Chapter 13 Personality PDF

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Chapter 13: Personality 13.1 Where Does Personality Come From? Intro- Where Does Personality Come From (Pg 516) ● Personality: a person’s characteristic thoughts, emotional responses, and behaviors. ● Personality Trait: a pattern of thought, emotion, and behavior that is relatively consistent over time and across situations. Genetic Factors Influence the Development of Personality (Pg 516-517) ● Genetics play an important role in personality traits. ● Numerous twin studies have subsequently found that genetic influence accounts for approximately half the variance (40-60%) between individuals for all personality traits. Adoption Studies (Pg 517-518) ● Siblings differ due to different environments. ● Siblings’ personalities slowly grow apart as their initial differences become magnified through their interactions with the world. ● Parenting style has much less impact than has long been assumed however parents play an important role in selecting the environments that shape their children’s personalities. Are There Specific Genes for Personality? (Pg 518-519) ● Genes predispose us to have certain personality traits. ● Personality characteristics are influenced by multiple genes, which interact with the environment to produce general dispositions. ● Adding in epigenetic changes that result from interactions with the environment makes it more difficult to identify the influence of any specific gene. ○ Some traits, such as novelty seeking, have been linked to a gene associated with dopamine levels, and emotional stability has been linked to a gene associated with serotonin levels. Temperaments Are Evident in Infancy (Pg 519-520) ● Temperaments: biologically based tendencies to feel or act in certain ways. ● Represent innate biological structure and are more stable ● Evident in early childhood and have long term implications for adult behavior Three  basic characteristics: ○ Activity Level: overall amount of energy and of behavior a person exhibits. ○ Emotionality: the intensity of emotional reactions. ○ Sociability: the general tendency to affiliate with others. ● Temperament differences between girls and boys: ○ Girls are more able to control attention and resist their impulses. ○ Boys are more active and gain more pleasure form physical activity. There Are Long-Term Implications of Temperaments (Pg 520)

● Childhood temperaments can predict adult personality traits. ● Newborns that react to new situations or strange objects by becoming startled and distressed often become shy and inhibited people later in life (amygdala, emotional responses, involved in shyness) Personality is Adaptive ● Personality traits that facilitate survival and reproduction are adaptive. ● Individual differences in personality within a group may be advantageous to the group’s survival. Animal Personalities ● Research has provided evidence of basic personality traits in nonhuman animals, suggesting that some traits are biologically based. ● Humans and other animals evolved as they solved occasionally similar adaptive challenges, therefore some continuity exists across species. 13.2 What Are the Theories of Personality? Intro What Are the Theories of Personality (Pg 521) ● Behaviorists believed that personality resulted from histories of reinforcement. ● Cognitively oriented psychologists focused on how though process affected Personality. ● Contemporary psychologists primarily interested in trait approaches and the biological basis of personality traits. Psychodynamic Theories Emphasize Unconscious and Dynamic Processes (Pg 522) ● Psychodynamic Theory: the Freudian theory that unconscious forces determine behavior. Unconscious Influence ● Freud believed that conscious awareness represented the proverbial tip of the iceberg, with most mental processes buried under the surface. ○ Conscious Level: consists of the thoughts that people are aware. ○ Preconscious Level: consists of content that is not currently in awareness but that could be brought to awareness. ○ Unconscious Level: contains material that the mind cannot easily retrieve, including hidden memories, wishes, desires, and motives ■ Conflict produce by unconscious forces produce anxiety and other psychological discomfort. A Structural model of Personality ● ID: in psychodynamic theory, the component of personality that is completely submerged in the unconscious and operates according to the pleasure principle. ● Pleasure Principle: directs the person to seek pleasure and avoid pain, according to Freud the force that drives this principle is the libido. ● Superego: in psychodynamic theory, the internalization of societal and parental standards of conduct.

