Personality

How would you describe your personality?

a pattern of characteristic thinking, feeling and behaving that distinguishes one person from another and is stable over time

What is personality?

scientific study of the whole person in terms of species-typical characteristics and individual differences

species-typical characteristics concern how individuals are alike

individual differences concerns how individuals are different

Personality defined

Unconscious Sense of Identity Biology Conditioning and Learning Cognitive Traits and Skills Spirituality Interactions

Eight Keys

The Psychological Triad

Feel… attraction towards another…

Think… it would be wrong to act on this…

Behave… approach and avoidance…

Three in conflict

lots of definitions and conceptions

1) lay circles2) pop psychology

Other Perspectives

Personality?

extraverted and outgoingwarm and engaging

Lay Circles

http://www.enneagraminstitute.com/intro.asp

http://www.deeshan.com/horochin.htm

Personality Tests

Pop Psychology

Pop Psychology

Nomothetic

Ideographic

Ways to study personality

grand theories◦ Freud, Millon

single dimensions◦ locus of control, extraversion

Ways to think about personality

Important for a variety of reasons

when working with others

Why study personality?

Can personality change?

Begin to stabilize?

Change versus Stability

The Grand Scheme

sociologysocial psychology

psychology (personality psychology)biology

Social PsychologyAbnormal PsychologyDevelopment

Comparisons

The Role of Science

Personality Psychology = the scientific study of the whole person in terms of species-typical characteristics and individual differences

The Role of Science

epistemology - the study of knowledge

rationalism = knowledge by exercising the mind

empiricism = one gains knowledge by sensory experience

Science?

Induction – “bottom up”

Deduction – “top down”

Science

1) Observation2) Theory3) Testing

Science

1859 – Darwin 1880s – Galton 1900 – Freud 1906 – Pavlov 1917 – First self-report measure

A Brief History of Personality

1919 – John B. Watson 1910 to 1930s – Jung, Adler, Horney 1920s – Kurt Lewin 1930s – Henry Murray 1930s – B. F. Skinner 1930s – Margaret Mead

A Brief History of Personality

1930s – Allport 1940s – R. B. Cattell 1940s – Existential Psychology in US 1950s – Humanistic, Cognitive, Biological 1960s – Interactionist 1970s – Study of Gender Differences

A Brief History of Personality

1970s – Behaviorism begins to fade 1980s – Modern Interactionism 1980s – Evolutionary and Cultural

Psychology 1990s – The Big Five 1990s – Theories become narrower 2000s – Neuroscience, Cognitive, Biological

A Brief History of Personality

anyone’s guess

Ideas move in a dialectical fashion

Current: empiricalFuture: the opposite of empirical

What is Next?

Collecting Personality Data

Self-report: S DataPeer-report: I DataLife outcomes: L DataWatch the person: B Data

Collecting Data

Self-report

“S Data”

What person says about themselvesQuestionnairesVery common

Data Collection

Big Five

Data Collection

“S Data”

Advantage◦Best Expert◦Cause of what you do◦Simple and easy

Data Collection

“S Data”

Disadvantage◦4 Sources of Distortion

Data Collection

Peer report

I Data - “Informant”

Data Collection

2) Peer report

Advantage◦Objectivity

Data Collection

Peer report

Disadvantages

Problem with closeness

leniency or harshness effect

Data Collection

Life Outcomes

L Data

How much money? Arrested? Graduate?

Data Collection

Life Outcomes

Advantage◦Objective◦Exactly what we study◦Link to psych variables

Data Collection

Life Outcomes

Disadvantage◦Behavior is multi-determined

Data Collection

Direct Observation

B Data

Natural Observation

Data Collection

“B Data”

Advantage◦Objective◦Quantifiable◦Natural actions

Data Collection

“B Data”

Disadvantage◦Hawthorne Effect◦Bias

Data Collection

Total Assessment

Person

S Data

L DataB Data

I DataSelf-report

Life Outcomes

Peer Report

Behavioral Data