Personality Theory Review ch 1-3 – Flashcards

The psychological Triad: the combination of how peple think, feel, and behave. When patterns of personality are extreme, unusual, and cause problems the two subfields come together in the study of personality disorders. They also share an obligation to try to understand the whole person, not just parts of the person, one individual at a time. Personality psychology draws heavily from social, cognitive, developmental, clinical, and biological psychology. It contributes to each of these subfields as, by showing how each part of psychology fit into the whole picture of what people are really like.

Refers to an individual's characteristic pattern off of thought, emotion, and behaviour, together with psychological mechanisms--hidden or not--behind those patterns. It also refers to a person's unique and relatedly consistent patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving.

The four main goals of psychology are to describe, predict, and control the behaviour and mental process of others. These apply to the field of personality theory and assessment by by trying to put together the peices of the puzzle contributed by various other subfields of psychology, as well as by their own reseach, to assemble an integrated view of whole, functioning individuals in their daily environments. However it is impossible to account for everything at the same time.

A theoretical view of personality that focuses on some phenomena and ignores others, and a way to ,limit what part of personality is examined. Basic approaches are: Trait Approach, Psychoanalytical Approach, Biological Approach, Phenomenological Approach, and the Learning and cognitive processes.

Ways people differ psychologically and how these differences might be conceptualized and measured.

Trying to understand the mind in terms of the body. Healthy body healthy mind. Theyaddress biological mechanisms such as anatomy, physiology, genetics, even evolution and their relevance for personality.

These psychologists are concerned primarily with the unconcious mind and the nature and resolution of internal mental conflict.

Focuses on people's conscious experience of the world, their phenomenology. In current research an emphasis on awareness and experience can lead in one of two directions: humanistic psychology and cross cultural personality psychology.

Pursues how conscious awareness can produce such uniquely human attributes as existential anxiety, creativity, and free will --and tries to understand the basis and meanings of happiness.

This phenomenological direction emphasizes the degree to which psychology and the very experience of reality might be different in different cultures.

Concentrates on how people change their behaviour as a result of rewards and, punishments, and otherexperiences in life, a process called learning. Classic behaviourists focus tightly on overt behaviour and the ways it can be affected by rewards and punishments.

Draws inferences about the way that mental processes such as observations and self evaluation determine which behaviours are learned and how they are performed.

Applies insights and methods derived from the study of perception, memory, and thought. Taken together, behaviourism, social learning theory, and cognitive personality psychology comprise the learning and cognitive processes approaches to personality.

A theory that accounts for certain things extremely well will probably not explain everything else so well. And a theory that tries to explain almost everything, would probably not provide the best explanation for any one thing. They are not mutually exclusive, they are complimentary; they address different concerns.

Funder's First Law " Great strngths are usually great weaknesses, and surprisingly the opposite is true as well." The goal is to account for the whole person and real-life concerns, this makes personality psychology inclusive, interesting, and important. It can also lead to overinclusiveness or unfocused research. Each basic approach is good at addressing certain topics and poor at addressing other topics or simply ignores them.

Other areas of psychology treat all people as if they were the same ( individual differences are seen as error). Personality Psychologists emphasize individual differences Negative-pigeonholing Positive- leads to sensitiviry and respect for individual differences.

Look at all parts of the psychological triad ( thought, feelings, and behaviour). Patterns of thought, emotion, and behaviour are complex and may be revealed in many different areas of behaviour and life. Funder's Second Law- "There are no perfect indicators, only clues, and clues are always ambiguous" When you try to learn about the measure of personality you con not rely on just one kind of information. You need many kinds.

Because you can't see personality directly it is important to pay attention to the observable aspects of personality. Each clue will be ambiguous and might be misleading, so we must gather as many clues as possible. Personality Psychologists put the clues together like pieces of a puzzle to form a broader picture. The only alternative to gathering info that might be misleading is to gather no info at all. Funder's Third Law- "Something's better than nothing"

BLIS Self-Report Data Informant-Report Data Life Outcomes Data Behavioural Data

A person's evaluation of his or her own personality. Usually obtained through questionnaires or surveys. High face validity ( the degree to which an assessment instrument appears to measure what it is intended to measure on their face) True/ False, scale responses, or open-ended questions are the most frequent data sources. Advantages Based on a large amount of information You are always with yourself and people are usually their own best expert. Access to thoughts, feeling, and intentions

It tells how you actually see it.

