Assumptions of Cognitive Model

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Assumptions of Cognitive Model

• Our thoughts or self-statements about our
  experiences (not external events themselves) are
  responsible for emotional behavioral reactions.
  
• Although cognitions (self-statements) may have
  resulted from historical events, people
  re-indoctrinate themselves with these beliefs in
  the here-and-now.
• Expectations have a powerful influence on
  thoughts, feelings, and behavior.

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Cognitive View

• Locus of Control The source of your control.
• Internal
• External

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Cognitive View

• Self-efficacy Sense of ability to follow
  through and produce specific behaviors.
• You believe you can do it!
• Is related to persistence
• Self-regulation
• Banduras reciprocal determinism

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Is our behavior a function of in-born traits or
the situations we find ourselves in?

• Traits A relatively consistent characteristic
  exhibited in different situations.
• Situationalism behavioral model that asserts
  that our behavior is a function of
• the situation.
• Interactionalism Both traits and situations
• affect thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
• Cultural factors interact with personality
  traits!
• Asians assertiveness

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Big-Five Model

• Factor analytic research indicates that all
  descriptions of personality can be placed in one
  of these five categories.
• Neuroticism.
• Extraversion.
• Openness.
• Agreeableness.
• Conscientiousness.

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Personality Different models.

• Hans Eysenck Three Superfactors
• Extraversion
• Neuroticism
• Psychoticism
• Combo. of big five agreeableness
  conscientiousness includes traits of social
  deviance non-conformity.

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Measuring Personality

• Most assessment procedures focus on overt
  behavior.
• 1) Interviews
• 2) Observation
• 3) Personality Inventories

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Purposes of Personality Assessment

• Self-awareness.
• Career counseling.
• Improving relationships, both personal
  business.
• Diagnosis Treatment Planning.
• Research describe, explain, predict behavior.

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MMPI/MMPI-2

• MMPI developed in 1940s in Minnesota.
• Measures both personality traits and symptoms of
  mental disorders.
• Claim to fame most researched and widely used
  measure of abnormal personality.
• 567 True-False Items. Time 1 ½ hours.
• T-scores over 65 (PR ? 90) are considered to be
  significant.

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The MMPI-2 Scales rest hands.

• Depression (D) Distress, depression
• Hysteria (Hy) Physical symptoms w/ no
  biological cause
• Psychopathic Deviate (Pd) Disregard for moral
  social standards
• Masculinity-Femininity (Mf) Having traditional
  male or female traits

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The MMPI-2 Scales

• Paranoia (Pa) Fear of others suspiciousness
• Psychasthenia (Pt) Rigidity, tension, worry
• Schizophrenia (Sc) bizarre unusual thinking
• Hypomania (Ma) Excitability, impulsiveness
• Social Introversion (S) Modesty, Shyness

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MMPI-2 Scales

• Cannot Say (?) Evasiveness
• Lying (L) Lying in order to look good
• Infrequency (F) Lying in order to look bad
• Correction (K) Defensiveness in filling out the
  scale

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Response Sets responding to the structure,
rather than the content, of test items

• Social Desirability.
• Faking Good or Bad.
• Yea Saying (acquiescence) or Nay Saying.
• Constant Errors selecting the same response over
  and over.
• Central Tendency Error tendency to respond in
  the middle of a rating system.

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The Brain Personality

• Temperament Natural tendencies to engage in a
  certain style of behavior.
• Present at age 3 correlated with personality at
  age 18 (Caspi, 2000).
• Linked to unsafe sex, alcohol dependence, violent
  crime, dangerous driving (Caspi, 1997).
• Sensation seeking Perhaps due to low levels of
  the chemical monoamine oxidase (MAO)

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The Brain Dimensions of Temperament

• Buss and Plomin (1984)
• Activity (vigor tempo)
• Sociability
• Emotionality (distress/fear/anger)
• Impulsivity

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The Brain

• Neuroticism More easily and intensely
  emotionally aroused and are more easily
  conditioned.
• Amygdala
• Psychoticism Autonomic and central nervous
  system underarousal. Also, low level of
  serotonin.
• Seek risks
• Raine et al (1990) Underarousal at age 15
  predicted criminality at age 24 for 75 or cases!

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Biological Explanations for Personality
Differences

• Extraversion (sociable high stimulation)
• Introvert (shy, quiet, solitary)
• Extraverts less arousable
• Different biological responses to certain drugs.
• Extraverts are more sensitive to reward
• Introverts are more sensitive to punishment
• E.g. gambling

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Genes

• Lykken Colleagues (1993)
• Well-being is 44-80 heritable
• Work and leisure interests are 50 heritable.
• Must think in terms of temperament
• Genes may determine (through physiology) how
  easily you are aroused.
• But, how will genes be expressed?
• Behavior genetics support that personality is
  determined by an interaction between genes and
  environment.

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Just for fun!

• Do you think being the youngest or oldest child
  in your family influenced your personality? How?

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Just for fun