PERSOONLIJKHEID
EN
INDIVIDUELE
VERSCHILLEN
SAMENVATTING
1.
INTRODUCTION
TO
PERSONALITY
PSYCHOLOGY
Features
of
personality
make
people
different
from
one
another,
and
these
features
usually
take
the
form
of
adjectives,
such
as
John
is
lazy.
Adjectives
that
can
be
used
to
describe
characteristics
of
people
are
called
trait-‐descriptive
adjectives.
Personality
Defined
Personality
is
the
set
of
psychological
traits
and
mechanisms
within
the
individual
that
are
organized
and
relatively
enduring
and
that
influence
his
or
her
interactions
with,
and
adaptions
to,
the
intrapsychic,
physical,
and
social
environments.
Psychological
traits
are
characteristics
that
describe
ways
in
which
people
are
different
from
each
other.
Psychological
traits
are
useful
for
at
least
three
reasons.
First,
they
describe
people
and
help
understand
the
dimensions
of
difference
between
people.
Second,
traits
help
explain
behavior.
Third,
traits
can
help
predict
future
behavior.
Psychological
mechanisms
are
like
traits,
except
that
the
term
mechanisms
refers
more
to
the
process
of
personality.
Most
have
three
essential
ingredients:
inputs,
decision
rules,
and
outputs.
At
any
point
in
time,
only
a
few
psychological
mechanisms
are
activated.
Within
the
individual
means
that
personality
is
something
a
person
carries
with
him-‐
or
herself
over
time
and
from
one
situation
to
the
next.
Organized
means
that
the
psychological
traits
and
mechanisms,
for
a
given
person,
are
not
simply
a
random
collection
of
elements
Rather,
personality
is
organized
because
the
mechanisms
and
traits
are
linked
to
one
another
in
a
coherent
fashion.
Our
personalities
are
organized
in
the
sense
that
they
contain
decision
rules
that
govern
which
needs
are
activated,
depending
on
the
circumstances.
Psychological
traits
are
also
relatively
enduring
over
time,
particularly
in
adulthood,
and
are
somewhat
consistent
over
situations.
In
the
definition
of
personality,
an
emphasis
on
the
influential
forces
of
personality
means
that
personality
traits
and
mechanisms
can
have
an
effect
on
people’s
lives.
Personality
traits
are
thought
of
as
forces
that
influence
how
we
think,
act,
and
feel.
This
feature
of
personality
is
perhaps
the
most
difficult
to
describe,
because
the
nature
of
person-‐environment
interaction
is
complex.
Interactions
with
situations
include
perception
(how
we
see,
or
interpret,
an
environment),
selections
(the
manner
in
which
we
choose
situation
to
enter),
evocations
(reactions
we
produce
in
others,
often
quite
unintentionally),
and
manipulations
(ways
in
which
we
intentionally
attempt
to
influence
others).
An
emphasis
on
adaptation
conveys
the
notion
that
a
central
feature
of
personality
concerns
adaptive
functioning
–
accomplishing
goals,
coping,
adjusting,
and
dealing
with
the
challenges
and
problems
we
face
as
we
go
through
life.
Few
things
are
more
obvious
about
human
behavior
that
the
fact
that
it
is
goal-‐directed,
functional,
and
purposeful.
The
physical
environment
often
poses
challenges
for
people.
The
particular
aspect
of
the
environment
1
,that
is
important
at
any
moment
in
time
is
frequently
determined
by
personality.
In
addition
to
our
physical
and
social
environments,
we
have
an
intrapsychic
environment;
within
the
mind.
Three
Levels
of
Personality
Analysis
1. Human
nature
(Need
to
belong,
capacity
for
love)
à
The
traits
and
mechanisms
of
personality
that
are
typical
of
our
species
and
are
possessed
by
everyone
or
nearly
everyone.
2. Individual
and
group
differences
à
Individual
differences
are
ways
in
which
each
person
is
like
some
other
people.
Differences
between
groups,
people
in
one
group
may
have
certain
personality
features
in
common.
3. Individual
uniqueness
à
One
debate
in
the
field
concerns
whether
individuals
should
be
studies
nomothetically
(as
individual
instances
of
general
characteristics
that
are
distribute
din
the
population),
or
should
be
studies
ideographically
(as
single,
unique
cases).
The
important
point
is
that
personality
psychologists
have
been
concerned
with
all
three
levels
of
analysis:
the
universal
level,
the
level
of
individual
and
group
differences,
and
the
level
of
individual
uniqueness.
Six
Domains
of
Knowledge
About
Human
Nature
A
domain
of
knowledge
is
a
specialty
area
of
science
and
scholarship,
in
which
psychologists
have
focused
on
learning
about
some
specific
and
limited
aspects
of
human
nature.
