

Broad applicability.

Decent predictive validity for real-world behaviors

Question 23

What are the weaknesses of the Five-Factor Model?

Answer 23

Limited explanations for why traits develop.

Cannot capture all personality traits.

May lack cross-cultural validity and reinforce Western biases.

Competing explanations for personality (e.g., dispositional factors, motivational factors, narrative identity).

Question 24

HERITABILITY AND GENETICS:
What do heritability estimates measure?

Answer 24

Heritability estimates measure the proportion of variation in a trait within a population that is attributable to genetic variation.

Question 25

HERITABILITY AND GENETICS: How are heritability estimates produced?

Answer 25

They are produced through mathematical modeling that computes kinship associations, such as comparisons between monozygotic (MZ) twins, siblings, and adopted individuals.

Question 26

HERITABILITY AND GENETICS: Why are heritability estimates valuable in research?

Answer 26

They take advantage of natural situations (e.g., twin and adoption studies) to isolate genetic and environmental factors.

Question 27

HERITABILITY AND GENETICS: What assumptions do heritability studies make?

Answer 27

That being raised together creates a 100% identical environment for siblings. That results from twins and adopted individuals can be generalized to the broader population.

Question 28

HERITABILITY AND GENETICS: what are linkage associations?

Answer 28

by using marker genes, in the process of recombination scientists can find the target gene. this strategy is most effective on a rare occurence with a significant effect size

Question 29

HERITABILITY AND GENETICS: what are candidate wide associations?

Answer 29

These focus on specific genes hypothesized to be associated with a particular trait or condition based on prior knowledge (e.g., biological pathways or animal models). Researchers test whether variations in these genes (e.g., single nucleotide polymorphisms, or SNPs) are more common in individuals with the trait compared to those without.

Question 30

HERITABILITY AND GENETICS: what are genome wide associations

Answer 30

GWAS takes a hypothesis-free approach by scanning the entire genome for genetic variations associated with a trait or disease. It uses large datasets to identify SNPs or genetic markers linked to specific outcomes.

Question 31

HERITABILITY AND GENETICS: epistasis vs. epigenetics

Answer 31

epistasis ( genes interacting with eachother/ commonly supressing) epigenetics ( gene markers get activated by environemntal factors and alleles become expressed)

Question 32

EVOLUTION OF PERSONALITY: what is the evolutionary point of personality/ individual differences:

Answer 32

certain personality traits can increase liklelihood of sucessful reproduction. so sexy so agreeable. this is measured globally by number of babies but this is limited due to the presence of birth control

Question 33

EVOLUTION OF PERSONALITY: explain the differences between phylogenetic/ functional/ causation/ ontogeny

Answer 33

phylogenetic: evolutionary explanation functional: adaptation/ what is it for BOFFA DEEZ ARE ULTIMATE ontogeny: development nature/ nurture causation: cognitive mechanisms BOFFA DEEZ ARE PROXIMATE

Question 34

EVOLUTION OF PERSONALITY: tell me about the mutation selection balance

Answer 34

- some argue that personality is caused by mutations to certain genes - single gene traits require very little selection pressure, wheras polygenetic traits requre a shit load of selection pressure, so not easy

Question 35

EVOLUTION OF PERSONALITY: explain the 3 methods of personality gene control?

Answer 35

overdominance- heterozygotes have a reproductive advantage over homozygous individuals meaning genes are passed down. but this isnt the most likely explanation as most personality traits are polygenic

Question 36

EVOLUTION OF PERSONALITY: explain frequency- dependent selection with examples

Answer 36

let me tell you about cuck fish: male fish make a house for the missis- the missis fish fucks and dips leaving the male fish to care for the eggs BUT there are some lazy fish who dont want to build a house so just steal a cuck fish house and spunks in the eggs- leaving the cuck fish to care for the eggs. BUT there cant be lots of lazy fish because then there wouldnt be any houses. SO the frequency of the lazy fish gene has to stay at like 5%

Question 37

EVOLUTION OF PERSONALITY: explain environmental heterogenity:

Answer 37

population genetics assumes stable selection pressures, however selection pressures of personality varies over time. for example, in a more liberal modern country openness is an attractive trait. but different demographics find different traits attractive, maintaining individual differences in personality in a population.

Question 38

EVOLUTION OF PERSONALITY: what are the evolutionary trade-offs for certain personality traits

Answer 38

agreeableness- good for co-operation/ people pleasing openness- attractive trait/ more open to danger neuroticism- threat avoidant/ too crazy to stay in a relationship for long term