Personality Psychology – 2021/2022
Week One: PERSONALITY TRAITS
➢ Personality defined:
- personality is the set of psychological traits and mechanisms within the individual that
are organised and relatively enduring, and that influences one’s interactions with, and
adaptations to, the intrapsychic, physical, and social environments (Larsen, & Buss, 2001)
- personality is defined as the characteristic sets of behaviours, cognitions, and emotional
patterns that evolve from biological and environmental factors (Corr, & Gerald, 2009)
set of psychological traits: characteristics describing ways in which people are different from each
other
mechanisms: process of personality (information-processing activity), consisting of input, decision
rules (IF – THEN), and outputs
within the individual that are organised: personality traits structured in specific way, similarities
between traits point to common biological/environmental causes
relatively enduring: relatively consistent over situations and relatively enduring over lifespan
that influences: effect on lives, feelings, behaviours, and thoughts, and consequently on how life
develops
interactions with: perceptions (how we see or interpret an environment), selection (manner in which
we choose situations to enter), evocations (reactions we produce in others), manipulations (ways in
which we intentionally attempt to influence others)
adaptations to: central feature of personality concerns adaptive functioning, as opposed to
personality disorders = maladaptive
intrapsychic, physical, and social environments: intrapsychic = within the mind, i.e., not only
objective environment but also interpretation (dreams, thoughts, desires)
➢ 3 Natures:
1) Biogenic (Neurophysiology)
2) Sociogenic (2nd Nature)
3) Idiosyncratic / Idiogenic
, ➢ Goals of personality psychology:
1) describe
2) explain
3) apply
➢ Levels:
1) human nature
2) individual and group differences
3) individual uniqueness
➔ First two: nomothetic
➔ Last: idiographic
Book Chapter 1:
➢ Personality: reflection of people’s characteristic patterns of thoughts, feelings & behaviours
➔ Enduring predispositions characterising a person
➢ Personality traits: enduring dispositions in behaviour showing differences across individuals;
characterising person across varying types of situations
➔ Continuous distributions: characteristics going from low to high, with all intermediate
values possible; traits not simply ‘have’ or ‘not-have’ but subject to varying amounts
➢ 3 criteria characterising personality traits:
1) consistency (across situations)
2) stability (over time)
3) individual differences
➢ Allport & Odbert: lexical hypothesis
= idea that most important differences between people are encoded in language used to
describe people
➢ Identification of traits through lexical approach:
- Synonym frequency
- Cross-cultural universality
,The Five Factor Model of Personality:
- Use of factor analysis (statistical technique for grouping similar things together according to
how highly they are associated): “The Big Five”/ “Five-Factor Model” (Goldberg et al.)
Openness (Mental depth, broadness, creativity, curiosity: creative, curious, intellectual, innovative,
artistic vs conventional, conservative, uninterested)
Conscientiousness (goal oriented impulse control, organisation: diligent, organised, self-controlled,
reliable, accurate vs lazy, careless, distracted, unorganised)
Extraversion (active social engagement: gregarious, sociable, active, cheerful, assertive vs
introverted, shy, quiet, passive)
Agreeableness (prosocial, communion orientation: friendly, helpful, kind, altruistic, cooperative vs
cold, cynical, aggressive, quarrelsome)
Neuroticism (Negative and instable emotionality: anxious, fearful, stressed, irritable, depressive,
volative vs relaxed, stable, robust, self-confident)
➔ Mostly independent of each other
- Importance of traits:
➔ Describe stable patterns
➔ Predict life outcomes/have broad-ranging consequences
Facets of Traits:
Trait Domains → “aspects” → facets → “nuances”
- Facets = broad personality traits broken down into narrower facets or aspects of trait
➔ Reflecting different ways in which person can be e.g., extraverted
➔ No one accepted list of facets
➔ Providing more specific description of what person is like
- Facets of Big Five: NEO-PI-R Facets (Costa & McCrae)
- HEXACO facets (Ashton, & Lee, 2004)
Other Traits Beyond the Five-Factor Model:
- Hans Eysenck: Extraversion and Neuroticism as most important → linked to underlying
differences in biology
, - Jeffrey Gray: two broad traits related to fundamental reward and avoidance system in brain;
updated by Gray and McNaughton (2000)
➔ Both: interest in physiological underpinnings of individual differences
- HEXACO Model (Ashton, & Lee, 2007): addition of Honesty-Humility as 6th trait (to Five-
Factor Model)
- HEXACO and Big Five strengths
➔ Comprehensive
➔ provide structure for research and application
➔ organise specific sub-traits
➔ good predictor of life outcomes
- Weaknesses:
➔ Omissions, e.g., positive/negative evaluation, narcissism, psychopathy, etc.
