Module 12 Personality12.1 Contemporary approaches to personality“Personality” – a characteristics pattern of thinking, feeling, and behaving that is unique to each individual, and remains relatively consistent over time an situationsPersonality measurements1.“idiographic approach” –focusing on create detailed descriptions of a specific person’s uniquepersonality characteristics-Figure myself out-It is helpful for understanding your social worlds, and can be applied to the full range of human experience2.“nomothetic approach” – examine personality in large group of people, with the aim of makinggeneralization of about personality structure-To understand the factors that predict certain behaviours across people in general-The KEY is to identify the important personality traits that are related to whatever it is that you are interested in understandingThe trait perspective∙“Personality trait” –describes a person’s habitual patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving -How that person is most of the time)-The first systematic attempt to identify all possible traits was made in the 1930s by Allport ∙“the Barnum effect” – people are easy to be convinced that a personality profile describe them well, while the profile is generally false and not describe them at all-This is the reason why personality tests of questionable validity are so widely believed, as well as horoscopes, astrologers, and psychics-实验: 每个人都拿到一模一样的描述，而他们都觉得说的就是他们自己∙“factor analysis” – is used to group items that people respond to similarity-比如friendly, warm, and kind can be group togetherThe Five Factor Model (Big Five)It is a trait-based theory of personality based on the finding that personality can be described using five major dimension1.“Openness” 开放型a.高分表现:Dreamers, creative, open to new things, new ways of seeing things, open to new experience,curious, considered unconventional, think more abstractly, more sensitive to emotionsb.低分表现:Defenders, conventional, avoid unknown and find security from the known, prefer tangible,being practical, straightforward, dislike complexity, resistant to change2.“Conscientiousness” 责任型a.高分表现:Organizers, efficient, self-disciplined, dependable, comfortable with schedules and lists,great employees and students, live longer due to positive health behavioursb.低分表现:Easy-going ones, fun to hang out with, poor collaborators, disorganized, careless with details, difficult to meet deadline, be-in-the-moment, not that stress about details3.“Extraversion” 外向型a.高分表现:Socializers, sensation seekers, love stimulating environments, love company, outgoing andenergetic, assertive, talkative, enthusiastic, prefer high level of stimulation and excitement, take things too far, have higher risk of dangerousb.低分表现:Quiet, solitary, recharging their batteries, overwhelmed by high levels of stimulation, morecaution and reserved, someone who can really to talk to4.“Agreeableness” 服从型a.高分表现:Warm and friendly, easy to be friend with, compassionate, empathetic, helpful and altruistic, willing to put their on interest aside in order to please others or avoid conflicts, hard tochoose, great team members, poor leadership skillsb.低分表现:Uncooperative, unkind, out themselves first, being authentic more than pandering to other people’s needs, engage in conflict if necessary, skeptical of other’s motives, less trusting ofhuman nature, self-interested5.“Neuroticism” 神经质型a.高分表现:Neurotics, difficult to deal with, emotional volatility, have negative emotions, sensitive,strong reaction to stressful situations, magnify small frustration into major problems, andpersist, most vulnerable to anxiety and depressive disordersb.低分表现:Mentally healthy, secure and confident, highly resilient to stress, excellent at managingemotions, regard as stablePersonality of evil“Authoritarian personality” –独裁/权利主义-Theorized to be rigid and dogmatic in their thinking, separate social world into US and THEM, believe strongly in the superiority in US and the inferiority in THEM-Likely to endorse prejudice and violence towards THEM-于二战后提出There are 3 lines of research that discover personality beyond the big five1.“HEXACO model of personality” – a six factor theory, 在big five基础上新增加了一个additional factor, 就是“honesty-humility” 诚信/人性a.高分表现:Sincere, honest, faithful, modest, perform altruistic and prosocial behavioursb.低分表现:Deceitful, greedy, pompous, selfish, antisocial, violent tendency, materialistic, manipulateothers, break the rules, unfaithful to relationship, strong sense of self-importance2.“The Dark Triad” 黑暗面–包含三个traitsI.“Machiavellianism” 权术主义(To use people and to be manipulative and deceitful, lack respect, focus predominantlyin their self-interest)Become aggressive when it serves their goalsII.“Psychopathy” 精神病(Having shallow emotional response, feel little empathy, harming others with littleremorse for their actions)Become aggressive when they feel physically threatenedIII.