Do Now: Write down as many personality traits as you can think

of. Longest list wins!

Story time…

The Trait Perspective

Trait= An individual’s characteristic behaviors and conscious motives

Examples of Traits

HonestDependable

MoodyImpulsive

Personality Type

Personality types, assessed by measures such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, consist of a number

of traits.

Sympathetic

Appreciative

Tactful

Feeling Type Personality

Gordon Allport’s Theory

• Cardinal Trait- defining characteristic

Example: Mother Teresa= altruism

Central Trait: generalcharacteristic

Cardinal Traits

• Obama

• Lincoln

• George Bush

• Michael Jackson

• Lady Gaga

Exploring Traits

Factor analysis is a statistical

approach used to describe and

relate personality traits.

Cattell 16 Personality Factor (16PF) inventory. Raymond Cattell

(1905-1998)

Factor AnalysisCattell found that large groups of traits

could be reduced down to 16 core personality traits based on statistical

correlations.

Impulsive

Excitement

Imp

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Irritable

Boiste

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BasictraitSuperficial

traits

Personality DimensionsHans and Sybil Eysenck suggested that personality could be reduced down to

three dimensionsextroversion vs introversion, neuroticism vs stability,and psychoticism vs empathetic.

Eysenck’s Personality Traits

• Extroversion vs introversion

• Neuroticism- moody, anxious, unreliable

• Psychoticism- tough mindedness, hostile, ruthless, insensitive

Are our personalities genetically determined?

Assessing Traits

Personality inventories are questionnaires (often with true-false or

agree-disagree items) designed to gauge a wide range of feelings and behaviors

MMPI

The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) is the

most widely researched and clinically used of all personality tests.

MMPI Test Profile

Do Now: 1) What is the MMPI?2) How are traits evaluated today?3) Which movie won best picture last night?

Fortune telling.

Barnum Effect

Tendency to accept as valid descriptions of our personality that are true of everyone especially if favorable

AIM: How do psychologists determine our personality

traits?

The Big Five Factors

Today’s trait researchers believe that Eysencks’ personality dimensions are too narrow and

Cattell’s 16PF too large. A middle range (five factors) of traits does a better job of assessment.

Conscientiousness

Agreeableness

Neuroticism

Openness

Extraversion

Endpoints

Questions about the Big Five

Yes. Conscientious people are morning type and extraverted are evening type.

4. Can they predict other personal attributes?

These traits are common across cultures.

3. How about other cultures?

Fifty percent or so for each trait.

2. How heritable are they?

Quite stable in adulthood. However, they change over development.

1. How stable are these traits?

Evaluating the Trait Perspective

The Person-Situation Controversy

Walter Mischel (1968, 1984, 2004) points out that traits may be enduring, but the

resulting behavior in various situations is different.

The Person-Situation Controversy

Trait theorists argue that behaviors from a situation may be different, but average

behavior remains the same.

The Person-Situation Controversy

Traits are socially significant and influence our health, thinking, and

performance

Samuel Gosling

John Langford Photography

Facebook

Consistency of Expressive Style

Expressive styles in speaking and gestures demonstrate trait consistency.

Observers are able to judge people’s behavior and feelings in as little as 2- 30

seconds

Humanistic Perspective

By the 1960s, psychologists became discontent with Freud’s negativity and the mechanistic psychology of the behaviorists.

Abraham Maslow(1908-1970)

Carl Rogers(1902-1987)

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Self-Actualizing PersonMaslow proposed that we as individuals are motivated by a hierarchy of needs. Beginning with physiological needs, we

try to reach the state of self-actualization—fulfilling our potential.

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Growth and Fulfillment

Carl Rogers

-believed in an individual's self-actualization tendencies.

-He said that Unconditional Positive Regard is an attitude of acceptance of others despite their failings.

Michael R

ougier/ Life Magazine ©

Tim

e Warner, Inc.

Ideal versus Real

Assessing the Self

All of our thoughts and feelings about ourselves, in an answer to the question, “Who am I?” refers to Self-Concept.

Carl Rogers asked people to describe themselves as they would like to be (ideal) and as they actually are (real).

If the two descriptions were close the individual had a positive self-concept.

Evaluating the Humanistic Perspective

1. Humanistic psychology has a pervasive impact on counseling, education, child-rearing, and management.

2. Concepts in humanistic psychology are vague and subjective and lack scientific basis.

3. Gender identity may develop before 5-6 years of age.

Do Now: Which Theory of Personality (Psychoanalytic,

Humanist, Neofreud, Trait) do you agree with and why?

AIM: How does the interaction between the social context and the

person influence personality?

