Michael Smith only

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Ch1. Introduction to Personality

Defining Personality

n From the Latin persona, meaning “mask”

n An individual’s distinct and relatively enduring pattern of:

n thoughts n feelings n motives n behaviors

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Goals of Personality Theories

n Overall Goal: q Describe, explain and predict human nature

n Specific Goals: 1. Commonalities between all humans 2. Similarities/differences in groups of humans -

culture 3. Uniqueness of each human – individual

differences (individual differences)

Determinants of Personality: What causes behavior? n Genetics

q Nature vs Nurture q http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wd5Y3-F79LY

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Personal Application

n Learning Goal: Characterize some of the ways that heredity and environment interact to produce individual differences

n With a partner: Describe the major traits you share with each of your siblings. What major traits are very different for you and your siblings? Which ones do you believe are biologically based, and which ones do you think are the result of your environment? How do you explain the differences, given you have the same parents and grew up in the same family? If you are an only child, compare and contrast your traits with those of each of your parents.

Determinants of Personality: What causes behavior? n Learning n Traits n Cultural Norms n Existentialism (meaning, free will) n Unconscious Mechanisms n Cognitive Processes

Personality caused by a composite of the above factors

Personality theories differ on a number of points

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Issues of Contention: ways that the theories differ from each other n Nature vs. nurture

n Importance of past, present, and future experiences

n What motivates us?

n Existence of self?

n Internal vs. external control

n Conscious vs. unconscious mechanisms

Issues of Contention: ways that the theories differ from each other

n Free will vs. determinism

n Introspection vs. observation

n Uniqueness vs. commonality

n Mind-body relationship

n Consistency of Behavior

Scientific Models

n Science of Personality Theories: q Based on careful, systematic observations

n Principle of Verification q All explanations of a phenomenon must be

capable of being objectively, empirically tested by an uninterested third party