PERSONALITY

topHat: 1. B) Scalar. (People generally pick the in-between, a “safe” option, the lack of scalar
questions “force” an individual to choose)
2. D) Meeting someone in discord with oneself.

Personality theories attempt to describe + explain personality

[Trait approach]
- describe personality using a series of ​traits — ​a relatively stable disposition to behave in
a particular and consistent way
- list of traits practically infinite
- >> uses ​factor analysis ​to reduce this list to lowest possible set.
- 1. individuals rate themselves on 100s of traits
- 2. traits that are highly correlated (shy - introverted) are combined into factors
- 3. traits with no correlation are considered parts of separate factors (shy - outgoing)
- end up with dimensions that contain a multitude of traits
topHat: 3. A) Uncooperative
- an example of highly correlated traits (positively or negatively) in population:
(​softhearted, trusting, helpful, ruthless, suspicious, uncooperative​)
- researched using factor analysis combine all of these traits into ​agreeableness

The Big Five

- using the trait approach, most researchers today agree upon a ​five-factor model​ of
personality: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism
(OCEAN)
- characteristics of people who have high/low scores of these:
- O - ​high ​creative, artistic, curious, imaginative, non-conforming ​low ​conventional,
down-to-earth
- C - ​high ​ambitious, organized, reliable ​low ​unreliable, lazy, casual, spontaneous
- E - ​high ​talkative, optimistic, social, affectionate ​low ​reserved, comfortable with being
alone, introverted
- A - ​high ​good-natured, trusting, supportive ​low ​rude, uncooperative, irritable, hostile,
competitive
- N - ​high ​worried, insecure, anxiety-prone ​low ​tranquil, secure, emotionally stable
- these traits are ​not correlated to each other​ by definition
topHat: 4. C) Conscientiousness
- personality traits are relatively stable and stability ​increases ​throughout the lifespan
- differential continuity / rank-order stability​: you will maintain your “rank” throughout
entire life (differences between us, continue: e.g. you are 75% more outgoing than your
kindergarten class —> translates to more outgoingness into adulthood)
- our rank-order in personality traits stays mostly the same, especially as we get older
- BUT some change does occur:
- mean-level changes​: although our rank-order remains fairly consistent, the mean levels
of traits of our cohorts change (you will be more open/emotionally stable in the future,
but so will your peers! so your rank-order doesn’t change)
- intraindividual change​: significant changes in a person’s personality from one time to
the next, more rare, can occur after life-changing experiences, say trauma

- although personality ​traits ​are relatively stable, personality ​states ​change across
situations - location, associations, activity, mood can all affect personality

- trait approach to determining where personality/traits come from / explain it:

- biological explanation:
- genetics​ being the largest single factor
- Big Five traits have a ​heritability factor ​of btwn. 0.35 and 0.49
- (heritability factor of 0.00 means that genetics play no role in a
physical/psychological trait (virtually none of these)
heritability factor of 1.00 means that genetics is completely responsible for a trait,
say eye colour)
- so the values are pretty high, but still ~50-65% of personality variability is still
due to various life experiences
- one big way our personality is informed by environments is in early infancy
- temperament ​is an infant’s characteristic ​activity level​, ​mood​, ​attention span​, and
distractibility
- infants’ temperaments are predictive of adult personalities, newer research
suggests that activity level in utero can even give information on personality as
adults
- cultural approach​:
- most big 5 research has been conducted in WEIRD countries — Western,
Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic, even though they represent a minority
in the world, the majority of research is done on them
- evidence that the big 5 is universal is mixed
- prevalence ​of personality traits vary from culture to culture
- so culture ​may​ ​play a role in determining an individual’s personality (remember:
~50-65% of our personality comes from experience)