Self and Personality

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CHAPTER 4

• Self and Personality

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Major approaches to personality

• The trait approach the search for basic traits
• Allport cardinal traits, central traits,
  secondary traits
• Adult personality traits the Big Five
• The social learning approach
• The humanistic approach
• The cognitive approach Mischels person
  variables

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Traits are hierarchically structured (trait,
habit pattern, specific surface behavior)
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Major approaches to personality

• The trait approach the search for basic traits
• Allport cardinal traits, central traits,
  secondary traits
• Adult personality traits the Big Five
• The social learning approach
• The humanistic approach
• The cognitive approach Mischels person
  variables

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Gordon Allport The father of personality
psychology

• Cardinal traits
• Central traits
• Secondary traits

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Major approaches to personality

• The trait approach the search for basic traits
• Allport cardinal traits, central traits,
  secondary traits
• Adult personality traits the Big Five
• The social learning approach
• The humanistic approach
• The cognitive approach Mischels person
  variables

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The Big Five personality factors
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Historical identification of the Big Five
personality dimensions
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Major approaches to personality

• The trait approach the search for basic traits
• Allport cardinal traits, central traits,
  secondary traits
• Adult personality traits the Big Five
• The social learning approach
• The humanistic approach
• The cognitive approach Mischels person
  variables

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Classical (Pavlovian) conditioning (aka signal
learning)

• Classical conditioning begins with an existing
  stimulus-response (S-R) association.
• Pavlov, a Russian physiologist who was studying
  the process of digestion in dogs, was astute
  enough to recognize the importance of the fact
  that the dogs learned to salivate even before
  they were given the food.
• Understanding that there was an existing S-R
  association between the food (S) and the dogs
  salivation, he quickly perceived that there might
  also be a learned or conditioned association
  between cues associated with feeding (S) and the
  dogs salivation (R).
• Using the sound of either a bell or a tuning fork
  as his conditioned stimuli, he found that he
  could indeed condition the response of
  salivation to the sound of a bell or a tuning
  fork.

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Classical (Pavlovian) conditioning (aka signal
learning)

• Once the new S-R association is established, it
  can be used to condition yet another S-R
  association in a process called second-order
  conditioning.
• For example, once the dog is reliably salivating
  to the sound of the bell, the bell can be paired
  with a green light and soon the dog will salivate
  whenever the green light comes on.
• Both first-order and second-order classical
  conditioning are subject to extinction.

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Operant (instrumental) conditioning (aka
consequence learning)

• Operant conditioning concerns the effect certain
  kinds of consequences have on the frequency of
  behavior.
• A consequence that increases the frequency of a
  behavior is called a reinforcement.
• A consequence that decreases the frequency of a
  behavior is called a punishment.
• Whether a consequence is reinforcing or punishing
  varies according to the person and the situation.
• There are two basic strategies for increasing the
  frequency of a behavior positive reinforcement
  and negative reinforcement.
• There are two basic strategies for decreasing the
  frequency of a behavior extinction and
  punishment.

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Operant conditioning procedures
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Humanistic psychologists Carl Rogers, Abraham
Maslow, and Fritz Perls
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Key elements of the humanistic approach

• The positive aspects of personality
• Personal responsibility and free will
• The here and now
• The phenomenology of the individual
• Personal growth

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Major approaches to personality

• The trait approach the search for basic traits
• Allport cardinal traits, central traits,
  secondary traits
• Adult personality traits the Big Five
• The social learning approach
• The humanistic approach
• The cognitive approach Mischels person
  variables

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Cognitive-affective units in Mischels
personality system

• Encodings Categories (constructs) for encoding
  information about ones self, other people,
  events, and situations
• Expectations and beliefs Expectations about what
  will happen in certain situations, about outcomes
  for certain behaviors, and about ones personal
  efficacy
• Affect Feelings, emotions, and emotional
  responses
• Goals and values Individual goals, values, and
  life projects
• Competencies and self-regulatory plans Perceived
  abilities, plans, and strategies for changing and
  maintaining ones behavior and internal states.

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The impact of personality in work settings

• The Type A / Type B dimension
• The Type A pattern and health
• The Type A pattern and performance
• Four types rather than two?
• Achievement motivation
• Task and goal orientation
• Preference for moderate levels of risk
• Desire for self-diagnostic performance feedback
• Drawbacks unwillingness to delegate impatience

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Type A behavior in first-year medical students
under stress An increase in intensity
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The impact of personality in work settings

• The Type A / Type B dimension
• The Type A pattern and health
• The Type A pattern and performance
• Four types rather than two?
• Achievement motivation
• Task and goal orientation
• Preference for moderate levels of risk
• Desire for self-diagnostic performance feedback
• Drawbacks unwillingness to delegate impatience

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Modifications of Type A / Type B Two types or
four? (Friedman, Hall, Harris, 1985)
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The impact of personality in work settings

• The Type A / Type B dimension
• The Type A pattern and health
• The Type A pattern and performance
• Four types rather than two?
• Achievement motivation
• Task and goal orientation
• Preference for moderate levels of risk
• Desire for self-diagnostic performance feedback
• Drawbacks unwillingness to delegate impatience

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The self-concept How we see ourselves

• Development of the self-concept
• Social interaction
• Social comparison
• Social information
• Self-observation
• Self-esteem some major effects (morale,
  motivation, productivity effective job search
  networking, direct application, interviewing
  well)
• Self-concept gender differences
• Self-concept cross-cultural differences

Self-concept
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Personality testing in the workplace

• Interest tests Strong-Campbell Interest
  Inventory
• Aptitude tests General Aptitude Test Battery
• Personality tests extraversion,
  conscientiousness, emotional stability,
  agreeableness (assertiveness, courtesy,
  persistence)
• Integrity tests explicit and implicit