Flashcards
Personality
Cards in this deck (13)
- 1PersonalityPersonality is the thoughts, feelings and behaviours that make an individual unique. It comes from within the individual and remains reasonably constant. This means that the person is the same in different situations. It can develop over the years as a result of experience.
- 2TemperamentTemperament is the genetic component of personality and refers to the inherited aspects. Therefore it describes the way in which the individual responds to the environment. This stays constant throughout life. Understanding temperament can be important in helping people recognise situations they find difficult e.g. create coping mechanisms
- 3Longitudinal studyA study carried out to show how behaviour changes over time
- 4Monozygotic twinsTwins developed from one fertilized egg
- 5Dizygotic twinsTwins developed from two separately fertilized eggs
- 6Thomas Chess and BirchAim: to discover whether ways of responding to the environment remain stable throughout life
Method: they studied 133 children from infancy to early adulthood. The children's behaviour was observed and their parents interviewed. The parents were asked about the child's routine and its reaction to change
Results: they found that the children fell into 3 types: easy, difficult and slow to warm up. The easy children were happy, flexible and regular. The difficult children were demanding, inflexible and cried a lot. The slow to warm up children did not respond well to change or new experiences to begin with, but once they had adapted they were usually happy
Conclusion: these ways of responding to the environment stayed with the children as they developed so they concluded that temperament was innate - 7Buss and PlominAim: to test the idea that temperament is innate
Method: they studied 228 pairs of monozygotic twins and 172 pairs of dizygotic twins. They rated the temperament of the twins when they were five years old. They looked at 3 dimensions of behaviour. Emotionality: how strong the child's emotion response was, Activity: how energetic the child was. Sociability: how much the child wanted to be with other people. They then compared the scores for each pairs of twins.
Results: there was a higher correlation between the score of the monozygotic twins than the dizygotic twins
Conclusion: temperament has a genetic basis - 8Kagan and SnidmanAim: to investigate whether temperament is due to biological differences
Method: they studied the reactions of 4 month old babies to new situations. For the first minute the baby was placed in a seat with the caregiver sitting nearby. For the next 3 minutes the caregiver moved out of the baby's view while the baby was shown different toys by the researcher
Results: 20% of the babies showed distress by crying, vigorous movement of arms and legs and arching the back. They were classed as high reactive. 40% of the babies showed little movement of emotions and were classed as low reactive. The remaining infants fell somewherein between. In a follow up study, 11 years later, there was still differences in the way the groups reacted to new situations. The high reactive shy while the low reactive calm.
Conclusion: the 2 temperaments are due to inherited differences in the way the brain responds - 9EysenckFor each personality types there are associated traits. The personality types identified include: Extroversion, Introversion and Neuroticism.
- 10NeuroticsAnxious, irritable, tense, shy and moody. They are lacking in self esteem and confidence. Prefer to do things on their own
- 11ExtrovertSociable, lively, easy going. They seem to need to have others around. They have many friends and enjoy parties and practical jokes
- 12IntrovertsSpend time alone. They have a small number of very close friends. They are usually serious, organised and like routine
- 13Eysenck studyAim: to investigate the personality of 700 servicemen
Method: each soldier completed a questionnaire. Eysenck analysed the results using a statistical technique known as factor analysis
Results: he identified 2 dimensions of personality: extroversion, introversion and neuroticism- stability
Conclusion: everyone can be placed along these 2 dimensions of personality. Most people lie in the middle of the scale
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- GCSE Psychology Flashcards on Personality, created by Laila Charlton on 22/01/2017.
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- Laila Charlton
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