PSYCH 2B03 Study Guide - Spring 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - Psychodynamics, Genetics, Extraversion And Introversion
12 Oct 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
PSYCH 2B03
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
Introduction to Personality
Lecture 1
• Major Issues in Personality:
o Nature vs. Nurture – genetics vs. environment/learning, we know that they
interact (like epigenetics where the environment/experiences before birth, right
after, and first 15 years of life determine which genes get turned on/off)
epigenetic changes/markers can get passed onto offspring
o What is ‘human nature’ – something shared by all human beings in common, but
what is it
o How does personality develop – most people are different from how they were
years ago, how does personality develop and get altered
o What motivates us – why we do what we do, our behavioural choices, we have
certain goals/wants and are motivated to reach those goals
o Conscious vs. unconscious – how much of who we are, are known to us? When
we do things that are out of character (that wasn’t me) could be from our
subconscious and we don’t know the motive for what we do
o Person vs. situation – are behaviours caused by our personality (shown more in
parties, with friends) or caused by what the situation demands from us (being in
class, funerals, weddings). To what extent and what situations are guided by
personality vs expectations/social/cultural demands of the situation
o Group vs. individual – why are individuals studied? Can be nomothetic (research
from these individuals can be generalized to the population, most researchers take
this approach) or idiographic (want to personally understand individuals as a
separate, unique person so we can help them in their everyday lives)
• Personality vs. Other Fields
o Personality theories are more global and general
▪ Theories are huge and understands everything about human behaviour,
cognition, and emotion (rather than theories are memory, perception, &
child development which focus on specific topics) very ambitious and tries
to understand everything
o Long history of interest
▪ Has been studied for over 2000 years. Most theories of psychology are
within a 100 years, but personality theories are ancient
o Many large-scale theories
▪ There are very many ambitious theories of personality, trying to
understand the same thing
o Theories don’t guide research
▪ Normally, theories guide research by providing a question/theory that can
be researched and studied to find an answer. Not the case for personality
theories
▪ Research in personality is less commonly guided by theory
o Theories generated/tested differently
▪ Normally, theories are guided by observing people, measuring patterns,
and then theory is developed → tested → applied in real life (if relevant)
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
▪ In personality, theories are developed prior to testing. Usually therapists
who needed a way to understand their patients. Created a theory of how
people worked → applied it in therapeutic situations → tested it in non-
therapeutic situations
• Theory Development & Testing
o Theorists are usually clinician/applied psychologists, not scientists/researchers.
Tried to understand how to help people so theories were developed
o Influenced by theorist’s personality, ideas are shaped by who they are
o Little empirical support/research b/c they are difficult to test scientifically (usually
tested through application)
o Theories are difficult to test
▪ Postdictive/not predictive – hard to predict how someone will react b/c
human beings are very complicated, many personality variables shape
responses (can guess how someone might react to a situation but there is a
chance it will be wrong). Postdiction (explaining why something
happened after it has happened) is easy to do, but not helpful for testing
theories
▪ Vague, abstract concepts – theories are hard to measure (Id, Ego, libido,
etc.) can’t be reduced to easily measurable things (one exception: trade
theories)
• Personality – a hypothetical construct that we use in an attempt to understand whatever
makes for consistency in our behaviour (within each individual) and whatever is
responsible for differences in behaviours (between individuals)
o Every theory/perspective has a different description of personality, but they try to
explain the above concepts
o Personality isn’t “real”, there is no physical thing of personality. It is a
hypothetical construct
• Hypothetical Constructs/Theories – made-up ideas about a bunch of observations.
There are theoretical relationships between hypothetical constructs (e.g., energy, the
ability to do work, wave function)
o Something invented (imaginary thing, process, state) to make sense of things
around us
o Psychology and physics are similar b/c they both talk about things that have no
physical existence; but these theories are useful
o Einstein and Newton both have different theories of gravity, and they are both
right. They are two different stories trying to explain the same phenomena. They
explain how things could work/be explained, not that it does work that way
(reality)
o Main concept: theories are hypothetical constructs that are meant to help predict
or explain why something is the way it is, but it doesn’t mean that it is truly how
reality is. In some instances, certain theories will explain things better than others,
but it doesn’t mean one is right/wrong
• Perspectives/Approach on Personality – a set of common answers to basic questions of
personality shared by a number of different theorists (theories may differ, but they answer
the questions in the same way)
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
