MRCPsych Psychology Module Personality & Emotion

1. MRCPsych Psychology ModulePersonality & Emotion Dr Alex Hunt Clinical Psychologist

2. Personality What is personality? ‘the sum total of behavioural and mental characteristics which are distinct to the individual’ - oxford dictionary of psychology Nature vs nurture? How individual is personality? Fixed characteristics or fluid over time? Predictive?

3. Approaches to studying Personality Nomothetic approaches Abstract generalisations and universal concepts Concerned with classifying and types or traits common across individuals for the purpose of comparing or discriminating between individuals Views personality as permanent traits or fixed characteristics Trait and type approaches Idiographic approaches Unique Individuals rather then common types or traits

4. Personality Theories Nomothetic Theories Eysenck Cattel Ideographic Theories Kelly Maslow & Rogers Allport Situationalist theories Psychoanalytical Theories

5. Allport 1936 Neither nomothetic or ideographic 2 kinds of traits / characteristics Common – cross-cultural, common to all e.g. aggression Individual Traits Cardinal (dictate most behaviours) Central traits (core to characteristics of interaction- can be compared) Secondary traits (minor)

6. Nomothetic Approach; Eysenck Developed from questionnaires revealing thousands of traits Used factor analysis to reveal two types Extroversion-introversion Neuroticism-stability Later added psychoticism (EPQ)

7. Factor analysis Units of study (factors – variables) Find ways to represent or measure them Look at a series of correlations to see which ones hang together Rather like smelting or cooking something down to the essential elements Orthogonal – identifying uncorrelated / independent factors Oblique less powerful factors which are not independent, which inter-correlate

8. Typical extrovert –Eysenck 1965 “...is sociable, likes parties, has many friends, needs to have people to talk to and doesn’t like reading or studying by himself. He craves excitement, takes chances, often stick his neck out, acts on the spur of the moment and is generally an impulsive individual. He likes practical jokes, always has a ready answer and generally likes change. He is care-free, optimistic, likes to laugh and be merry. He prefers to keep moving and doing things, tends to be aggressive and lose his temper quickly, altogether his feelings aren’t kept under tight control and he’s not always a reliable person.

9. Typical Introvert “...the typical introvert is a quiet, retiring sort of person, introspective, fond of books rather than people; he’s reserved and distant except to intimate friends. He tends to plan ahead, looks before he leaps and distrusts the impulse of the moment. He doesn’t like excitement, takes matters of everyday life with proper seriousness and likes a well-ordered mode of life. He keeps his feelings under close control, seldom behaves in an aggressive manner and doesn’t lose his temper easily. He is reliable, somewhat pessimistic and places great importance on ethical standards...”

10. Nomothetic Approach; Eysenck Ext-Inv relates to the ARAS Stab-Neur relates to the ANS Extroverts have high inhibition in ARAS so need high stimulation Introverts have low inhibition in ARAS so are easy to sedate and easily conditioned High neur/high ext related to psychopathy

12. Links to therapy • Links to emotional regulation and personality • Emotionally constriction • Emotional dysregulated Important element of DBT theory and approach. problems are related to emotional constriction or inhibition – ED’s other to an inability to inhibit emotions, they rule the roost, takes over! BPD

13. Nomothetic Approach; Cattell Nomothetic approach by factor analysis Source traits vs. surface traits 16 Personality Factors, with descriptors of high and low range 16PF Questionnaire Influenced by Freud – Ego and Super Ego strength Accepted situational factors determined attitudes and behaviour

14. Data for cattel’s theory Cattell proposed 3 sources of data relevant to personality: L-data (referring to for life) ratings by observers, Q-data (scores on personality questionnaires) – T-data (objective tests) specifically created to measure personality

15. 16 Personality Factors; examples

17. Single and multi-trait theories and the ‘big five’ Many theories propose single trait or dimension Locus of control (Rotter 1966) – Internal / External Need for closure The Five Factor Model – “Big Five” Intellect / Openness to experience Conscientiousness Extroversion Agreeableness Neuroticism / Emotional stability Measured using the NEO PR-I – Revised NEO Personality Inventory

18. Stability versus change Evidence that characteristics at 3 predict later personality dispositions Continue to develop till 30 Stabilise 50-70 Neural networks

19. Ideographic Approach; Kelly Personal Construct Theory Understand personality via the persons view of the world (man as scientist) We have broad superordinate constructs and narrow subordinate constructs Used Bannister’s repertory grid - uses significant people and bipolar adjectives

20. Ideographic Approach; Maslow & Rogers Humanistic theory- can’t really study human personality by questionnaire Developed self theory (with Rogers) Congruence / Incongruence of the Actual Self and the Ideal Self Conditional / Unconditional Positive Regard

21. Psychoanalytical theories Freud Three structures; Id, Ego and Superego Iceberg analogy; large majority of the mind operates at unconscious and preconscious levels. Jung Ego (conscious mind), personal unconscious (anything not presently conscious, but can be) and collective unconscious (innate ‘knowledge’) Klein Object Relations Theory; the process of developing a mind as one grows in relation to others in the environment Attachment theory – Bowlby, Winnicott Parental responsiveness develops patterns of attachment in infants Guide individual’s expectations / thoughts / feelings in later relationships

22. Freudian theory

23. Situationism Mischel – Situation versus traits Measure of supposedly stable traits seem to have little ability to predict behaviour across different situations. Fundamental Attribution Error; tendency to attribute behaviour to disposition rather than context. Maintained that people are more influenced by external, situational factors rather than by internal motivations – therefore challenges trait theorists such as Eysenck or Cattell.

