UNDERSTANDING PERSONALITY Flashcards
(26 cards)
consists of enduring distinctive thoughts, emotions, and behaviors that characterize the way
an individual adapts to the world
Personality
a relatively consistent pattern of affect, behavior, and cognition that give both consistency
and individuality to people
Personality
refers to the tendency for people to accept very general or vague characterizations of
themselves and take them to be accurate, e.g. horoscopes, fortune telling, etc.
Barnum Effect
Common Areas of Focus across all personality theories
- traits
- characteristic adaptations
- life stories
general pattern of responding that individuals exhibit in response to certain
situations
characteristic adaptations
includes what happened in a person’s life, why it was important, what it means
for who the person was, is, and for who they will become in the future
life stories
an approach for analyzing the structure of personality by measuring, idenfying, and
classifying similarities and differences in personality traits or characteristics
Trait theory
characteristic behaviors and feelings that are consistent and long-lasting
Traits
an American psychologist often referred to as one of the founding figures of
personality psychology
Gordon Allport
(Gordon Allport): 3 kinds of personality traits
- secondary traits
- central traits
- cardinal trait
traits that exert relatively weak effects on behavior
secondary traits
5 to 10 traits that best describe personality
central traits
single trait that dominates an individual’s entire personality
cardinal trait
states that personality is made up of five core factors
Five-factor theory (Costa & McCrae, 1992)
Five-factor theory - five core factors
- Openness to experience
- Conscientiousness
- Extraversion
- Agreeableness
- Neuroticism
Basic Assumptions (Five-factor theory)
- each personality trait represents a continuum
- the big five traits remain relatively stable
- the big five traits are significantly influenced by both nature and nurture
- the big five traits are known to predict certain life outcomes
The Big Five: the extent to which a person actively looks for and enjoys experiences for
their own sake
Openness to experience
The Big Five: refers to the amount and intensity of organization, self-control, and persistence an individual shows in reaching goals
Conscientiousness
The Big Five: refers to the amount and intensity of interpersonal interactions an individual engages in
Extraversion
The Big Five: refers to the degree to which a person is able to connect with others compassionately
Agreeableness
The Big Five: refers to overall emotional stability of an individual through how they perceive the world
Neuroticism
HIGH – imaginative, curious, wide range of interests, independent
LOW – practical, conventional, conservative, prefers routine, cautious
Openness to experience
HIGH – hardworking, well-organized, careful, self-disciplined, responsible,
precise
LOW – impulsive, disorganized, careless, weak-willed, neglectful
Conscientiousness
HIGH – sociable, talkative, fun-loving, affectionate, and adventurous
LOW – retiring, sober, reserved, withdrawn, cautious, quiet
Extraversion