“Narcissism” 自恋(Egotistical preoccupation with self-image and excessive focus on self-importance, likefull of himself)Become aggressive when they feel self-esteem is threatened3.“Right-wing Authoritarianism” 右翼独裁主义-As a highly problematic set of personality characteristics that involve three key tendenciesa.Obeying orders and deferring to the established authorities in a society绝对服从已建立政府的法规b.Supporting aggression against those who dissent or differ from the established social order支持对于不同于建立的法规的思想或行动的暴力制裁c.Believing strongly in maintaining the existing social order 强烈地维持已建立的一切任何规定-CENTER: thinking in dogmatic terms 非黑即白,没有过度地带-Thinking with complete certainty-Process info in highly biased ways, ignoring or rejecting evidence that contradict their views -Unquestioning acceptance of authority figures-Helping to maintain repressive dictatorships in Hitler’s time-“Global change game实验” 一群RWA高的人一下子就ruin the worldPersonality traits over the lifespan∙Our personality start even before we are born-Infant possess different temperament right from birth, suggesting that the seeds of our personalities are present right from birth-Infant temperament predict the adult personality of neuroticism, extraversion, and conscientiousness三岁看到老实验: longitudinal study测试三岁小孩的不同脾性是否能预测长大的性格∙Neurons that fire together wire together-Personality conditions how you feel, perceive, interpret, and behave, this set I motion processes that feed back to reinforce the original personality trait, like a positive feedbacksystem∙Young adults tend to experience fewer negative emotions than do adolescence, reflecting decrease in neuroticism.Also conscientiousness, agreeableness, and extraversion all increase in early adulthood ∙There is considerable stability in our personality-Over time, our environments changes as well as the roles we play in those environments -Although individuals may change over time, their personal characteristics relative to other people remain remarkably stablePersonality traits and statePeople’s behaviour is also determined by situational factors and context∙“State” – is a temporary physical or psychological engagement that influence behaviours ∙四种情况1.Location2.Associations 独自一人或者与别人在一起3.Activities4.Subjective states 生气，高兴，或者生病Behaviourist perspective∙There is no existence of internalized traits-The relationship between specific environmental stimuli and the observed pattern of behaviour is important, behaviour is based on past experiences-Personality is a description of the response tendencies that occur in different situations ∙The dimension of “extraversion” is unnecessary-Emphasize the importance of stimulus-response associations that are learned through exposure to specific situations, rather than emphasizing internalized, relatively stablepersonality traits∙The AGREEMENT between behaviourist and other approaches is the emphasis on how learning contributes to personalitySocial-Cognitive theory perspective(By Albert Bandura)It emphasize the role of beliefs and the reciprocal relationships between people and their environment∙Environmental stimuli do not automatically trigger specific behaviour, instead inform individual’s belief about the world, in particular, their belief s about that consequences are likely to follow from certain behaviours∙CENTRAL IDEA: “reciprocal determinism”-Behaviour, internal factors, external factors interact to determine one another, and that our personalities are based on interactions among these three aspects∙So personality is not something inside the person, but rather exist between the person and the environment∙People’s personalities and their environment are interdependent in many different ways, linked together in feedback loops that connect their perceptions, cognitions, emotions, behaviours-the ways they structure their environment, the ways that their environments structure them12.2 Cultural and biological approaches to personalityUniversals and differences across cultures∙Despite the differences that may exist between cultures, the people in those cultures share the same basic personality structures∙Although individual personalities differ enormously, the basic machinery of the human personality system is universal∙在中国的研究: researchers found 4 traits:-Dependability可靠型, social potency社会效能型, individualism个人主义型, interpersonal relatedness人际关系型∙At this point, most psychologists would agree the five factor model captures important and perhaps universal dimensions of personality-But also might miss important cultural-specific qualities than can only be understood by analyzing personality from that culture’s perspectiveComparing between nations∙Many of the findings in these large-scale cross-cultural studies defy cultural stereotypes∙It is difficult to understand if these differences are real because:nguage translation challenge2.