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SOSC1960Introduction to Psychology
Lecture 15-16Personality
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Exercise
Write a few words to describe the personalityof your best friend.
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Personality
The pattern of enduring characteristics thatproduce consistency and individuality in agiven person
Consistency (across time and situations) Individuality (help describe and explain
variations across individuals)
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Approaches to personality
Assessing personality
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Freudian approach
Unconsciousness
A part of the personality that containsmemories, knowledge, beliefs, feelings, urges,drives, and instincts of which an individual isnot aware
Cannot be observed directly
but can be interpreted through clues such as
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IdSex drives (libido),survival drives,aggressive drives;immediate gratification
EgoBuffer the conflictsbetween the id and theoutside world;integration into society
SuperegoRepresents the rights andwrongs of society as
handed down by parents,teachers, and otherimportant figures;conscience
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Defense mechanisms
Neurotic anxiety occurs when the id threatensto become conscious
Unconscious strategies people use to
__________________ by concealing thesource of anxiety from themselves and others
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Defense mechanisms
Repression: unacceptable or unpleasant idimpulses are pushed back to the unconscious
E.g.
Regression: people behave as if they were atan earlier stage of development
E.g.
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Defense mechanisms
Displacement: redirecting expression ofunwanted feelings or thoughts from a powerfulperson to a weaker one
E.g.
Rationalization: People provide self-justifyingexplanations in place of the actual, but
threatening, reason for their behavior E.g.
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Defense mechanisms
Denial: people refuse to accept oracknowledge anxiety-producing information
E.g.
Projection: attributing unwanted impulses andfeelings to someone else
E.g.
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Defense mechanisms
Sublimation: people divert unwanted impulsesinto socially acceptable thoughts, feelings, orbehaviors
E.g.
Reaction formation: unconscious impulses areexpressed as their opposite in consciousness
E.g.
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Neurosis
A mental disorderwhen tremendousamount of psychicenergy is used fordefensemechanisms
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Evaluation
Contributions ideas of unconsciousness, defense mechanisms, and
children roots of adult personality
Limitations
Lack of empirical data and verification, partially dueto the fuzziness of the concepts (e.g., how tomeasure fixation or id drives?)
Derivation of the concepts and theories from a
limited population (upper-class Austrian women whosought treatment from Freud)
Important changes in personality can take placeduring adolescence and adulthood
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Assessing personality: Projective methods
Projective personality tests
Tests in which a person is shown some vague,ambiguous stimuli and asked to describe themor tell a story about them
The responses are considered to beprojections of ones unconsciousness andpersonality
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Projective personality tests
to obtain from the subject, what he cannot orwill not say, frequently because he does notknow himself and is not aware what he isrevealing about himself through his projections
(Frank, 1939)
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Rorschach Test
A series of symmetrical inkblots Test-takers are asked What might this be?
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Thematic Apperception Test
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Projective Drawings: House-Tree-Person
Test (Buck, 1948)
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Some interpretations of the HTP Test
House Windows, doors, and sidewalks are ways that
others enter or see into the house, so they
relate to openness, willingness to interact withothers
shades, shutters, bars, curtains, and long andwinding sidewalks indicate some unwillingness to
reveal much about yourself
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Some interpretations of the HTP Test
Tree The trunk is seen to represent the ego, sense
of self, and the intactness of the personality
small trunks are limited ego strength, large trunksare more ego strength/intact personality
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Some interpretations of the HTP Test
Person Person of the same sex is what you admit is
like you; person of the opposite sex is what
you may not admit is like you
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Limitations
The personality to be measured is ill-defined Test-takers responses may be limited by
verbal or figural expression ability
Lack of standard procedures (may introduceserrors)
Lack of standard scoring and interpretation(may introduce subjectivity biases)
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Trait approaches
Trait theory
A model of personality that seeks to identifythe________________ necessary to describepersonality
Traits are characteristics and behaviors thatare consistently displayed in differentsituations
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Gordon Allport Identified 18,000 terms to describe personality.
Which are the most basic?
Cardinal: single characteristic that directs most of apersons activities
Central: five to ten major characteristics of anindividual
Secondary: characteristics that affect behavior infewer situations and are less influential
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Raymond Cattell Factor analysis: statistical method of
identifying associations among a large numberof variables to reveal more general patterns
16 source traits, the basic personalitydimensions; Sixteen Personality FactorQuestionnaire (16 PF)
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CattellCattells Selfs Self--Report InventoryReport Inventory
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Big Five personality traits
Openness to experience
Toleration for and exploration of the unfamiliar
Conscientiousness
Degree of organization, persistence, and motivation in goal-
directed behavior.
