Exam #1

Endomorphic

associated with traits such as: • cheerfulness • sociability • relaxedness • love of comfort and luxury • indulgence in food and drink

Comprehensive

it refers to all aspects of persons: their mental life, their emotional experiences, and their social behaviors. Personality psychologists strive to understand the whole person

Flexible Temperament

• can adapt to change easily • jumps into new social situations

Conscientiousness

• cautious • dependable • persevering • organized • responsible

Major Components Meaning of Personality

• consistency • enduring • internal causality • distinctiveness • comprehensive • system of systems • dynamic

Aggressive

• consists of attacking or threatening • war (part of human nature/perpetual state)

Collectivistic Views of Success

• cooperation and group accomplishments • personal recognition may even be frowned upon • some to maintain proper public image and sense of honor for the family

System of Systems

smaller psychological systems built into larger ones in a hierarchy of complexity

Fearfulness

tendency to be wary, run away, or cower, as well as the accompanying physiological arousal

Eysenck;s Extraversion vs. Neuroticism Biological Systems

*Extraversion* • those who have a "strong nervous system" • excitatory processes are stronger. *Neuroticism* • overactive limbic system (more aroused when threatened or placed in stressful situations) • over reaction to stress • people who are high in neuroticism have higher thresholds for activity in the visceral brain rates.

Eysenck's, Gray's, & Cloninger's Models: Differences

*Eysenck* • behavior genetics *Gray* • transmitting signals within the brain to communicate the pleasurable and exciting nature of those rewards. • transmitting signals within the brain to communicate the painful and frightening nature of those rewards. *Cloninger* • active dopamine system • inactive serotonin system

Eysenck's, Gray's, & Cloninger's Models: Similarities

*Eysenck* • extraversion - sociable, lively, active, assertive, sensation seeking, carefree, dominant, surgent, venturesome • neuroticism - anxious, depressed, guilt feelings, low self-esteem, tense *Gray* • Behavioral Activation System ("Go System") - encourages the pursuit of rewards • the more sensitive one's go system is, the more one tends to pursue the rewards, leading to be impulsive and to seek pleasure and excitement. • Behavioral Inhibition ("Stop System") - encourages the avoidance of punishments *Clonnger* • novelty seeking" (seek pleasure and excitement). • harm avoidance" (tendency to avoid pain and anxiety).

How Broad Cultural Variable Might be Responsible for NPD's & BPD's

*NPD - Achievemet Striving* • self-aggrandizement • think skinned *BPD - Rapid Social Change* • there is no social stability

Big 5 Personality Traits

*O*penness *C*onscientiousness *E*xtroversion *A*greeableness *N*euroticism

Mesomorphic

*associated with traits such as:* • dominance • activity level • assertiveness • adventurousness

Ectomorphic

*associated with traits such as:* • nervousness • shyness • sensitivity • intellectuality

Sheldon's Theory of Somatotypes

*three different physiques of people:* • endomorphic • mesomorphic • ectomorphic

Kagan's Inhibited vs. Eysenck's Big Five

A majority of the children will end up growing up to be very outgoing, as Kagan had described, as well as being sociable, energetic, enthusiastic, and so on.

Lexical Approach to Studying Traits

All traits listed and defined in the dictionary form the basis of describing differences among people. Thus, the logical starting point for the lexical strategy is the natural language.

Based Off Sheldon's Theory: Case of John

Given the description, the best Somatotype that would fit would be Mesomorphic. Reasoning for this answer would be that it says he is always up for adventure, he is a "natural leader", as well as being a natural athlete and being in incredible shape. These descriptions relate to the mesomorphic traits which are adventurousness, dominance and assertiveness, and activity level. The only trait out of John's description though that does not fit with the mesomorphic traits would be where it said he excelled at studying and enjoyed intellectual pursuits. This type of trait belongs with the ectomorphic somatotype

Franklin's 13 Virtues Related to "Onion" Theory

Hume's onion theory was about character was what you shape by experiences, while Franklin's 13 virtues were about changing your character as well by using that list to try and change (and better) his own virtues.

Why Modern Scientific Study of Traits Had to Wait Until Computers Were More Powerful

In order to conduct a factor analyses of all of the adjectives for traits, the computer technology was needed to analyze all of these adjectives separately, otherwise, like what was done before, the adjectives ended up being analyzed by putting them into clusters and ended up using responses from college students who provided self-ratings and observer ratings on those adjectives

Biophysical Individuality & Its Relation to Development of Personality

Individual differences in organization of the brain and the way brain chemistry operates and it is the key principle in a person's distinctiveness and uniqueness (possessing more or less of the neurological substrate for a particular function, such as pleasure or pain, can markedly influence the character of experience and the course of learning and development)

Factor Analyses

It is a measure of the association between two variable, in which 0 indicates no association, and +1 or -1 a strong association (positive or negative). The two items have to be held together in order to make the factor.

