CONTEMPORARY
STRUCTURE
THEORIES
Five Factor Theory (Trait Basic Tendencies
Theory) Hierarchical traits
Competitive and
Person, situation, Person-
Cooperative (selection and
Situation Interaction
evocation)
Competence
Self-Determination
Autonomy
Theory
Relatedness
Death anxiety drives to
adopt worldwide views that
Terror Management
protect self-esteem,
Theory
worthiness and
sustainability (for meaning)
Analytical rational and
CEST Intuitive experiential
World and self theories
CAPS Cognitive Affective Units
New Big Five Big Five
PROCESS
MOTIVATION
Characteristic adaptations
Individuals reacts to their
environments by evolving
patterns of thoughts,
feelings, and behaviors
consistent with their
personality trait and earlier
adaptations
Psychological Needs and
Intrinsic Motivation
Human survival instincts
Need to reinforce
significance
Good adjustment is
fulfillment of four basic
needs in synergistic
harmonious manner; poor
adjustment is attempt to
fulfill needs in competitive
conflictual manner
Encoding, expectancies and
beliefs, affects, goals and
values, competencies and
self-regulatory plans
BAS (behavioral approach
system) – positive approach
behavior in pursuit of
incentives and/or positive
affect
BIS (behavioral inhibition
system) – regulate avoidance
behavior and negative
affectivity
Keeping a articular narrative
going
GROWTH AND
PSYCHOPATHOTOLOGY
DEVELOPMENT
Through intrinsic maturation
and biological processes that
alter the basis of traits,
including social roles and/or
expectations
Living on through being
remembered by others
Fulfillment of needs including
self-fulfillment and self-
verification
Humans are growth-roeinted
PSYCHOTHERAPY
Adaptations may not be optimal with
respect to cultural values or personal
goals
Lack of compassion
If a need is fulfilled at the expense of
others, the need to fulfill those
needs will markedly increase
What constitutes a situation in part
depends on perceiver’s contructs
and subjective maps; we focus on
different parts of the situation
IMORTANT CASE OF
TERMINOLOGIES CHARLIE
Low extraversion, high
neuroticism, low agreeableness,
high openness
Level of competence falters due
to mixed reviews from models;
feels low in autonomy once
there is success because of
expectations; finds relatedness
from temporary relationships
Proximal or distal
(deal with it now or
forget about it); a Publishing a book to be
Worldwide views that
delay in death remembered; string of lovers to
espouse tolerance
thoughts may also leave a mark or to forget
and compassion
instigate self-esteem about death anxiety
striving and more
risky behavior
Poor adjustment to needs
because he deals with it in a
conflictual manner. Has a hard
time of attaining self-verification
and fulfillment because of
Implicit and self-
conflicting reviews from people.
attributed
Self-fulfillment in terms of
writing was attained at the
expense of other needs hence
the markedly increase drive to
relate (self-defeating behaviors)
Features of situations
activate set of
internal reactions,
not just cognitive but
affective, based on
prior experience with
the features
Questions:

What is the difference between the person-situation interaction and characteristic adaptations?

What is the difference between May and Terror Management?

BIOLOGICAL AND EVOLUTIONARY APPROACHES TO PERSONALITY

Genotype does not rule the world. There is a push and pull between genes and environment.

- Only 50% from heritability; 50% environmentality

- Different genotypes respond to the same environment (all taking same exam, same location, but genotype will come to fore to respond to environment)
- Monoamine oxidase A (production of neurotransmitters) in abused children = different responses and outcomes (some become antisocial, others not)

Genotype-environment correlation

- Different exposure to diff genotypes

 Passive: parents provide both genes and environment to children
 Reactive: parents and others respond differently to some children than to others; because of the different responses, what they have interact with what happens
 Active: people with certain genotypes seek out environments nonrandomly (extraverts throw parties); purposely seeking out environments
o If high in neuroticism, you want someone who is calm and not demanding (because you are easily triggered); if low neuroticism, ok lang lahat.

Physiological approach to personality

- Personality is supported and has a substrate of the physio system; we are affected with traits
1. Eysenck’s arousal theory
- Arousal is connected to extraversion/introversion in ARAS (cortically aroused based on levels of stimulation)
2. Cloninger’s tridimensional personality model
- Connects to neurotransmitters
- Low dopamine = novelty seeking behavior
3. Brain asymmetry and affect
- Cognitive neuroscience looks at symmetry and its indication to disposition
- Looking at which side of brain is active
- Left active: experiencing pleasant emotions; right active: unpleasant emotions
- If certain side is more active, you experience and notice such emotions more easily
4. Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory (RST)
- Individual differences in sensitivity to reward and punishment
- Not a lot of people are sold into assimilating it into a personality theory
- Motivation with regulatory aspect
- Gained from substance and eating problems
- How sensitive are you to rewards and punishments?
- RST looks at mediator between S and R (neurophysiological system)
 BAS: mediates on appetitive stimuli; responsible for impulsivity
 BIS: mediates on resolving goal conflict (approach or avoid); responsible for anxiety
 FFFS – brain’s activation in presence of threat; mediates all aversive stimuli (conditioned or not); mediates fear
- In substance use,
 BAS significantly predicted meth use
 BAS not significantly correlated with Conscientiousness among meth users

Disgust and contempt are not easy emotions to identify because we don’t usually express them openly. Contempt is not generally expressed and we are sometimes not aware that we are expressing it. Different muscles are at work when expressing
different emotions.

EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY

- Looks at things from the design of the human nature and mind, how it functions, developed and interacts with evolved and current environment to shape behavior.
 - Evolution is the origin of personality (for survival and reproduction)

Evoilutionary outcomes

 Adaptation: evolved strategies and problems solved; specie-typical

 By-products: after effect of adaptation but not part of the deisgn
 Noise: random effects that occur in design but does not affect functional deisgn
Ex. Umbilical cord, belly button, in or out belly button

Psychological mechanisms

- Internal and specific cognitive, motivational and personality system

- Categories – goals, drives, personality traits

Personality traits

- Individual differences and personality are evolved

- Looks like Five Factor. What is the difference?
 What these personality traits for? In FFM, its just traits. For PM, it helps solve problems of survival.
 Surgency/extraversion/dominance – for ambition; for there to be achievement, engagement with environment, etc.
 Agreeableness – ability to function with others; cooperative and help with group; more important than dominance
 Conscientiousness – capacity and commitment to work
 Emotional stability – handling stress, vigilance and sensitivity to harm and threat; also known as Neuroticism; if high neuroticism, the threat is already perceived and inside, not outside
 Openness/intellect – ability to solve problems and innovate; maybe there is too much openness by having too many different choices

Evolutionary Approach

Levels of personality analysis

 Ekman – need to belong, basic emotions, etc

 Sex differences – mate preferences, violence and aggression, etc.
 Individual differences

PERSON-SITUATION DEBATE

- What causes people to behave the way they do?

 From characteristics (Allport)
 From situations (Mischel – comes from interactional; if..then..)
- Kurt Lewin looked how behavior is a function of interaction between person and situation (B=f(p,S); personality triad (behavior, person, situation) -> P=f(S,B)
- Situation = psychologically relevant situations

Riverside Situational Q-Sort (RSQ)

- Respond how one behaves in situations

Situational Assessment

- What situatiosn makes people thrive or suffer