Personality Psychology Exam 3
B-Values
"b" for becoming: beauty, truth, justice; occurs at self-actualization level; less determinism, psychological freedom, not searching for objects to satisfy, more passive and receptive
Behavioral signatures
(Mischel) consistent ways of responding in similar situations that characterize our personality. If-then... behavioral dispositions. Learned situation-behavior relationships. The situation exists differently across persons.
Allport's Idea of traits (1937)
= predispositions to respond in a similar manner to different stimuli. -enduring: result from physiology and environment (subject to social pressures) -measurable on a continuum -exist internally; we infer existence by observing behavior -cause behavior and influence perception; traits have motivational properties.
Belongingness and Love Needs (Maslow)
A deficiency need- Affection, intimacy, family/peer roots
Physiological needs
A deficiency need- Hunger, thirst, fatigue.
Esteem (Maslow)
A deficiency need. Self-respect, adequacy, mastery
phenomenology
A philosophical approach to studying human experiences based on the idea that human experience itself is inherently subjective and determined by the context in which people live
Allport and trait Classification
A point -> distinctiveness
introjection
A process of taking in the values and standards of others.
Thema
A projective test in which people express their inner feelings and interests through the stories they make up about ambiguous scenes.
Thematic Apperception Test
A projective test in which people express their inner feelings and interests through the stories they make up about ambiguous scenes.
Implicit Personality Theory
A type of schema people use to group various kinds of personality traits together; for example, many people believe that someone who is kind is generous as well
positive regard
according to Carl Rogers, accepting the client or counselee as he or she is, without imposing judgments or stipulations.
Parents- Rogers: Encouraging maximum potential
Accept child's strivings and feelings. Accept own feelings that some behavior is undesirable. Communicate acceptance of child as a person.
Rejection Sensitivity
Accept rejection in the future, become hypersensitive to rejection after being rejected several times
incongruence
According to Carl Rogers and other humanistic therapists, a disparity between the self-concept and reality.
peak experiences
According to Maslow, times in a person's life during which self-actualization is temporarily achieved.
Expectancies
According to Mischel, a personality variable encompassing a person's outcome expectancies and self- efficacy expectancies
Plans
According to Mischel, a personality variable encompassing our intentions for our actions
actualizing tendency
According to Rogers, the drive of every organism to fulfill its biological potential and become what it is inherently capable of becoming
Aggregation
According to Seymour Epstein, the averaging of behaviors across situations (or over time), to improve the reliability of behavior assessments
competencies
According to Walter Mischel, a person's abilities and knowledge
Strategies/styles
According to Walter Mischel, individual differences in the meanings people give to stimuli and reinforcement that are learned during experiences with situations and their rewards
Encoding Strategies
According to Walter Mischel, the schemas and mechanisms one uses to process and encode information
Behavioral Signatures
According to Walter Mischel, the set of situation behavior relationships that are typical of an individual and that contribute to the apparent consistency of an individual's personality
Therapist- Rogers: Encouraging maximum potential
Address Client's incongruence. Therapist is self-congruent in relationship. Therapist experiences and demonstrates empathic understanding of clients phenomenology. Therapist has unconditional positive regard for client.
In order to protect self concept: Rogerian Humanism
Admitting satisfaction from X into awareness -> threatens self worth. -Denied: Subscepted... -Introjected: I perceive mom as perceiving this behavior as unsatisfying to her (reality) becomes... -I perceive this behavior as unsatisfying -> anger expresion "experienced" as bad, when it is satisfying in reality...
lexical hypothesis
All individual differences (traits & characteristics) are encoded in language over decades of factor analysis, five basic dementions of personality. (allport)
Functional Autonomy
Allport's concept that a motive may become independent of its origins: in particular, motives in adults my become independent of their earlier base in tension reduction
Nomothetic
An approach to personality that focuses on groups of individuals and tries to find the commonalities between individuals.
idiographic
An approach to studying personality that focuses on individual case studies.
phenomenal self
An individual's subjectively felt and interpreted experience of "who I am"
existential anxiety
An outcome of being confronted with the four givens of existence: death, freedom, existential isolation, and meaninglessness.
teleology
Attributing purpose to biological phenomena. GOAL
Needs
Basic forces that motivate a person to do something
Cattell's Trait classification:
Began with Allport and Odbert's boiled down list. 16 'source traits' from basic personality. Derived from factor analysis: cattell identified with alphanumeric labels not words.
