Contemporary Research on Personality Module 35 1 Garber

Contemporary Research on Personality Module 35 1 Garber 2017

Contemporary Research on Personality The Trait Perspective (overview) § Exploring Traits § Assessing Traits § The Big Five Factors § Evaluating the Trait Perspective 2 Garber 2017

How do you eat your Oreo? Can the way you eat an Oreo cookie tell you something about your personality? 3 Garber 2017

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Contemporary Research-- The Trait Perspective § Trait § a characteristic pattern of behavior § a disposition to feel and act, as assessed by self-report inventories and peer reports Examples of Traits Honest Dependable Moody Impulsive Garber 2017 6

The Personality Inventory : a questionnaire (often with true-false or agreedisagree items) on which people respond to items designed to gauge a wide range of feelings and behaviors used to assess selected personality traits 7 Garber 2017

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Exploring Traits Allport & Odbert (1936), identified almost 18, 000 words representing traits. Inferring Traits from Language: The Dictionary Study ü Webster’s New International Dictionary ü 17, 953 traits (4. 5% of the dictionary) (Cloninger ppt) 9 Garber 2017

Exploring Traits Factor analysis is a statistical approach used to identify clusters of related items. People who describe themselves as outgoing also tend to say that they like excitement and practical jokes and dislike quiet reading. These statistically correlated clusters reflects the basic trait extraversion Garber 2017 Raymond Cattell (1905 -1998) 10

Factor Analysis Cattell found that large groups of traits could be reduced down to 16 core personality traits based on statistical correlations. Superficial traits Boisterous Impatient Irritable Excitement Basic trait Impulsive Garber 2017 25

Raymond Cattell 26 Garber 2017

Factor Analysis Hans and Sybil Eysenck suggested that personality could be reduced down to two polar dimensions, extraversion-introversion and emotional stability-instability. 27 Garber 2017

Biology and Personality dimensions are influenced by genes. 1. Brain-imaging procedures show that extraverts seek stimulation because their normal brain arousal is relatively low. 2. Genes also influence our temperament and behavioral style. Differences in children’s shyness and inhibition may be attributed to autonomic nervous system 29 reactivity. Garber 2017

Assessing Traits- MMPI § Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory § the most widely researched and clinically used of all personality tests § originally developed to identify clinical disorders (still considered its most appropriate use) § now used for many other screening purposes Garber 2017 31

MMPI Test Profile 32 Garber 2017

The Big Five Factors Conscientiousness Agreeableness Neuroticism Openness Extraversion 33 Garber 2017

Endpoints 34 Garber 2017

Questions about the Big Five 1. How stable are these traits? Quite stable in adulthood. However, they change over development. 2. How heritable are they? Fifty percent or so for each trait. 3. How about other cultures? These traits are common across cultures. 36 Garber 2017

Evaluating the Trait Perspective The Person-Situation Controversy Walter Mischel (1968, 1984, 2004) points out that traits may be enduring, but the resulting behavior in various situations is different. Therefore, traits are not good predictors of behavior. Garber 2017 37

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The Person-Situation Controversy Trait theorists argue that behaviors from a situation may be different, but average behavior remains the same. Therefore, traits matter. 39 Garber 2017

Consistency of Expressive Style Expressive styles in speaking and gestures demonstrate trait consistency. Observers are able to judge people’s behavior and feelings in as little as 30 seconds and in one particular case as little as 2 seconds. 40 Garber 2017

Social-Cognitive Perspective • Emphasizes interaction of our biologically influenced psychological traits with our situations. • Persons and their situations work together (nature and nurture), we learn many behaviors and what we think affects behavior • How do WE and our ENVIRONMENTS interact? 42 Garber 2017

Social-Cognitive Perspective In his social-cognitive theory Albert Bandura (1999; 2006) sees personality as shaped by the ways in which thoughts, behavior, and the environment interact and influence one another. Albert Bandura Remember Bandura? 43 Garber 2017

Soc-Cog: Individuals & Environments Reciprocal Determinism: suggests that personal factors (such as cognitions, or thoughts), behavior, and the environment are constantly affecting one another. Behavior External Environments Personal Factors Garber 2017 44

Soc-Cog: Personal Control External locus of control refers to the perception that chance or outside forces beyond our personal control determine our fate. Example: Whenever he fails a test, the boy always has an excuse ready: the room was too hot, he wasn’t feeling well, the test was unfair. He never seems to feel culpable, even if he simply hasn’t studied enough. 45 Garber 2017

