Heuristic Value of Grand Theories in Personality Psychology

1. CHAPTER 18 THEORY AND RESEARCH IN CONTEMPORARY PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY

2. Heuristic Value of the Grand Theories in Five Important Areas • Focus by investigators on the special impact of biological factors on human development and behavior. • behavior genetics - scientific discipline that seeks to document the relative influences of heredity and environment on behavioral differences observed among individuals.

3. Heuristic Value of the Grand Theories in Five Important Areas (cont.) • Evolutionary theory - position that seeks to understand the development of human behavioral tendencies by focusing primarily on our animal heritage. • broad-based temperaments - traits that we share with other primates. • emotionality refers to high physiological arousal and generalized negative affect. • fearfulness involves the tendency to be wary, run away, or cower, as well as the accompanying physiological arousal. • activity refers to total energy output, as expressed in vigor or tempo. • nurturance is the tendency to help others; it includes altruism.

4. Heuristic Value of the Grand Theories in Five Important Areas (cont.) • broad-based temperaments (cont.) • sociability is a preference for being with others rather than remaining alone. • impulsivity is the tendency to act on the spur of the moment without pause or reflection. • aggressiveness consists of attacking or threatening. • dominance refers to seeking and maintaining superior status over others.

5. Heuristic Value of the Grand Theories in Five Important Areas (cont.) • evolutionary psychologists endorse an interactional temperament model, which states that environment and temperament traits mutually influence each other. • differential parental investment hypothesis - the conjecture that males and females will employ different mating strategies because of their differential investments in parenting.

6. Heuristic Value of the Grand Theories in Five Important Areas (cont.) • Necessity of incorporating a multicultural perspective into personality theory and research and psychotherapy. • multiculturalism - efforts by racial/ethnic groups to gain recognition and respect for their distinctive cultural identities from the larger society. • individualistic societies - cultures which place heavy emphasis on inculcating the traits of independence, self-reliance, ambition, determination, aggression, competition, and the achievement of personal success in its members. • collectivistic societies - cultures which teach their members to be more harmoniously interdependent, to share resources, to see success as depending on help from others, and to focus largely on trying to fit in with the group and to place the needs of the group above their own needs.

7. Heuristic Value of the Grand Theories in Five Important Areas (cont.) • Multiculturalism (cont.) • gender differences shaped by culture • Freudian view • Chodorow's view • Gilligan's view • looking to the future - androgyny-idea that males and females can possess both masculine and feminine characteristics.

8. Heuristic Value of the Grand Theories in Five Important Areas (cont.) • Multiculturalism (cont.) • sensitivity to gender differences in therapy • racial/ethnic differences shaped by culture • majority group - most dominant and powerful group in a society whose members typically enjoy more privilege and advantages than members of minority groups. • minority groups - stigmatized groups of people who face negative stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination by members of the larger society because of their physical or cultural characteristics.

9. Heuristic Value of the Grand Theories in Five Important Areas (cont.) • Multiculturalism (cont.) • sensitivity to racial/ethnic differences in therapy • contributions of religion to personality • immature religious orientation - use of religion as a means to an end. • mature religious orientation - use of religion as an end in itself. • sensitivity to religious differences in therapy

10. Heuristic Value of the Grand Theories in Five Important Areas (cont.) • Use of a trait taxonomy (classification system) to increase our understanding of the role of traits within personality. • Big Five Factors - major, broad dimensions of personality, which have been derived largely from analyses of the language people use to describe themselves and others. • surgency (extraversion) • agreeableness • conscientiousness • neuroticism • openness to experience (intellect) • Criticisms of the Big Five factors • more than five factors are needed. • meaning of some of the Big Five are unclear.

11. Heuristic Value of the Grand Theories in Five Important Areas (cont.) • Use of the concept of personal goals to organize, describe, and explain individual differences in cognition, affect (feelings and motivation), and behavior. • cognitive variables - concepts, beliefs, or mental representations occurring within us that are used to analyze and interpret both the world around us and our own thoughts and behavior. • cognitive strategies - use of self-knowledge and knowledge about the social world to make goals into reality. • defensive - optimism - attempts to cope with stress and anxiety by not thinking about possible negative outcomes before beginning a task. • defensive - pessimism - attempts to cope with stress and anxiety before a performance, by setting low expectations for success in spite of good past performances. • motivational variables - internal concepts within people that initiate persistent activity to reach goals.

12. Heuristic Value of the Grand Theories in Five Important Areas (cont.) • Emergence of a positive psychology that will help us to understand virtuous behavior better and to identify the conditions under which such behavior in people is facilitated. • positive psychology - science of positive subjective experience, positive individual traits, and positive institutions that would attempt to improve the quality of life for everyone. It would be a science that seeks to promote human strengths and virtues; courage, humility, gratitude, loyalty, generosity, altruism, compassion, hope, optimism, social responsibility, politeness, forgiveness, and self- control.

13. Future of Personality Psychology • Personality psychology is currently a thriving discipline. Much of its foundation rests on, and will continue to rest on, the wisdom embedded in many of the current grand theories of personality. Personality psychology will continue to borrow knowledge, principles, and procedures from other disciplines within psychology, including cognitive psychology, social psychology, developmental psychology, clinical psychology, and biological psychology. By drawing on these sources, personality psychologists will continue to enjoy a much-needed infusion of energy and enthusiasm and to expand the range of ideas, issues, and phenomena that they study.

14. Future of Personality Psychology (cont.) • This expansion has created many challenges for personality psychologists in their quest for a fuller understanding of personality development and functioning. For example, most researchers in personality psychology use primarily sel-report data to study personality because it is convenient and economical. While the data collected using such a procedure are invaluable, the method is limited because people are imperfectly trustworthy when it comes to describing themselves. There is a need to use other actual life - outcome techniques to gather data (e.g., health records, job performance evaluations, criminal records, peer reports, life story techniques, diaries, and direct behavioral observations) to supplement self-report data.

15. Future of Personality Psychology (cont.) • These methods will help personality psychologists know what people actually do, think, or feel in various situations in their lives. Personality psychologists are already beginning to tackle this challenge as they use life; outcome techniques to obtain a broader and more valid understanding of human personality. Given the many exciting conceptual and methodological developments and tremendous research activity in the discipline in the past few years, the future of personality psychology in the 21st century looks promising indeed.