Why is personality psychology important? • Personality shown to be a good predictor of behavior • Knowing someone’s personality helps us understand one’s behavior
• Personality associated with personal, interpersonal and societal outcomes (Ozer & Benet-‐Martinez) • I/O applications Career choice Employers/ Companies selecting workers
Different perspectives of personality • Psychoanalytic
• Cognitive
• Traits
• Biological
• Humanistic
• Evolutionary
• Behaviorism
• Cross-‐cultural
Major Questions Concerning personality • Is personality stable? • Does it remain the same over the lifespan or does it change overtime?
• Is personality global? • Are personality traits similar across different cultures?
• Is personality hardwired? • Can we change our personality or are we stuck with these traits?
refusing to accept real events because they are unpleasant
suppressing painful memories and thoughts
• Reaction formation à adopting beliefs contrary to your own beliefs
Defense Mechanisms • Projection
à
attributing unacceptable desires to others
• Rationalization à
creating acceptable justifications for one’s behaviors
• Displacement à
transferring inappropriate energy to a more acceptable target
• Sublimation à redirecting unacceptable desires through social acceptable channels
Parapraxes (aka Freudian Slips)
Traits Perspective • The Big 5 (McCrae & Costa) • Conscientiousness • Agreeableness • CANOE
• Openness to Experience • Neuroticism • Extraversion • OCEAN
Humanism • Based on two assumptions: 1. People are basically good 2. Drive to self-‐actualize
• Carl Rogers • Abraham Maslow
Humanism • Carl Rogers
• Unconditional positive regard Empathy Being genuine Active listening
Humanism • Abraham Maslow
Behaviorism • Behavior is all you can know about; it’s all that matters • Sources of behavior are in the “environment”, not the “mind” • Personality traits cannot be seen or measured
Behaviorism • Personality can be shaped through learning: • Classical conditioning • Operant conditioning
• Social learning theory (Bandura) • We learn how to behave by observing others
Socio-‐Cognitive Perspective • Cognitive “process” approaches to personality • Interaction between our traits and the environment • Combines principles of learning, Cognition and social behavior to personality
Cognitive Approaches and the Self • William James and the self • The “I” vs “me” I – experiential self Me – declarative-‐self • Actual-‐ideal discrepancy – depression • Actual-‐ought discrepancy -‐ anxiety
Biological Perspective • Anatomical • The human brain • lobes (e.g., Phineas Gage)
• Genetic • Monozygotic vs fraternal twins • Heritability
Evolutionary Perspective • Variation in traits essential for survival in the EEA (Environment of evolutionary adaptation) • Sex differences in mating behavior • Sexual vs emotional jealousy
• Universal implications
Cross-‐Cultural Perspective • Cross-‐cultural differences; possible conflicts? • Limits to generalizability – WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic) • Universals
• Universal human experiences and emotions vs
• Specifics
• Individualism vs collectivism • Language barriers
Are Mexicans more or less Sociable than Americans? Self-‐reported extraversion, sociability and talkativeness Behaviors observed in time spend with others, socializing and talking What are the results?
Do Mexicans and Americans differ in how they are social? • Mexicans spent more time in: • Dyadic conversations • Group conversations • Public conversations
• Americans spent more time in: • Phone conversations • On computer • Private conversations
