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Lecture Notes - PSYC305 (Personality Psychology)

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Course
Personality Psychology

Institution
University Of British Columbia (UBC )

Explore the theories, concepts, and research methods that contribute to our understanding of human personality. Dive into the exploration of personality traits, development, and their impact on behaviour and relationships. These notes provide a concise overview, inviting you to explore the dynamic ...

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PSYC300
Jan 13th – Chapter 1 (Intro)

Personality
- The set of psychological traits (tendencies) and mechanisms (processes) within the
individual that are organized and relatively enduring and that influences our
interactions with and adaptations to our environment
- Within the individual
 Personality is carried through situations
- Organized and enduring
 Structure and persistence
 Trait vs. State
- Meaningful influences interactions and adaptations to the environment
 Selection, evocation, manipulation
o Selection  how you interact with the world (based on personality
may choose to go to a concert or library)
o Evocation  how does the world and other people respond to you and
your actions (being big may indirectly evoke intimidation)
o Manipulation  how you choose actions socially  to respond again
 Responses, learning
 To the environment  physical and social

Psychological Traits
- Characteristics that describe how people are different from each other
 Momentary existence
 Emotions  state of emotion
 Courage is a psychological trait  activated under certain circumstances
- Personality researchers are interested in four questions
1. How many traits are there?
2. How are traits organized?
3. Origin of traits?
4. Correlations and consequences of traits?
- Trait should describe, explain, and predict human behaviour

Psychological Mechanisms
- Psychological mechanisms have three essential ingredients
- Personalities contain many mechanisms
- Input  decision rules  output
 E.g., danger  if courageous face danger  confront source of danger
 E.g. danger  if cowardly escape danger  run from source of danger

Personality Discussion
- Sets of psychological traits and mechanisms within the individual are organized and
relatively enduring and influence our interactions with and adaptations to our
environment

Levels of Personality Analysis
- Human nature
 Need to belong + capacity to belong
 How we are “like all others”

,  Traits and mechanisms of personality that are typical of our species and
possessed by nearly everyone
- Individual and group differences
 Variation in need to belong (individual differences)
 Males are more physically aggressive than females (group differences)
 How are we “like some others”
 Individual differences refer to ways in which each person is like some other
people
o E.g., extraverts, introverts, sensation-seekers, high-self-esteem
persons
 Group differences refer to ways in which the people of one group differ from
people in another group
o E.g., cultural differences, age differences, sex differences
- Individual uniqueness
 Seiko’s unique way
 Darren’s unique way of expressing aggression
 How we are “like no others”
 Individual uniqueness refers to the fact that every individual has personal
and unique qualities not shared by others in the world
 Can be studied nomothetically or ideographically

Fissure in the Field
- Gap within personality psychology has not been successfully bridged:
 Gap between human nature level of analysis
 Analysis of individual and group differences
- Gaps translate into
 Grand theories of personality
o Human nature level of analysis
o Attempt to provide universal account of fundamental psychological
processes and characteristics of our species
o Statements about universal core of human nature lie at the center of
grand theories of personality
o E.g. Psychoanalytic theory (Freud)
 Contemporary research in personality
o Individual and group differences level of analysis
o Most current personality research addresses ways in which individuals
and groups differ, not human universals
o Personality psychologists specialize in a particular domain:
 Biological aspects of personality
 How culture impacts personality

Domains of Knowledge
- One way to make sense of the vast amount of research in many areas of personality
is to appreciate that research occurs along several key domains of knowledge
- Domain of knowledge is a speciality area of science and scholarship
- Psychologists focus on learning about specific and limited aspects of human nature
 This specialization is reasonable
 Strive to integrate diverse domains of knowledge to get a “bigger picture” of
personality
- Six domains of knowledge

, 1. Dispositional
o Deals with ways in which individuals differ from one another and,
therefore, cuts across all other domains
o Focus on number and nature of fundamental dispositions
o Interested in the origin of individual differences and how they develop
over time
2. Biological
o Core assumption  humans are collections of biological systems
o Systems provide building blocks for behaviour, thought, and emotion
o Psychologists study twins to determine whether aspects of personality
are influenced by genetics
o Focus  behavioural genetics, psychophysiology, and evolution of
personality
3. Intrapsychic
o Deals with mental mechanisms of personality  many operate
outside conscious awareness of an individual
o Classic and modern versions of Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis
o Include work on repression, denial, projection, and motives for power,
achievement, and affiliation
4. Cognitive-Experiential
o Focuses on cognition and subjective experience  conscious
thoughts, feelings, beliefs, desires about oneself and others
o Self and self-concept  goals we set and strives to meet
o Emotional experiences  in general and over time
5. Social and Cultural
o Assumption  personality impacts and impacted by cultural and
social contexts
o Cultural differences between groups  e.g., social acceptability of
aggression
o Individual differences within cultures  how personality plays out in
social sphere  sex and gender differences in personality processes,
traits, and mechanisms.
6. Adjustment
o Personality plays a key role in coping, adapting, and adjusting to
events & life
o Personality is linked to health outcomes, problems in coping and
adjustment
o Personality relates to health  influences health-related behaviours
(smoking)

Role of Theory
- A good theory fulfills three purposes in science:
1. Provides a guide for researchers
2. Organizes known findings
3. Makes predictions
- Theories are not the same as beliefs because they are tested by systematic
observations that can be replicated by others
- Belief, opinion: untested model
- Perspective: organization of evidence

, - Theory: falsifiable and predictive
- Difficult to do  counter-intuitive
 E.g. Gravity  “laws” are just well-tested theories

Standards for Evaluating Personality Theories
- Comprehensiveness: explains most or all known evidence
- Heuristic value: guides researchers to important discoveries
- Testability: makes precise predictions that can be empirically tested
- Parsimony: contains few premises or assumptions
- Compatibility and integration: consistent with what is known in other domains
 Can be coordinated with other branches of scientific knowledge

Jan 18th – Chapter 2 (Personality Assessments, Measurement, & Research
Design)
Sources of Personality Data
- Quality of data is key  abbreviations unnecessary
 Where does data come from?
 Categories are not mutually exclusive?
1. Self-report data (S-date)
 Information provided by a person, such as through a survey or interview
 Individuals have access to a wealth of information about themselves that is
inaccessible to anyone else
 S-data personality tests
o Unstructured items  open-ended (interpreted)
o Structured items  response options provided
 Limitations of S-data
o People may not respond honestly
o People may lack accurate self-knowledge
2. Observer-report data (O-data)
 Selecting observers:
o Professional personality assessors
o People who actually know the target person
 Often in better position to observe target’s natural behaviours
than professional personality assessors
 Allows for assessment of multiple social personalities
o Because of relationship to target, observer may be biased
Naturalistic vs. Artificial Observation
 Naturalistic observation:
o Observers witness & record events that occur in course of life of
participant(s)
o Advantage  secure information in realistic context
o Disadvantage  cost of not being able to control events witnessed
 Artificial observation:
o Observation that occurs in artificial settings or situations
o Advantage  controlling conditions and eliciting relevant behaviour
o Disadvantage  cost of sacrificing realism
o Can be made more natural, e.g., Gottman
3. Test-data (T-data)
 Limitations

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