POL SCI 124C Lecture Notes - Extraversion And Introversion, Agreeableness, Trait Theory
16 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Term
Definition/Explanation
Personality, Genetics, and Biology
Personality
A stable, general tendency or predisposition
in a given manner, especially stable by at
least early adulthood
Trait Approach to Personality
A theory on personality in which a trait leads
to a specific behavior; we can isolate the trait
that is relevant to the behavior (context is
crucial)
Each trait has a behavioral consequence and
the aggregate behavior consequence leads to
surface manifestation/evidence of personality
type
Trait 1 → Behavior 1
Trait 2 → Behavior 2
Traits are treated independently on a scale
No real theory involved
Big 5 Personality
After reading through the dictionary and
conducting experiments, researchers came
up with the five most common traits in any
person (supported almost entirely by
empirical evidence)
● Openness - imaginative, adaptive
● Conscientiousness - ethical,
dependable, personable
● Extraversion
● Agreeableness - sympathetic, warm,
cooperative
● Neuroticism - anxious, insecure,
self-conscious
Disappeared for 20 years and then was
re-approached by Berkeley researchers
Political Associations with Big 5 Personality
Higher openness = more liberal (.3, weak)
Higher conscientiousness = more
conservative (.3, weak)
Higher agreeableness = more liberal (.15,
weak)
Higher neuroticism = more conservative (.15,
weak)
Higher extraversion = high political
participation
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Nothing about WHY these correlations
happen
Jackson and Poulson Big 5 Study
Openness (frequency of contact and quality
of contact) and agreeableness (frequency)
will affect expressions of prejudice
People high on openness will have had more
contact with outgroups
If they are also high on agreeableness, then
contact will be of higher quality which leads to
less prejudice against outgroups
Contact theory is very controversial;
personality traits affect prejudice by affecting
how you talk to people
Psychodynamic Approach to Personality
Traits are in certain configurations that create
specific personality types
Different constellations of personalities
Thought to be unscientific
Authoritarian Personality Type
Traits associated with AP:
● Strong, ego alien id
● Strict, punitive externalized superego
● Weak ego
● Deep hostility to parents is repressed,
and because of reaction formation,
parents are glorified and devotion is
manifested instead
○ Glorification and deference to
parents is extended to all
authority figures, also known
as transference
● Id impulses find their outlet via
aggression to outgroups, also known
as projection
● Ethnocentrism and support for
fascism
Nine main traits of AP:
● Anti-intraception
● Preoccupation with violence and sex
● Blind allegiance to conventional
beliefs of right and wrong
● Submission to authority
● Aggression toward those who don’t
subscribe to conventional beliefs
● Negative view of people
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● Projection of issues onto others
● Need for strong leadership
● Belief in simple answers
0 to 40 scale, upper end was deemed
Authoritarian Personality on the F-scale
(fascism scale)
● Support for fascism
● Strong authoritarian government
● Ethnocentrism
Reasons why it is no longer considered valid:
● Threat to validity, acquiescence bias
● Culture or socioeconomic status or
child-rearing values could be more
compelling
● Type of people that they chose to test
● Different views by experts
Authoritarianism is now viewed as a
personality trait
Things associated with high AP
● Respectful
● Obedient
● Well-behaved
● Well-mannered
Need to evaluate
Degree of opinion on things and by
association, political values
Need to cognition
Degree of reflection or thinking and by
association, knowledge of politics
Self-confidence
Associated with propensity to be swayed
Genetics study: monozygotic vs dizygotic
twins
If MZ twins have similar ideology (as oppose
to dizygotic twins), then it might have to do
with genetics
Heritability: how much you can attribute to
DNA
● Typically about half genetic, half not
● .3-.5 on interest and government trust
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