Download Chapter 1: Studying Personality: PART 1 Assessment, Research

Chapter 1: Studying Personality:
PART 1
Assessment, Research, and Theory
The Study of Personality
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Everybody has it and it influences many aspects of our lives
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Personality is complex to describe – it is changeable
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Our goal here: Study how different theorists define personality (I) while studying the forces
and factors that shape personality
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Each theory provides a piece of a grand puzzle
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Naturally born with a personality or learn it?
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Influenced by unconscious forces?
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Can it change after birth?
Personality in History of Psychology :
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Study of Consciousness
Personality is too multidimensional to study.
W. WUNDT: 1879, The Institute for Experimental Psychology at Uni of Leipzig, Germany
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The father of (experimental) psychology,
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study of conscious experience (sensory processes, reaction times…) broken into its parts
through introspection
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Study of Behavior
Personality is what can be seen and observed – only deal with what you can see, hear, record,
manipulate, and measure!
Mechanistic view of human nature: ordered machines which respond to stimuli with a certain
response
-J. B. WATSON (Early 20th C.)
-B.F. SKINNER (Personality is an accumulation of learned responses)
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Study of Unconscious
Personality is the whole person; both conscious and unconscious.
-1890’s, Sigmund FREUD, Psychoanalysis
-Freud trained as a physician and scientist but his theory based on clinical observations: speculative
-Neo-Psychoanalysts
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Study of Scientific
Personality is what can be studied using scientific methods.
-Late 1930’s, study of personality was systematized: Gordon ALLPORT, Harvard University, published
a landmark book , in 1937, called:
“Personality: A Psychological Interpretation”
A Working Definition of Personality by Gordon Allport (1961)
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“Personality is a dynamic organization, inside the person, of psychophysical systems that
create the person’s characteristic patterns of behavior, thoughts, and feelings.”
Definitions of Personality
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How others see us and impressions we make on others
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External and visible persona (a Latin word; meaning, the mask used by actors)
Enduring & stable characteristics
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Controversial: Power of situation vs power of the person
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Newer approach: Consider situation / person interactions
Unique characteristics- Distinctive internal properties of each individual
Personality
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The unique, relatively enduring internal and external aspects of a person’s character that
influence behavior.
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Internet & Social Networking - Results of Several Studies
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Affects personality outcomes:
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Reduces psychological well-being
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Decreases quality of relationships with friends, romantic partners, and families
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American college students reported more loneliness, greater anxiety, and
greater conflict in relationship with parents if usual means of communication
was social networking.
Internet & Social Networking - Results of Several Studies
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Reflects personality
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Traditionally White male theorists, either of European or American heritage
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More frequent use of Facebook (more updates, etc) if extraverted, narcissistic, &
neurotic
Generally ignored gender & ethnicity
Studies indicate:
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Women: greater emotional intensity, complexity
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Gender-related traits (masculine jobs) related to mortality rates
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Eastern: more introverted (Study on Hong Kong Chinese students, and Chinese
students who immigrated to Canada)
Cross-Cultural Psychology
Please read article:
Personality: The Universal and the Culturally Specific, by Heine and Buchtel (2009)
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East Asians (vs Westerners): Less motivation for self-enhancement (East Asians more
motivated to esteem the group)
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Less utility in positive assessment of self for East Asians (for instance, less effect on
persistence at tasks)
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More evidence for avoidance motivation rather than approach motivation (for ex:
better memory for opportunities for losses compared to gains, persist more on a task
after failure…)
Internal vs External Frame of Reference: More attention to whether they meet other
people’s standards – concern for maintaining face
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For instance, a study showed that North Americans were more self-critical and less
likely to cheat when a mirror was present compared to when a mirror was not
present- the same was not observed for Japanese
Independent and interdependent views of self: Westerners were found to be more
concerned with feeling positive than Eastern people.
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People in Eastern culture were found to be more concerned with interpersonal
harmony
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Dialectical Reasoning: For instance, Eastern individuals acknowledged experiencing both
negative and positive states of emotions
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Incremental vs entity views of self: East Asians are less likely to define self with stable and
innate personality traits (more likely to conceptualize self as fluid and changing, effort-based
– incremental view)
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For instance, East Asian individuals attributed school achievement to effort, not
abilities
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Perceived consistency of traits: Power of the situation over the person is more recognized by
collectivist cultures
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Content of self: Less based on personality, abstract terms in collectivist cultures
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Attributions of behavior:
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Personality may not be the best way to describe what constitutes ‘I’ in collectivist
cultures?
Indian adults tended to attribute behavior of others to situational forces rather than
personality features (reverse of fundamental attribution error)
Spontaneous Trait Inferences:
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Those from collectivist cultural backgrounds remembered and encoded, and
reported social-role words and behavior-descriptive words better than trait-words
Differences in TYPOLOGIES:
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Out of 18,000 traits in English language -- BIG 5: Neuroticism, Extraversion, Aggreeableness,
Openness, Conscientiousness
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Using Chinese vocabulary of traits in literature: Dependability, Interpersonal Relatedness
(harmony, relational orientation, tradition), Social Potency (leadership, adventorousness,
extraversion), Individualism (logical orientation, defensiveness, self-orientation)