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Personality
Personality Defined
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Individual’s characteristic manner of
interacting with the world, and other people
in particular
Person’s unique pattern of thoughts, feelings,
behaviors, that persist over time and across
situations
Trait Theories
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TRAIT: relatively stable disposition to behave
a certain way
Characteristics or factors on which
individuals differ
State vs. Trait
Traits triggered by environmental cues which
elicit behavior
Traits are dimensional, not categorical
Trait Theories
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Trait theories: specify a manageable set of
distinct personality dimensions that
summarize fundamental differences
between people
Focus on describing personality
Hippocrates’ Humors
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Black Bile: sad (melancholic) personality
Yellow Bile: excitable (choleric) personality
Phlegm: slow, sluggish (phlegmatic)
personality
Blood: relaxed, playful (sanguine)
personality
Constitutional Theory
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William Sheldon: body type related to
personality type
Ectomorphic: thin and frail
Mesomorphic: strong and muscular
Endomorphic: soft and round
Constitutional Theory
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3 Personality Types
Cerebrotonic: quiet, scholarly, timid
Somatotonic: bold and adventurous
Visceratonic: cheerful, calm, relaxed
Constitutional Theory
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Ectomorphic  Cerebrotonic
Mesomorphic  Somatotonic
Endomorphic  Viscerotonic
Raymond Cattell (1950)
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Chemist
Molecules to atoms
Traits to personality
18,000 adjectives reduced to 170
Self report surveys & factor analysis
Identified 16 central traits
Cattell’s 16 Central Traits
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Sociable – Unsociable
Intelligent – Unintelligent
Emotionally stable –
Unstable
Dominant – Submissive
Cheerful – Brooding
Conscientious –
Undependable
Bold – Timid
Sensitive - Insensitive
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Suspicious – Trusting
Imaginative – Practical
Shrewd – Naïve
Guilt proclivity – Guilt
rejection
Radicalism – Conservatism
Self-sufficiency – Group
adherence
Disciplined – Uncontrolled
Tense - Relaxed
Hans Eysenck (1952)
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2 basic personality traits
Introversion – Extroversion
Tendency to avoid or seek excitement
Extroverts = sociable, adventurous
Introverts = unsociable, introspective
Neuroticism – Stability
Emotional stability, tendency to be upset
Hans Eysenck (1952)
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Psychoticism – Nonpsychoticism
Proclivity for aggression, lack of concern for
others vs. cooperative, empathetic
The Big Five
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Neuroticism – Stability
Extroversion – Introversion
Openness to experience – Non-openness
Agreeableness – Antagonism
Conscientiousness - Undirectedness
1. Neuroticism (Emotional Stability)
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High Scorers: unexcitable, unemotional,
autonomous, individualistic
Low Scorers: insecure, anxious, touchy,
emotional, anxious
2. Extroversion
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High scorers: enthusiastic, gregarious,
playful, happy-go-lucky, energetic, talkative,
confident, optimistic
Low scorers: unsociable, nonverbal,
detached, unadventurous, moody
3. Openness
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High scorers: introspective, deep, insightful,
intelligent, creative, curious
Low scorers: shallow, unimaginative,
unobservant, ignorant
4. Agreeableness
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High scorers: accomodating, genial,
understanding, leniant, courteous, flexible,
affectionate
Low scorers: antagonistic, unsympathetic,
demanding, irritable, distrustful, stubborn
5. Conscientiousness
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High scorers: organized, efficient, reliable,
persistent, cautious, punctual
Low scorers: disorganized, careless,
inconsistent, forgetful, aimless, lazy,
impractical
Stability of traits
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Stable throughout adulthood
Especially after age 30
r’s: .50 - .70 over 30-40 yrs
Personality may change somewhat in
response to life changes (career, marital
status, critical events)
Predictive value
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Reliability vs. Validity
Do personality tests predict actual behavior?
YES
Extroverts: less startled by loud noise,
live/work with more people, sexually open
minded
Conscientiousness: better job performance,
marital fidelity
Predictive value
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Openness: job changes
Situationists
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People behave in a certain way not because
of their traits, but because of the situations
we find ourselves in
Interactionism: compromise position
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Acknowledges both traits and situations
Physiological Theory of Extraversion
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Eysenck – arousability hypothesis
Extroverts: brains less easily aroused,
sensation seeking
Introverts: hypersensitive to arousal,
sensation avoidant
Learning in presence of loud noise, startle
response, salivation response, tolerance for
shock
Physiological impact of genetics
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Relationship between Neuroticism and gene
related to increased serotonin
Novelty seeking (impulsivity, excitability) and
gene related to decreased dopamine
Heritability of Traits
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Nature vs. Nurture
Heritability estimate for monozygotic twins =
.50 (50% of variability)
Dyzygotic twins no more similar than
unrelated individuals
University of Minnesota studies
Heritability of Traits
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Traditionalism – measure of conservative
values (.60)
Opposition to the death penalty (.50)
Genetic predispositions influence attitudes
individual attends to and adopts
Environmental Influences
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Not unimportant, but less important than assumed
2 kids raised in same environment will experience
that environment very differently
Scarr (1981) – compared non-twin adopted kids with
(a) bio sibs and (b) adoptive sibs
Bio siblings more similar than adopted
No more similar to adoptive sibs than strangers
Personality as mental processes
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Psychodynamic
Social cognitive
Humanistic
Psychodynamic Theories
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Emphasize the interplay of mental forces
people are often unconscious of their
motives
processes called defense mechanisms work
to keep unacceptable drives/urges out of
consciousness
Personality differences lie in unconscious
motives & how they are ultimately manifested
Psychodynamic Theories
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Freud - to understand patient’s
problems/personality, must learn about
content of unconscious
Conscious thought a poor reflection of true
wants, needs, desires
unconscious “leaks” (Freudian slips, dreams,
free associations)
Psychodynamic Theories
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Drives equivalent to physical forms of energy
