Personality

1
Personality

• Trait Theories
• Social/Cognitive Approach
• Humanistic Approach

2
Trait Theories

• Trait - a relatively stable predisposition to
  behave in a certain way
• Goal of trait theories is to specify a set of
  distinct personality dimensions for use in
  summarizing fundamental psychological differences

3
Trait Theories

• Specific behaviors
• Surface traits - linked directly to a set of
  related behaviors
• Central traits - fundamental dimensions of
  personality

4
Early Trait Theories

• Cattells sixteen source traits
• Eysencks three dimensional theory

5
Big-Five Theory

• Neuroticism-stability
• Extroversion-introversion
• Openness to experience-nonopenness
• Agreeableness-antagonism
• Conscientiousness-undirectedness

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Predictive Value of Traits

• Stability of personality
• Relationship to actual behaviors
• Situation-specific traits

7
Biological Foundations of Traits

• Level of arousal and motivational systems of
  extroverts and introverts
• Moderate heritability of traits
• Genetic influences on neurotransmitters that can
  affect personality

8
Personality as Adaptation

• Advantages of being different
• diversity of offspring
• occupying alternative niches
• Family environment
• sibling contrast
• birth order differences
• Gender differences

9
Social-Cognitive Perspective

• Based on research on learning, cognition, and
  social influence
• Focuses on beliefs and habits that increase or
  decrease peoples ability to take control of
  their lives and accomplish goals

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Social-Cognitive Perspective

• Locus of Control
• proposed by Julian Rotter
• belief that rewards either are or are not
  controllable by ones own efforts
• may be internal or external

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Social-Cognitive Perspective

• Self-Efficacy
• proposed by Albert Bandura
• belief about ones ability to perform specific
  tasks
• can be high or low

12
Humanistic Perspective

• Focuses on the human tendency to create belief
  systems and to govern our lives in accordance
  with these beliefs
• Phenomenological reality - ones conscious
  understanding of his/her world

13
Humanistic Perspective

• Carl Rogerss person-centered approach
• self-concept is central to personality
• conditional positive regard - love and praise is
  withheld unless one conforms to others
  expectations
• unconditional positive regard - accepting a
  person regardless of who they are or what they do

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Humanistic Perspective

• Abraham Maslow
• hierarchy of needs
• self-actualization - the realization of ones
  dreams and capabilities