Lecture++15 16+Personality Posting

8/3/2019 Lecture++15 16+Personality Posting

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SOSC1960Introduction to Psychology

Lecture 15-16Personality


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Exercise

Write a few words to describe the personalityof your best friend.


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Personality

The pattern of enduring characteristics thatproduce consistency and individuality in agiven person

Consistency (across time and situations) Individuality (help describe and explain

variations across individuals)


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Approaches to personality

Assessing personality


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Freudian approach

Unconsciousness

A part of the personality that containsmemories, knowledge, beliefs, feelings, urges,drives, and instincts of which an individual isnot aware

Cannot be observed directly

but can be interpreted through clues such as


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IdSex drives (libido),survival drives,aggressive drives;immediate gratification

EgoBuffer the conflictsbetween the id and theoutside world;integration into society

SuperegoRepresents the rights andwrongs of society as

handed down by parents,teachers, and otherimportant figures;conscience


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Defense mechanisms

Neurotic anxiety occurs when the id threatensto become conscious

Unconscious strategies people use to

__________________ by concealing thesource of anxiety from themselves and others


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Defense mechanisms

Repression: unacceptable or unpleasant idimpulses are pushed back to the unconscious

E.g.

Regression: people behave as if they were atan earlier stage of development

E.g.


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Defense mechanisms

Displacement: redirecting expression ofunwanted feelings or thoughts from a powerfulperson to a weaker one

E.g.

Rationalization: People provide self-justifyingexplanations in place of the actual, but

threatening, reason for their behavior E.g.


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Defense mechanisms

Denial: people refuse to accept oracknowledge anxiety-producing information

E.g.

Projection: attributing unwanted impulses andfeelings to someone else

E.g.


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Defense mechanisms

Sublimation: people divert unwanted impulsesinto socially acceptable thoughts, feelings, orbehaviors

E.g.

Reaction formation: unconscious impulses areexpressed as their opposite in consciousness

E.g.


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Neurosis

A mental disorderwhen tremendousamount of psychicenergy is used fordefensemechanisms

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Evaluation

Contributions ideas of unconsciousness, defense mechanisms, and

children roots of adult personality

Limitations

Lack of empirical data and verification, partially dueto the fuzziness of the concepts (e.g., how tomeasure fixation or id drives?)

Derivation of the concepts and theories from a

limited population (upper-class Austrian women whosought treatment from Freud)

Important changes in personality can take placeduring adolescence and adulthood


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Assessing personality: Projective methods

Projective personality tests

Tests in which a person is shown some vague,ambiguous stimuli and asked to describe themor tell a story about them

The responses are considered to beprojections of ones unconsciousness andpersonality


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Projective personality tests

to obtain from the subject, what he cannot orwill not say, frequently because he does notknow himself and is not aware what he isrevealing about himself through his projections

(Frank, 1939)


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Rorschach Test

A series of symmetrical inkblots Test-takers are asked What might this be?


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Thematic Apperception Test


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Projective Drawings: House-Tree-Person

Test (Buck, 1948)


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Some interpretations of the HTP Test

House Windows, doors, and sidewalks are ways that

others enter or see into the house, so they

relate to openness, willingness to interact withothers

shades, shutters, bars, curtains, and long andwinding sidewalks indicate some unwillingness to

reveal much about yourself

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Tree The trunk is seen to represent the ego, sense

of self, and the intactness of the personality

small trunks are limited ego strength, large trunksare more ego strength/intact personality

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Person Person of the same sex is what you admit is

like you; person of the opposite sex is what

you may not admit is like you

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Limitations

The personality to be measured is ill-defined Test-takers responses may be limited by

verbal or figural expression ability

Lack of standard procedures (may introduceserrors)

Lack of standard scoring and interpretation(may introduce subjectivity biases)


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Trait approaches

Trait theory

A model of personality that seeks to identifythe________________ necessary to describepersonality

Traits are characteristics and behaviors thatare consistently displayed in differentsituations


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Gordon Allport Identified 18,000 terms to describe personality.

Which are the most basic?

Cardinal: single characteristic that directs most of apersons activities

Central: five to ten major characteristics of anindividual

Secondary: characteristics that affect behavior infewer situations and are less influential


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Raymond Cattell Factor analysis: statistical method of

identifying associations among a large numberof variables to reveal more general patterns

16 source traits, the basic personalitydimensions; Sixteen Personality FactorQuestionnaire (16 PF)


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CattellCattells Selfs Self--Report InventoryReport Inventory


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Big Five personality traits

Openness to experience

Toleration for and exploration of the unfamiliar

Conscientiousness

Degree of organization, persistence, and motivation in goal-

directed behavior.