24. Interactionist Theories Interaction between person and situation Bandura – Social Learning Theory Situation has different meaning based on past experience Personality traits dictate the choice of situation people choose to find themselves in

25. Summary - critical thoughts Ideographic vs nomothetic;False dichotomy? Complementary approaches Nomothetic as descriptive, doesn’t deal with why or how individuals get to be a particular way

26. Testing Personality May be self reporting, via interview or by observation or a combination Structured techniques Questionnaires EPQ – Eysenck Personality Questionnaire NEO PI-R – Revised NEO Personality Inventory MMPI – Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory Millon – MCMI Unstructured techniques Projective techniques; present ambiguous stimuli and individual will ‘project’ some kind of structure that reflects underlying psychological characteristics Generally poor predictors of behaviour in specific situations

27. Clinical Applications; Personality Disorder “An enduring pattern of inner experience and behaviour that deviates markedly from the expectations of the culture of the individual that exhibits it”. (APA) Axis II of DSM-IV-TR; 10 PDs grouped into 3 clusters Cluster A (odd/eccentric); Paranoid, Schizoid etc. Cluster B (dramatic/emotional/erratic); Antisocial, Borderline etc. Cluster C (anxious/fearful); Avoidant, Dependent etc. Categorized in ICD-10 Chapter V: Mental and Behavioural Disorders Child abuse and neglect are antecedent risks to developing PDs in adulthood.

28. Clinical Applications; Personality Disorder • Psychodynamic theories • Reliance on primitive defence mechanisms • Paranoid schizoid vs depressive position • Importance of developmental transitions negotiating losses • Oedipus complex

29. What is emotion? • Lots of different types of emotions • Non-cognitive emotions (instinctual emotions) • Cognitive emotions • Self conscious emotions • Duration, from a few seconds (surprise) VS enduring for years (love) • Voluntarily accessible or automatic

30. Identifying emotions • Wundt (1896) suggested that emotional experience can be described in terms of combinations of 3 dimensions; • pleasantness/unpleasantness, • calm/excitement, • relaxation/tension (based on introspection.)

31. Emotions Six primary emotions - Ekman Taken to be universal Innate All emotions related to or grow from these basic emotions or from combinations of them evolved for their adaptive function

32. disgust • happy • sad • fear • anger • surprise

33. Emotion Recognition

34. Emotion Recognition

35. Emotion Recognition

36. Emotion Recognition

37. Emotion Recognition

38. Emotion Recognition

40. Theories of emotion How does emotion work? What happens in what order? A bear walks in to the room You bump into an old friend you haven’t seen for a long time

41. Emotion What is emotion? Subjective experience Physiological changes (ANS) Associated behaviour (CNS) Cognitive processes??

42. Evolutionary Theory Central emotions don’t vary across cultures Darwin Emotional expression developed from what an animal (human) was about to do next Benefit the animal that displays them then they may be kept as a form of communication Opposing messages complimentary

43. Theories of Emotion James Lange Theory We label our emotional state according to bodily (visceral) changes (E.g. We are sad because we are crying) For each subjectively different emotion, there is a corresponding set of physiological changes. Pathways Evidence for valins (1966) false heart rate feedback Laird (1974) face muscle manipulations

44. Problems with theory • False feedback – may not be any increase in ANS activity, yet emotion was felt – physiological changes may not even be necessary for the subjective experience of emotions • The manipulations may have actually caused ANS changes • Doesn’t cover induced lacrimation or complicated emotions e.g. guilt

45. Theories of Emotion Cannon Bard (Thalamic) Theory The physiology and the emotion are separate events occurring independently The autonomic nervous system reacts essentially the same to all emotions Based upon surgical experiments in animals and brain injured parients Fedback from vcera to the brain prevented, but normal emotional reactions.

46. Physiological specificity • James Lange – each emotion has corresponding physiological changes • Not possible – not enough pathways • Cannon bard – each emotion independent of physiological reaction • Not true – some different emotions associated with different physiological changes • fear - adrenaline • Anger mixed adrenaline / noradrenalin

47. Theories of Emotion Schachter & Singer – Two-factor Theory / Cognitive Labelling Theory Emotion = physiological arousal + cognition (conscious understanding of the arousal) We cognitively assess an emotion and its accompanying physiological state and label different emotions according to the likely stimulus Bridge experiment – Dutton & Aron (1974, 1989) Men rated female interviewer as more attractive when interviewed on a suspension bridge Arousal / fear interpreted as sexual feelings

48. Theories of emotion • Lazarus - Appraisal Theory • Attribution theory important determinant of how things are appraised and likely outcome • Appraisal or meaning of event which leads to emotion • Some cognitive processing precedes any affective reaction…unconscious??

50. Reflections..