Chapter 11.docx

10/30/09 12:22 PM Personality is an attempt to describe who you are?. It?s the way you go about your daily life. Behavior Identity Character Attitude 2 broken down in to 2 things Traits Climate Shyness (all the time) States Weather day to day How you act in different situations Internal Locus of Control I have some control I can change things External Locus of Control I am passive Things change me Learned helplessness Learned hopelessness and passive resignation Personality Trait : Self Esteem High Felling good about yourself Low Feeling bad about yourself OR, do these people have higher goals? Striving for self-improvement Big Five Model of Personality Openness Openness to Experience Curious Flexible Imaginative Unconventional attitude Conscientiousness Disciplined Organized Punctual Responsible Extraversion Outgoing Sociable Upbeat Friendly Assertive Talkative Agreeableness Sympathetic Trusting Cooperative Modest Straightforward Neuroticism Anxious Hostile Self-conscious Insecure Vulnerable REMEMBER THE WORDS SPELL ?O C E A N ? Criticisms of Big-Five Relies on Self ? Report It doesn?t actually look at human behavior Cross Cultural studies only offer partial support HOWEVER the big five does account for variability in human behavior?so It is useful. What makes you the way you are? Nature Dogs bred for personality type Twin studies Parents and their biological / adopted children Inborn temperaments Nurture Not much support As you age Extraverted goes DOWN Sensation seeking goes DOWN Neurotic goes DOWN Conscientiousness goes UP Personality gets more consistent over time. Barnum Effect The tendency to accept and praise vague statements about our personality Personality testing Helps psychologists understand how people view and interact with other people, their environment, and themselves. Types of Tests Objective tests Self-report Asked to answer questions about characteristic behaviors (true/false, agree/disagree) Certain tests have scales for depression, paranoia, schizophrenia, etc (MMPI-2) MMPI-2 : Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory 567 true/false questions assesses ?abnormal? traits rather than regular personality traits Empirically derived ? from a large testing pool of question those that best discriminate between groups are used (based on testing) Deception Scale Others have scales for introversion/extroversion, thinking/feeling, etc. (Myers-Briggs) Projective Tests Responding to vague, ambiguous stimuli Blank screen Reveals feelings, needs, and traits. People will PROJECT their personality characteristics onto AMBIGUOUS stimuli. Helps people reveal themselves more fully than they normally would Examples : Rorschach Inkblot, Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), Draw a person. A house. A tree Rorschach Inkblot 10 ambiguous inkblots What you answer gives insight to your personality and emotional functioning. The Thematic Apperception Test Tell me a story about this picture Describe what Is happening What led up to scene What will happen in the future What are each of the people thinking/feeling? Problems in Personality Testing Almost ALL tests over-pathologize (they make people look worse than they actually are) Some tests have questionable validity More research needs to be done ALL can be useful, BUT All can be harmful in the wrong hands Never use just one test to determine outcome. Implicit Association Test Measures associations people have been concepts Based on the idea of priming Measure how fast you respond to a category that combines a topic with positive or negative words. Chapter 11 Personality 10/30/09 12:22 PM 10/30/09 12:22 PM