Efficacy expectations ( what you think you are capable of and the kind of person you think you are) influence the goals you set for yourself. Because S data reflects what you think of yourself, they have a way of creating their own reality. What you will attempt to do depends on what you think you are capable of, and your view of the kind of person you are has important effects on the goals you set for yourself.

People,work to convince others to treat them in a manner that confirms their self-conception. Part of the reason why S data are important is that your view of yourself doesn't just reflect what you think about yourself - it may be among the causes of what you do.

The questionnaires used to gather S data have what is called face-validity- they are intended to measure what they seem to measure on their face. They ask questions that are directly and obviously related to the construct they are designed to measure.

Maybe people won't tell you People can't be forced to provide accurate information about themselves. Maybe people can't tell you Memory is,limited and not perfect Fish-and-water effect- it just has always been this way, people are used to the way they characteristically react and behave that their own actions stop seeming remarkable. Active distortion of memory- Freudians point out that some particularly important memories might be actively repressed; they might be so painful to remember the ego prevents them from emerging into consciousness. To the extent that this kind of repression takes place, self-judgments might be wrong about some of the most important aspects of personality. Lack of insight- people lack the ability to see all aspects,of their personality accurately. Some aspects of our personalities might only be obvious to others not ourselves.

Judgements about the individuals general attributes by people who know the individual well. This includes acquaintances, co-workers. Clinical psychologists, etc. these are judgements based on observing people in whatever context they know them from.

Based on a large amount of information on which informants judgements are potentially based; that the information comes from real life; that informants can use common sense; that some kind of I data are true by definition ( e.g. Likability); and that judgements of people that know the person are important because they affect reputation, opportunities, and expectancies. These are not contrived tests or constructed situations in controlled environments They are also more likely to be relevant to important outcomes. Everyone usually has more than one acquaintance which opens the possibility of obtaining more than one judgement of the same person possible which is not possible using S data. They come from observations of behaviour in the real world. Because I data comes from behaviours informants have seen in daily social interactions they enjoy an extra chance of being relevant to aspects of personality that affect important life outcomes. Based on common sense about what behaviours mean Takes into account the context of the immediate situation and the person's other behaviours.

No informant knows everything about another person; that informants judgements can be subject to random errors, such as forgetting, and that judgement can be systematically biased. Lack of access to private experience; some of every person's life is co sealed even from close acquaintances. Our inner hopes, dreams, fantasies, and fears provide important information about personality. Error- more likely to remember behaviours that are extreme, unusual, or, emotionally arousing. Bias- bias referees to seeing someone in more positive or negative terms than they really are.

Verifiable, concrete, real-life outcomes that may hold,psychological significance. L data can be obtained from archival records or self- reports. L data can be thought of as the residue of personality rather than a direct reflection of personality itself. They are manifestations of how what a person has done has affected her world, including important life outcomes, health, and the physical environment.

They are objective and verifiable. Intrinsic Importance-they constitute exactly what the psychologist needs to know Psychological Relevance- in many case they are strongly affected by, and uniquely informative about, psychological variables.

Multidetermination- they have many causes so trying to establish direct connections between specific attributes of personality and life-outcomes can be extraordinarily difficult. Some L data may not be determined by L data at all. Frequently L data are influenced by too many other factors to reveal much, by themselves, about a person's psychology. These can include social class, childhood circumstances, educational opportunities, just because you did this does not mean you did that.

Comprises direct observation of a person doing something in a test situation. E.g. Real life setting, artificial social setting constructed by a psychologist, personality test MMPI, Roschach Inkblot, or a psychological measurement of variables such as heart rate, blood pressure, and even brain activity. Information is carefully and systemically recorded from direct observation.

Based on real life Diary and experience sampling methods- they are a compromise kind of B data because the participant rather than psychologist is the one who actually makes the behavioural observations. Experience sampling- these methods try to more directly get at what people are doing and feeling moment by moment. Reports of specific behaviours offered by the participant or by one of her acquaintances.

Experiments- make a situation happen and record the data. Examine reactions to subtle aspects of situations. Certain Personality tests- most widely used MMPI, Thermatic Appreciation Test TAT, Roschach test- see how the person responds; no assumptions that the answer given is true. Psychological measure- blood pressure, heart rate, all of these can be B data because they are things the person does. biological behaviour