Understanding Personality Psychology: Definition, Objectives, and Historical Background, Diapositivas de Psicología de la Personalidad

¡Descarga Understanding Personality Psychology: Definition, Objectives, and Historical Background y más Diapositivas en PDF de Psicología de la Personalidad solo en Docsity! 07/10/2018 1 PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY 1-2: INTRODUCTION, CONCEPT AND METHOD OF PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY LAURA ROLDÁN DÍAZ, PhD. laroldan@ucm.es ¿WHAT IS PERSONALITY? 07/10/2018 2 A concept very difficult to define A lot of different definitions following different authors. Is it possible to establish a definition for something as complex as human personality? (including inner features, social effects, qualities of the mind and body…) ¿WHAT IS PERSONALITY? Difficult to define from a scientific perspective: very permeated of a daily use of the word: • Scientific study of personality = Personality psychology • Should be based on : • Logic and empirical contrast (data and not only observation) To some extent, we are all amateur personality psychologist: • We all use personality characteristics to describe people in our daily life and personality characteristics to explain behaviour: Peter is talkative, Mary is optimistic, Mark is outgoing. ¿WHAT IS PERSONALITY? 07/10/2018 5 •Traits describe average tendencies: • Implies certain degree of stability over the time: even the most talkative person can have quiet moments, days or even weeks. But over time, those with the trait of talkativeness, tend to emit verbal behaviour with more frequency. • Stable over time (enduring, specially in adulthood) and consistent over situations PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAITS 07/10/2018 6 • Within the individual: something that the person carries with him or herself over time, from one situation to another Internal consistency; sense of one-self today and tomorrow; in different situations • Organized: Not simply a random collection of elements. Mechanisms and traits are linked to one another PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAITS WHY DO WE STUDY PERSONALITY? • DESCRIBE PEOPLE: to examine the person in depth, during the whole life. • EXPLAIN BEHAVIOUR: to integrate every behavioural aspects in one theoretical framework: develop personality theories • PREDICT FUTURE BEHAVIOUR: to study individual differences PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY OBJETIVES 07/10/2018 7 POINTS TO CONSIDER TRAIT Anger prone STATE Anger PSYCHOLOGICAL MECHAISM • Refers to the processes of personality (involve an information processing activity) : someone who is extraverted may look for and notice opportunities to interact with other people • Most psychological mechanism have three essential ingredients: Inputs Decision rules Outputs Situations, environment; (some people more sensitive to certain kinds of information from the environment) think about specific options Action guide by decision rules 07/10/2018 10 SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT INTRAPSYCHIC ENVIRONMENT Influenced by our memories of life experiences PERSONALITY BIOPSYCHOSOCIAL MODEL Biological factors Genetics, Neurological factors, modulate behaviour Psychological factors Private experience Social factors Social environment 07/10/2018 11 RELATED CONCEPTS PERSONALITY CHARACTER Set of characteristics adquiered throught the interaction with the environment TEMPERAMENT Set of characteristics which early appear in the behaviour, which may content a greater genetic component (reactivity level, activity level…, fear, inhibition IDENTITY Unity consciousness, totality and continuity that a person has. HISTORICAL STUDY OF PERSONALITY •Attempts in history: Personality Psychology since ancient Greece: ◦ Greeks had a classification of different kinds of personality linked to a specific pattern of behaviour and also to a specific pattern of physical features. ◦ Hippocrates: study of causes that explain individual differences. Concept of temperament. ◦ Existence of 4 humours: black bile, yellow bile, phlegm and blood, which correspond to the 4 kinds of temperament of a person: melancholic, choleric , sanguine, phlegmatic . 