Cognitive Perspective

1
Cognitive Perspective

• Mental representations of objects and their
  significance
• Consider the simplicity of an image vs.
  events/people etc.
• Each is idiosyncratically defined with a great
  deal of complexity
• Evolution has moved the environment into the
  brain (perception vs. reality) No direct
  experience of the environment (e.g., eye).
• Mediated by perception of the environment, and
  this is decidedly a cognitive event (mediated by
  expectancies, motivation, etc.)
• This perspective can more easily explain complex
  behaviors (most human action) and does not deny
  the presence of cognitive processes (thoughts
  feelings)
• For example, when considering approach/avoidance
  conflicts, it is possible to examine individual
  differences in how one cognitively construes the
  same event (e.g., Is a test as a potential for
  success or failure?)
• Less variability for the semi-starved rat
  considering food/shock

2
Cognitive revolution (1950s forward) How do we
think, perceive, remember, solve, etc.?

• Tolmans latent learning
• When learning is not immediately evident or
  behaviorally observable
• Learning occurs in the absence of reinforcement
  for the behavior or any associative learning
  (learning from temporal association)
• Research on hungry rats with 3 conditions 1)
  food when they reach the end of the maze, 2) no
  food after running the maze, or 3) initially no
  reinforcement, but later reinforced for running
  the maze
• Dramatic improvement for rats in condition 3
  after reinforced and did better than those in
  condition 1
• So they were learning in earlier trials, despite
  not being reinforced or showing it behaviorally
  (forming cognitive maps)
• Later replicated in other animals and humans
• Chomskys preparedness for learning in children
• Linguistics movement (a readiness to
  learn/acquire speech)
• Thought processes are intermediaries between
  stimulus and response

3
Cognitive Revolution

• George Miller work with human memory
• memory is critical to learning as it accounts for
  whether we remember and how we recall it.
• e.g., learning by chunks issue of capacity for
  learning (7-2), the role of perception in
  learning (chess pieces for novices experts),
  etc.
• Considers the computer as a metaphor for the mind
• Von Neumann McCulloughs use of binary
  mathematical relations among symbols to reflect
  the mind
• Artificial intelligence, bottom-up and top-down
  metacognitions
• e.g., Deep Blue as a model for human thinking in
  chess
• In addition to memory, behavior cognitions are
  influenced by
• information processing (e.g., heuristics and
  biases),
• pattern recognition (prototypes),
• schema (less agreeable people are more likely to
  see others as hostile)

4
George Kelly (1955)

• Construct theory
• Humans as scientists
• Where did your experiments begin?
• Personal theories constructs
• Used to explain the present and predict the
  future
• Ask them, they might just tell you. (credible
  approach that emphasizes the subjective
  appraisals of individuals

5
Fundamental Postulate and Corollaries

• How you represent the environment is affected by
  the anticipation of events
• assume replication oriented to the future
• uniqueness of your construct system
• finite number of dichotomous constructs
• range of convenience for any construct
• If events cant be explained by any construct,
  this leads to anxiety
• choice of constructs and their ordinal
  association (you can have any theories, but the
  theories you choose limit what youll find)

6
Kellys cognitive complexity

• Kelly defined cognitive complexity as having many
  superordinate (or core) constructs (initiated the
  cognitive movement)
• Patient with single core construct of Army not
  Army
• Greater cognitive complexity is associated with
  better adaptiveness as it means you have more
  ways of interpreting events (vs. being very
  limited in how you view things)
• Tetlock Suedfeld have studied the cognitive
  complexity of communications and how it predicts
  conflict. Lower complexity maladaptive
  (conflict)
• e.g., examined UN communications between
  countries and could predict times of conflict

7
Social learning/cognitive theory

• Behavior potential Behavioral expectancy
  (regardless of the reinforcing or punishing
  contingencies, do you expect the consequence?) X
  reward value (idiosyncratic value one places on
  the reinforcer or punisher)
• Julian Rotter, 1970s
• Because previous experience necessarily
  influences expectancy, Rotters model necessarily
  considers the person situation

