Personality III

1. Personality III First Hour - How do cognitive psychologists study personality? • Cognitive Theories of Personality • The Early Gestalt Connection • Lewin’s Field Theory • Asch and Witkin’sField Dependence Theory • More Recent Cognitive Theories • Social-Cognitive Theory • Locus of Control Theory

2. Early Gestalt Theories • Lewin’s Field Theory • The “life space” (or environmental forces) that affect one’s personality • Asch and Witkin’s Field Dependence Theory • High Field Dependence – sensitive to context • High Field Independence – problem focused

3. Field Dependence The degree to which a person’s perception of information is affected by the surrounding perceptual contextual field.

4. Characteristics Associated with Field Dependence Domain Characteristics Children's play preferences Field‑independent children are more likely to favor solitary play over social play. Socialization patterns Field‑independent people are more likely to have been socialized with an emphasis on autonomy over conformity. Career choices Field‑independent people are more likely to be in technological rather than humanitarian occupations Preferred interpersonal Field‑independent people are more likely to distance for conversation sit farther away from a conversational partner Level of eye contact Field‑independent people make less frequent and less prolonged eye contact with a conversational partner.

5. More Recent Cognitive Theories of Personality • Social-Cognitive Theories • Theories that look at how we think and feel • and why we behave the way we do • Julian Rotter’s Locus of Control Theory as an • example

6. Cognitive Factors of Locus of Control Theory Internal and External Locus of Control • Learned Helplessness

7. Sample Items and from Rotter's Locus of Control Scale 2a. Many of the unhappy things in people's lives are partly due to bad luck. 2b. People's misfortunes result from the mistakes they make 11a. Becoming a success is a matter of hard work; luck has little or nothing to do with it. 11b. Getting a good job depends mainly on being in the right place at the right time. 18a. Most people don't realize the extent to which their lives are controlled by accidental happenings. 18b. There is really no such thing as "luck." 23a. Sometimes I can't understand how teachers arrive at the grades I get. 23b. There is a direct connection between how hard I study and the grades I get.

8. Sample Filler Items and from Rotter's Locus of Control Scale 1a.Children get into trouble because their parents punish them too much. 1b. The trouble with most children nowadays is that their parents are too easy with them. 14a. There are certain people who are just no good. 14b.There is some good in everybody

9. Cognitive Factors of Locus of Control Theory Internal and External Locus of Control • Learned Helplessness Cognitive Styles and Explanatory Styles

10. Behavioural Factors of Locus of Control Theory • Outcome Expectancy – general and specific • Will I be rewarded for my behaviour ? • Reinforcement Value • How big will the reward be? • Behaviour Potential • What behaviour is required in this situation? • The Psychological Situation • A combination of the above three