personality 2

Question 1

trait

Answer 1

a personality characteristic that is consistent, stable, and varies from person to person

Question 2

what do proponents of the trait approach believe?

Answer 2

• pesonality is the combination/interaction of various traits
• affixes labels to dimensions of psychological variance
• qualifies the degree to which people express specific traits

Question 3

what has troubled trait researchers? how did they solve this?

Answer 3

• many words for the same traits
• hard to study/measure distinct traits

solved through:
- manually combining synonyms in a dictionary
- statistical analysis the measure correlations between traits to find ones that can be measured together

• some researches come to 4000 OR even 3 traits

Question 4

trait approach: the big five

Answer 4

• openness
• conscientiousness
• extroversion
• agreeableness
• neuroticism

Question 5

how do the big five of traits work?

Answer 5

• each trait exists as a continuum where individuals fall somewhere btwn the two extremes

Question 6

openness

Answer 6

• level of creativity and adventure
• high scorers: embrace new experiences, curious, pursue new endeavours
• low scorers: favour tradition, routine, find change difficult

Question 7

conscientiousness

Answer 7

• level of thoughtfulness and diligence
• high: strong self-control, make concrete plans, set goals, keep surroundings neat/organized
• low: casual, unscheduled, find timelines restrictive
  **high scorers live longer

Question 8

extroversion

Answer 8

• sociability, assertiveness, and excitement-seeking
• high: outgoing, energized by company, talkative
• low: reserved, introspective, like time alone

Question 9

agreeableness

Answer 9

• persons ability to put other’s needs above their own
• high: compassionate, polite, trusting, helpful
• low: antagonistic, competitive, secretive, quick to assume others are selfish

Question 10

neuroticism

Answer 10

• level of emotional stability/resilience
• high scores not desired
• high: hypersensitive, anxious, self-conscious, insecure
• low: self-assured, relaxed, stable

Question 11

is the big five universal?

Answer 11

• yes
• can be used to describe personalities of ppl from over 50 cultures

Question 12

are the big five personality traits stable over time?

Answer 12

• yes
• position on continuum on each trait stays consistent RELATIVE TO peers
• but, raw values of the traits change over life
• i.e. children show higher average levels of extroversion than adults
• vice versa for conscientiousness

Question 13

drawbacks of the trait approach

Answer 13

• overlooks extent to which traits vary in diff. situational contexts
• doesn’t address how individual diffs in personality emerge. only describes existing differences

Question 14

what does the biological approach examine?

Answer 14

• brain structure
• neurotransmitter levels
• genes
• has theories abt personality’s evolutionary origins

Question 15

what part of the brain is especially active in shy/pessimistic individuals? esp when viewing faces of strangers

Answer 15

amygdala

Question 16

amygdala

Answer 16

• involved in anxiety and fear
• plays a role in pessimism
• pessimistic individuals show higher amygdala activation when showed mildly frightening images

Question 17

frontal lobe

Answer 17

• high left activity: emotional stability, optimism, anger
• high right activity: neuroticism

Question 18

neurotransmitters and personality

Answer 18

• extraversion and openness share theme of plasticity = dopamine
• conscientiousness, agreeable, and neuroticism share theme of cognitive stability = serotonin

Question 19

does the neural basis of personality explain causality?

Answer 19

• no
• while brain stuff can = personality
• trauma could also alter neural activity
• not amygdala = trauma, but that trauma = active amygdala

Question 20

heritability of personality

Answer 20

degree to which genetic diffs correlate with variation in traits

Question 21

what r big five traits tht is most/least heritable

Answer 21

• most: openness
• least: agreeableness

Question 22

what do evolutionists believe the average level of the big five traits is attributed to?

Answer 22

natural selection NOT random

Question 23

drawbacks of self-report measures

Answer 23

• hard to conceal purpose behind the questions (respondents know wht result they’ll get based on general answers)
• ppl want to present themselves in a favourable light (social desirability bias)
• some personality traits might be impossible/difficult to be self-aware of

Question 24

social desirability bias + how can it be prevented

Answer 24

• people want to present themselves in a favourable light
• ask a friend abt traits bc they don’t know ur wishes

Question 25

behavioural assessments

Answer 25

- allow us to assess personality differently than personality surveys - trait is assessed based on response time - researchers can see how ppl react vs. how they say they’d react - downside: can be impacted by situational factors

Question 26

myers-briggs test

Answer 26

- assigns you to one of the sixteen possible personality types - each letter represents where we exist on a trait binary - over 50% of ppl get a diff personality type when they take the myers-briggs test a second time - binary can be too restrictive - not comprehensive enough

Question 27

multiphasic minnesota personality inventory (MMPI)

Answer 27

- most widely used clinical assessment of personality - used to diagnose severe personality problems/mental health disorders - consists of only true/false questions - not written to specifically probe at specific parts of personality. rather: used existing clinically diagnosed populations to determine predictive answers - has questions to see if someone is lying/being inconsistent