Oscar Pistorius

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1/22/08

• Oscar Pistorius

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Announcements

• Chapters 1-4 lectures
• Will present sample questions on Thursday

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Personality Feedback

• Last Time

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Reliability

• E.g., extraverted on item 1 extraverted on item
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• Alphas
• E .87
• A .82
• C .89
• N .91
• O .89

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Means

• E 3.43
• A 4.30 (every single person gt 3)
• C 3.69
• N 2.70
• O 3.62

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Correlations Among Big 5

• E A C N O
• E --- .24 .13 -.08 .42
• A --- .04 -.02 .02
• C --- .10 -.28
• N --- -.17
• Observations
• 1.
• 2.

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Individual Feedback

• See how your big 5 profile fits within class
  distribution
• Yours to keep
• Remember phrase for next time

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Ch 3 Traits Trait Taxonomies

• Big 5
• 1.
• 2.
• 3.
• 4.
• 5.
• The smallest, least replicated factor
• Also, identity of 5th factor not totally clear

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Ch 3 Traits Trait Taxonomies

• (five factor model)
• Usually, investigators starting with different
  pool of items
• Lexical intellect
• Sentences openness

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Ch 3 Traits Trait Taxonomies

• Turkey openness
• Dutch anti-conformity
• German intelligence
• Italian conventionality
• Hungary no 5th factor

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Ch 3 Traits Trait Taxonomies

• Outcomes
• Grades
• Risky sex
• Alcohol

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Ch 3 Traits Trait Taxonomies

• Outcomes
• Happiness
• Volunteer work
• Leadership effectiveness

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New Topic

• Case study Victor Griffin
• Place of skulls guitarist
• Interviewed by Hellride Music

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Victor Griffin, guitarist for Place of Skulls
Victor
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Victor Griffin, guitarist for Place of Skulls

• 1. In what way(s) has Victor remained stable over
  time?
• 2. In what way(s) has Victor changed over time?
• 3.

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McCrae Costa (1994) Stability of Personality

• There is an optical illusion about every person
  we meet. In truth, they are all creatures of a
  given temperament, which will appear in a given
  character, whose boundaries they will never pass
  but we look at them, they seem alive, and we
  presume there is impulse in them. In the moment
  it seems impulse in the year, in the lifetime,
  it turns out to be a certain uniform tone which
  the revolving barrel of the music-box must play

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McCrae Costa (1994) Stability of Personality

• What is Emerson saying?
• (1)
• (2)
• E.g., choosing the same type of bad guys over and
  over
• E.g., choosing to avoid parties, new friendships
  over and over
• (3)
• Over time, over situations, personality traits
  the dominant influence on behavior

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McCrae Costa (1994) Stability of Personality

• General tendencies of individual
• Behavior, feeling, thinking

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McCrae Costa (1994) Stability of Personality

• 20 years of findings on traits
• (1)
• E, N, O go down
• A C go up
• Dont occur
• 30 as personality set in plaster
• With the exception of dementia

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McCrae Costa (1994) Stability of Personality

• 20 years of findings on traits
• (2)
• E.g., those extraverted now will be more
  extraverted 10 years from now
• Internal reliability .70-.90

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McCrae Costa (1994) Stability of Personality

• 20 years of findings on traits
• (3)
• E, A, O, N, C

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McCrae Costa (1994) Stability in Personality

• (4)
• Men women in stability
• White Black in stability
• Sick healthy in stability
• Moderators of personality stability not easy to
  find

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McCrae Costa (1994) Stability of Personality

• Can we remember how we filled out a scale filled
  out 5-10 years ago?

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McCrae Costa (1994) Stability of Personality

• E.g., physical activity declines
• E.g., concerned with raising children, sharing
  wisdom (generativity)

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McCrae Costa (1994) Stability of Personality

• E.g., a party induces more extraverted behavior
• E.g., health concerns promote worry
• An extravert remains an extravert
• A neurotic remains a neurotic

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McCrae Costa (1994) Stability of Personality

• A good job (increase)
• A health problem (decrease)
• A new car (increase)

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McCrae Costa (1994) Stability of Personality

• Those with a good job about as happy as those
  with a bad job
• Those with health problems about as happy as
  those without such health problems
• Those with a new car about as happy as those
  without a new car

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McCrae Costa (1994) Stability of Personality

• People soon return to personality baseline

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McCrae Costa (1994) Stability of Personality

• Those who have a problem with present perspective
• (1)

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McCrae Costa (1994) Stability of Personality

• Those who have a problem with present perspective
• (2)

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McCrae Costa (1994) Stability of Personality

• Those who have a problem with present perspective
• (3)

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McCrae Costa (1994) Stability of Personality

• M/C perspective seems very deterministic
• Is there such a thing a spontaneity, free will?

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McCrae Costa (1994) Stability of Personality

• They do not think this is possible if not happy
• High N, low E not happy, period, always,
  forever
• To get people to live with own faults?
• Can you be happy (or at least reconciled to)
  being unhappy?

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McCrae Costa (1994) Stability of Personality

• If you are lazy (low C), you will always be lazy
• If you are a bastard (low A), you will always be
  a bastard
• If you are distressed (high N), always distressed
• If you are good planner (high C), always so
• If you are nice (high A), always so
• If you are calm (low N), you will always be calm
• Good for some
• Bad for others

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Discussion questions

• 1. Are McCrae Costa over-emphasizing the
  stability of personality?
• 2. Can we become reconciled to/happy with our own
  faults and short-comings?