Hoofdstuk 1 Introduction to Personality
Psychology
Features of personality make people different from one another, and these features usually take the
form of adjectives (= bijvoeglijke naamwoorden) (e.g. Sven is lazy, Michelle is optimistic)
- Trait-decriptive adjectives = adjectives that can be used to describe characteristics of people
- Adjectives describing personality refer to several very different aspects of people
o Thoughtful – inner qualities of mind
o Charming/humorous – effect a person has on other people
o Domineering – relational, signify a person’s position/stance towards others
o Ambitious – intensity of desire to reach goals
o Creative – quality of mind/nature of products we produce
o Deceitful – strategies a person uses to attain goals
Personality Defined
Personality = 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 adaptations to, the
intrapsychic, physical and social environments
Personality is the Set of Psychological Traits…
Psychological traits = characteristics that describe ways in which people are different from each
other
- Also ways in which people are similar
- Describe average tendencies = tendency to display certain psychological trait with regularity
Research on personality – 4 questions:
- How many traits are there? (how many)
- How are the traits organized? (organization/structure)
- What are the origins of traits? (origins = where they come from/how they develop – e.g.
heredity/child-rearing practices)
- What are the correlations/consequences of traits? (correlations/consequences)
Why psychological traits are useful:
1. Describing people, understanding dimensions of difference between them
2. Explaining behaviour
3. Predicting future behaviour
And Mechanisms…
Psychological mechanisms = processes of personality
- 3 essential ingredients:
1. Input = information from the environment (e.g. danger)
2. Decision rules = think about specific options – IF THEN (e.g. if courageous, then face
danger/ if cowardly, then run from danger)
3. Output = behaviour toward certain categories of action (e.g. confront/run from
source of danger)
Within the Individual…
Within the individual = personality is something a person carries with him over time/from one
situation to the next
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,That Are Organized and Relatively Enduring…
Organized = psychological traits/mechanisms are not simply a random collection of elements – they
are linked to one another in a coherent fashion
- Personalities are organized in the sense that they contain decision rules that govern which
needs are activated – depending on circumstances
Relatively enduring (= langdurig) = over time and somewhat consistent over situations
- People are not perfectly consistent – enough consistency to include this characteristic in a
definition of personality
And that Influence…
Influential forces = personality traits/mechanisms can have effect on people’s lives
- How we think, act and feel
His or Her Interactions With…
Person-environment interaction = interactions with situations include:
- Perception = how we ‘see’ (interpret) an environment
- Selection = manner in which we choose situations to enter (e.g. choose friends, hobbies,
careers, how we use free time)
- Evocation = reaction we produce in others
o Unintentionally (e.g. physically large person evoke feelings of intimidation in
others)
- Manipulation = way in which we intentionally attempt to influence others
And Adaptations to…
Adaptation = a central feature of personality concerns adaptive functioning – accomplishing goals,
coping, adjusting, dealing with challenges/problems we face in life
The Environment
Environment
- Physical environment = poses challenges for people
o Direct threats to survival (e.g. food shortage, extremes of temperature)
o Humans have evolved solutions to adaptive problems
- Social environment = also poses adaptive challenges – struggle for belonginess, love and
esteem
- Intrapsychic environment (intrapsychic = ‘within the mind’) = memories, dreams, desires,
fantasies, private experiences
Three Levels of Personality Analysis
Every human being is:
1. Like all others (human nature level) – ‘universals’
2. Like some others (level of individual and group differences) – ‘particulars’
3. Like no others (individual uniqueness level) – ‘uniqueness’
Human Nature
Human nature = traits/mechanism of personality that are typical of our species – possessed by
(nearly) everyone (e.g. language skills, need to belong, capacity for love)
- Each person is like every other person
Individual and Group Differences
Individual differences = ways in which each person is like some other people (e.g. extraverts,
sensation seekers)
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,Group differences = features that make a group of people different from other groups (e.g. age
groups, political parties, socioeconomic backgrounds, men/women, ethnic groups)
Individual Uniqueness