➔ not cross-culturally replicable: derived from Anglo-Saxon/Germanic cultures and
languages
➔ unsure about causes/mechanisms
➔ no explanation of effects/only description
- Ongoing debate about exact number and composition of most important traits
- Study of other important traits of interest as well (e.g., Machiavellianism)
The Person-Situation Debate:
- Walter Mischel: “Personality & Assessment” → no existence of general/broad personality
traits consistent across situations
- Person-situation debate: historical debate about relative power of personality traits as
compared to situational influences on behaviour; situation critique suggested that people
overestimate extent of consistency of personality traits
- Alternative to trait perspective: study people’s distinctive reactions to specific situations
instead of broad, context-free descriptions
➔ Behaviours driven by interaction between:
1) specific, psychologically meaningful feature of situation
2) person’s unique way of perceiving situation
Week One: PERSONALITY TRAITS
➢ Personality defined:
- personality is the set of psychological traits and mechanisms within the individual that
are organised and relatively enduring, and that influences one’s interactions with, and
adaptations to, the intrapsychic, physical, and social environments (Larsen, & Buss, 2001)
- personality is defined as the characteristic sets of behaviours, cognitions, and emotional
patterns that evolve from biological and environmental factors (Corr, & Gerald, 2009)
set of psychological traits: characteristics describing ways in which people are different from each
other
mechanisms: process of personality (information-processing activity), consisting of input, decision
rules (IF – THEN), and outputs
within the individual that are organised: personality traits structured in specific way, similarities
between traits point to common biological/environmental causes
relatively enduring: relatively consistent over situations and relatively enduring over lifespan
that influences: effect on lives, feelings, behaviours, and thoughts, and consequently on how life
develops
interactions with: perceptions (how we see or interpret an environment), selection (manner in which
we choose situations to enter), evocations (reactions we produce in others), manipulations (ways in
which we intentionally attempt to influence others)
adaptations to: central feature of personality concerns adaptive functioning, as opposed to
personality disorders = maladaptive
intrapsychic, physical, and social environments: intrapsychic = within the mind, i.e., not only
objective environment but also interpretation (dreams, thoughts, desires)
➢ 3 Natures:
1) Biogenic (Neurophysiology)
2) Sociogenic (2nd Nature)
3) Idiosyncratic / Idiogenic
, ➢ Goals of personality psychology:
1) describe
2) explain
3) apply
➢ Levels:
1) human nature
2) individual and group differences
3) individual uniqueness
➔ First two: nomothetic
➔ Last: idiographic
Book Chapter 1:
➢ Personality: reflection of people’s characteristic patterns of thoughts, feelings & behaviours
➔ Enduring predispositions characterising a person
➢ Personality traits: enduring dispositions in behaviour showing differences across individuals;
characterising person across varying types of situations
➔ Continuous distributions: characteristics going from low to high, with all intermediate
values possible; traits not simply ‘have’ or ‘not-have’ but subject to varying amounts
➢ 3 criteria characterising personality traits:
1) consistency (across situations)
2) stability (over time)
3) individual differences
➢ Allport & Odbert: lexical hypothesis
= idea that most important differences between people are encoded in language used to
describe people
➢ Identification of traits through lexical approach:
- Synonym frequency
- Cross-cultural universality
,The Five Factor Model of Personality:
- Use of factor analysis (statistical technique for grouping similar things together according to
how highly they are associated): “The Big Five”/ “Five-Factor Model” (Goldberg et al.)
Openness (Mental depth, broadness, creativity, curiosity: creative, curious, intellectual, innovative,
artistic vs conventional, conservative, uninterested)
Conscientiousness (goal oriented impulse control, organisation: diligent, organised, self-controlled,
reliable, accurate vs lazy, careless, distracted, unorganised)
Extraversion (active social engagement: gregarious, sociable, active, cheerful, assertive vs
introverted, shy, quiet, passive)
Agreeableness (prosocial, communion orientation: friendly, helpful, kind, altruistic, cooperative vs
cold, cynical, aggressive, quarrelsome)
Neuroticism (Negative and instable emotionality: anxious, fearful, stressed, irritable, depressive,
volative vs relaxed, stable, robust, self-confident)
➔ Mostly independent of each other
- Importance of traits:
➔ Describe stable patterns
➔ Predict life outcomes/have broad-ranging consequences
Facets of Traits:
Trait Domains → “aspects” → facets → “nuances”
- Facets = broad personality traits broken down into narrower facets or aspects of trait
➔ Reflecting different ways in which person can be e.g., extraverted
➔ No one accepted list of facets
➔ Providing more specific description of what person is like
- Facets of Big Five: NEO-PI-R Facets (Costa & McCrae)
- HEXACO facets (Ashton, & Lee, 2004)
Other Traits Beyond the Five-Factor Model:
- Hans Eysenck: Extraversion and Neuroticism as most important → linked to underlying
differences in biology
, - Jeffrey Gray: two broad traits related to fundamental reward and avoidance system in brain;
updated by Gray and McNaughton (2000)
➔ Both: interest in physiological underpinnings of individual differences
- HEXACO Model (Ashton, & Lee, 2007): addition of Honesty-Humility as 6th trait (to Five-
Factor Model)
- HEXACO and Big Five strengths
➔ Comprehensive
➔ provide structure for research and application
➔ organise specific sub-traits
➔ good predictor of life outcomes
- Weaknesses:
➔ Omissions, e.g., positive/negative evaluation, narcissism, psychopathy, etc.
➔ not cross-culturally replicable: derived from Anglo-Saxon/Germanic cultures and
languages
➔ unsure about causes/mechanisms
➔ no explanation of effects/only description
- Ongoing debate about exact number and composition of most important traits
- Study of other important traits of interest as well (e.g., Machiavellianism)
The Person-Situation Debate:
- Walter Mischel: “Personality & Assessment” → no existence of general/broad personality
traits consistent across situations
- Person-situation debate: historical debate about relative power of personality traits as
compared to situational influences on behaviour; situation critique suggested that people
overestimate extent of consistency of personality traits
- Alternative to trait perspective: study people’s distinctive reactions to specific situations
instead of broad, context-free descriptions
➔ Behaviours driven by interaction between:
1) specific, psychologically meaningful feature of situation
2) person’s unique way of perceiving situation