“Response styles” – characteristic ways of responding questions(Ensure that people use the same kind of reasoning process when answering the questionsbecause response styles can be strongly influenced by cultural norms)比如发现日本人分数都特别低，不是因为真的人不好，而是文化背景让他们习惯谦虚∙The problem of essentializing cultural differences-It is hard to attribute that difference to something fundamental to the cultures, some sort of basic differences between the essence of each culture∙Individualism东亚国家 vs. Collectivism西方国家-Individualism注重自己, collectivism注重于外界的联系-To individualists, the individualistic task was processed by the brains as most self-relevant, the parietal lobe is firing.To collectivists, it was the collectivistic task most self-relevantGenetic influence on personalityGenetic factors contribute substantially to personality∙Twin studies同卵和异卵双胞胎的实验证明基因确实一定程度上决定我们的性格∙In terms of basic personality characteristics, your genes are more important than you home -Most of the time, the influence of parenting on personality is overshadowed by the contribution made by our genes∙Researchers had discovered genes that code for specific brain chemicals than are related to personalityRole of evolution in personality∙Animals have personalities-对于chimpanzee的研究表明big five同样存在∙The big five traits are selected for being adaptive in past evolutionary epochs, helping to promote survival and reproduction-每个性格特征的高分和低分都有自己的长处，所以并不是神经质型高分的就一定不好，低分的就一定好∙Being either high or low in each big five trait could be desirable, depending on the situations The brain and personality∙“Humourism” – explained both physical illness and disorders of personality as resulting from imbalance in key fluids in the body –the 4 “humours”- 4 humours: blood, phlegm, black bile, yellow bile∙“Phrenology” – (by Franz Gall) the theory that personality characteristics could be assessed by carefully measuring the outer skull-The specific dimensions of the skull indicated the size of the brain area inside, which in turn corresponded to specific personality-根据人的头骨把大脑分成几个区域，每个区域负责不同的性格特征Extraversion and arousal∙“Arousal theory of extraversion” –arguing that extraversion is determined by people’s threshold of arousal-Extraverts have higher threshold for arousal than introverts, so extraverts generally seek greater amount of stimulation∙Module of brain-personality relationship models:1.“Ascending reticular activating system (ARAS)” – plays a central role in controlling thisarousal response-It is the reactivity that differentiate the extraverts and the introverts2.“Approach/ inhibition model of motivation” – describes two major brain systems forprocessing rewards and punishmentsA.“Behavioural activation system (BAS)” – a GO systemArousing the person to respond to action in the pursuit of desired goalsResponsive to rewards and unresponsive to negative consequencesRelated to extraversionB.“Behavioural inhibition system (BIS)” – a DANGER systemMotivating the person to action in order to avoid punishment or other negative outcomesAssociated with greater negative emotional responses and avoidance motivationRelated to neuroticismImage of personality in the brain∙Extraversionrger medial orbitofrontal lobe – for processing reward2.Less activation in the amygdala – for processing novelty, danger, and fear∙Conscientiousnessrger middle frontal gyrus in the left prefrontal cortex – involve in working memory andcarrying our planned actions∙Neuroticism1.Smaller dorsomedial prefrontal cortex – controlling emotions2.Smaller hippocampus – controlling obsessive negative thinkingrger mid-cingulate gyrus – detecting errors and perceiving pain∙Agreeableness1.Smaller volume of superior temporal sulcus – interpreting other’s intentionsrger posterior cingulate – involve in empathy and perspective-taking∙Openness1.Greater activation in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex – involve creativity and intelligence∙These does not mean these difference cause the personality difference, it suggest these brain regions are involved in serving neurological functions that related to personality process ∙There is no specific brain area that involved uniquely in a single personality trait12.3 Psychodynamic and humanistic approach to personalityPsychodynamic perspective∙“Psychodynamic theory” – by Freud 其实根本就不是一个theory-The universal assumption is that personality and behaviour are shaped by powerful focus in consciousness-We have very little control over ourselves, and remarkably little insight into the reason for our own behaviours-Our mind is a black-box∙“conscious” 意识-Current awareness, containing everything that you are aware right now ∙“unconscious” 下意识-Most vast and powerful but inaccessible part of your consciousness, operating without you conscious endorsement or will to influence and guide your behaviour-Contain full lifetime of memories and experiences, include those no longer bring into conscious awareness-It is the primary driver of behavioursStructure