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22 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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discuss the various lay and scientific definitions of personality |
1.the quality, character or fact of being a person as distinct from an object 2. A personal being, a person 3. That quality or assemblage of qualities which make a person what he or she is, as distinct from other people
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compare and contrast sociological, biosocial, and psychological definitions of personality based on Allport’s work.
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1. sociological:personality is considered to be only a reflection of your social group (you become what the group sees you as 2. biosocial: personality is derived partially from society and partially from our genes 3. psychological: personality involves more than social and biological aspects (all inclusive)
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compare and contrast the five psychological definitions of personality that Allport formulated. |
1.omnibus-the sum total of all biological impulses, tendencies, appetites and instincts of an individual and the dispositions and tendencies acquired by experience (learning) 2. organization of personal attributes-personality serves to integrate a persons qualities in order to give direction to the persons behavior 3. hierarchical definition: personality is viewed as being organized in a hierarchical manner with one level being on top of the other (material me, social me, spiritual me) 4. adjustment- those systems which permit individuals to modify their behavior to be more adaptive to any situation 5. uniqueness- emphasis on the acting, feeling and thinking that differentiates an individual from all others |
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discuss the underlying assumptions about human nature that personality theorists make (e.g., determinism vs. free will; homostatis vs. hetereostasis, temporal emphasis, etc.) |
-free will: the philosophical position that individuals have the ability to choose their fate and control their behavior -determinism: the philosophical position that behavior results from factors not controlled by the individual -nativism: belief that a characteristic is determined by genetics -environmentalism: belief that a characteristic is determined by factors in the environment -temporal emphasis: what point in time of a person's life is emphasis placed on ( past events, present experiences or future goals homeostatic motivation: emphasis on returning to the status quo or original state (being hungry.. you eat and the tension of hunger is resolved hetereostatic motivation: emphasis on growth or moving toward a higher state (maslow's heirarchy of needs, basic needs are homeostatic, but self actualization is hetereostatic) unconscious motivation: freud(90%of the mind is unconscious, freud and jung says its important, skinner catell says its unimportant) Uniqueness vs Commonality: individual (how are they unique and different means the study of singe individuals "idiographic methods" OR looking at common characteristics that people have using "nomothetic methods" studying groups of individuals mind and body relationship physical monism - only body (skinner) epiphenomenalism- mental events occur but are just a function, not important parallelism- environment influences mind and body, synchronicity between mind and body interactionism- the mind can influence the body and the body can influence the mind (stress creating illness) |
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define what is a theory is within the context of a course on personality and the characteristics that are typical associated with theories (e.g., Occum's Razor, verifiability, etc.) |
theory: conceptual tool for understanding certain specified phenomena characteristics: 1. its described with precision (clearly stated) 2. verifiabilitly or testability (needs to make a clear prediction) 3. Bredth of explanation (when what your theory encompasses is greater it gets more complex) 4. the simpler the better (Occum's Razor) 5.practicality for improving human life 6. foster scientific progress |
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elucidate the components of a theory |
1. Theoretical Construct: concepts of a theory that are not directly observable (love, democracy, ego) 2. Theoretical Propositions: statements regarding how constructs are related (falling in love & social attitudes toward issues) 3. Operational Definition: statements about what observable phenomena are evidence of a particular theoretical construct 4. Hypothesis- theoretical propositions that are stated in terms of observable phenomena, which can be tested by empirical observation, turns into statistics and mathematical equations (look at notes) |
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identify and then compare and contrast the various approach or modes to the measurement of personality constructs |
mode 1-assessment of traits (self reports) mode 2-assessment of states (ppl asked about current experience, self esteem scale) mode 3-assessment of abilities (IQ test) also self report mode 4- observer subjective trait report (teacher evaluations) can be based on past interactions mode 5- observer objective behavioral ratings (the person is counting behaviors) observers = transcribers mode 6- mechanically recorded (response time, frequency, latency (how quickly), duration, rapidity, intensity mode 7- mechanical recordings of physiological responses that the person is not consciously aware of (heart beat, blood pressure, respiration, cornea dilation) |
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understand the problems associated with mono-operationalism. |
each mode has clear limitations mode 1, mode 2, mode 4 -misunderstanding of questions or language, rushing, carelessness, non cooperation, lack of personal insight, self deception and impression management mode 5- leniancy bias (saying its the behavior when its really not) , halo effect (personal attributes get in the way,"what is good is beautiful") mode 6 and mode 7- we make a leap of faith by inferring these measures assess a specific construct because a number of factors can potentially impact them "response latency may not represent your aggression level but your ability to stay on task" Problem:Each mode has clear limitations to use a single strategy to measure a construct is highly problematic. solution: use multiple methods in measuring constructs |
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describe Galen’s humoral theory of personality |
A system of medicine detailing the makeup and workings of the human body, arguing that an excess of any of four distinct bodily fluids in a person - known as humors - directly influences their temperament and health. black bile (poop)-----melancholic (sad, depressed) yellow bile (pee)-----choleric (argumentative, hot headed) blood--------------------sanguine, cheerfulness phlegm-----------------phlegmatic, indifferent, dull,apathetic An imbalance in these humors resulted in an excess of one of these temparments. |
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describe Sheldon’s constitutional theory and the criticism directed at it |
