Psychology of Personality (550041-B-5)
Study year 2021-2022
Including slides and reading material
,MODULE 1 – INTRO TO PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY
Introduction and Personality Traits
Theoretical foundation
Measurement
Causes & consequences (biological + environment)
Stability vs change
Relevance
Pathology
Exam → online book chapters!!
Personality Defined
Characteristic sets of behaviours, cognitions, and emotional patterns that evolve from
biological and environmental factors
First misses → biological + environmental cause
WHAT IS PERSONALITY? → see slides
Personality is the set of psychological traits
And mechanisms
You get into situations, depending on personality traits you react differently
Within the individual that are organized
Some of them are more/less similar than the other
Similarities → common biological/environmental causes
Relatively enduring
Relatively consistent over time and situations
And that influences
Effect on our live
His or her interactions with
With environment → perceiving a situation
Selection
Evocations → reactions of others
Manipulations → how we tend to influence others/environment
And adaptations to
Unique way to deal with challenges in life
The intrapsychic, physical and social environment
Intrapsychic →react to our interpretation of the environment
3 Goals of Personality Research
1. Describing personality
Developing a definition
2. Explain
Which brain regions cause us to act how we act
3. Apply
CHECK SLIDES FOR WHICH WEEK DISCUSSES WHICH
Three Levels of Personality Analysis
from nomothetic approach (universal) to idiographic approach (unique)
, 1. Human nature
2. Individual and group differences
3. Individual uniqueness
Groups of different sizes often researched
Trait-Descriptive Adjectives
Words that describe traits, attributes of a person that are characteristic of a person and perhaps
enduring over time
Trait Distributions
When talking about personality we use labels/types
All traits normally distributed → average levels of personality traits
How many traits needed to describe personality?
Lots of personality descriptive adjectives
Need the few that describe the best
Lexical Approach
Lexical hypothesis
Tow criteria for identifying important traits:
- Synonym frequency
- Cross-cultural universality
The lexical approach → Collect large amounts of data and find patterns
1. Collect
2. Reduce, make measurable
3. Collect self-report data
1. Collect
2. Patterns
3. Analyze response patterns
4. Label factors
How many traits?
Five factor solution → OCEAN, Big Five model
- Extraversion
- Agreeableness
- Conscientiousness
- Neuroticism / emotional stability
- Openness / culture / intellect
HEXACO model → sixth factor; Honesty-humility
If 6th is important in research, use that model, else Five Factor Model
, The Big Five
High emotional stability, low neuroticism → deal well with stress, no mood swings
Conscientiousness → orderlijkheid, lazy (if high → high self-control)
Definition of Big Five
KNOW THE ADJECTIVES DESCRIBING THE FIVE TRAITS
Subtraits (facets) of Big Five
Subtraits of HEXACO
Debate on which are the most important ones
In Big Five, the ones from honesty are part of agreeableness → need own trait people say
Trait Hierarchies
Traits can be organized from broad to narrow
Organizing framework
Trait domains – aspects – facets – nuances
Strengths of Big Five
- Only 5 factors, but can describe most personalities
- Structure for comparable research
- Broad trait domains encompass and organize many more specific subtraits
- Good predictor of life outcomes
Weakness of Big Five
- Omissions
- Derived in Germanic cultures & languages → cross-cultural replicability
- Purely descriptive, no explanation of effects
- Causes/mechanisms
Doesn’t tell about biological factors
Brain regions
VIDEO 1 – WHY WE LOVE PERSONALITY PSCYHOLOGY
VIDEO 2 – TED TALK ON PERSONALITY
Study year 2021-2022
Including slides and reading material
,MODULE 1 – INTRO TO PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY
Introduction and Personality Traits
Theoretical foundation
Measurement
Causes & consequences (biological + environment)
Stability vs change
Relevance
Pathology
Exam → online book chapters!!
Personality Defined
Characteristic sets of behaviours, cognitions, and emotional patterns that evolve from
biological and environmental factors
First misses → biological + environmental cause
WHAT IS PERSONALITY? → see slides
Personality is the set of psychological traits
And mechanisms
You get into situations, depending on personality traits you react differently
Within the individual that are organized
Some of them are more/less similar than the other
Similarities → common biological/environmental causes
Relatively enduring
Relatively consistent over time and situations
And that influences
Effect on our live
His or her interactions with
With environment → perceiving a situation
Selection
Evocations → reactions of others
Manipulations → how we tend to influence others/environment
And adaptations to
Unique way to deal with challenges in life
The intrapsychic, physical and social environment
Intrapsychic →react to our interpretation of the environment
3 Goals of Personality Research
1. Describing personality
Developing a definition
2. Explain
Which brain regions cause us to act how we act
3. Apply
CHECK SLIDES FOR WHICH WEEK DISCUSSES WHICH
Three Levels of Personality Analysis
from nomothetic approach (universal) to idiographic approach (unique)
, 1. Human nature
2. Individual and group differences
3. Individual uniqueness
Groups of different sizes often researched
Trait-Descriptive Adjectives
Words that describe traits, attributes of a person that are characteristic of a person and perhaps
enduring over time
Trait Distributions
When talking about personality we use labels/types
All traits normally distributed → average levels of personality traits
How many traits needed to describe personality?
Lots of personality descriptive adjectives
Need the few that describe the best
Lexical Approach
Lexical hypothesis
Tow criteria for identifying important traits:
- Synonym frequency
- Cross-cultural universality
The lexical approach → Collect large amounts of data and find patterns
1. Collect
2. Reduce, make measurable
3. Collect self-report data
1. Collect
2. Patterns
3. Analyze response patterns
4. Label factors
How many traits?
Five factor solution → OCEAN, Big Five model
- Extraversion
- Agreeableness
- Conscientiousness
- Neuroticism / emotional stability
- Openness / culture / intellect
HEXACO model → sixth factor; Honesty-humility
If 6th is important in research, use that model, else Five Factor Model
, The Big Five
High emotional stability, low neuroticism → deal well with stress, no mood swings
Conscientiousness → orderlijkheid, lazy (if high → high self-control)
Definition of Big Five
KNOW THE ADJECTIVES DESCRIBING THE FIVE TRAITS
Subtraits (facets) of Big Five
Subtraits of HEXACO
Debate on which are the most important ones
In Big Five, the ones from honesty are part of agreeableness → need own trait people say
Trait Hierarchies
Traits can be organized from broad to narrow
Organizing framework
Trait domains – aspects – facets – nuances
Strengths of Big Five
- Only 5 factors, but can describe most personalities
- Structure for comparable research
- Broad trait domains encompass and organize many more specific subtraits
- Good predictor of life outcomes
Weakness of Big Five
- Omissions
- Derived in Germanic cultures & languages → cross-cultural replicability
- Purely descriptive, no explanation of effects
- Causes/mechanisms
Doesn’t tell about biological factors
Brain regions
VIDEO 1 – WHY WE LOVE PERSONALITY PSCYHOLOGY
VIDEO 2 – TED TALK ON PERSONALITY
