What is personality?
People’s typical way of thinking, feeling, and behaving
What are the 3 factors that behaviour-genetic methods attempt to untangle the effects of?
- Genetic factors
- Shared environmental factors
- Nonshared environmental factors
How much of a role do genetics play in personality?
Little, much below 1.0 correlation, but not zero
What does research suggest about birth order’s effect on personality?
Most studies fail to see a correlation
Who developed the first comprehensive theory of personality?
Sigmund Freud
What were the 3 primary assumptions developed in Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory?
- Psychic determinism
- Symbolic meaning
- Unconscious motivation
According to Freud, what 3 components made up the psyche of a person?
- Id - basic instincts, operates on pleasurable principle
- Superego - sense of morality
- Ego - principal decision maker, operates on reality principle
What are 3 examples of defence mechanisms?
- Repression - motivated forgetting of emotionally threatening memories or impulses
- Denial - motivated forgetting of distressing external experiences
- Projection - unconscious attribution of our negative qualities onto others
What are the 5 stages of psychosexual development and at what age did they take place? How was this represented?
- Oral - birth to 12-18 months, sucking and drinking
- Anal - 18 months - 3 yrs. - alleviating tension by pooping
- Phallic - 3 yrs. - 6 yrs. - getinals
- Latency - 6 yrs. - 12 yrs. - dormant sexual stage
- Genital - 12 yrs.+ - renewed sexual impulses, emergence of mature romantic relationships
What are some major criticisms of Freud’s theory of psychosexual development?
Unfalsifiable, failed predictions, questionable conception of unconscious, unrepresentative samples, emphasis on shared environment
How do Neo-Freudians differ from Freud’s theories?
Less emphasis on sexuality and more emphasis on social drives, more optimistic about personal growth
How are personality habits acquired?
Via classical and operant conditioning
How did social learning theories see learning?
Learning was important, but thinking was also a large component
What do behavioural approaches view personality as?
Under the control of genetic factors and contingencies, bundles of habits
Rather than emphasizing Skinnerism, what did social learning theories emphasize?
Reciprocal determinism
What were the major issues of both radical behaviourist and social learning’s theories of personality?
Radical behaviourist - dismissing cognition is unsupported by research
Social learning - emphasis on shared environment is unsupported
Who was the developer of Humanism, the rejection of determinism and proposal of self-actualization as a core motive in personality?
Carl Rogers
According to Roger’s model, what are the 3 main components of personality?
- Organism - innate genetic blueprint
- Self - set of beliefs of who we are
- Conditions of worth - expectations placed on ourselves
How would Maslow describe self-actualized people?
Creative, spontaneous, accepting of themselves and others. Self-confident, few close friendships, crave privacy and may come across as difficult to work with.
What are trait models of personality most interested in evaluating?
Describing and understanding the structure of personality
What are the 5 traits that make up the “Big Five Model” that have repeatedly appeared in trait model studies?
OCEAN
1. Openness to Experience - intellectually curious, unconventional
2. Conscientiousness - careful and responsible
3. Extraversion - social and lively
4. Agreeableness - easy to get along with
5. Neuroticism - tense and moody
What is the difference between basic tendencies and characteristic adaptations?
Tendencies - underlying personality traits
Adaptations - behavioural manifestations of tendencies
At what age does personality become less susceptible to change?
Around age 30
What is the most researched personality test and what are the 3 validity scales?
MMPI,
1. Lie - detects impression management
2. Frequency - detects malingering
3. Correction - measures defensive responding
