Carlos Andres Rodriguez Herrera 1 25 23 Psychology 1100 Chapter 12 Personality 470 480 What is Personality Personality an individual s characteristic style of behaving thinking and feeling o Each person s personality is unique o Generally consistent across a variety of settings Describing Personality Can be varied Measuring Personality Examine psychologically meaningful individual differences You are asked to descry 3 people likely to use consistent similar descriptors Three people are asked to describe 1 person lots of variance Many ways to assess personality Self report a series of answers to a questionnaire that asks people to indicate the extent to which sets of statements or adjectives accurately describe their own behavior or mental state Creating Self Report Scales Collect statements that indicate varying degrees of personality Example honesty Sum of statements participant endorses Total score a measure of the person s self reported honesty Identifying Groups with Self Reports Sometimes a self report measure can identify differing groups unintentionally Patterns of responding among different groups of people Example if a group of nurses answer that they love bicycles that item can be combined with other repot to predict likelihood of becoming a nurse MMPI Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory MMPI questionnaire used to asses personality and psychological problems 567 true and false statements a well researched clinical a relatively stable disposition to behave in a particular and consistent way Traits Can potentially predict response based on their personality traits Trait Personality a lot of traits Traits preexisting disposition or motivation Traits May Serve as an Explanation for Behavior Two ways a trait may serve as an explanation o Trait preexisting disposition of the person that causes the person s behavior o Trait motivation that guides the person s behavior The Ohio State University 1 Carlos Andres Rodriguez Herrera 1 25 23 Defining Traits There are over 18 000 terms in English to describe personality How do you find the best Facto analysis various measures Variables that are highly related group together statistical technique that analyzes the correlation among responses on The Big Five Dimensions Factor analysis was used to capture the best 5 factors dimensions of personality Big Five the traits of the five factor model o Openness to experience o Conscientiousness o Extraversion o Agreeableness o Neuroticism Conscientiousness Openness to experience intellectually curious and unconventional appreciation for art emotion adventure unusual ideas imagination curiosity and a verity of other experiences responsible and driven Extraversion Agreeableness or antagonistic tend to be tense and moody tendency to experience unpleasant emotions easily emotional instability tendency to be compassionate and cooperative rather than suspicious trait of being careful acting on one s conscience tend to be often described as a dichotomy but really a continuum social Neuroticism Why the Five Accounts for variation without trait overlap Various setting data same 5 factors Five factors appear across wide range of people children adults other cultures other languages The Big Five and Behavior Big Five traits predict real world behavior High conscientiousness low neuroticism and high agreeableness associated with successful job performance and academic success Conscientiousness correlated with health Personality on the Surface Some valid personality judgment can be made from superficial cues o Hip hop dance extraverted o Jazz classical rock alternative openness to experience Traits as Biological Building Blocks Behavioral genetics Identical twins more similar than fraternal twins Heritability r 4 6 Identical twins reared far apart Little effect from shared environment Do Animals have Personalities 4 observers rated different hyenas in a group o Result 3 of the dimensions closely resembled Big Five traits The Ohio State University 2 Carlos Andres Rodriguez Herrera 1 25 23 Traits In the Brain How do we influence the development of personality traits Hans Eysenck extraversion can be explained by neurophysiological mechanisms variation in alertness Over under stimulation of the reticular formation arousal the STOP system Behavioral inhibition system BIS the GO system Behavioral activation system BAS The Ohio State University 3