● Ego: in psychodynamic theory, the component of personality that tries to satisfy the wishes of the ID while being responsive to the dictates of the superego. ● Defense Mechanisms: unconscious mental strategies that the mind uses to protect itself from anxiety. ○ According to modern research, defense mechanisms protect self-esteem rather than relieve unconscious conflict over libidinal desires. Psychosexual Development (Pg 523-524) ● Psychosexual Stages: according to Freud, developmental stages that correspond to distinct libidinal urges; progression through these stages profoundly affects personality. ○ Oral Stage: lasts from birth to approximately 18 months. During this time, infants seek pleasure through the mouth. ○ Anal Stage: 2-3 years old, during this time, toilet training – learning to control the bowels – leads them to focus on the anus. ○ Phallic Stage: 3-5 years old, direct their libidinal energies toward the genitals. ○ Latency Stage: children suppress libidinal urges or channel them into doing schoolwork or building friendships. ○ Genital Stage: adolescents and adults attain mature attitudes about sexuality and adulthood. Psychodynamic Theory Since Freud (Pg 524-525) ● Freud proposed that people pass through five stages of psychosexual development and that these stages shape personality. In contrast to Freud, neo-Freudians have focused on relationships, in particular, children’s emotional attachments to their parents. There is little empirical support for Freud’s theories. ○ Inferiority Complex: abandonment issues. ○ Objects Relations Theory: a person’s mind and sense of self develop in relation to others in the particular environment. Personality Reflects Learning and Cognition (Pg 525-526) ● Behaviorists personality consists of learned responses to patterns of reinforcement. Rotter’s Theories ○ Behavior is the functioning of two things: ○ A person’s expectancies for reinforcement ○ Values the person ascribes to particular reinforcements. ● Internal Locus: believe they bring about their own rewards. ● External Locus: believe rewards, and therefore their personal fates, result from forces beyond their control. ● Cognitive Social Theories: emphasize how personal beliefs, expectancies, and interpretations of social situations shape behavior and personality. ● Cognitive Effect Personality System (CAPS): fail to predict their behavior; instead, their responses are influenced by how they perceive a given situation.

Humanistic Approaches Emphasize Integrated Personal Experiences (Pg 526-527) ● Humanistic Approaches: approaches to studying personality that emphasize how people seek to fulfill their potential through greater self-understanding. ● Humanistic theories emphasize experiences, beliefs, and inherent goodness. ● Rogers’ person-centered approach suggests that unconditional positive regard in childhood enables people to become fully functioning. Trait Approaches Describe Behavioral Dispositions (Pg 528) ● Personality trait theories assume that personality is a collection of traits or behavioral dispositions. ○ Most contemporary psychologists are concerned with traits. ● Trait Approach: an approach to studying personality that focuses on how individuals differ in personality dispositions. The Big Five (Pg 528-529) ● Five-Factor Theory: the idea that personality can be described using five factors: openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. ● Different personality traits are associated with activity in different brain regions brain imagine research. Biological Trait Theory (Pg 530-531) ● Biological Trait Theory: the theory incorporates two major dimensions: introversion/extraversion and emotional stability. ● Psychoticism: a later proposed third trait, reflects a mix of aggression, poor impulse control, self-centeredness, and lack of empathy. ● Personality traits are based on biological processes that produce behaviors, thoughts, and emotions. ● Reticular Activating System (RAS): regulate arousal or alertness. ● Extraverts are under-aroused which is why they go out to seek for new situations and emotional experiences. Behavior Activation and Inhibition Systems (Pg 531-532) ● Behavioral Approach System (BAS): the brain system involved in the pursuit of incentives or rewards. ● Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS): the brain system that is sensitive to punishment and therefore inhibits behavior that might lead to danger or pain. ○ Linked to neuroticism. 13.3 How Stable Is Personality? People Sometimes Are Inconsistent (Pg 532-533) ● Situationism: the theory that behavior is determined by situations than by personality traits.