build up, must be released
to function in society, must learn to direct
sexual/aggressive drives in acceptable ways
Defense mechanisms serve to reduce
anxiety by keeping unacceptable drives out
of consciousness
Defense mechanisms
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Repression: anxiety-produc9ing thoughts
pushed and kept out of consciousness
“I don’t remember much about my childhood”
repression dams up mental energy
“leaks” are dealt with via other defense
mechanisms
Defense mechanisms
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Displacement: unconscious wish/drive that
would be unacceptable to conscious mind is
redirected toward acceptable alternative
breast feeding --> cigarette smoking, eating
Sublimation: channeling one’s energies
towards behaviors valued by society
E.g., corporate killers, surgeons
Defense mechanisms
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Reaction formation: turning a frightening
wish into its safer opposite
Norman Bates - Hate Mom vs. Love Mom
Homophobia
“The lady doth protest too much”
Defense mechanisms
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Projection: person consciously experiences
an unconscious drive or wish as though it
were someone else’s
Holden Caulfield - Catcher in the Rye
Rationalization: use of conscious reasoning
to explain away anxiety-provoking
thoughts/feelings
“I only hit you because I love you”
Neo-Freudians
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Karen Horney - focused on security as inborn
need
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parents influence kid’s personality via ways in
which they succeed/fail at alleviating kid’s anxiety
3 unhappy personality styles
Moving away from people (Avoiding others)
Moving towards people (Giving in to others)
Moving against people (Dominating others)
Neo-Freudians
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Alfred Adler: drive for competence, striving
for significance, sense of achievement
we all begin with sense of inferiority
(helpless, dependent)
Inferiority complex: act inadequate,
dependent
Superiority complex: better than others,
overcompensation
Social-Cognitive theories
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Personality has a lot to do with our own
perceptions of ourselves and our abilities
Social learning theory
learned beliefs and habits become ingrained
and automatic (unconscious)
learned beliefs/habits in thinking increase or
decrease ability to take control of own life
Julian Rotter - Locus of Control
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Locus of control: beliefs about whether
outcomes are under internal vs. external
control
Internal: belief that one controls one’s own
fate
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takes credit for successes
responsibility for failures
Julian Rotter - Locus of Control
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External: belief that one’s fate is governed by
luck, chance, or forces beyond one’s control
Internal generally better than external
preventive health care measures, resist
group pressures in social situations (jury),
prefer games of skill over chance
promotes hard work, perseverance, success
Bandura’s Social Learning Theory
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Personality is behavior, and behavior is
dependant on our expectancies
expectancies: what a person thinks will result
from behaving in a certain way under certain
circumstances
self-efficacy - expectation that one will be
successful in his/her efforts
Bandura’s Social Learning Theory
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Reciprocal determinism: we act as a stimulus
on the social environment and the
environment, in turn, acts on us
attractive, socially adept child is well received
and valued by peers, which in turn increases
self-esteem and self-efficacy, which makes
him more well liked
reverse also true
Bandura’s Social Learning Theory
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Self efficacy vs. locus of control
Self efficacy - person’s sense of own ability
Locus of control - subjective sense of
whether or not that ability will produce
rewards
Child-rearing that emphasizes
abilities/successes lead to future success
Humanistic theories
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Any personality theory that asserts the
fundamental goodness of people and their
striving toward higher levels of functioning
Carl Rogers
self-actualizing tendency: drive of all
humans to fulfill their potential
fully functioning person: congruence between
actual and ideal self
Humanistic theories
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Unconditional vs. Conditional positive regard
the individual’s perception/experience is the
only one that really matters
“I am not being my real self”
“I don’t want people to know the real me”
Natural tendency for self-actualization
stunted by demands and judgments the
world places on us
Maslow’s Hierarchy
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Self-actualization needs (self expression,
creativity, connectedness with the “broader
universe”)
Esteem needs
Belongingness and love needs
Safety needs
Physiological needs
Personality as adaptation
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Personality in terms of function, ruvival value
Diversification of investment - reduces
potential for dramatic loss, maintains
likelihood of long term gains
Alternative niches
Sibling contrasts
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Parents and individuals emphasize sibling
differences
sibling contrast: if sibs seen as having
different abiliities, needs, etc, less likely to
compete, more likely to be valued for
uniqueness
split parent identification: reduces
competition for parental investment
Birth Order
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Earlier born are bigger, stronger, wiser, more
competent
First borns tend to adopt parental roles and
values
respect for authority and conservative
attitudes
Later born, higher on Openness factor
Sex Differences
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Nature vs. Nurture
Agreeableness - Antagonism (females more
concerned about establishing/maintaining
relationships)
Women higher on Conscientiousness and
Neuroticism
Men tend to be higher on sensation seeking
(decreases with age)
Cummulative Material for Final
Exam
PSYCO 106
Correlation coefficients
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What are they?
How to interpret them?
Direction & magnitude
correlation vs. causation
Classical & Operant Conditioning
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Terms (e.g., reinforcement, punishment,
conditioned & unconditioned stimulus,
extinction)
Process
Reinforcement schedules (e.g., fixed ratio)
Little Alberta experiment (Watson)
Erik Erickson stages of social
development
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What are they?
What are the key conflicts at each stage?
Stress & Coping
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Definition and types
subjective nature of stress
frustration-aggression hypothesis
compliance with medical recommendations
Constructive coping vs. defense mechanisms
Selye’s G.A.S.
Social development
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Gender differences
Kohlberg’s moral development
parenting styles
attachment styles
Piaget
Vygotsky
Memory
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3 primary components (function and
characteristics)