8
Putting cognitive theory to the test, part 1

• Can learning occur from modeling in animals?
• Modeling/imitation learning in the absence of
  reinforcement for either the target or the model
• Modeling occurs in species within the great ape
  lineage
• e.g., fear of snakes in monkeys reared in
  captivity after exposure to monkeys reared in
  wild
• Can modeling occur in species outside the great
  ape lineage?
• Rhesus monkeys ranging in age from 1 to 14 days
  exposed to human models engaging in simple
  behaviors like tongue protrusions, mouth opening,
  lip smacking, etc.
• Greater learning for older monkeys, and some
  behaviors acquired more easily (also evidenced
  individual differences in acquisition)
• Evidence for mirror neurons (cells that fire when
  others perform an action to promote mimicry)

9
Modeling in humans

• Banduras social learning theory suggests that
  modeling requires
• Attention notice and attend to the behavior
• Retention defining features of the behavior
  have to be encoded, retained, and recalled
• Reproduction more complex tasks may require
  rehearsal
• Motivation incentives are typically needed, but
  they may be internal, or in some cases, absent
  (highly variable factor)
• The bulk of the human data on modeling/imitation
  is non-experimental in nature and has focused on
  areas of great concern (Is violence in our
  society due to modeling? see school shootings
  such as Sandy Hook, 2012 James Holmes, 2012,
  etc.)

10
Effects of violent/aggressive models

• Media coverage as a source of modeling?
• Reviews literature on violent TV viewing in
  childhood (survey research). Huston Cofer,
  1986 also Bushman Huesmann, 2014
• Prospectively predicts adult aggression.
  Confounds?
• Findings persist after controlling for SES, level
  of supervision, and aggression as a child.
• Effects are growing since 1975
• Effects are strongest when individuals can
  identify with the models
• Less overt effect for adults a readiness to
  aggress
• Weaker modeling effects for pro-social behavior
• Conclusions regarding violent video games
  strongest effects when looking at aggression in
  the lab vs. violence outside the lab
• FYI - Violent crimes decrease when violent films
  are showing (Dahl Vigna, 2009) Those who like
  violence are busy!

11
Putting cognitive theory to the test, part 2

• Is there experimental evidence for modeling in
  humans?
• Effects of aggressive models on children (see
  Bobo doll experiment Bandura et al., 1961)
• Children randomly assigned to one of 3
  conditions 1) aggressive adult, passive adult, a
  group with no adult model
• Aggressive adult model punched and struck the
  doll with mallet
• Children exposed to the aggressive model engaged
  in significantly more aggressive behavior with
  the bobo doll
• Males showed more physical aggression, but no
  gender difference on verbal aggression
• Modeling is most effective when it is a similar
  model
• Follow-up study to test effects of reward and
  punishment
• Minimal change in aggression if model was
  punished
• Double the effect if model was rewarded (Bandura
  et al., 1963)
• How durable are the effects?

12
Self-efficacy and reciprocal determinism (Bandura)

• Self-efficacy the belief in ones ability to
  succeed (mastery, competency, effectiveness)
• This belief appears important to expectations for
  favorable outcomes, and this in turn, impacts
  motivation, effort, etc.
• Can be domain-specific (e.g., work vs.
  relationships)
• Reciprocal determinism (causality) behavior is
  predicted by the person (internal cognitions),
  their behavior, and the environment
• Each factor influences the other
• Note Psychodynamic was fully focused on internal
  motives and behavioral perspective was fully
  focused on the environment