Sheldon's constitutional theory was that people's body types reflect their personality types. ectomorphy (delicate frail)-restrained, inhibited, withdrawn mesomorphy (muscualr)-active, assertive, vigorous endomorphy (massive visceral structure) - relaxed, sociable, comfort loving CRITICISMS: 1. Experimenter bias 2. Lack of replication 3. Causal direction (lacks the factor of social experience) 4. Small effect size 5. Ethical questions about participant coercion |
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define behavioral genetics |
The scientific study of how both genetic and environmental factors interact to generate variations that we observe in the characteristics of living organisms (human and non-human). |
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describe the three ways in which Scarr and McCartney (1983) suggests that genetics and the environment interaction |
1. Passive Genotype- Environment Correlation parents genes create the home environment and the child's genes which both influence the child's behavior so there is a passive correlation between the home environment and the child's genes 2. Evocative Genotype/ environment correlation Child's genes create the child's behavior which can result in an environmental alteration, but the environmental alteration can also result in the child's behavior which is an evocative correlation 3. Active Genotype/ Environment Correlation Child's genes effect the child's behavior which effects the environmental selection |
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describe basic behavior genetic research designs. |
genes and environment together produce a different phenotype than would be expected with either alone. |
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describe the methodological problems associated with behavioral genetic research designs (i.e., associative mating and environmental relatedness)
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1. Inability to control human mating patterns Associative mating: we do not mate randomly, so the probability of an individual exhibiting a particular phenotype can be greater than 50% -parents may share more genetic material than 2 randomly selected adults 2. Inability to control natural human environments Environmental Relatedness 1. There is no clear process for estimating the degree of environmental relatedness among individuals (brothers and sisters, hard to measure how similar their environment is) 2. We are unable to control these variables in order to un-confuse genetic and enviornmental relatedness. |
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describe Cloninger’s (1986) Tridimensional model
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Proposes 3 biologically based personality traits Each trait results from the relative level of a particular "neurotransmitter" in the central nervous system 1. Novelty Seeking explore environment more excited in response to new stimuli more try new things for the thrill of it more **have lower levels of dopamine with greater novelty seeking. 2. Harm Avoidance more influenced by bad stimuli or signals indicating punishment and so they act to avoid pain more worried and tense lower levels of serotonin are associated with greater harm avoidance (depression) 3. Reward Depandence work harder and more show greater persistence in working after others have given up greater levels of norepinephrine are associated with greater reward dependence. (highly conscientious, higher anxiety) |
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discuss Evolutionary theory and mention some of the assumptions that underlies this approach. |
The belief that the evolutionary process has had an important influence on contemporary human personality. * we were primed 100,000 years ago to act a certain way 1. concerns events in the distant past 2. an exceedingly slow process 3. applies to an entire species 4. concerns genetic material not the phenotype or individuals |
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define the field of sociobiology |
the study of the biological basis of all social behavior -assumes that all of the important ways in which organisms interact are a product of evolution |
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define the concept of inclusive fitness |
The committing of an altruistic act that places an organism at an individual disadvantage, but gives an advantage to it's genetic material (dying for a group of people or your family) |
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describe Hamilton’s (1974) rule of social evolution and be able to apply to understanding altruistic behavior. |
for an altruistic behavior to be exhibited the equation (bxr)-c>0 needs to be "solved" for a value greater than 0.
(the Benefit for the recipient x the coefficient of Relatedness btwn the recipient and preformer)-the Cost of impact on the preformer > 0 ex. feeding the young: the child is more likely to survive and be able to reproduce if they are fed, even if the cost to the parent is that the parent will go hungry
when the rules inequality is satisfied, altruistic behavior will occur If it is not satisfied the organism will act on behalf of its own self interests (children will be abandoned or given away) |
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describe Rushton’s (1990) genetic similarity theory
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assumes that it is evolutionary advantageous for a gene to benefit any organism in which copies of itself are located.
predicts that genetically similar individuals will show beneficial preferences (friendship, social support) relative to less genetically similar individuals ** people will typically have relationships with other people that are similar to them assuming their genes are similar |
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discuss a sociobiological approach to understanding gender difference in mate selection behavior |
Mate preferences and selection strategies have been linked to different biological roles that men and women play in reproduction. -females make a greater investment in reproduction than male humans -mens role is brief, simple and effortless -women's strategy is to delay reproduction untill the best mate is found. The ability of that mate to provide resources for the offspring is crucial. - men are less discriminating and attempt to copulate as frequently as possible with women who show signs of being likely to conceive children. |
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discuss the relationship of socio-biological and evolutionary theory to major underlying personality structures (e.g., extraversion, agreeableness) |
All personality traits have a "benefit" and "cost" for survival fitness. the "costs" prevent the tendency to select for extreme examples of that trait. Extroversion B: mating success, social allies, exploration of environment C: physical risks, family instability Neuroticism B: vigilance to dangers, striving and competitivness C: stress and depression, interpersonal & health benefits Openness B: creativity, with effect on attractivness C: unusual beliefs; psychosis Conscientiousness B: attention to long term fitness benefits; life expectancy and desirable social qualities C: missing of immediate fitness gains; obsessionality; rigidity Agreeableness B:attention to mental states of others; harmonious interpersonal relationships; valued coalitional partner C: subject to social cheating; failure to maximize selfish advantage |