Maslow and self-actualization: Background
Behaviorally trained; studied primates with Harlow. Applied principles of primate dominance to humans. Personal attempt to understand teachers -> pursuit of understanding healthy persons. Data = conversations/ "interviews" of > 3,000 people
Source Traits
Cattell's term for traits at a deep level of personality that are not apparent in observed behavior but must be inferred based on underlying relationships among surface traits
Cattell's Contributions
Championed advanced statistical techniques. Emphasized the importance of carefully colleted data from multiple sources.
Cognitive-Affective Units
Cognitive variables that account for individual differences such as Encodings, Expectations and Beliefs, Affects, Goals and Values, and Competencies and Self-Regulatory Plans., mental-emotional representations-the cognitions and affects or feelings-that are available to the person, Set of internal factors that influence an individual's perceptions of events and behavior
social self
Concept of self as reflected in social interactions with others
Walter Mischel: Modern Interactionism
Critique (1968): Trait theory assumes behavioral consistency across stimulus conditions. Following review of the evidence for cross-situational generality of behavior: Broad dispositions don't reliably predict behavior. Traits behavior is about .3-.4 (9-16%). The Broad dispositional approach undervalues situation...
Henry Murray: Needs, Press and Personology
Environmental factors combine with internal needs to motivate behavior 'personological system': a dynamic system of internal and environmental influence
Aim of Trait Psychology
Establish a taxonomy of individual differences. -classification of core dimensions of personality -Note: causal vs. Descriptive debate
Big Five
Five basic personality traits from which other traits are derived. They include neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness.
existentialist psychology
Focused on the individual as a responsible agent who is free to create and live his/her life while negotiating the issue of meaning and the reality of death.
type approaches
Focuses more on the description of personality and dispositions.
Central dispositions
Gordon Allport's term for describing the several personal dispositions around which personality is organized
Cardinal dispositions
Gordon Allport; personal dispositions that exert an overwhelming influence on behavior
chumship
Harry Stack Sullivan's idea, derived from the sociological concept of the social self, that a preadolescent's chums serve as a social mirror for forming his or her identity
Personological System
Henry Murray's term for his theory of personality that emphasizes the richness of the life of each person and the dynamic nature of the individual as a complex organism responding to a specific environment
personological system
Henry Murray's term for his theory of personality that emphasizes the richness of the life of each person and the dynamic nature of the individual as a complex organism responding to a specific environment
Openness: Behavioral and emotional correlates (Big 5)
High -> more job and career changes
Conscientiousness: Behavioral and emotional correlates (Big 5)
High -> more likely to be healthy. High in this trait smokers -> less likely to smoke at home. High in this trait diabetic teens -> more info about illness, more diligent self-care.
Neuroticism: Behavioral and emotional correlates (Big 5)
High- More frequent daily problems and problems rated as more distressing (healthy adult males). Also overstimate blood glucose in Type II diabetes patients high in this trait
Extraversion: Behavioral and emotional correlates (Big 5)
High- seek social support to mediate stress. Collegiate extroverts -> greater # of positive events over 4 years (grades, marriage, promotion)
Maslow's hierarchy of needs
Higher needs require satisfaction of those below.
Openness to Experience: Five-Factor Model
Imagination, tolerance, intellectual curiosity, creativity
Implications of Allport's Common Traits and dispositions
Implications: each personality is unique... Traits = the fundamental unit... an idiographic approach: same dimensions can not be applied to all persons
L-Data
In Cattell's theory, life-record data relating to behavior in everyday life situations or to ratings of such behavior
Murray's Personology
Individual: complex organism responding to specific environment... 1. Needs: acquired internal state; to satisfy requires action (Need for affiliation; need for nurturance) 2. Press: Environmental condition that creates desire to obtain/avoid something. Need + Press = "thema; motivates behavior. E.g., Sibling's pregnancy (press) combines with one's Need for Nurturance to motivate career choice (nursing)
Carl Rogers: 1902-1987
Insight via clinical work with 'delinquent' children. "Authorities" disagreed about best treatment. -psychoanalysis often ineffective and "insight" often led to frustration. Theory interwoven with Therapeutic approach- Client's view is central.