Extraversion

Capacity for joy, need for stimulation

Agreeableness

Ones orientation along a continuum from compassion toantagonism in thoughts, feelings, and actions

Neuroticism

Proneness to psychological distress and excessive cravingsor urges


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Evaluation

Contributions Clear, straightforward description of people

Allow us to readily compare one person with another

Limitations

Which theory is most accurate? How many basictraits are there?

The traits are simply some descriptive labels ofbehavioral pattern. But how do we explain

personality?


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Self-report measures

Asking people questions about a sample oftheir behavior

The self-report data is then used to infer thepersonality characteristics of the person

Assessing personality: Self-report measures


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Sixteen Personality Factor (16PF; Cattell,

1946) Some measures are of larger scale and greater

length. They measure a number of traits (orpersonality factors).

185 items, forced-choice

Sample items:

I make decisions based ona. feelings

b. feelings and reason equally

c. reason

I find it hard to give a speech to strangersa. yes

b. somewhat

c. no


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Minnesota Multiphasic Personality

Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) A widely-used self-report test, particularly

useful in identifying people with__________________________

Sample items:

I feel useless at timesa. Trueb. Falsec. Cannot say

I am bothered by an upset stomachseveral times a week

a. Trueb. Falsec. Cannot say


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Limitations


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Limitations

Response styles

Socially desirable responding Present oneself in a favorablelight

Acquiescence Agree with whatever ispresented

Deviance Make unusual or uncommonresponses

Extreme Make extreme rating


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Operant conditioning

Personality is a collection of learned behaviorpatterns through reinforcement andpunishment E.g. A person is sociable at parties because he has

been reinforced for displaying social behaviors (e.g.,

winning contracts, winning friends)

Learning theorists are interested in looking athow the environment shape peoples

personality

The importance of context People may act differently across different situations

depending on the patterns of reinforcers

Learning approaches


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Observational learning

Continual and repeated exposure to thebehavior of models shape the personality

A full range of behaviors are learned bywatching adults (watching television, watching

peers, etc.)


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Self-efficacy

Belief in ones personal capabilities to carry outa specific task or produce a desired outcome

People with high self-efficacy have higheraspirations and greater persistence

Prior successes and failures, and reinforcementand encouragement from others help self-efficacy develop

I believe I can!


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Evaluation

Contributions Learning theories can explain either consistency or

inconsistency

Friendly at school but not at homebecause differentreinforcement history in the two settings

Objective and scientific conceptualization ofpersonality

Observable behaviors and environment

Limitations Deterministic

Human behaviors are shaped by external forces thatare beyond the individuals control


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Behavioral assessment

Direct observation and record of an individualsbehavior used to describe personality

Naturalistic observations or observations incontrolled conditions

Assessing personality: Behavioral assessment


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Particularly informative forunderstanding

psychological difficulties


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Limitations

Need an impartial, objective observer or rater(but who? parents, teachers, supervisors,trained observers?)

Observation or rating biases

Confirmation bias

Leniency or severity bias


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Criteria in Assessing Personality

Personality characteristic manifests in manybehaviors (an universe of behaviors)

A personality test could only sample somepresumably relevant behaviors from this

universe


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Reliability

consistency in measurement

Electronic scale


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Scale A Scale B Scale C

1 1 1.3 0.9

2 1 1.3 1.1

3 1 1.3 1.05

Measured weight (in pounds) of a one-pound metal bar at three differenttrials.

Reliable Not reliableReliable


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_________________

A test is considered valid if it measures thecharacteristic it purports to measure

A personality test is valid if its test scoresindeed reflect personality


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(source: http://mindcity.sina.com.tw/qa/folder/love/index.shtml)

Recently you checked email and found that someone had bombedyour inbox with a lot of junk emails. What would you do?

- Create a new email account- Just delete them- Forward them to someone you hate- Reply and take revenge


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?

Your choice reflects your reaction when being dumped by your partner:- Create a new email account (you want a firm answer and clear

explanation, and think what you can do to improve)- Just delete them (being kind and tolerant, you can easily forgive himor her)


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?

Your choice reflects your reaction when being dumped by your partner:- Forward them to someone you hate (you cannot accept this and maydeceptively tell yourself that he or she still loves you and eventuallyhe or she will come back)- Reply and take revenge (you are very angry and want to let him orher pay for it)


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The characteristic measured by a given test isdefined by results of empirical research, not by

what the developer chooses to name the test

Ways to test validity

Convergent validity: Correlation with other

personality scales Predictive validity: whether test scores are predictive

of psychological and behavioral outcomes (e.g. sizeof social network, depression, well-being, etc)


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Required Readings Chapter 13

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Social Psychology

Lecture++15 16+Personality Posting

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