Definition Stable tendencies within individuals that influence how they respond to their 11 27 12 Unit 4 Notes Chapter 14 Personality How do you define personality What does it mean if someone is extraverted o Outgoing friendly Conscientious o Careful Alert or suspicious Personality environments Causes of personality Nature vs Nurture o DO genes influence how extraverted we are o Or does the environment How much How could we use a family to determine this o They have around the same genes Behavior genetic methods attempt to disentangle the effects of o Genetic factors o Shared environmental factors o Non shared environmental factors Different friend groups of brothers and sisters Using twin or adoption studies Twin Studies Identical MZ Twins 100 same genetics Fraternal DZ Twins 50 genetics Concordance Rate The degree to which two twins are the same on a given variable like how extraverted they are Concordance MZ twins DZ twins evidence for a genetic contribution to that variable High concordance MZ twins DZ twins evidence for shared environment Low concordance MZ twins DZ twins evidence for non shared environment Causes of personality 2 Numerous personality traits are influenced by genetics but all much below a 1 0 correlation o Demonstrates non shared environmental influence Turns out that shared environment plays little to no role in adult personality o Supported by twin and adoption studies MZ twins reared apart no shared environment similar in personality to MZ twins raised together Adoption studies children more like their biological parents than the adoptive parents Remember genes code for proteins not specific behaviors Genes have indirect influence on traits while the environment influences how these are Shared environment Note of Caution displayed in our lives Sigmund Freud Psychoanalytic Theory Viennese neurologist who developed first comprehensive theory of personality Developed by Freud rests on three primary assumptions o Psychic determinism o Symbolic meaning o Unconscious motivation Structure of personality Freud thought that the psyche consisted of 3 components o Id basic instincts operates on pleasure principle o Ego Principal decision maker Reality principle o Superego Sense of morality Conflict between these causes distress Anxiety and Defense Mechanisms The ego will try to minimize anxieties via dense mechanisms Although essential for psychological health Freud thought that over reliance on 1 or 2 could cause problems o Repression Motivated forgetting of emotionally threatening memories or impulses o Projection Unconscious attribution of our negative qualities onto others o Sublimation Transforming a socially unacceptable impulse into an admired goal Being angry and joining boxing to let go of anger Interested primarily in describing and understanding the structure of personality Used statistical techniques to reduce diversity of personality descriptors to underlying traits Stages of Psychosexual Development Freud believed that we pass through stages each of which is focused on an erogenous zone Insisted that sexuality begins in infancy Individuals who get fixated on a stage and have difficulty moving on Psychoanalytic theory Evaluated scientifically 5 Major Criticisms o Unfalsifiability o Failed predictions o Questionable conception of the unconscious o Reliance on unrepresentative samples o Flawed assumption of shared environmental influence 11 29 12 Trait Models o Looking at Language Big 5 model of Personality OCEAN o People s tendencies towards feeling anxiety and stress Extraversion Neuroticism Agreeableness Conscientiousness o How well you get along with other people o Tendency to be detailed oriented and careful Openness to experience o Tendency to enjoy new and interesting things Big Five and Behavior Predict many important Real world behaviors o Job performance and grades in school o Physical health and life span o Different cultures still have the Big 5 o Openness is less universal Relatively similar traits seen across cultures but different prevalence rates Alternative Trait Models Big Three o Positive emotionality Extraversion o Negative Emotionality Neuroticism o Constraint impulse control Agreeableness Conscientiousness Openness Some variability prior to age 30 but little thereafter Can Personality Change Evaluated Scientifically Behavioral inconsistency Response was that traits are predictors of aggregate not isolated behaviors Primarily describe individual differences rather than what causes them o Easy for how they differ but not where they come from Personality Assessment How do we measure personality Need two key criteria reliability and validity Structure Personality Tests o Some are developed empirically MMPI 2 and CPI o Others are developed rationally theoretically NEO PI R Pitfalls in Personality Assessment Paper and pencil tests consisting of questions you respond to in one of a few fixed ways Consist of questions that people can answer in only one of a few ways The PT Barnum effect and the tendency to accept high base rate descriptors as accurate o Astrology and tarot readings Overall personality assessment can be useful but only if using valid reliable instruments Projective Test Consist of ambiguous stimuli that the examinee must interpret o Rorschach test o Thematic Apperception Tests TAT o Human figure drawings o Graphology Rorschach Evaluated Scientifically Unknown test retest and problematic reliability scores Little evidence that it detects features of mental disorders Lack of incremental validity Chapter 15 What is Mental Illness Psychological Disorders When Adaptation Breaks Down What is Abnormality Clear line between normal and abnormal o Subjectivity o Not just black and white Continuum Model Characteristics of Mental Disorder 4 D s Dysfunction Psychopathology abnormal Psychology is often seen as a failure of adaption to the environment Failure analysis approach tries to understand mental disorders by examining breakdowns in functioning o Does the symptom cause the person to be unable to function properly Can the person still work Can the person maintain friendships o Is the person uncomfortable as a result of the behavior or symptom Distress Deviant o Are behaviors unusual versus typical Dangerousness o Behaviors and feelings that are potentially harmful Excessive aggression Suicidality Self injury 12 4 12 Continuum Everyone deviates is dysfunctional or distressed at times in some ways It s a matter of degree not either
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