Narrative Approach
Involves asking individuals to tell their life stories and evaluate the extent to which their stories are meaningful and integrated
Problems with Cattell
Is 16 enough? too much? Where's motive? Although rigorous, factor analysis without context has limited utility. Factor naming.
Cattell; Lexical Hypothesis
Language evolved to capture most relevant aspects of personality. Recall Allport's observation of 18k descriptors. From 4,500 adjectives: removed synonyms. Collected ratings, factor analyzed 171 traits. Sought to 'reduce' these 'data'
If-Then Behavioral Dispositions
Learned situation-behavior relationships.
Deficiency needs
Maslow's four lower-level needs, which must be satisfied first. (Esteem, belongingness and love needs, safety needs, physiological needs)
Characteristic adaptations
McCrae and Costa. Adjustments to situational demands. Tend to be consistent. Do not signify changes in basic tendencies. Eg. Woman is extrovert: goes to parties in 20s, less so in 50s, but still goes out with friends - basic tendency still the same (extroversion).
Neuroticism: Five-Factor Model
Negative emotionality
Positivist
Objective, laws and general principles. World Exists independent of observer.
Humanistic/existential approach evaluated
Place complex motivations within the individual, emphasize personal choice and free will- attempt understanding of complex, truly human phenomena and endeavor. Emphasize phenomenology; thus, are highly idiographic. Reject reductionism of personality/attempts to explain it in mechanistic terms. Suffer from 'unscientific' aspects and ambiguous principles.
T-Data
R. B. Cattell's term for data gathered from placing a person in a controlled test situation and noting or rating responses, data derived from personality tests that are resistant to faking; involvces the use of what Cattel "objective" tests, in which a person responds without knowing what aspect of behavior is being evaluated
actualizing tendency
Recall the rogerian emphasis on phenomenology. Drive to "maintain and enhance one's life". Includes biological and psychological urges, Transcends tension reduction
McCrae and Cosa: Five-factor Model
Recent Convergence on 5 underlying dimensions. Personality at broadest level. Each implies several more specific characteristics. Extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, openness to experience
Maslow's Theory: Main Ideas
Self-Actualization = development of potentional- achieved by few; pursued by all. A Hierarchy of needs drives behavior. Once we satisfy basic needs, others take over.
Approval and the self-concept: Rogerian Humanism
Self-concept develops via experience: direct and indirect influences. Direct experience i.e., I experience or I like. Indirect via social evaluation i.e., good boy or bad boy.
Extraversion: Five-Factor Model
Sociability, warmth, assertiveness
Nonpositivist
Subjective. Observer-dependent. World changes with observers' views.
illusion of individuality
Sullivan's idea that a person has a single, fixed personality is just an illusion.
interpersonal theory
Sullivan's idea that personality focuses on the recurring social situations faced by an individual
American Paradox
The contemporary situation where we have material abundance co-occurring with social recession and psychological depression
Allport and Odbert, 1936
The importance of language "dictionary game" --> 18,000 descriptors of people. Basis of lexical hypothesis. "Personality is the dynamic organization with the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine his/her unique adjustments to his/her environment". -Allport
Humanistic Psychology
The third force. All have worth and potential; no one is inherently unworthy. Core = purposeful, constructive, trustworthy. Rejects determinism: potential will be achieved given right circumstance. Human beings = humans becoming
functional equivalence
Traits lend consistency to personality. They lead us to; view many situations and stimuli similarly, guide equivalent forms of behavior (different behavior has similar function). E.G., autonomy of "the separatist" -> various stimuli viewed similarly (i.e., threats) and activate the trait -> equivalent. builds compound, stockpiles arms, writes manifestos -> equivalent. Consistencies form basis of personality.
Issues with the Big 5
Universality -> cross cultural testing. Not all identifies 5 factors, some observe 6. Disagreement about definitions and labels. - lexical approaches require interpretation (agreeableness = love; neuroticism = affect, Openness = intellect). Implicit personality theory: see what we expect: miss what we do not. Biological evidence accumulating but not definitive.
Hierarchy of needs: Evaluated...
Uses: Deficiency needs reflect valid/important issues; when examined, can identify problem areas. E.g., college student with poor grades > belongingness need unmet, self-esteem need irrelevent. Problems: Flaw with strict hierarchical structures: must some needs be met before others? hierarchy is value bound: what constitutes need? why is intimacy below achievement?