13
Self-regulatory theory (Mischel)

• 1. Reward value differential value for certain
  rewards punishers (different between
  individuals over time)
• 2. Expectancies typically based on previous
  experience
• 3. Encoding strategies how information is
  interpreted by the individual (exam feedback),
  framing effects, etc.
• 4. Competencies actual ability mediates these
  processes (self-efficacy beliefs see also
  Bandura)
• 5. Self-regulation how goals influence/regulate
  all of the previous four factors
• research by Kunda (1990) examining motivated
  reasoning - an event with a 60 likelihood of
  occurring can be described as not very likely
  (get cancer) to somewhat likely (get an A)
• e.g., how goals influence the interpretation of a
  test grade

14
Seeing what you want to see

• Study 1 Participants doing a randomly determined
  taste test and a briefly presented ambiguous
  video image (either a B or 13) would
  determine what they tasted (fresh OJ or
  gelatinous substance). - Balcetis Dunning,
  2006
• Image presented for 400ms then computer crashed
• Participants were more likely (82) to see the
  image that would result in the preferred
  substance (OJ)
• We see desirable objects (those fulfilling
  immediate goalsa drink for the thirsty, money,
  favorable feedback) as physically closer than
  less desirable objects. Biased distance
  perception revealed through actions (e.g.,
  under-throwing a beanbag at a desirable object).
  - Balcetis Dunning, 2009
• Seeing desirable objects as closer than less
  desirable objects serves the self-regulatory
  function of energizing the perceiver to approach
  objects that fulfill needs/goals (wishful
  seeing Dunning Balcetis, 2013)

15
Cognitive perspectives on depression

• Maladaptive cognitions attributions e.g.,
  learned helplessness in a dog restrained (failure
  to acquire new learning) Seligman, 1978
• Cognitive triad of well rehearsed thoughts (Beck
  et al., 1979)
• 1. Negative thoughts about the self (I suck)
  
• - internal vs. external attributions
• 2. Negative thoughts about the everyone else (no
  one loves me)
• general vs. specific conclusions
• 3. Negative thoughts about the future (things
  will never change)
• stable vs. changing
• Interdependence of mood and personality
• Neur - overreaction to events - sad mood -
  stronger neg view - Neur
• Arbitrary inferences drawing specific
  conclusions without evidence, selective
  abstraction (details taken out of context),
  magnification and minimization, etc.)

16
Cognitive models for depression

• A. Ellis ignoring positive things in life,
  exaggerating the negative, and over-generalizing
  (irrational thoughts)
• I should act like this (tyranny of the
  shoulds)
• Note Cognitive interventions are one of the most
  effective treatments for depression (equal to
  medications)
• Confirmation bias looking for information that
  confirms negative schemas (I will never amount
  to anything) and ignoring/minimizing
  disconfirming information
• Consequently, we seek self-verification vs.
  self-enhancement
• See Swann et al., 1992 computer game study on
  experts and novices
• See De La Ronde Swann, 1998 for research on
  commitment in relationships
• These effects are seen as automated vs.
  intentional
• Linehans biosocial model of personality where
  genetic predispositions for emotional problems
  and the reinforcing social environment causes
  personality disorders

17
Assessment tools from the cognitive perspective

• Repetory Grid (Kelly) Class assignment
• P. 1 Identify the important people in your life
• P.2 Think about the three individuals and how
  two are alike on some trait and yet different
  from the third person on the same trait.
• e.g., 2 of the 3 are really organized while the
  third person is really disorganized

18
Measures of affect other cognitive structures

• BDI-II 21-item measure matched to DSM-IV
  (clinical)
• CES-D 20-item measure for general population
• Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression for
  clinical use
• BAI 21-items for use in clinical and
  non-clinical settings
• State-Trait Anxiety Addresses the stable and
  more transient aspects of anxiety (trait and
  state)
• IAT Implicit measure to contrast most measures
  which are self-report. Uses reaction times to get
  at cognitive associations.
• Does it measure knowledge of something or actual
  beliefs?
• Possible selves identifying possible selves
  that individuals have at any one time to capture
  cognitive appraisals about the self