Soc-Cog: Personal Control Internal locus of control refers to the perception that we can control our own fate. Example: When the girl failed a test, she acknowledged that she hadn’t studied enough and didn’t understand a few of its key questions. She resolved to meet with her teacher for advice on ways to improve 46 next time. Garber 2017

Soc-Cog: Learned Helplessness When unable/unwilling to avoid repeated adverse events an animal or human learns helplessness. Seligman is the key Learned Helplessness theorist. There are many social implications for this. Low self efficacy 47 Garber 2017

Soc-Cog: Optimism vs. Pessimism An optimistic or pessimistic attributional style is your way of explaining positive or negative events. 49 Garber 2017

Positive Psychology and Humanistic Psychology Positive psychology aims to discover and promote conditions that enable individuals and communities to thrive. Courtesy of Martin E. P. Seligman, Ph. D Director, Positive Psychology Center/ University of Pennsylvania Martin Seligman Garber 2017 51

Assessing Behavior in Situations Social-cognitive psychologists observe people in realistic and simulated situations because they find that it is the best way to predict the behavior of others in similar situations. 53 Garber 2017

Social-Cognitive Perspective: Criticism Social-cognitive psychologists pay a lot of attention to the situation and pay less attention to the individual, his unconscious mind, his emotions, and his genetics. Well duh, we have the psychoanalytic theory for the unconscious… 54 Garber 2017

Exploring the Self The self organizes thinking, feelings, and actions and is a critical part of our personality. 1. Research focuses on the different selves we possess. 2. Each of us has possible selves, some we dream and others we dread. (rich self, successful self, loved self, unemployed self, lonely self) Garber 2017 56

Self: The Spotlight Effect We overestimate our concern that others evaluate our appearance, performance, and blunders (spotlight effect). Fewer people notice than we think! Surprise, the world does not revolve around you. 57 Garber 2017

Benefits of Self-Esteem is our sense of self worth. Maslow and Rogers argued that a successful life results from a healthy selfimage (self-esteem). When self-esteem is deflated, we view ourselves and others critically. 59 Garber 2017

Self-Esteem People maintain their self-esteem even with a low status by valuing things they achieve and comparing themselves to people with similar positions. 60 Garber 2017

Self-Serving Bias The tendency to attribute our successes to internal characteristics while blaming our failures on external causes. 61 Garber 2017

Self Serving Bias 64 Garber 2017

More Self Serving Bias 65 Garber 2017

The “Above Average Effect” • HS Seniors – When asked to judge their ability to get along with others, 60 percent rated themselves in the top 10 percent – 25 percent considered themselves in the top 1 percent • Teachers – 94 percent of college professors say they do above-average work 66 Garber 2017

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Jailed criminals think they are kinder, more trustworthy and honest than the average member of the public! • The poorer you perform the MORE likely you are to overestimate you ability! 69 Garber 2017

Optimism Bias/Positivity Illusion • People consistently overestimate the likelihood of good things happening to them. • What do you think are your chances of earning a higher salary than average? • Its impossible for everyone to earn more than average, yet almost everyone believes that they are the exception 70 Garber 2017

Barnum Effect • The Barnum effect is the name given to a type of subjective validation in which a person finds personal meaning in statements that could apply to many people. • ie. Believing a horoscope describes you when its very generic. 72 Garber 2017

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Preview Question Ashley began her banking career as a teller, but she was quickly promoted to increasingly more responsible managerial positions. Despite the fact that she has very limited experience to justify her promotions, she believes that she has been successful because she is very talented. Which of the following explanations is Ashley using to justify her success? A. B. C. D. E. Self-serving bias Hindsight bias Defensive attribution External attribution Social schema

Preview Question A student has just failed a psychology exam. Which of the following explanations is LEAST likely to be evidence of the self-serving bias? A. “My teacher hates me. ” B. “That material was so hard that no one could have passed that class. ” C. “I didn’t study hard enough. ” D. “I was having a pretty bad day when I took that test. ” E. “The room was too hot for me to be able to concentrate. ”

Preview Question Individuals who accept personal responsibility for their life experiences may be characterized as having A. B. C. D. E. Unrealistic expectations Delusions of grandeur An internal locus of control A pessimistic view of reality An introverted personality

Preview Question Judy believes that her fate is determined by her own actions. Judy’s belief best illustrates A. B. C. D. E. self-actualization psychological reactance a preoperational schema the basis for psychological determinism an internal locus of control

Preview Question Which of the following is an example of an individual who demonstrates an internal locus of control? A. A woman believes that the reason she is often late to work is because of the traffic in her neighborhood. B. A student volunteers at a food shelter because her school club requires community service of its members. C. A man thinks that his displays of aggression are due to the extra caffeine he has been consuming lately. D. A student decides to run for student government because he feels he can make some positive changes in the school. E. A teacher decides that students are noisy in her afternoon classes because of the energy they get after eating lunch.

