11/27/12Unit 4 NotesChapter 14PersonalityHow do you define personality?• What does it mean if someone is extraverted?o Outgoing, friendly • Conscientious?o Careful, Alert, or suspicious Personality• Definition: Stable tendencies within individuals that influence how they respond to their environmentsCauses of personality • Nature vs. Nurtureo 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 factorso Shared environmental factorso Non-shared environmental factors Different friend groups of brothers and sisters• Using twin or adoption studiesTwin 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 environmentCauses of personality 2• Numerous personality traits are influenced by genetics – but all much below a 1.0 correlationo Demonstrates non-shared environmental influence• Turns out that shared environment plays little to no role in adult personalityo Supported by twin and adoption studies Shared environment?• 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 parentsNote of Caution• Remember, genes code for proteins, not specific behaviors• Genes have indirect influence on traits, while the environment influences how these are displayed in our livesSigmund Freud• Viennese neurologist who developed first comprehensive theory of personalityPsychoanalytic Theory• Developed by Freud, rests on three primary assumptionso Psychic determinismo Symbolic meaningo Unconscious motivationStructure of personality• Freud thought that the psyche consisted of 3 componentso Id – basic instincts, operates on pleasure principleo Ego – Principal decision maker (Reality principle)o Superego – Sense of morality• Conflict between these causes distressAnxiety 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 problemso Repression – Motivated forgetting of emotionally threatening memories or impulseso Projection – Unconscious attribution of our negative qualities onto otherso Sublimation – Transforming a socially unacceptable impulse into an admired goal Being angry and joining boxing to let go of angerStages 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 onPsychoanalytic theory Evaluated scientifically • 5 Major Criticismso Unfalsifiabilityo Failed predictionso Questionable conception of the unconsciouso Reliance on unrepresentative sampleso Flawed assumption of shared environmental influence 11/29/12Trait Models• Interested primarily in describing and understanding the structure of personality • Used statistical techniques to reduce diversity of personality descriptors to underlying traitso Looking at LanguageBig 5 model of Personality (OCEAN)• Extraversion• Neuroticismo People’s tendencies towards feeling anxiety and stress.• Agreeablenesso How well you get along with other people• Conscientiousnesso Tendency to be detailed oriented and careful• Openness (to experience)o Tendency to enjoy new and interesting thingsBig Five and Behavior• Predict many important Real-world behaviorso Job performance and grades in schoolo Physical health and life span• Relatively similar traits seen across cultures, but different prevalence rates.o Different cultures still have the Big 5.o Openness is less universal Alternative Trait Models• Big Threeo Positive emotionality Extraversiono Negative Emotionality Neuroticismo Constraint/impulse control Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, OpennessCan Personality Change?• Some variability prior to age 30, but little thereafterEvaluated Scientifically• Behavioral inconsistency• Response was that traits are predictors of aggregate, not isolated behaviors• Primarily describe individual differences rather than what causes themo Easy for how they differ but not where they come fromPersonality Assessment• How do we measure personality?• Need two key criteria – reliability and validity Structure Personality Tests• 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 wayso Some are developed empirically MMPI-2 and CPIo Others are developed rationally/theoretically NEO-PI-RPitfalls in Personality Assessment• The PT Barnum effect and the tendency to accept high base rate descriptors as accurateo Astrology and tarot readings• Overall, personality assessment can be useful, but only if using valid, reliable instrumentsProjective Test• Consist of ambiguous stimuli that the examinee must interpreto Rorschach testo Thematic Apperception Tests (TAT)o Human figure drawingso GraphologyRorschach Evaluated Scientifically• Unknown test-retest and problematic reliability scores • Little evidence that it detects features of mental disorders• Lack of incremental validityChapter 15Psychological Disorders: When Adaptation Breaks DownWhat is Mental Illness?• 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 functioningWhat is Abnormality?• Clear line between normal and abnormalo Subjectivityo Not just black and white• Continuum ModelCharacteristics of Mental Disorder 4 D’s• Dysfunctiono Does the symptom cause the person to be unable to function properly? Can the person still work? Can the person maintain friendships?• Distresso Is the person uncomfortable as a result of the behavior or symptom?• Devianto Are behaviors unusual?
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