Implicit Personality Theory: Intuitively based theories of human behaviour that we all
construct to help us to understand both others and ourselves.
- Most of the time we are not even consciously aware we are doing this.
Problems with Implicit Personality Theory
1. We seldom have the chance to verify our judgements
2. Based on casual and random observations of people (not on observations that have
been systematically selected to portray accurately how that person spends their life)
Lay definitions of personality: Personality is judged in a social context, such as how well
people get on with others and their style of interacting as well as comments on their
appearance.
- Sometimes they include elements of folklore within particular cultures (e.g. an
assumed match between a physical attribute and a personality attribute).
Psychological definitions of personality: Define personality in terms of characteristics, or
the qualities typical of that individual.
Gordon Allport: “A dynamic organisation, inside the person, of psychophysical systems that
create the person’s characteristic patterns of behaviour, thoughts and feelings.”
- A process that is continually adjusting, adapting to the experiences that we have,
changes in our lives, and ageing, etc. Personality is conceptualized as being an
active, responsive system, organised in some sort of internal structural system.
- The inclusion of both our minds and our bodies in what we refer to as personality.
The psychological elements in our mind interact with the body sometimes in complex
ways to produce behaviour.
- Something relatively stable is being produced that becomes typical of that individual.
The implied stability is important - without it, all attempts of measuring personality
would be futile.
- Personality is a central component includencing and being discernible in a wide
range of human experiences and activities.
Psychological construct: A mental concept that influences behaviour via the mind-body
interaction.
, Carver & Scheier: Within personality theorising, the distinction between and idiographic and
nomothetic is not clear cut.
- Nomothetic: still accept the uniqueness of individuals, However, they do not accept
that there is an infinite number of personality variables. They see that there is an
underlying common structure of personality with an associated finite number of
personality variables. The uniqueness of the individual comes from their particular
mix of variables from the finite set.
- Idiographic: Some go behind the focus purely on the individual. E.g. They collect sets
of case studies then identify the common themes across these studies. In this way,
they can generate theories and make predictions that can be tested, often by using
nomothetic approaches.
Describing personality
- Happiness, activity, assertiveness, neurosis, warmth, impulsiveness, etc.
- Physical descriptions are often not included.
Population norms: Characteristics are measured in specific populations such as male and
female, and the mean average levels of occurrence are calculated.
- This information gives profiles of individual differences that are then frequently used
to define types of personalities.
Core assertions:
1. Personality is a relatively stable, enduring and important aspect of the self.
2. Personality characteristics exert a relatively consistent influence on behaviour in
different situations. In this way they are enduring across different social contexts.
3. Not all differences between individuals are considered to be equally important by
personality theorists. The important ones are said to be:
a. Openness to new experience - Feelings, ideas, values, actions, fana=tasy,
aesthetics.
b. Conscientiousness - competence, achievement striving, self-discipline,
orderliness, dutifulness, deliberation.
c. Extraversion - Gregariousness, activity level, assertiveness, excitement
seeking, positive emotions, warmth.
d. Agreeableness - Trust, altruism, straightforwardness, compliance, modesty,
tender-mindedness.
e. Neuroticism - Anxiety, self-consciousness, depression, vulnerability,
impulsiveness, angry hostility.
4. Observable (physical behaviour) VS unobservable (dreams, memories, thoughts).
5. Conscious VS unconscious.
Private persona: The ‘real’ inner person.
Public persona: The way that individuals present themselves to the outside world.
Social psychologists: It is the situation that largely dictates how we behave.
Personality theorists: Individual personality plays a crucial role in shapring our behaviour
whatever the situation.
construct to help us to understand both others and ourselves.
- Most of the time we are not even consciously aware we are doing this.
Problems with Implicit Personality Theory
1. We seldom have the chance to verify our judgements
2. Based on casual and random observations of people (not on observations that have
been systematically selected to portray accurately how that person spends their life)
Lay definitions of personality: Personality is judged in a social context, such as how well
people get on with others and their style of interacting as well as comments on their
appearance.
- Sometimes they include elements of folklore within particular cultures (e.g. an
assumed match between a physical attribute and a personality attribute).
Psychological definitions of personality: Define personality in terms of characteristics, or
the qualities typical of that individual.
Gordon Allport: “A dynamic organisation, inside the person, of psychophysical systems that
create the person’s characteristic patterns of behaviour, thoughts and feelings.”
- A process that is continually adjusting, adapting to the experiences that we have,
changes in our lives, and ageing, etc. Personality is conceptualized as being an
active, responsive system, organised in some sort of internal structural system.
- The inclusion of both our minds and our bodies in what we refer to as personality.
The psychological elements in our mind interact with the body sometimes in complex
ways to produce behaviour.
- Something relatively stable is being produced that becomes typical of that individual.
The implied stability is important - without it, all attempts of measuring personality
would be futile.
- Personality is a central component includencing and being discernible in a wide
range of human experiences and activities.
Psychological construct: A mental concept that influences behaviour via the mind-body
interaction.
, Carver & Scheier: Within personality theorising, the distinction between and idiographic and
nomothetic is not clear cut.
- Nomothetic: still accept the uniqueness of individuals, However, they do not accept
that there is an infinite number of personality variables. They see that there is an
underlying common structure of personality with an associated finite number of
personality variables. The uniqueness of the individual comes from their particular
mix of variables from the finite set.
- Idiographic: Some go behind the focus purely on the individual. E.g. They collect sets
of case studies then identify the common themes across these studies. In this way,
they can generate theories and make predictions that can be tested, often by using
nomothetic approaches.
Describing personality
- Happiness, activity, assertiveness, neurosis, warmth, impulsiveness, etc.
- Physical descriptions are often not included.
Population norms: Characteristics are measured in specific populations such as male and
female, and the mean average levels of occurrence are calculated.
- This information gives profiles of individual differences that are then frequently used
to define types of personalities.
Core assertions:
1. Personality is a relatively stable, enduring and important aspect of the self.
2. Personality characteristics exert a relatively consistent influence on behaviour in
different situations. In this way they are enduring across different social contexts.
3. Not all differences between individuals are considered to be equally important by
personality theorists. The important ones are said to be:
a. Openness to new experience - Feelings, ideas, values, actions, fana=tasy,
aesthetics.
b. Conscientiousness - competence, achievement striving, self-discipline,
orderliness, dutifulness, deliberation.
c. Extraversion - Gregariousness, activity level, assertiveness, excitement
seeking, positive emotions, warmth.
d. Agreeableness - Trust, altruism, straightforwardness, compliance, modesty,
tender-mindedness.
e. Neuroticism - Anxiety, self-consciousness, depression, vulnerability,
impulsiveness, angry hostility.
4. Observable (physical behaviour) VS unobservable (dreams, memories, thoughts).
5. Conscious VS unconscious.
Private persona: The ‘real’ inner person.
Public persona: The way that individuals present themselves to the outside world.
Social psychologists: It is the situation that largely dictates how we behave.
Personality theorists: Individual personality plays a crucial role in shapring our behaviour
whatever the situation.