07/10/2018 12 Element Qualities Humour Temperament Season Air Moist/ warm Blood Sanguine Spring Fire Warm/dry Yellow bile Choleric Summer Earth Dry/ cold Black bile Melancholic Autumn Water Cold/ moist Phlegm Phlematic Winter HISTORICAL STUDY OF PERSONALITY • The proper study of personality started at XX century, but it didn´t consolidate as a branch of psychology until the end of the 30´s with 3 main authors and their handbooks: Allport (1938), Lewin (1935) y Murray (1938). G. Allport (1937)“Personality: A Psychological Interpretation ” Kurt Lewin (1935) “A dynamic theory of Psychology” Murray et als. (1938)“Explorations in Personality” 07/10/2018 15 1960-1970: ELABORATION OF CONSTRUCTS Importance of environment: Skinner (environmental factors), cognitive and social experimental revolution. After Second World War : less interest in big theories and more interest in practical psychology: identify constructs such as achievement motivation, anxiety, and locus of control. Go back to relationships between cognition, affect, motivation and behaviour. Study of the self as the integration of personality 1980: CRISIS OF THE DISCIPLINE Problems of assessment: Response bias (social desirability),Low predictive validity… Many constructs that explain few behaviours get old-fashioned very quickly They divert from the main objective: study of the individual as a whole. Existence of a lot of constructs isolated and non integrated. Debate person-situation: stability and consistence of behaviours. Development of interactionism 07/10/2018 16 1980-NOWADAYS Debate person-situation resolved by interactionism Consistence and stability of behaviours proved Agreement about the basic structure of personality (BIG FIVE) The study of traits has been growing over last years: the most important formulation was the BIG FIVE factors model: 1) Extroversión (E), 2) Neuroticism; 3) Openness to experience (O); 4) Agreeableness; 5) Conscientiousness. IS THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF PERSONALITY POSSIBLE? Some difficulties: Complexity of the human being The extent of the field of study Limited concentration of knowledge Separation between personality psychology and the rest of the academic psychology 07/10/2018 17 RELATIONSHIP WITH OTHER DISCIPLINES PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY Shared origins with same authors and contents (Allport, Mc Dougall, Lewin) The target is not analyse the differential behaviours, although it is also interested about individual differences (importance of personal factors). It is more focused on environmental circumstances (importance of situations). Study of how different persons react against the same situation Study of how different situations affect to different persons. PERSONALITY PSICHOLOGY CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY Focused on the abnormal behaviour although also attend to personal characteristics with positive or negative consequences in terms of habits or health Focused on psychopathology and abnormal behaviour and it´s possibilities of change RELATIONSHIP WITH OTHER DISCIPLINES PERSONALITY PSICHOLOGY GENERAL OR BASIC PSYCHOLOGY Take the general principles of functioning to analyse how do that laws work in each individual: study the integration of these general fenomena. Set the general principles of functioning of all the psychology 07/10/2018 20 PRACTICE Think about a research question of personality: ◦ How you might approach to your question? ◦ Experimental model, case study, correlational model Selection of an assessment tool: points to consider IS THE INSTRUMENT VALID? Does It measure what I want to measure? = Construct validity ◦ Theoretical foundation: Clear and documented description of the construct that try to measure and of the measurement procedure? Has it got items that cover all the components of the construct that I want to measure? = Content validity Has it got subscales covering all components of the construct that I want to measure? = Content validity 07/10/2018 21 Does It correlate with other measures of the same construct (convergent validity) and not correlated with measures of irrelevant constructs (discriminant validity)? Does it correlate with other instruments that measure related constructs (nomological validity)? Selection of an assessment tool: points to consider IS THE INSTRUMENT RELIABLE? Is there sufficient data on its internal consistency reliability? Is there sufficient data about the equivalence between Forms of the same instrument (parallel forms reliability) Is there sufficient data on reliability between different evaluators? Is there stability in scores over a relevant period of time? (test-retest reliability) Selection of an assessment tool: points to consider 07/10/2018 22 WICH WHAT SAMPLE HAS THE INSTRUMENT BEEN DEVELOPED AND USED ? Are the samples representative of the population which the instrument is intended? Are sample sizes large enough ? Are the scales relatively modern ? Selection of an assessment tool: points to consider IS IT PRACTICAL? Is it feasible that participants can complete it? Is it feasible that the psychologist can administrate it? Selection of an assessment tool: points to consider