19
Sociobiological theory

• Consider how males and females differ in their
  personalities as they are expressed in
  relationships
• Evolutionary pressures differ by gender
• Microevolution changes within a population
  short time period
• Females have high investment in children so
  should be more selective (they seek
  resource-related traits)
• Why is there a need to ensure paternal certainty?
• Males have relatively short temporal investment
  so no need to be selective (they seek
  fertility/youth), but this breeds increased
  competition for the limited resource
• What might physical attractiveness represent in
  addition to beauty?
• Health (i.e., reproductive potential)

20
Sociobiological theory - p.2

• Various species demonstrate increased sexual
  potency (shorter refractory period) for males
  when new females are introduced (vs. repeated
  copulation with the same female) quantity
• Known as the Coolidge Effect
• Females need to have paternal certainty (access
  to resources) and must be selective based on
  parental investment theory (more time required
  less fertile time across the lifespan)

21
Sociobiological theory - p.3

• Are there different search criteria employed for
  short and long term relationships?
• For males its sexual availability and fertility,
  respectively
• For females, its sexual availability and
  ambition/earning potential, respectively
• Note Promiscuity is seen as desirable by both
  genders for short-, but not for long-, term
  relationships
• Men will consider short term relationships with
  almost anyone, but women are much less likely to
  do so.
• Men desire to have sig more sex partners v. women
  
• Schmitt et al, 2003 gt 20 vs. 2-3 for women

22
Putting Sociobiological theory to the test

• Over 10,000 individuals from 33 countries (Buss,
  1992)
• Among the top traits for both men and women in
  short term relationships was promiscuity (sexual
  availability)
• For long term relationships the top trait for
  both groups is physical attractiveness
• For females, earning potential was consistently
  rated high (noteworthy, given the population
  sampled)
• Examination of personal ads (Kenrick Keefe,
  1992)
• Females seek males who are older than themselves
  and are economically established. Their own ads
  emphasize their beauty.
• Males emphasize their own economic achievements
  and seek younger attractive women (Note Youth
  is a proxy for reproductive potential, as shown
  by the fact that teen boys prefer older women)

23
120 Personal Ads- Baize Schroeder, 1995

• NY Times examples
• A BEAUTYSWF in 30s, slim, gym-fit and shapely
  works in Manhattan. Sweet, earthy, free-spirited
  (azure eyes, long locks, leftist politics) seeks
  male in 40s, accomplished, passionate, reliable,
  gentle genius to adore.
• A KNOCK OUTGorgeous blond, 20s, great figure,
  sensuous, sincere, fun, looking for love of my
  life tall, established, 30s-40s.
• A GOOD MANDJM, 60, successful, attractive,
  professional, seeks attractive, open, sensitive,
  caring/sharing, in 50's, Long Island.
• ARCHITECT/ARTISTLiving in theater district.
  Latte drinking, Sushi eating, NY Times addicted,
  professional in his 30s. Seeks 20-30s,
  attractive, fun-loving female. Long hair a plus.

24
Jealousy by gender

• Would you experience more distress over sexual
  infidelity or emotional infidelity? - Buss et
  al., 1999
• Imagine partner falling in love with someone else
  vs. Imagine partner trying different sexual
  positions with someone else.
• 83 of females more jealous of emotional
  infidelity vs. 40 of males
• Males show greater physiological arousal to
  imagined sex of partner with someone else
• Why are females more jealous of emotional
  infidelity?
• Because it threatens access to resources
• Why are males more jealous about sexual
  infidelity?
• Because it threatens paternal certainty

25
More Recent Research

• Sperm competition following significant absences
  in response to female infidelity
• Shackelford Goetz (2007)
• The Florida Study (2008) examined response
  rates to 3 requests by gender
• Go on a date, go to my place, have sex
• As seen in other mammals, maternal aggression in
  lactating mothers is higher relative to bottle
  feeding mothers (competition with the winner
  administering a loud unpleasant noise to the
  loser). Lactating mothers did a longer noise
  relative to bottle feeders who did not differ
  from women who were never pregnant
• Hahn-Holbrook et al., 2011