Every individual has personal qualities not shared by any other person in the world
Debate about whether individuals should be studied nomothetically or idiographically
- Nomothetic research (‘nomos’ = wet) = statistical comparisons of individuals/groups – studie
van groepen om algemene conclusies te trekken
- Idiographic research (= ‘the description of one’) = focuses on single object – observe general
principles that are manifest in a single life over time
o Case studies
https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nomothetische_en_idiografische_methode
A Fissure (= gap) in the Field
Human nature level of analysis analysis of group/individual differences
- Grand theories of personality contemporary research in personality
Grand Theories of Personality
Grand theories address the human nature level of analysis – attempt to provide a universal account
of fundamental psychological processes/characteristics of our species (e.g. Freud: sex/aggression, id/
ego/superego, stages of psychosexual development)
- Primarily of historical interest
Contemporary (= hedendaags) Research in Personality
Contemporary research addresses ways in which individuals/groups differ (e.g. extraversion
introversion, self-esteem)
Six Domains of Knowledge about Human Nature
Domain of knowledge = psychologists have focused on learning about some specific and limited
aspects of human nature
- 6 domains of knowledge – personality is influenced by … :
1. Traits the person is born with/develops – dispositional domain
2. Biological events – biological domain
3. Conflicts within person’s own mind – intrapsychic domain
4. Personal and private thoughts/feelings/desires/beliefs/other subjective experiences
– cognitive-experiential domain
5. Social/cultural/gendered positions in the world – social and cultural domain
6. Adjustments person must make to inevitable challenges of life – adjustment domain
Whole personality is sum of various parts and connections among them
Dispositional Domain
Dispositional domain = identify/measure most important ways in which individuals differ from one
another – origin of important individual differences, how they develop/are maintained
Biological Domain
Biological domain = humans are collections of biological systems systems provide building blocks
for behaviour/thought/emotion
- Biological approaches = 3 areas of research:
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, 1. Genetics: to what degree is personality heritable? What happens to identical twins
when they are reared apart versus when they are reared together? Do genes interact
with the environment to produce individual differences?
2. Psychopsychology = what is known about basis of personality summarized in terms
of nervous system functioning (e.g. neurotransmitters)
3. Evolution: how evolution may have shaped psychological functioning
Intrapsychic Domain
intrapsychic domain = mental mechanisms – mostly outside of conscious awareness
- Freud – psychoanalysis
Cognitive-Experiential Domain
Cognitive-experiential domain = cognition and subjective experience – conscious thoughts/feelings/
beliefs/desires about oneself/others
- Self(-concept)
- Intelligence
- Emotions
- Goals we strive for
Social and Cultural Domain
Social and cultural domain = personality affects/is affected by social and cultural context
- Different cultures may bring out different facets of our personalities in manifest behaviour
- Many important individual differences are played out in the interpersonal sphere
Adjustment Domain
Adjustment domain = personality plays a key role in how we cope with/adapt/adjust to the ebb/flow
of events in our day-to-day lives
The Role of Personality Theory
A good theory fulfils 3 purposes in science:
- Provide a guide for researchers = inspire scientists to further explore theory/generate
additional research/collect data
- Organize known findings = theories bring both coherence and understanding to the known
world – accounting for known findings
- Make predictions = about behaviour/psychological phenomena that no one has yet
documented/observed
Distinguish between scientific theories and ideas
- Belief ≠ scientific theory – based on faith, not on reliable facts/systematic observations
Standards for Evaluating Personality Theories
5 scientific standards for evaluating personality theories:
1. Comprehensiveness (= ‘volledigheid’) = does the theory do a good job of explaining all of the
facts and observations within its domain?
o Explains most/all known facts
2. Heuristic value = does the theory provide a guide to important discoveries about personality
that were not known before?
o Wetenschappelijke strategie om problemen systematisch op te lossen/dingen
methodisch te ontdekken
o Guides researchers to important new discoveries
3. Testability = does the theory render precise enough predictions that personality
psychologists can test them empirically?
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