Soc-Cog: Personal Control Self efficacy: learned expectations about probability of success • For example, if a person believes he is a brilliant scientist and can complete any scientific experiment, he has a high self-efficacy in science because he believes in his competency to perform a future experiment. Whether it is true that he is brilliant in science or not doesn't really matter. It only matters what he believes. 84 Garber 2017

Preview Question Which of the following is true of a child with high self-efficacy regarding her ability to play soccer? A. She believes she has played poorly if she does not score a goal. B. She feels confident that she can play well enough to score a goal. C. She wants to score more goals than any other girl on her team. D. She plays soccer well only as long as she is interested in soccer. E. She has high self-efficacy for social and academic skills as well.

Preview Question Aaron Beck suggested that negative beliefs cause depression. To help change these negative beliefs, Beck used which of the following therapies? A. B. C. D. E. Cognitive Psychopharmacological Rational-emotive Psychoanalytic Social-learning

Preview Question Individuals who believe that an unpleasant experience is unavoidable and therefore do nothing to change the course of events are exhibiting A. B. C. D. E. self-actualization attributes the fight-or-flight response attributional deficits cognitive dissonance learned helplessness

Preview Question In high school, it did not seem to make a difference how much Clive studied Spanish; he always earned poor grades. Now that Clive is in college, he is required to take Spanish again. According to the concept of learned helplessness, which of the following statements can be most expected from Clive as he starts the new Spanish class? A. B. C. D. E. “Spanish is a difficult subject that I am very poor at. ” “I sure hope that my Spanish professor is better than my high school Spanish teacher. ” “Why study? There isn’t anything I can do to improve my Spanish skills. ” “If I spend more time studying, I’m sure I will do better than in high school. ” “I need to find a good tutor to help me learn Spanish; I can’t learn it on my own. ”

Preview Question Psychologists who emphasize the importance of personality traits are most often criticized for A. being naive and overly optimistic B. Being subjective in interpreting unverifiable phenomena C. Overestimating the number of basic traits D. Underestimating the role of emotions E. Underestimating the variability of behavior from situation to situation

Preview Question Research on the development of personality traits across the life span has revealed that A. an individual’s personality traits become more variable as the individual ages B. the greatest changes in personality traits occur between the ages of about thirty and fifty C. the oral, and genital stages in Freudian personality theory seem to be valid, but the later stages are not D. an individual’s personality traits tend to be relatively stable during middle adulthood E. one’s personality traits change often because of environmental factors

Preview Question Alicia has started a new and very different job but believes in her skills and ability to carry out the tasks required of her. Albert Bandura would refer to Alicia’s sense of confidence as which of the following? A. B. C. D. E. Reciprocal determinism Self-Determination Psychic determinism Self-efficacy Phenomenology

Preview Question The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory is used primarily to provide information about which of the following? A. B. C. D. E. Achievement Communication skills Intelligence Body Image Clinical disorders

Preview Question All of the following are projective assessment techniques EXCEPT A. B. C. D. E. sentence-completion tests inkblot tests drawing tests the Thematic Apperception Test the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory

Preview Question A psychologist who classifies an individual’s personality according to the person’s manifestations of traits such as neuroticism, openness, and extraversion probably believes in which model of personality? A. B. C. D. E. Behavioral Psychosexual Psychosocial Five-factor Congruence

Preview Question John is generally pleasant, but during final exams he experiences more intense stress than other students experience. He is irritable and easily frustrated. According to the Big Five model of personality, John would be A. B. C. D. E. high in introversion high in neuroticism high in conscientiousness low in agreeableness low in openness to experience

Preview Question According to the five-factor model of personality, which of the following is true? • The five psychosexual stages proposed by Sigmund Freud can explain most aspects of personality. • Carl Jung’s personal and collective unconscious can explain the five dominant components of personality. • Most personality traits can be derived from the five major traits of theory. • There are major differences between conscious and unconscious elements of personality. • Cognitive and behavioral factors affect the five major personality states.

Preview Question In general, trait theories emphasize which of the following? A. The changing and temporary nature of human characteristics B. The role of current environmental conditions in controlling behavior C. The lasting nature of personal characteristics D. Identity confusion E. Early childhood experiences

Preview Question Most tests of personality are in the form of A. B. C. D. E. inkblot tests word association tests structured interviews self-report inventories situational analyses

Preview Question Which of the following describes the different emotional dispositions of infants? A. B. C. D. E. Imprinting Temperament Mental set Instinct Attachment