26
Critique of sociobiological theory

• Studied almost exclusively in college students
• Do dating and mating involve the same motives?
• Sociobiological theory (like evolutionary theory)
  does not predict specific future behavior, it
  explains events post hoc
• this is a major weakness (recall that Freud could
  likewise explain anything after the fact)
• e.g., long vs. short-necked giraffes
• Evolutionary drift - some events are a
  consequence of adaptive behavior but are not
  themselves adaptive

27
Ch. 8 A Trait Approach

• Traits as building blocks to describe behavior
• Linking traits to behavior
• Organizing traits (factors)
• Big Three (Eysenck)
• Big Five (Costa McCrae)
• Person-Situation Debate
• Supplementing traits with other approaches
• Goals
• Act-Frequency
• Assessing traits

28
Traits over time A review

• Recall the traits forwarded by Humoral Theory
  (Hippocrates Galen)
• Sanguine
• Choleric
• Melancholic
• Phlegmatic
• Carl Jung
• Introversion-Extraversion
• Gordon Allports trait hierarchy
• Cardinal traits
• Central traits
• Secondary traits

29
Trait approaches based on body morphology

• Palm readings
• Criminality (Lombroso) - physical features
  predict criminality
• Luomo delinquente
• Phrenology (Gall) - skull morphology advances
  due to
• Localization
• Quantification
• Standardization

30
Example morphological assessment
31
Phrenology
32
Trait approaches based on body types

• Sheldons body types (1950) Photos of incoming
  freshmen 1930s
• Endomorph jolly/happy, lazy (BMI is inversely
  corr. with suicide rates, but only for men
  jolly fat Mukamal, 2007)
• Mesomorph dominant, athletic
• Ectomorph smart, shy
• Based on physical stereotypes. Can stereotypes
  affect personality?
• Not theoretically derived (cf. pelvic distance
  hormonal release during adolescence as it relates
  to masculine and feminine traits Schlegal,
  1982).

33
Sheldons body morphology
34
The success of trait methods based on morphology

• Barnum effect - broad and slightly positive
  statements
• Most non-standardized, unreliable, and
  non-validated procedures rely on the Barnum
  effect
• Stock statements - true in all circumstances
• Fishing statements general statements that can
  be interpreted in many ways (youve experienced
  a loss)
• Research (Glick, 1985) suggests that people are
  more likely to believe Barnum-type false feedback
  vs. real personality FB
• Research (Wyman et al., 2008) suggests that
  people can differentiate real from bogus
  personality assessments, but they cant
  differentiate real personality readings from
  bogus astrological readings (likely due to Barnum
  effect).

35
Traits emerging from linguistic assessments

• Analysis of language (Allport)
• Approx. 18,000 words describing human behavior
  (subsumed by over 4,000 trait descriptors)
• Lexical hypothesis By examining the adjectives
  used to describe human behavior we can determine
• What is the minimum number of groupings (factors)
  needed to organize all of these adjectives, and
• What are the best labels for these groupings
  (factors)
• Statistical approach to organizing the adjectives
  and traits (Cattell)
• Factor analysis used to reduce the data
• e.g., Consider your lecture notes or a further
  summary of the class and how they summarize all
  the material.
• Number of factors, labels for them, and how they
  relate to one another

36
Organizing traits

• From 450 B.C. to present
• Organizing structure for personality
• Eysencks three personality factors to describe
  all relevant personality traits
• 1. extraversion/introversion -ARAS
• 2. neuroticism/emotional stability -limbic system
• 3. psychoticism (abnormal personality) /ego
  strength (tolerate stress, reality focus)
• Only the 1st two factors apply to non-clinical
  population
• - Circumplex model (for the normal population)

