What is self-monitoring?
How much does your public self differ from your
private self?
High Self-Monitors tend to…
(Tailors self for the situation) • Good at acting • Talkative • Initiates humour • Expressive facial expressions • Social poise
- Better in job interviews
- Make more new friends
- More social influence
- More likely to lie to get a date
• More susceptible to external feedback
- Fake heartbeat study (more attracted to
women) –> fast fake beat –> think they like them - good for first impressions but bad for long term relationships when people find out what you’re really like
Low Self-Monitors tend to…
(Little change for situation) • Distrusting • Perfectionists • Irritable • Anxious • Introspective • Independent
Personality tests are…
Inherently relativistic
What is a Personality Trait?
An adjective used to describe a person’s tendencies across time and context.
- Trait is distributed amongst people (Variance)
Individual differences are usually….
Larger than group differences
e.g. Dan may be 30cm taller than Lauren, but on average men are only 10cm taller than women
Difference between Traits & Types?
• Trait is distributed amongst people (Variance)
- you can lie on a scale (high or low of a trait)
• Types are qualitatively different
- you either are it or aren’t it
e. g. you’re Disney princess is Snow White
The distribution of most traits take the form of a…
Bell curve (normal distribution)
What is Artificial dichotomizing?
Take a trait that should be treated as a continuous trait
e.g. the scale of extraversion
And split you into which type you are based on which half you fall into
e.g. scored 49% for extroversion = introvert
What is wrong with the Myers-Briggs test?
• It does Artificial dichotomizing
• Although it is popular in the business
world, it is not often used in research
• It has poor validity
- Attempts to measure Jung’s personality
types
- In the real world, there are rarely
dichotomies
- Usually people fall somewhere in the middle
- Traits used are not necessarily opposing
(Thinking and feeling)
• It has poor reliability
- It will give different results for the same
person on different occasions
• Links between Myers-Briggs types and
manager effectiveness has been
unimpressive
What is the Single-Trait Approach?
- Study one personality trait at a time
- What are people with that trait like?
- E.g. self-monitoring
- Problem: 17000+ potential traits to study (4500 excluding synonyms)
- Pros: Comprehensive
- Cons: Complex! No generalization.
What is Religiosity?
- Self report: Religious people more moral
- Behaviour: No difference in treatment of others, sometimes worse due to entitlement
- Religiosity: higher self-control, better at avoiding personal vices
What is the Lexical Hypothesis?
For any significant personality trait there will be a term to describe it in any or all of the languages of the world
What is the essential trait approach?
• Group traits into meta-traits
Eysenck’s Hierarchical Model included which 3 basic traits?
- Psychoticism
• Aggressive, lacking empathy, egocentric, antisocial,
impulsive - Extraversion
• Sociable, lively, active, dominant, sensation-seeking - Neuroticism
• Low emotional stability
• Anxious, guilty, moody, low self-esteem, irritable
How many traits did Cattell’s Taxonomy have?
16
What is the big 5 personality traits?
OCEAN
- Openness
- Conscientiousness
- Extraversion
- Agreeableness
- Neuroticism
Extraverts…
- Talk more
- Use more eye contact
- Are physically stronger
• Engage in more risky behaviors
- Ex: gambling, fast driving
• Are more sexually active
- Like studying in social places
- Perform better than introverts under distraction
- Perform better on tasks that require divided attention
- Focus on speed over accuracy
Why are extraverts often able to maintain positive moods and mis-remember being in a good mood?
• Extraverts are more sensitive to dopamine
- Neurotransmitter associated with pleasure
- Dopamine gets a stronger response from extraverts
Introverts….
Perform better on tasks that require attention
• Have better long-term memory
• When learning, tend to focus on accuracy over speed
• Have better academic performance and critical thinking (but not IQ)
• Better at delaying gratification
• Better leaders when subordinates are proactive
Those high in agreeableness…
- Prefer harmonious situations (avoid conflict)
- Enjoy helping others
- Cooperative
- Are trusting
- Are sympathetic
- Good at judging other people’s minds
- Make better lovers and friends
- Make better parents
- Less likely to be involved in bullying
Those LOW in agreeableness:
- Are more aggressive
- More likely to respond with anger when things don’t go well
- Engage in social conflict
- Assert power to resolve social conflict
Are there any downsides to agreeableness?
• Maybe—anecdotally they’re less likely to join a rebellion against Nazis
Those HIGH in conscientiousness…
• Punctual, reliable, hard work, diligent, follow through • Do not procrastinate • Follow rules • Have higher GPAs • Higher job satisfaction • Set high standards for themselves • Better at sticking to long-term goals e.g. sticking to gym routine