Why Intuition is A Valued Way of Knowing A Person

It's the way that we personally think about or perceive someone based off our own feeling or inherent understanding

Why Personality Is Considered to Be Polygenetic

Since polygenetic is when there are multiple characteristics of the phenotype, such as height and weight, which was essentially used in Sheldon's theory of Somatotypes, the three body type looks.

How Hormones are Involved In Personality

Testosterone may influence the amount of aggression and assertiveness in both a male and female, therefore affecting their dominance. The level of oxytocin promotes of level of emotional attachment that someone may have and it varies from person to person

Why Human Species Is More Like Chimps

The human species is more like the chimps. Just like the chimps, humans have the urgency to want to dominate over others, such as the chimp males needing to dominate over the females. Also, aggression is somewhat on the same level as human beings. Just as chimps get aggressive over territory, which they then chase and kill another chimp that wanders into their territory, a human becomes territorial and aggressive over what they deem to be theirs as well. Along with being territorial, the chimps also have a structure of groups in response to raiding, which is their warfare where group selection and group solidarity occur, and more chimps join, making it a higher chance of success of the raid and less likely for any others to die. Therefore, this tactic is basically the same that humans use today when it comes to warfare.

Applying Liberal Art Thinking & Complexity

Using those, one is able to make informed guesses without having all of the data yet

Meaning of "Each individual is in certain ways: like all other people like some other people, and like no other people"

We are all similar in the ways of human nature, as well as there being some commonality between certain individuals, but overall, there is a distinctiveness to our whole personality. This meaning that no one else has a personality exactly like another personality.

Internal Causality

convey the sense that whatever the person is doing (or thinking or feeling) originates from within. The sense of a causal force within the person, influencing how the person acts

Traits are Bipolar

couched in a language of opposites; can be on one end to the other (friendliness vs. unfriendliness, extraversion vs. introversion, etc.) depending on the situation

Traits

differences among individuals in a typical tendency to behave, think, or feel in some conceptually related ways, across a variety of relevant situations and across some fairly long period of time. (Consistent differences between the behavior or characteristics of two or more people)

Temperaments

general patterns of behavior and mood that can be expressed in many different ways and that, depending on one's experiences, develop into different personality traits. More than likely born with this.

Obama's Collectivistic Type Campaign Speech

he pointed out in his speech that those who are millionaires realized that they did not get there on their own. It was thanks to the people who helped them along the way. This is what the point of this society is since this type of society is described as the whole community getting credit, as well as contributing to the community and self-sacrificing.

Dopamine In Trait of Novelty Seeking

helps your neurons to send messages in response to things that feel pleasurable or exciting. Therefore, it is implicated in personality characteristics related to one's response to pleasure and excitement.

Why Sheldon Initially Found High Correlation Between Somatotypes & the Expected Personality Characteristics

it was Sheldon himself who assessed the personality characteristics of his research participants, after having first observed the body types of those persons. Meaning, that Sheldon's ratings of the participant's personalities might have been influenced by his knowledge of their body type.

How Traumatic Experiences Shape Personality

persevere in their learned effects because a high level of neural activation ensues in response to most situations of marked distress or anxiety

Enduring

personality characteristics are qualities that are at least somewhat consistent across time and across different situations of a person's life. people tend to have styles of functioning that are reasonably stable.

Serotonin In Trait of Harm Avoidance

tends to prevent your neurons from sending messages in response to things that feel harmful or unpleasant. Therefore, it is implicated in personality characteristics related to one's response to pain and anxiety

Consistency

the sense that it's undeniably the same person from one instance to another, because the person acts (or talks, thinks, feels) in consistent ways from time to time and from setting to setting

Dynamic

to think of personality as a system. It is a collection of highly interconnected parts whose overall behavior reflects not only the individual parts, but their organization

Distinctiveness

we see similarities among people, yet we sense that each of us possesses special properties that distinguish us from all others