37
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38

The construction of personality factors from
everyday experiences (higher level factors are
the least modifiable)
4. Type/Factor
Extraversion
3. Trait
Sociability
Impulsivity
Liveliness
2. Habitual behavior
Going out
Smiling
Waving
Smiled at person seated next to you
Smiled at Mary yesterday
1. Individual behavior
39
Putting trait theory to the test, part 1

• Are there measurable differences in neuroticism
  (emotional instability) and what does this
  predict?
• Neuroticism
• Modestly higher in females and this differences
  is seen across cultures
• N increases with age and peaks in late
  adolescence declines throughout adulthood
• SES is inversely related to N (high SES lower
  N)
• N predicts mental health outcomes like risk for
  major depression, personality disorders, higher
  rates of cardio-vascular problems and mortality
  (regardless of cause)
• Peer rated traits are better predictors of
  mortality (your friends know how long youll
  live! ? Jackson et al., 2015). Likely due to the
  fact that multiple peers are used to assess vs.
  only a single source for self-rated personality.
• High heritability (.6)
• Should we be treating neuroticism, given the fact
  that we can successfully treat anxiety, which is
  a transient version of N? (Barlow et al., 2013).
  Lowering susceptibilities?

40
Other ways of organizing traits

• Cattells 16 PFs
• The Big Five (Costa McCrae, 1985)
• Neuroticism - emotional stability/instability
  (highly heritable)
• Extraversion - sensation seeking/pos. emotions
  (highly heritable)
• Extraverts work better when experiencing
  stimulation ARAS
• Openness - to new experience (creativity)
• Intellectually curious, more liberal views, more
  tolerant of diversity
• Agreeableness - quality of interactions
• More likely to engage in prosocial activity,
  altruism, cooperativeness, fewer problems with
  mental health
• Conscientiousness responsibility, hard work,
  self-disciplined
• More successful in work and school, predicts
  effort, fewer problems with mental and physical
  health, are happier and live longer.

41
Big Five traits everyday life

• NEO profile that best predicts school/work
  performance?
• High C, N, and O (adaptive application of N)
• O is related to productivity as a function of the
  structure of the setting (high O works best in
  less structured settings)
• Low C and low A generally predict poor
  productivity in a variety of school and
  work-related settings
• High N is a general predictor for psychological
  problems (depression, anxiety, etc.), and the
  more extreme the score, the more likely the
  problems
• Costa McCrae suggest that psychopathology is
  defined by extreme scores on the NEO
• Some research suggests that these traits are
  observed across species such as dogs, chimps,
  hyenas (Gosling John, 1999)

42
Big Five Culture Lifespan

• Big Five Factors are generally replicated in
  other cultures and other languages, even when
  data comes from peer ratings
• One exception is agreeableness is sometimes
  better explained as two factors of humility and
  honesty (Ashton et al., 2004).
• High heritability for the big five factors,
  especially for neuroticism and extraversion
  (approximately .6)
• Big Five factors increase in stability over the
  lifespan, and highest for extraversion and
  conscientiousness lowest for neuroticism (Note
  This does not match the heritability data)
• Cumulative continuity hypothesis Continuity of
  personality is strengthened as we get older
  because we have more choice over our environments
  (and we pick environments that reinforce/strengthe
  n existing traits)
• e.g., the extravert chooses environments that
  value extraverted behavior

43
Putting trait theory to the test, part 2 Can we
alter traits (experiments)?

• Locus of Control (LOC Rotter) under the
  conscientiousness factor
• Internal - control over ones own destiny
• External - fatalistic, chance outcomes
• Most individuals are internal LOC in North
  America.
• This is more adaptive as well.
• Survey research summary
• Implications for school/work re effort
• Relationships
• Health