○ People high in self-monitoring alter their behaviors depending on the situation. Behavior Is Influenced by the Interaction of Personality and Situations (Pg 533-534) ● Social norms often dictate behavior. ○ Strong Situations: no differences in personalities due to social environment. ○ Weak Situations: differences in personality. ● Interactionists: theorists who believe that behavior is determined jointly by situations and underlying dispositions. ○ People choose their environments. Personality Traits Are Relatively Stable Over Time (Pg 534) ● A variety of studies show that personality traits are stable over the life span. Although traits are stable, they do undergo developmental change. Development and Life Events Alter Personality Traits (Pg 534-535) ● Developmental changes are caused by changes in self-perception generated by life experiences. Most change sin personality occur between the ages of 20 and 40, likely due to the large number of experience that happen during this period. ● Common developmental changes in the Big Five personality factors include decreased neuroticism, extraversion, and openness and increased agreeableness and conscientiousness. Age-Related Change (Pg 535-536) ● Increased self-control and emotional stability ● Personality change has a genetic component. Situational Causes of Personality Change (Pg 536-537) ● Many changes are due to new duties and obligations obtained in adulthood. Culture Influences Personality (Pg 538-539) ● Cultural norms dictate certain behaviors and emotional reactions. ● Eastern cultures tend to think in relations to others as western cultures that think independently. ● Big 5 personality traits are fairly universal ○ Different perceptions of self throughout different cultures. ● People rate themselves differently depending who they compare themselves with. 13.4 How Is Personality Assessed? Personality Refers to Both Unique and Common Characteristics (Pg 540) ● Idiographic Approaches: person-centered approaches to assessing personality; they focus on individual lives and how various characteristics are integrated into unique persons. ● Nomothetic Approaches: approaches to assessing personality that focus on how common characteristics vary from person to person.

● Central Traits: traits that distinguish one’s self from other people. ● Secondary Traits: less personally descriptive. Researchers Use Multiple Methods to Assess Personality Projective Measures (Pg 541-542) ● Projective Measures: personality tests that examine unconscious processes by having people interpret ambiguous stimuli. ○ E.g. inkblot test or thematic apperception test Self-Reports (Pg 542) ● NEO Personality Inventory: designed to assess the Big Five personality factors. ● Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI): made to assess psychopathology through true or false questions. ● California Q-sort: sorting cards with statements to identify personality traits. Life History Data (Pg 542-543) ● Through case studies – biographies, archives, or interviews. ● Another idiographic approach considers a human life as a narrative. Behavioral Data (Pg 543) ● Electronically Activated Record (EAR): tracks daily life interactions through recordings. ● Observers Show Accuracy in Trait Judgements ● Close acquaintances may better predict a person’s behavior than the person can. This effect may be due to failure to pay attention to one’s own behavior due to biases in self-perception. ● Acquaintances are particularly accurate when judging traits that are readily observable. 13.5 How Do We Know Our Own Personalities? Our Self-Concepts Consist of Self-Knowledge (Pg 547) ● Self-Concept: everything you know and believe about yourself. Self-Schema (Pg 547-548) ● Self-Schema: consists of an integrated set of memories, beliefs, and generalizations about one’s self. ● When people process information about themselves there is higher activity in the middle of the frontal lobes (higher activations means better remember). ○ Damage tends to influence the way we see ourselves. Working Self-Concept (Pg 548-549) ● Working Self-Concept: immediate experience of the self. ○ People often describe themselves distinct from others. Perceived Social Regard Influences Self-Esteem (Pg 549) ● Self-Esteem: the evaluative aspect of the self-concept in which people feel worthy or unworthy. ● Reflected Appraisal: the theory that self-esteem is based upon how people believe they are being perceived by others.

Sociometer Theory (Pg 550) ● Sociometer: an internal monitor of social acceptance or rejection. ○ A mechanism for monitoring the likelihood of social exclusion. ■ Low self-esteem is correlated with a high social anxiety. ● Terror-Management Theory: self-esteem gives meaning to people’s lives. Self-Esteem and Life Outcomes (Pg 550) ● People with higher self-esteem are happier but not more successful. ● Too high self-esteem can cause narcissism which causes social rejection. People Use Mental Strategies to Maintain a Positive Sense of Self (Pg 551-553) ● People often describe themselves as above average (especially with self-esteem). ● Social Comparisons: occur when people evaluate their own actions, abilities, and beliefs by contrasting them with other people’s. Self-Serving Bias (Pg 553-554) ● Self-Serving Bias: the tendency for people to take personal credit for success but blame failure on external factors. There Are Cultural Differences in the Self (554-556) ● Westerners are independent and autonomous. ● Easterners are interdependent and think themselves as part of a collective....