Personality

Question 1

Definition of personality

Answer 1

“the patterns of thoughts and feelings and the way in which we interact with our environment and other people that make us unique”

Question 2

Personality trait perspective (2 points)

2 theories to consider:

Answer 2

• This perspective suggests that as individual’s we are born with certain characteristics which are genetically determined, and is; therefore, linked to the nature approach.
• Trait theorists suggests that characteristics we possess are likely to be seen in all situations; meaning behaviour will be predictable.

2 theories to consider:
Type A and Type B (narrowband approach)
Eysenck’s model

Question 3

Type A and Type B personalities (5 things for each)

Answer 3

TYPE A

• High stress levels
• Competitive
• Lacks tolerance
• Needs to be in control
• Fast worker

TYPE B

• Low stress levels
• Not concerned with competition
• Patient
• Doesn’t need to be in control
• Works slowly

Question 4

Eysenck’s personality dimensions - Introverts vs Extraverts (2 things for each)

Answer 4

Introverts:

• This type of individual needs less arousal as their RAS is already stimulated.
• In other words any additional excitement will cause the individual to be over aroused.

Extraverts:

• This type of person needs more arousal as the RAS inhibits information received via the sensory system.
• This means that the individual needs extra stimulation to maintain focus

Question 5

Eysenck’s personality dimensions - Stable vs Neurotic (1 thing for each)

Answer 5

Stable:

• This type of person will possess a less vigorous response to situations deemed to be stressful

Neurotic:

• This type of person will respond quickly to stressful situations.

Question 6

Social Learning perspective (3 things)

The main difference between this and the Trait theory (2 things)

Answer 6

• This theory suggests that behaviour is the reaction to specific situations.
• We learn to deal with situations through observing others and the results of our own behaviour on others.
• This suggests that personality is learned and, therefore, not innate.

The main difference between this and the Trait theory is:

• the importance of the environment.
• It states that the response to a stimulus cannot be predicted, people can consciously change their response depending upon the situation.

Question 7

Social Learning Perspective - Bandura said that: (2 things + 4 things)

Answer 7

• People behave differently in different situations.
• Personality is learned.
• Personality is learned through:

   - Socialisation
   - Observational Learning
   - Modelling
   - Vicarious Conditioning.

Question 8

Example of how a rugby player would react - Trait vs SLT

Answer 8

• According to the Trait theory if an individual was punched in a rugby game and they were an aggressive person then they would retaliate and punch back.
• However, the social learning theory suggests that the response would depend on the situation – How hard were you hit, what environment did it occur in, what choices they had.

Question 9

Interactionist approach to personality (4 things)

Answer 9

• Most people think that both the trait and social learning approaches to personality have some merit; as we are born with certain characteristics but some of these can be modified by interacting with the environment.
• This perspective combines aspects of both the trait and the social learning theory perspectives.
• Interaction between personality and situation determines our behaviour.
• It suggests that we behave in a way that is governed by our core personality (traits) but behaves in a way that suits the situation.

Question 10

B = f(P.E)

Answer 10

BEHAVIOUR
FUNCTION
PERSONALITY
These are the internal
causes of behaviour.

ENVIRONMENT
These are the external
causes of behaviour.

Question 11

Interactionist approach to personality - What it means (including example)

Answer 11

This theory suggests that:

• our behaviour will tend to be predictable in particular situations
• we are more likely to act in that manner in same environments each and every time

E.g. If it is a highly competitive match we may behave in a certain manner because of the willingness to succeed(environmental focus), where as if it was a recreational game our personality is more likely to control behaviour.

Question 12

Hollander’s model

What is it? (4 things)

3 parts and their description

Answer 12

• Inner psychological core
• Not affected by the environment
• It is where our fairly permanent qualities reside
• Affects the next layer

Typical responses:

This is the way we typically respond to situations

Role related behaviour:

Shows that our typical response may be affected by circumstances meaning behaviour will be completely different at different times and different situations

Social environment

This affects our role related behaviours

Question 13

Profile of mood states

Answer 13

Our personalities are made up of behaviours that are often called moods. These are personality states that are related to a particular situation. Moods are changeable and dependent upon the situation.

This system of measuring our moods was created by McNair, Lorr and Droppleman, and they measured 6 different moods that you can see in the graph

Question 14

What does it mean? Profile of mood state (7 things)

Answer 14

• Used to identify the difference between elite athletes and unsuccessful athletes
• They found there was a significant difference
• Unsuccessful have moods that are fairly consistent
• Successful performers show a very different profile;
• all moods except anger and vigour are lower than in unsuccessful performers
• Due to Vigour having the biggest rating the Profile is given the name ‘Iceberg profile’
• Most have this although some evidence suggests that if athletes over train they can revert back to unsuccessful profile.

Question 15

Evaluation: personality and sporting performance S+C

Answer 15

• Many sports psychologists feel that personality traits have little or no bearing on whether someone will be good at sports or not.
• However; there are some that feel that you can predict success in sport through personality.

This results in two different groups:

Skeptical Group - Feel that the study of personality is of little value

Credulous Group - Feel like there are some links between personality and sport participation and performance