44
- continued Experimentally manipulating
control/predictability

• Glass Singer 1972
• Uncontrollable and aversive noise and its effects
  on performance
• Two conditions one with control button and one
  without
• Assessed persistence with anagrams, and
  performance in a follow-up task
• Benefits reflected in sustained effortful
  behavior and outcomes
• None of the participants ever actually pushed the
  button, so there were no differences in exposure
  to the loud aversive sounds
• Emphasis is perceived rather than real control
• Ultimately, the researchers stopped hooking up
  the button (dummy switch)
• What if the participants had tried to push the
  button?
• Higher cost for thinking you have control then
  realizing you dont vs. never thinking you had it
  (we rarely have the opportunity to assess control
  beliefs in everyday life thats why perception
  is key)

45
- continued Experimental research on control

• Studies in old age homes (Langer, 1983 Rodin,
  1986) to assess the effects of predictability and
  control
• 3 conditions (control, predictability, neither)
• equal time in all visits, and everyone does so
  within regular visiting hours
• predicted health and mortality within the next
  year
• implications/applications?
• Strengths/limitations of this study relative to
  Glass Singer (1972) and other survey studies?
• Similar research in work settings involving
  control over how to do tasks in prisons
  involving control over TV programming, chair
  locations (Ruback et al., 1986 Wener et al.,
  1987), health fears (Lecci Cohen, 2007)

46
The person situation debate

• Mischel shock (Personality and Assessment
  Mischel, 1968)
• 1. Traits account for only 9 of behavior
  (correlations of .30)
• Personality vs. situation debate (data on school
  children in different settings predicting
  behaviors like lying)
• 2. Traits are just labels.
• Attempts to address the 1st critique with new
  measures, but more difficult to counter the 2nd
  critique
• Modern personality inventories can go beyond 9
  (see NEO-PI)
• Problematic to predict a single instance of
  behavior from general trends (S. Epstein), but we
  can predict behavioral tendencies
• Traits predict best in situations without clear
  situational scripts.
• Situational strength refers to the clarity of
  the situational script.
• e.g., first date behavior vs. seventh date
  behavior
• More specific traits also predict better
• e.g., work LOC vs. relationship LOC

47
Supplementing the Big Five

• Act-frequency approach (Buss Craik, 1983)
• Identify actions that reflect the trait of
  interest
• Rate the extent to which each represents the
  prototype for that trait (prototypicality
  ratings)
• Personal goal assessment An idiographic approach
• The idiosyncratic expression of basic motives
  (hunger vs. truffles for the wedding)
• Traits in context (LOC vs. control over the
  relevant experiences in your life e.g., goal to
  get married or get a degree)

48
Gordon Allport (1930)

• Consider how traits and motivation (goals) each
  assess different (unique) aspects of personality
• Havings and Doings of personality (Allport,
  1930 Cantor, 1990)
• stable features (traits) and more dynamic
  features (goals)
• Traits (havings) can reflect biological
  predispositions that may limit the opportunities
  for what one can do.
• Goals can determine how their traits manifest in
  their actions (goals are the doings of
  personality)
• Both predict behavior Traits predict about 20
  of university grades and goals relating to both
  school and non-school activities can account for
  an additional 10-20 (Little, Lecci, Wadkinson,
  1992)

49
Example assessments Goal constructs

• From more fleeting/transient experiences to life
  long pursuits
• Current Concerns (Klinger, 1977)
• Personal Projects Analysis (Little, 1983)
• Personal Strivings (Emmons, 1986)
• Life Tasks (Cantor, 1987)
• Goal Systems Assessment Battery (Karoly
  Ruehlman, 1995)
• Intersection of motivational and cognitive
  perspectives Hot Cognitions

50
Illustration of the PPA approach

• PPA Personal projects Analysis (Little, 1983)
• Adults average about 14 personal goals
• Content may be significant
• e.g., Health goals for hypochondriacs
• Most common goal across settings populations
  lose weight
• 5 factors used to interpret the PPA
• Meaningfulness (importance, enjoyment)
• Efficacy (progress, outcome, skills)
• Structure (control, initiation, time adequacy)
• Stress (stress, difficulty, challenge)
• Social Support (visibility, others view)

