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Personality Overview of the Day Personality Traditional approaches EP questions of traditional approaches EP and personality Personality Relatively stable constellations of behaviors and attitudes that reflect how: a person responds to social (and other) stimuli a person thinks about himself or herself how other people regard the person Traditional Approaches to Personality in Psychology Dysfunctional personality and how to help people deal with their troublesome personalities (Freud and others) The actualized, well-functioning personality and how it serves as a model for the rest of us (Maslow and others) Individual differences: identifying classifying thousands of personality traits and showing how high (or low) levels on some traits relate life success (Cattell and many applied psychologists) Evolutionary Questions about Traditional Approaches to Personality Why is there so much variability in personality traits? Why has the variability persisted? (When a characteristic is adaptive and heritable, variation on that trait becomes very small) If some traits (or levels of some traits) are “better” than others, why do the others persist? Why are possible functions of personality? Personality Traits as Genetic “Noise” Personality traits are random noise Not adaptive (that is, not related to survival and reproduction) An analogy: Like color on wires in car: arbitrary and unrelated to how well the car functions Niche Picking and Specialization Individual differences are adaptively patterned but not generally heritable They are a species-typical mechanisms for niche specialization For example, people with aggressive personalities will survive and reproduce in hostile environments. Frequency Dependency Differential occurrence as a function of the frequency of other traits bluegill sunfish male personality traits (parental, sneak, mimic) Mealey’s theory of psychopathy small numbers of psychopaths can be maintained in large populations of cooperators Facultative Adaptations Highly variable environments lead to traits that manifest themselves differently depending on differential environmental exposure Belsky-Draper theory of the effects of fatherpresence and father-absence on daughters’ personality The Functional Value of Traits may Not Always be Obvious Traits may serve different functions. Useful functions in one context may not be useful in another. Examples: Emotional instability is positively related to kin altruism. (People who are not much distressed by others’ suffering are less likely to assist them). Emotional instability discourages behaviors that are dangerously bold Assessing Personality How important is it that we accurately assess our own and others’ personalities? Individuals who can accurately assess others as resources and threats are more likely to survive and reproduce universal tendency to attribute personality characteristics to others nature of personality descriptions (evaluative) Reactive Heritability The ability to assess one’s own abilities and traits and those of others. This is adaptive, although the traits are not. Sex Difference in Personality Traits The importance of the Big Five OCEAN Sex differences aggression, nurturance, emotional stability Personality inTosca Describe the personalities of Maurizia, Ezio, and Leonardo. How important were their personalities to the course of their lives? What do you think “caused” their personalities? Would you like any of them as a friend? Why or why not? Summary Personality Traditional approaches EP questions of traditional approaches EP and personality For Next Time Cognition and Intelligence: Buss, pp. 374-384. 12; G & M 179-192; Allende, If You Touched My Heart