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| trait descriptive adjectives |
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Definition
| adjectives that can be used to describes characteristics of people |
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| the set of psychological traits and mechanisms within the individual that are organized and relatively enduring and that influence his or her interactions with, and adaptations to, the intrapsychic, physical, and social environments |
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| characteristics that describe ways in which people are different from each other and how people are similar |
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| in general, traits describe the relative frequency of an activity, like a high-talkative person, on average, starts more conversations than a low one |
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the processes of personality
inputs (environments), decision rules (what options are considered and how), and outputs (actions, e.g. reactions) |
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| the psychological traits and mechanisms, for a given person, are not simply a random collection of elements- they are linked to one another in a coherent fashion |
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| traits appear to be this, particularly in adults, and are somewhat consistent over situations |
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| personality traits and mechanisms can have an effect on people's lives; it influences how we act, how we view ourselves, how we think about the world, how we interact with others, how we feel, how we select our environment (particularly our social environment), what goals and desires we pursue in life, and how we react to our circumstances |
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| person-environment interaction |
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Definition
| perceptions (how we see/perceive stimuli), selections (the manner in which we choose situations to enter- how we choose our friends, hobbies, college classes, and careers), evocations (the reactions we produce in others, often quite unintentionally. To some extent, we create the social environment that we inhabit.), and manipulations (the ways in which we intentionally attempt to influence others) |
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| a central feature of personality concerns adaptive functioning- accomplishing goals, coping, adjusting, and dealing with the challenges and problems we face as we go through life |
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| human nature as a level of personality analysis |
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the traits and mechanisms of personality that are typical of our species and are possessed by everyone or nearly everyone
ex. language skills, fundamental psychological mechanisms, need to belong, capacity for love |
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ways in which each person is like some other people
e.g. extraverts, sensation seekers, etc. |
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people in one group may have certain personality features in common and these common features make that group of people different from other groups
ex. different cultures, age groups, political parties, socioeconomic backgrounds, and the sexes |
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research that typically involves comparisons of individuals or groups, requiring samples of subjects on which to conduct research
generally applied to identify universal human characteristics and dimensions of individual or group differences |
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"the description of one"
research that focuses on a single subject, trying to observe general principles that are manifest in a single life over time
ex. case study |
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specialty area of science and scholarship, in which psychologists have focused on learning about some specific and limited aspects of human nature
delineates the boundaries of researchers' knowledge, expertise, and interests |
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deals centrally with the ways in which individuals differ from one another
can include habitual emotions, habitual concepts of self, physiological propensities, and even intrapsychic mechanisms
what distinguishes is an interest in the number and nature of fundamental dispositions - goal is to identify and most important ways individuals differ and the origin |
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core assumption: biological systems are what humans are and are the reasons for behavior, thought and emotion
three main areas of research- genetics, psychophysiology, and evolution |
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mental mechanisms of personality, many of which operate outside of conscious awareness
predominant theory: Freud and psychoanalysis
others: power, achievement and intimacy motives |
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| cognitive-experiential domain |
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focuses on cognition and subjective experience, such as conscious thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and desires about oneself and others- mechanisms differ
important: self and self-concept |
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| social and cultural domain |
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assumption: personality affects, and is affected by, the social and cultural context
important part: sex differences |
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personality plays a key role in how we cope, adapt, and adjust to the ebb and flow of events in our day-to-day lives
-important health outcomes, how long we live, |
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provides a guide for researchers
organizes known findings
makes predictions |
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personally useful
crucially important to some people
based on faith, not reliable facts and systematic observations |
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| scientific standards for evaluating personality theories |
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comprehensiveness
heuristic value
testability
parsimony
compatibility and integration across fields and domains |
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| does the theory do a good job of explaining all the facts and observations within its domain? |
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| does the theory provide a guide to important new discoveries about personality that were not known before? |
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| does the theory render precise enough predictions that personality psychologists can test them empirically? |
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| does the theory contain few premises and assumptions (parsimony - good) or many premises and assumptions (lack of parsimony - bad)? |
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| compatibility and integration across domains and levels |
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| consistent with what is known in other domains; can be coordinated with other branches of scientific knowledge |
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