Feisty Temperament

will resist change, almost strenuously

Sheldon Cooper's Story to Personality Traits

• *Openness (Low)* - likes his routine and does not want anything to change any time soon • *Conscientiousness (High)* - he is extremely hardworking in his research and is ambitious in the way that he stayed up three nights in order to solve the physics problem. • *Extraversion (Low)* - he does not like to socialize with other people unless he absolutely has to. He is unfeeling towards what other people think or what they might feel in reaction to him (no regard for other peoples feelings) • *Agreeableness (Low)* - if things are not in the place or the way that they should be, he becomes very angry and anxious (irritable); ruthless when it comes to him giving an opinion on something or someone • *Neuroticism (High)* - he becomes anxious easily when things are not going his way (someone sits in his seat); very vulnerable, such as when he was locked out of his apartment and stayed with Penny and had her sing to him to make him fall asleep

Eric's Story to Personality Traits

• *Openness (Lower Score)* - he is set in his ways and prefers a simple and uncomplicated life, so therefore, he prefers his usual routine • *Conscientiousness (Very)* - concentrated very hard on his work in the office, was a precise researcher {responsible for his schoolwork} • *Extraversion (Low)* - social skills are not the best, couldn't talk to women and even told them not to bother to get to know him, teachers passed him up for job because of poor social skills {quiet, shy, and passive} • *Agreeableness (Low)* - at work, when his coworkers would talk to people passing by or listen to music, he would say "working here!" {irritable}; thought that people would take his weather predictions and go a step further with it for their competition {suspicious}; thought he was being persecuted because of his Jewish heritage when that wasn't the case {suspicious} • *Neuroticism (Very)* - worried about other people taking his ideas; thought he was not a very good looking guy and thought he would be rejected if it weren't for his smarts {vulnerable}; would react very quickly and harshly to people when he thought he was being persecuted {emotional}; very anxious in social situations

Biological Differences: Extroverts

• ARAS admits little stimulation, one feels under-aroused and thus seeks stimulation • excitation and inhibition

Individualistic

• Asian culture • Individual needs and accomplishments • Independence • Self-worth • Capitalistic • Competition • Self-reliance • Power and pride for achievements • Personal desire

How Allocentrism is Related to Collectivist Societies

• Emphasizes interdependence, sociability, and family integrity. • They take into account the needs and wishes of in-group members • feel close in their relationships to their in-group • appear to others as a responsive to their needs and concerns.

Clinton vs. Obama of Big 5 Personality Traits

• Extraversion _C________l____O_____ Introversion • Agreeableness _____O____l__C_______ Disagreeableness • Conscientious _____O____l____C_____ Non-Conscientious • Neurotic ________C_l________O_ Well-Adjusted • Openness ______C_O_l__________ Closed

Collectivistic

• Western culture • harmoniously interdependent • Share resources • See success as depending on help from others •Trying to fit in with the group • Place needs of the group above their own • Concerned about belonging to larger group (family, tribe, or nation) •Shared personality traits in community: nurturance, cooperation, altruism • Cooperation

Biological Differences: Introverts

• ascending reticular activating system (ARAS) admits a great deal of stimulation, one feels over-aroused and thus avoids stimulation • have a "weak" nervous system that is quickly overwhelmed by intense stimuli

Nurturance

• bonding • tendency to help others • includes altruism

Traits are Continuous & On a Bell Curve

• differences among individuals may be arranged quantitatively in terms of the degree of the quality the person has (like degrees of conscientiousness). Individuals differ in the extent to which they show either quality but usually do not belong totally to one category or the other (continuum of individual differences for most qualities or traits). • different degrees of how individuals differ in a trait.

Facets of Human Nature According to Evolutionary Psychologists

• emotionality • fearfulness • activity • nurturance • sociability • aggressive • dominance • agency

Extroversion

• energetic • enthusiastic • dominant • sociable • talkative

Agreeableness

• friendly • cooperative • trusting • warm

Openness

• imaginative • witty • original • artistic

Agency

• learning • language

Fearful Temperament

• may seem very shy and clingy • vulnerable to a specific form of anxiety • cautious of new people and social situations

Neuroticism

• nervous • high-strung • tense • moody • worrying

Individualistic Views of Success

• personal recognition • getting ahead individually in the academic and business world.

Sociability

• preference for being with others rather than being alone • social interactions product of evolution (retained genetically at some point in time) • we need to belong, need status and acceptance • need cooperation and hierarchy to survive

Dominance

• seeking and maintaining superiority over others • ensure survival and reproduction • moderate levels of these traits seem to be adaptive

Emotionality

• tendency to become aroused easily and intensely • to become easily frustrated and distressed

Activity

• total energy output, as expressed in vigor or tempo. • circadian rhythm • we are endurance animals • better during the day than at night • play by expression of joy and laughter