Social-Cognitive Perspective

Bandura (1986, 2001, 2005) believes that

personality is the result of an

interaction that takes place between a person’s behavior

and their social context. Albert Bandura

Bandura called the interaction between personality and our environment

reciprocal determinism.

The three factors, behavior, cognition, and environment, are interlocking

determinants of each other.

Reciprocal Influences

Stephen W

ade/ Allsport/ G

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Reciprocal DeterminismTaylor is friendly (trait)1. Influences her behavior

(she talks a lot)2. Influences her

environment (she is more likely to go to parties where she will talk a lot)

3. Her environment influences her behavior: the more she talks, the more friendly she thinks she is and the more parties she goes to, the more she talks

Individuals & Environments

How we view and treat people influences how they treat us.

Our personalities shape situations.

Anxious people react to situations differently than calm people.

Our personalities shape how we react to events.

The school you attend and the music you listen to are partly based on your dispositions.

Different people choose different environments.

Specific ways in which individuals and environments interact

Bandura’s Self- Efficacy

• Self-efficacy is our belief that we can perform behaviors that are necessary to accomplish tasks

• Major factor in how we regulate our lives

Behavior

Behavior emerges from an interplay of external and internal influences.

We develop personal constructs

consisting of polar opposites (fair-unfair, exciting-dull, smart-

unintelligent) to understand our world

Personality differences result

from different constructs

George Kelly’s Personal Construct Theory

Role Construct Repertory Test

Too few constructs= stereotype others

Too many constructs- may have difficulty predicting other’s behavior

Social-Learning Theory: Personal Control

External locus of control refers to the perception that chance or outside forces

beyond our personal control determine our fate.

Internal locus of control refers to the perception that we can control our own

fate.

Julian Rotter emphasize our sense of personal control, whether we control the environment or the environment controls

us.

Internal Locus of Control

Internals believe they can control their destinies

• achieve more at school• act more independently• enjoy better health• better self control • less depression• Warm protective nurturing family

environment, 1st /earlier born

External Locus of Control

• Limited social power• Limited resources• low socioeconomic class• Socially Marginalized

Learned Helplessness

When unable to avoid repeated adverse events an animal or human learns helplessness.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFmFOmprTt0

Positive Psychology and Humanistic Psychology

Positive psychology, such as humanistic psychology, attempts to foster human

fulfillment. Positive psychology, in addition, seeks positive subjective well-being, positive

character, and positive social groups.

Martin Seligman

Courtesy of M

artin E.P. Seligm

an, PhD D

irector, Positive Psychology C

enter/ University of Pennsylvania

Do Now:1. According to Freud, fixation refers to a difficulty in the process

of: a. free association.b. psychosexual development.c. projective testing.d. hypnosis.

2. Who emphasized the importance of unconditional positive regard in healthy personality development? a. Allportb. Bandurac. Rogersd. Adler

3. Albert Bandura’s social-cognitive perspective highlights the importance of: a. free association.b. self-actualization.c. reciprocal determinism.d. factor analysis.

4. Is there a downside to too much freedom in decision-making?

Tyranny of Choice

Write down positive and negative qualities about yourself… Which

list is longer?

AIM: How does our self-concept influence our personality?

• http://www.videosift.com/video/Discovering-Psychology-The-Self

Optimism vs. Pessimism

An optimistic or pessimistic attributional style is your way of explaining positive or

negative events.

Seligman’s Positive Psychology aims to discover and promote

conditions that enable individuals and communities to thrive.

Positive Psychology and Humanistic Psychology

Positive psychology, in addition, seeks positive subjective well-being, positive character, and positive social groups.

Martin Seligman

Courtesy of M

artin E.P. Seligm

an, PhD D

irector, Positive Psychology C

enter/ University of Pennsylvania

Exploring the Self

1. Research focuses on the different selves we possess. Some we dream and others we dread.

2. Research studies how we overestimate our concern that others evaluate our appearance, performance, and blunders (spotlight effect).

3. Research studies the self-reference effect in recall.

Benefits of Self-Esteem

Maslow and Rogers argued that a successful life results from a

healthy self-image (self-esteem).

1. When self-esteem is deflated, we view ourselves and others critically.

2. Low self-esteem reflects reality, our failure in meeting challenges, or surmounting difficulties.

Culture & Self-Esteem

People maintain their self-esteem even with a low status by valuing things they achieve and comparing

themselves to people with similar positions.

Self-Serving Bias

1) We accept responsibility for good deeds and successes more than for bad deeds and failures.

2) We tend to view ourselves as better than average

3) Defensive self-esteem is fragile and egotistic whereas secure self-esteem is less fragile and less dependent on external evaluation.