51
Meaning-Efficacy trade-off

• Molecular goals (time focused concrete)
• high efficacy but low meaningfulness
• Molar goals (broad, life long pursuits)
• low efficacy but high meaningfulness
• Anxiety can be predicted from goals with high
  meaning low efficacy
• Research on college students and their goals
  shows that depression is marked by low efficacy
  low meaningfulness (Lecci et al., 1994)
• Depression can also be marked by the failure to
  disengage (Kuhl, 1986) from unsuccessful projects
  - depression as information

52
Ipsative scoring for the PPA

• Ipsative scoring refers to comparisons within the
  individual (no need for a norm group, though
  normative scoring can be done)
• Goals can be scored by comparing your own score
  at one time to scores from obtained from another
  time
• Only meaningful if scores can change (traits are
  supposed to be stable, so any changes on the NEO
  are considered error in measurement)
• Your goals, however, can change.
• Goals can also be scored by comparing ratings
  across different content domains (e.g., social
  vs. academic) look at your scores
• Most clinical work and counseling interventions
  with goals adopt the ipsative scoring procedures
  (goal of intervention can be perceived changes in
  the goal system)
• Goals can also be scored normatively (see next
  slide)

53
Normative scoring for the PPA e.g., academic vs
leisure goals (skip this)

• Academic goals
• Importance
• High 10
• Low 5 or lt
• Enjoyment
• High 7 or gt
• Low 2 or lt
• Stress
• High 9 or gt
• Low 3 or lt
• Others view of importance
• High 10
• Low 4 or lt

• Leisure goals
• Importance
• High 9 or gt
• Low 4 or lt
• Enjoyment
• High 9 or gt
• Low 6 or lt
• Stress
• High 5 or gt
• Low 1 or lt
• Others view of importance
• High 8 or gt
• Low 1 or lt

54
Putting trait theory to the test, part 3

• Personality traits and mortality 3 studies
• Study 1 1,812 males from one of the early MMPI
  samples (MMPI assessed in adolescents) Trumbetta
  et al., 2010
• By age 75, factors that predicted mortality were
  
• social introversion (higher scores are
  protective) and
• psychopathic deviance/antisocial tendencies (hi
  scores hji risk)
• No control for demographic factors, health
  behaviors, health
• Study 2 gt4,000 middle-aged Vietnam era veterans
  tracked for 15 yrs Weiss et al., 2013
• Statistically controlled for demographics, health
  behaviors, and premorbid physical and mental
  health (still a homogeneous sample)
• Neuroticism, paranoia, and antisocial tendencies
  were risk factors
• Study 3 1,035 men women in Scotland Taylor et
  al., 2009
• For men, O and C were protective. No sig effects
  for women.
• Neg emotion words in tweets predict heart
  disease mortality better than demographics, SES
  health factors (Eichstaedt et al., 2015)

55
Personality Measures

• NEO-PI-R (Costa McCrae, 1992)
• NEO-FFI (Costa McCrae, 1989)
• Complete for class
• The Big five Inventory
• Available on-line
• The HEXACO
• Big Five 1 (honesty humility instead of A)
• Eysencks Personality Questionnaire (EPQ)
• Cattells 16 PF
• MBTI
• See also various goal assessments

56
Self vs. Peer Ratings include in class notes

• High degree of consistency between self ratings
  and the ratings of others even after only a brief
  interaction
• Almost as accurate as assessments from those who
  know you very well
• How does social desirability effect ratings?
  Social constraints? The short time period of the
  assessment?
• Which traits will show the greatest
  discrepancies?
• Do discrepancies necessarily reflect problems
  with the self-report?
• Real differences between internal and external
  presentation may be meaningful
• FUNDAMENTAL ATTRIBUTION ERROR
• When evaluating others, people tend to attribute
  behavior to traits
• When evaluating our own behavior, we tend to
  attribute it to the situation (Why? - baserates)