Lecture 1
What is personality?
It is the set of psychological traits and mechanisms within the individual that
are organized and relatively enduring and that influence his or her interacts with and
adaptations to the intrapsychic, physical and social environments
Set of psychological traits, general characteristics, average tendencies
Ex. funny, empathetic
Utility of traits: describe ourselves and others, explain behaviours, predict future behaviours
Psychological mechanisms
● Our information processing systems
● Ex. extraversion trait
Bus stop with people -> group of people, opportunity for socializing -> intimate
conversations
Personality is within you: you carry it from one situation to the next (precursor to personality
is temperament)
Organized and relatively enduring
● Traits and mechanisms are organized coherently: not a random collection of
thoughts, feelings and urges
● Traits are relatively enduring over time (consistency)
● States are transient expenses
● Frequency and stability are key
That influence his or her interactions with
● Personality impacts how we think, feel and act or interact
● Perceptions or interpretations of the environment
● Selection of situations we enter
● Evocation of feelings, responses in others (aggression)
● Manipulations, or ways we intentionally impact environment
○ Consciousness
○ Parenting
And adaptations to
● Personality serves adaptive functions (accomplish goals, cope, adjust, respond to
challenges)
● Even behaviours that don’t appear functional may be functional
○ Chronic worry (neurotic behaviour) elevated social support
, The environment
● Understanding a person’s environment is also key for understanding personality
● Personality interacts with our environments, which in turn interacts with our
environments, which in turn interacts with us:
○ Physical, social and intrapsychic environment (each contribute to reality)
Three levels of personality:
● Every human is…
○ like all others (human nature level of analysis)
○ Like some others (group: and hence individual) differences level of analysis
○ Like no other (individual uniqueness level of analysis)
That are organized
● Organization implies that we are talking about a theory
○ A theory organizes research findings to tell a coherent story, can be used to
make predictions, provides a guide for researchers directing future research
■ Big 5 theory factor
Theories versus beliefs
● Beliefs are not necessarily based on facts (this does not mean that they are untrue,
but we cannot assume the truth of a belief until it is supported with research
● A good theory is comprehensive, provides a guide for future research, is testable,
avoids assumptions, is compatible with other areas of knowledge
A fissure in the field
● Gap between grand theories of personality (human nature level of analysis),
and contemporary research in personality (individual and group differences
level of analysis)
The elephant metaphor
Field of personality is elephant; researchers touch different parts of elephant (blind
people looking at structure, try to get as much information as possible)
Bridging the fissure
Domains of Knowledge
Dispositional Domain
Biological Domain
Intrapsychic Domain
Cognitive-Experiential Domain
Social and Cultural Domain
Adjustment Domain
1. Dispositional domain
a. Deals with the ways in which individuals differ from one another
b. Interest in the number and nature of fundamental dispositions
What is personality?
It is the set of psychological traits and mechanisms within the individual that
are organized and relatively enduring and that influence his or her interacts with and
adaptations to the intrapsychic, physical and social environments
Set of psychological traits, general characteristics, average tendencies
Ex. funny, empathetic
Utility of traits: describe ourselves and others, explain behaviours, predict future behaviours
Psychological mechanisms
● Our information processing systems
● Ex. extraversion trait
Bus stop with people -> group of people, opportunity for socializing -> intimate
conversations
Personality is within you: you carry it from one situation to the next (precursor to personality
is temperament)
Organized and relatively enduring
● Traits and mechanisms are organized coherently: not a random collection of
thoughts, feelings and urges
● Traits are relatively enduring over time (consistency)
● States are transient expenses
● Frequency and stability are key
That influence his or her interactions with
● Personality impacts how we think, feel and act or interact
● Perceptions or interpretations of the environment
● Selection of situations we enter
● Evocation of feelings, responses in others (aggression)
● Manipulations, or ways we intentionally impact environment
○ Consciousness
○ Parenting
And adaptations to
● Personality serves adaptive functions (accomplish goals, cope, adjust, respond to
challenges)
● Even behaviours that don’t appear functional may be functional
○ Chronic worry (neurotic behaviour) elevated social support
, The environment
● Understanding a person’s environment is also key for understanding personality
● Personality interacts with our environments, which in turn interacts with our
environments, which in turn interacts with us:
○ Physical, social and intrapsychic environment (each contribute to reality)
Three levels of personality:
● Every human is…
○ like all others (human nature level of analysis)
○ Like some others (group: and hence individual) differences level of analysis
○ Like no other (individual uniqueness level of analysis)
That are organized
● Organization implies that we are talking about a theory
○ A theory organizes research findings to tell a coherent story, can be used to
make predictions, provides a guide for researchers directing future research
■ Big 5 theory factor
Theories versus beliefs
● Beliefs are not necessarily based on facts (this does not mean that they are untrue,
but we cannot assume the truth of a belief until it is supported with research
● A good theory is comprehensive, provides a guide for future research, is testable,
avoids assumptions, is compatible with other areas of knowledge
A fissure in the field
● Gap between grand theories of personality (human nature level of analysis),
and contemporary research in personality (individual and group differences
level of analysis)
The elephant metaphor
Field of personality is elephant; researchers touch different parts of elephant (blind
people looking at structure, try to get as much information as possible)
Bridging the fissure
Domains of Knowledge
Dispositional Domain
Biological Domain
Intrapsychic Domain
Cognitive-Experiential Domain
Social and Cultural Domain
Adjustment Domain
1. Dispositional domain
a. Deals with the ways in which individuals differ from one another
b. Interest in the number and nature of fundamental dispositions