When Sense of self as lovable is threatened: (Rogerian Humanism)
We subscept (deny) organismic experiences or introject (accept Parental values as our own). Values detach from natural experience: aspect of self "experienced" as bad.
To be a fully experiencing person... (rogerian humanism)
accept aspects of self that are threatening. Trust one's own emotional experiences independent of others' evaluations.
Person-situation interactionism
attempt to account for inconsistencies in personality (e.g., generally conscientious don't always abide by the law). Balance internal and external explanations: personality evinced differently across situations, reconceptualize notion of consistency.
Safety Needs (Maslow)
avoidance of pain/anxiety, desire for security. A deficiency need.
Need for Self Actualization (Maslow)
can only be achieved once Deficiency needs are satisfied. To be fully what one can be. Being-values/metaneeds: seeking truth, aesthetics, justice, goodness. Self Actualized persons pulled by satisfaction striving, NOT deficiency motive.
pervasiveness (allport)
cardinal dispositions: overwhelming influence on behavior. Central dispositions: more common - fundamental personality characteristics, the subject of recommendation letters.
subsception
denial of our real selves
Rogerian Theory: Tendency toward Growth/fulfillment requires 'nutritive soil'
empathy and unconditional love, attempts to demonstrate value/gain acceptance frustrates growth.
Cattell: Factor analysis
examines latent factors that drive relations among variables. Calculate a correlation coefficient between two variables (e.g., friendly, outgoing): examine shared variance (patterns of relationships) among several variables. Shared variance means variables are related. Relationship driven by latent factor. Named factor = personality trait.
Big 5, From Model to theory
five factor theory: beyond descriptive aims of 'lexical tradition' "Basic tendencies" -> five factors = underlying potentials, which are biologically determined. "characteristic adaptations" -> broad psychological features (attitudes, roles, self-concept) -determine by Factors, the social environment and their interaction -these influence behavior and are shaped by culture.
Cattell's definition of trait
fundamental unit of personality. Def: relatively stable reaction tendency
When Self Concept is restricted (Rogerian Humanism)
incongruence is the result; we distrust ourselves
Agreeableness: Five-factor Model
maintenance of relationships, trustworthiness, altruism, modesty
Mischel (Cognitive-Affective Personality System)
personality = system of mediating units and processes that interact with the situation. Cognitive-Affective Units (CAUs): encodings, expectancies, goals, motives, emotions- Learned via social experience, processes: CAUs interact with each other. Different CAUs are activated by features of the environment. People differ in relations among CAUs and their accessibility. CAU activation drives behavioral expression
Rogerian Theory: Phenomenal self is the core of personality
private world of experience and meaning. We react to world as 'experienced' not to objective 'reality'
Q-Data
questionnaire data; when you have self-report questionnaires or interviews with people; people are their own observers
Conscientiousness: Five-factor model
reliability, organization, striving for excellence, achievement focus
Being-Values/Metaneeds
seeking truth, aesthetics, justice, goodness (maslow)
Rogerian Humanism: Values detach from natural experience: aspect of self 'experienced' as bad.
self-concept restricted: experiences excluded or denied... we distrust ourselves. E.g., I want positive parental regard, so I develop a self-concept reflecting the person that they think I am. Incongruence b/t real self (actual experience) and perceived self (self-concept)
common traits (allport)
some traits similar enough to be 'common'
Proprium
the core of personality that defines who one is; Allport believed this has a biological counterpart, Allport's term for the ego or the self
environmental press
the push of the situation emphasized in Murray's approach to personality; it is a directional force on a person that arises from other people and events in the environment
Personal Dispositions
traits unique to the individual
Basic Tendencies
underlying personality traits, the essence of personality: the Big Five personality dimensions as well as talents, aptitudes, and cognitive abilities
Personal dispositions (allport)
we are unique, no two traits are exactly the same
Child's initial view of self concept: Rogerian humanism
worthy of love; relation with parents -> affection. New Experiences are naturally incorporated into view of self. E.g., hitting baby brother or throwing food-> parental actions pose threat to developing self concept... scolding for behavior X -> threatening flags that one is "bad and unlovable".