A
domain
of
knowledge
delineated
the
boundaries
of
researchers’
knowledge,
expertise,
and
interests.
-‐ The
dispositional
domain
deals
centrally
with
the
ways
in
which
individuals
differ
from
one
another.
As
such,
the
dispositional
domain
cuts
across
all
the
other
domains.
-‐ The
core
assumption
within
the
biological
domain
is
that
humans
are,
first
and
foremost,
collections
of
biological
systems,
and
these
systems
provide
the
building
blocks
for
behavior,
thought,
and
emotion.
Biological
approaches:
genetics,
psychophysiology,
and
evolution.
-‐ The
intrapsychic
domain
deals
with
mental
mechanisms
of
personality,
many
of
which
operate
outside
of
conscious
awareness.
The
predominant
theory
in
this
domain
is
Freud’s
theory
of
psychoanalysis;
the
sexual
and
aggressive
forces
that
are
presumed
to
drive
and
energize
much
of
human
activity.
-‐ The
cognitive-‐experiential
domain
focuses
on
cognition
and
subjective
experience,
such
as
conscious
thoughts,
feelings,
beliefs,
and
desires
about
oneself
and
others.
The
psychological
mechanisms
involved
in
subjective
experience
differ
in
form
and
content
from
one
another.
-‐ One
of
the
special
features
of
this
book
is
an
emphasis
on
the
social
and
cultural
domain
of
personality.
The
assumption
is
that
personality
is
not
something
that
2
, merely
resides
within
the
heads,
nervous
systems,
and
genes
of
individuals.
Rather,
personality
affects,
and
is
affected
by,
the
social
and
cultural
context.
-‐ The
adjustment
domain
refers
to
the
fact
that
personality
plays
a
key
role
in
how
we
cope,
adapt,
and
adjust
to
the
ebb
and
flow
of
events
in
our
day-‐to-‐day
lives.
The
Role
of
Personality
Theory
A
good
theory
is
one
that
fulfills
three
purposes
in
science:
(1)
provides
a
guide
for
researchers;
(2)
organized
known
findings,
and
(3)
makes
predictions.
We
need
to
distinguish
between
theories
and
beliefs.
Beliefs
are
often
personally
useful
and
crucially
important
to
some
people,
but
they
are
based
on
faith,
not
on
reliable
facts
and
systematic
observations.
Standards
for
Evaluating
Personality
Theories
As
we
explore
each
of
the
six
domains,
it
will
be
useful
to
bear
in
mind
five
scientific
standards
for
evaluating
personality
theories:
-‐ Comprehensiveness
à
Explains
most
or
all
known
facts
-‐ Heuristic
value
à
Guides
researchers
to
important
new
discoveries
-‐ Testability
à
Makes
precise
predictions
that
can
be
empirically
tested
-‐ Parsimony
à
Contains
few
premises
or
assumptions
-‐ Compatibility
and
à
Consistent
with
what
is
known
in
other
domains;
can
be
integrations
coordinated
with
other
branches
of
scientific
knowledge
2.
PERSONALITY
ASSESSMENT,
MEASUREMENT,
AND
RESEARCH
DESIGN
Sources
of
Personality
Data
Perhaps
the
most
obvious
source
of
information
about
a
person
is
self-‐report
data
(S-‐data)
–
the
information
a
person
reveals.
In
everyday
life,
we
form
impressions
and
make
evaluations
of
others
with
whom
we
come
into
contact.
For
each
individual,
there
are
typically
dozens
of
observers
who
form
impressions.
Observer-‐report
data
(O-‐data)
capitalize
on
these
sources
for
gathering
information
about
a
person’s
personality.
The
use
of
multiple
observers
allows
investigators
to
evaluate
the
degree
of
agreement
among
observers
–
also
known
as
inter-‐rater
reliability.
An
advantage
of
using
intimate
observers
is
that
multiple
social
personalities
can
be
assessed.
Each
one
of
us
displays
different
sides
of
ourselves
to
different
people.
In
addition
to
deciding
what
type
of
observers
to
use,
personality
researchers
must
determine
whether
the
observation
occurs
in
a
natural
or
an
artificial
setting.
In
naturalistic
observation,
observers
witness
and
record
events
that
occur
in
the
normal
course
of
the
lives
of
their
participants.
Beyond
self-‐report
and
observer-‐report
data
sources,
a
third
common
source
of
personality-‐
relevant
information
comes
from
standardized
tests
–test
data
(T-‐data).
In
these
measures,
participants
are
placed
in
a
standardized
testing
situation.
Megargee’s
study
highlights
several
key
points
about
laboratory
studies.
First,
it
shows
that
is
possible
to
set
up
condition
to
reveal
key
indicators
of
personality.
Second,
it
suggests
that
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