Lecture 1 PSYCH 290Outline of Current Lecture II What is personality psychology?a Definition of Personality III Personality psychologists questions and debatesIV Domains of Knowledge a Cognitive-Experimentalb Adjustmentc Intrapsychicd Social-Cultural e Dispositional f BiologicalCurrent LectureWhat is Personality Psychology?-Consistencies in people’s thoughts, feelings and behavior over time and across situations-Why do people do the things we do?-What makes us who we are?Why Do People Do What They Do?-Personality psychology consists of internal, dispositional explanations of people’s actions-Social psychology looks at external, situational explanations of their behaviors-Clinical psychologists look at extreme manifestations of personality and behaviorWhat is Personality?-In certain respects, all humans are:1. Like all others (in their human nature)2. Like some others (individual and group differences)3. Like no others (have individual uniqueness)-The ways in which general “laws” of physiology, perception, memory, learning, motivation and social influence, are integrated and expressed in individual patterns to whom each is unique (Winters) (These laws are said to apply universally to everyone)-An example of a personality trait would be extraversion- Some people act differently in different situations (shy in some, very outgoing in others) depending upon the situation and who is present. Also, someone can be very shywhen they are younger and become very extroverted as they grow up do to certain situations they have been in, such as moving frequently and being forced to come out of their shell.Questions Asked by Personality Psychologists- How are we different from each other?- How are we similar to each other?- Where do differences or similarities that we have come from?- How do gender, culture, and biology influence our personalities?- Which aspect of personality are adaptive or maladaptive?Debates in the Field of Personality Psychology- Where do differences come from?- nature? nurture? both?- How much of personality is situation-specific?- person-situation debate- Does a person act a specific way because of the situation they are in or because that is really who they are?- What is the most informative level of analysis?- Broad- Traits- Specific- Life stories- Can personality change?-When? How?Domains of Knowledge -Dispositional domain-How do people differ from one another?-What are the fundamental dimensions of personality?-Where do the differences in people’s personalities come from?-Example: Does similarity in traits predict marital satisfaction? (Shiota and Levinson)-67 couples married for 20-40 years (ages 40-60) were assessed by their marital satisfaction-Overall they found out that similarties between personalities of married couples predicted decreases in satisfaction-The strongest effects were seen with extraversion and conscientiousness- Because when one member of a couple is extraverted they seek the attention and the other extraverted partner may not receive enough attention, or may simply get bored with the relationship-Biological domain- How is personality influenced by biological processes?- Genes, physiology, and evolution- What do different parts of the brain contribute to personality?-Phineas Gage (1848)-Iron rod was lodged through frontal lobe-The patient’s personality changed and he became very impatient, impulsive, and had a lack of discipline-This shows us that the frontal lobe is important in self-regulation-Intrapsychic domain-What are the mechanisms and processes that drive personality?-What is the role of the unconscious processes?-How do past and current relationships influence future relationships?-Example: (Andersen and Chen) Examined reactions of people who “resemble” past relationship partners and learned that we misattribute personality characteristics to others who resemble significant others-Therefore, if your past significant other was a liar, and you found someone who resembled them, you would attribute them being a liar onto their personality.-Cognitive-Experimental domain-How do cognitive processes and subjective experiences shape personality?-How are these processes shaped by personality?-Self-concept, goals-Are “positive illusions” adaptive or maladaptive?-Example: (Robins and Beer) College students who overestimated their academic abilities were classified as “self-enhancers”-Well-being was measured before and after their college experiences.-The students who used “self-enhancers” were better adapted when they entered college, but their self-esteem and well-being decreased below the normal level over a series of four years-Social and Cultural domain-How do social and cultural contexts influence personality?-Cultures (individualism vs. collectivism)-Families (birth order)-The youngest child might have to learn to be aggressive to stand up to older siblings-Peer groups (delinquency)-Dyads (interdependence)-Do bilinguals have two personalities?-English/Spanish bilinguals completed personality measures in both languages and found that extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness were higher when they were rated in English.-Results were similar when comparing personalities across nations-Adjustment domain-How does personality influence coping, well-being, and health?-What aspects of personality are adaptive vs. maladaptive?-personality disorders-How does personality influence health outcomes?-A study of 2,203 couples that were participating in the Health and Retirement study, who were over the age of 50, were measured on conscientiousness and neuroticism -They found that better health and physical functioning was predicted by higher conscientiousness and lower neuroticism-Although, high conscientiousness and neuroticism will equal better health-This has the same effects for the person’s spouses’