Extraversion
Capacity for joy, need for stimulation
Agreeableness
Ones orientation along a continuum from compassion toantagonism in thoughts, feelings, and actions
Neuroticism
Proneness to psychological distress and excessive cravingsor urges
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Evaluation
Contributions Clear, straightforward description of people
Allow us to readily compare one person with another
Limitations
Which theory is most accurate? How many basictraits are there?
The traits are simply some descriptive labels ofbehavioral pattern. But how do we explain
personality?
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Self-report measures
Asking people questions about a sample oftheir behavior
The self-report data is then used to infer thepersonality characteristics of the person
Assessing personality: Self-report measures
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Sixteen Personality Factor (16PF; Cattell,
1946) Some measures are of larger scale and greater
length. They measure a number of traits (orpersonality factors).
185 items, forced-choice
Sample items:
I make decisions based ona. feelings
b. feelings and reason equally
c. reason
I find it hard to give a speech to strangersa. yes
b. somewhat
c. no
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Minnesota Multiphasic Personality
Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) A widely-used self-report test, particularly
useful in identifying people with__________________________
Sample items:
I feel useless at timesa. Trueb. Falsec. Cannot say
I am bothered by an upset stomachseveral times a week
a. Trueb. Falsec. Cannot say
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Limitations
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Limitations
Response styles
Socially desirable responding Present oneself in a favorablelight
Acquiescence Agree with whatever ispresented
Deviance Make unusual or uncommonresponses
Extreme Make extreme rating
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Operant conditioning
Personality is a collection of learned behaviorpatterns through reinforcement andpunishment E.g. A person is sociable at parties because he has
been reinforced for displaying social behaviors (e.g.,
winning contracts, winning friends)
Learning theorists are interested in looking athow the environment shape peoples
personality
The importance of context People may act differently across different situations
depending on the patterns of reinforcers
Learning approaches
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Observational learning
Continual and repeated exposure to thebehavior of models shape the personality
A full range of behaviors are learned bywatching adults (watching television, watching
peers, etc.)
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Self-efficacy
Belief in ones personal capabilities to carry outa specific task or produce a desired outcome
People with high self-efficacy have higheraspirations and greater persistence
Prior successes and failures, and reinforcementand encouragement from others help self-efficacy develop
I believe I can!
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Evaluation
Contributions Learning theories can explain either consistency or
inconsistency
Friendly at school but not at homebecause differentreinforcement history in the two settings
Objective and scientific conceptualization ofpersonality
Observable behaviors and environment
Limitations Deterministic
Human behaviors are shaped by external forces thatare beyond the individuals control
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Behavioral assessment
Direct observation and record of an individualsbehavior used to describe personality
Naturalistic observations or observations incontrolled conditions
Assessing personality: Behavioral assessment
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Particularly informative forunderstanding
psychological difficulties
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Limitations
Need an impartial, objective observer or rater(but who? parents, teachers, supervisors,trained observers?)
Observation or rating biases
Confirmation bias
Leniency or severity bias
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Criteria in Assessing Personality
Personality characteristic manifests in manybehaviors (an universe of behaviors)
A personality test could only sample somepresumably relevant behaviors from this
universe
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Reliability
consistency in measurement
Electronic scale
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Scale A Scale B Scale C
1 1 1.3 0.9
2 1 1.3 1.1
3 1 1.3 1.05
Measured weight (in pounds) of a one-pound metal bar at three differenttrials.
Reliable Not reliableReliable
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_________________
A test is considered valid if it measures thecharacteristic it purports to measure
A personality test is valid if its test scoresindeed reflect personality
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(source: http://mindcity.sina.com.tw/qa/folder/love/index.shtml)
Recently you checked email and found that someone had bombedyour inbox with a lot of junk emails. What would you do?
- Create a new email account- Just delete them- Forward them to someone you hate- Reply and take revenge
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?
Your choice reflects your reaction when being dumped by your partner:- Create a new email account (you want a firm answer and clear
explanation, and think what you can do to improve)- Just delete them (being kind and tolerant, you can easily forgive himor her)
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?
Your choice reflects your reaction when being dumped by your partner:- Forward them to someone you hate (you cannot accept this and maydeceptively tell yourself that he or she still loves you and eventuallyhe or she will come back)- Reply and take revenge (you are very angry and want to let him orher pay for it)
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The characteristic measured by a given test isdefined by results of empirical research, not by
what the developer chooses to name the test
Ways to test validity
Convergent validity: Correlation with other
personality scales Predictive validity: whether test scores are predictive
of psychological and behavioral outcomes (e.g. sizeof social network, depression, well-being, etc)
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Required Readings Chapter 13
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Social Psychology