-
What is personality?
is the set of psychological traits and mechanisms within the individual that is organized and relatively enduring and that influences his or her interactions with, and adaptations to, the environment (including the intrapsychic, physical, and social environment).
-
3 levels of analysis
- human nature
- individual group differences
- Individual uniqueness
-
Analysis:
Human nature
How we are like others
Traits and mechanisms of personality that are typical of out species and possessed by nearly everyone
-
Analysis:
Individual group differences
How we are like some
- Individual differences refer to ways in which each person is like some other people
- (extroverts, high self-esteem)
- Group differences refer to ways in which the people of one group differ from people in another group
- (cultural and age differences)
-
Analysis:
Individual uniqueness
How we are like no one
Individual uniqueness refers to the fact that every individual has personal and unique qualities not shared by any other person in the world
Individuals can be studied nomothetically or ideographically
-
6 domains of knowledge
- biological
- dispositional
- Intrapsychic
- Cognitive-experimental
- Social and cultural
- adjustment
-
6 domains of knowledge:
biological
Core assumption of biological approaches to personality is that humans are collections of biological systems, and these systems provide building blocks for behavior, thought, and emotion
Behavioral genetics of personality
Psychophysiology of personality
Evolutionary personality psychology
-
6 domains of knowledge:
dispositional
Deals with ways in which individuals differ from one another and, therefore, cuts across all other domains
Focus on number and nature of fundamental dispositions
Goal of those working in this domain is to identify and measure the most important ways in which individuals differ from one another
Also interested in the origin of individual differences and how these develop over time
-
6 domains of knowledge:
Intrapsychic
Deals with mental mechanisms of personality, many of which operate outside conscious awareness
Classic and modern versions of Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis, including work on repression, denial, projection, and motives for power, achievement, and affiliation
-
6 domains of knowledge:
cognitive-experimental
Focuses on cognition and subjective experience, such as conscious thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and desires about oneself and others
Self and self-concept
Goals we set and strive to meet
Emotional experiences, in general and over time
-
6 domains of knowlegde:
social and cultural
Assumption that personality affects, and is affected by, cultural and social contexts
Much work on cultural differences between groups (e.g., in social acceptability of aggression)
Also much work on individual differences within cultures—how personality plays out in the social sphere, including work on sex differences and gender differences in personality processes, traits, and mechanisms
At human nature level of analysis, all humans have common set of concerns they struggle with in the social sphere
-
6 domains of knowledge:
adjustment
Personality plays key role in how we cope, adapt, and adjust to events in daily life
Personality linked with important health outcomes and problems in coping and adjustment
-
Unique characteristices:
Nomothetic research
Statistical comparisons across individuals or groups
Single characteristic or dimensions studies abstractly
-
Unique characteristics:
Ideographic research
Focus on single individual; how characteristics manifest, combine, interact
Often, case studies of individuals
|
|