of personality∙“Id” 本我-Collection of basic biological needs, animal desires 本能欲望-Fueled by an energy called “libido”-Operate according the “pleasure principle” – motivating people to seek out experiences that bring pleasure, with little regard for the appropriateness or consequences -The predominant force controlling our actions in the earliest stage of our life-Tell us what our body want to do∙“Superego” 超我-Comprised our values and moral standards 价值与道德标准-Tell us what we ought to do-Forms over time as we become socialized and educated, learned through being praised or punished-Represent a process of internalization∙“Ego” 自我-Between id and superego 调解本我和超我的矛盾-The decision maker and frequently under tension-Operate according the “reality principle” – plugged into reality∙The tension between 3 systems give rise to personality in two ways1.Different people will have deep personality differences because of the strength of their id,ego, and superego2.Generates much of our personality is how we react to “anxiety” – a experiential result of thetension between id, ego, and superegoDefence mechanismThe unconscious strategies the ego use to reduce or avoid anxiety 防御机制- The undesired tendencies are not confronted and problems are not dealt with 没有面对不堪，问题也没有解决Psychosexual stages 小孩发展∙ At each stage, the libido manifest in specific are of body, depends on what areas are mostimportant for providing pleasure∙ “Fixation ” 固恋现象 – becoming preoccupied with obtaining the pleasure associated with aparticular stage and then fixed at that stage 在任一阶段中不能正常往下发展，日后行为模式就会固定在此阶段，有不好的影响1. Oral stage 表现为lack of self-confidence, 容易产生依赖和攻击性2. Anal stage 表现为 通过 “toilet training ”,如果父母教得不好的话就会:a. “anal retentive ” 滞留型，过于在乎清洁，控制欲强，因为父母施加压力过大b. “anal expulsive ” 排出型，邋遢懒散，因为父母教导不够3. Phallic stage 表现为 男女不同:a. 男生 “Oedipus complex 恋母情结” and “castration anxiety 阉割恐惧”b. 女生 “Electra complex 恋父情结” and “penis envy”4. Latency stage 不会发生fixation 因为男女感情疏远，集体活动呈男女分离的趋势5. Genital stage 不会发生fixationExploring the unconscious∙Freud refined dream analysis and free association to reveal unconscious material∙“Projective tests” 投射测验– personality tests in which ambiguous images are presented to an individual to elicit responses that reflect unconscious desire or conflicts1.“Rorschach inkblot test” 罗夏墨迹测验– in which people are asked to describe what theysee 看墨迹2.“Thematic Apperception test (TAT)” 主题理解测验– ask respondent to tell stories aboutambiguous pictures involving various interpersonal situation 看图说故事∙但这些投射测验遭到反对，原因是:1.Low reliability 可靠性低–同一个人在不同时间重新做测试，结果都不一样2.Low validity 有效性低–没有测试到要测试的东西-比如“figure drawing test” –测试的其实是artistic ability and intelligenceWorking the Scientific Literacy ModelPerceiving others as a projective test∙Projection本来是在过去Freud’s psychodynamic theory里面，由于方法争议大，近代现代更倾向于用“trait approach” 来应用于投射测验-we make guesses as to what other people are like by using our own self-concepts as a guide -They found several correlations showing that the way people view themselves is, in fact, related to how they view others, in other words, how people perceive others appears to bea projection of how they perceive themselves-但是不足的是: it cannot make precise predictions, only general statements; and cannot know whether it is because of the rater is either optimistic or pessimisticAlternative approaches都反对Freud, 认为归属感，成就感，完整感对性格发展才是重要因素∙Carl Jung –“Analytical psychology” – focus on the role of unconscious archetypes in personality development-认为有两种unconscious1.“personal unconscious” –same as Freud’s2.“collective unconscious”集体无意识– non-personal realm of the unconscious thatholds the collective memories and mythologies of humankind, stretching deep into ourancestral past人类世世代代在无意识中积累的知识经验，不受地域文化差别所限-CENTRAL ROLE: “archetype”原型– image and symbols that reflects common truths held across cultures, which represent major narrative patterns in the unconscious ∙Alfred Adler –“inferiority complex” 自卑情结– the struggle that many people have with feeling inferiority-反对Freud’s pleasur e principle-Stem from experience of helplessness and powerless during children由于童年的无助和无力感产生的∙Karen Horney –“womb envy” 反对恋母情结-She focus on the social and cultural factors-Highlighted the importance of interpersonal conflict between children and their parents Humanistic approach∙Against the pessimism and disempowerment inherent in Freudian approaches, and to explore the potential for humans to become truly free and deeply fulfilled 反对Freud的性本恶理论，提倡积极正面的motivation and humanity∙代表人物荣格Carl Rogers –“Person-centered perspective”-States that people are basically good, and given the right environment their personality will develop fully and normally-Believe that people possess inner drive toward “self-actualization自我实现”, the more self-actualized a person becomes, the more his inherently good nature will dominate hispersonality∙Abraham Maslow马斯洛∙Martin Seligman-Launched the “positive psychology” movement。
