PERSONALITY
Four main approaches to personality:
! Humanistic approach
! Psychodynamic approach
! Trait approach
! Behavioural-cognitive approach
Humanistic approach
Rogers
Personality is determined by a person’s self-concept
Actualisation tendency: innate motivation to develop its potential to the fullest possible
Not many people are full-functioning individuals (openness to experience, existential living, orgasmic
trusting, experiential freedom, creativity).
Q-sort test: organise cards (I am smart, I am lazy) according to how you see yourself and according to
how you like to see yourself. Discrepancy indicates the work that needs to be done.
Maslow
Hierarchy of needs (from deficit needs to being needs)
Personal Orientation Inventory: self-report, 2 basic scales (inner directed support, time competence)
Psychodynamic approach
Freud
Personality is made up of id, ego, and superego
Emphases role of unconscious in personality
Internal conflicts evokes defence mechanisms that underlie differences in personalities
Murray’s need theory
Primary needs (biological)
Secondary needs (achievement, power, affiliation, intimacy) drive personality
Projective tests as a window to the unconscious
Interpretation of ambiguous information leads to projection of unconscious impulses
Rorschach: holistic vs detailed responses, time taken to answer, content, typical or unusual responses
Thematic Apperception Test: what led up to, what do you see in the picture, and what happens next
TAT assesses personal needs
House-Tree-Person, free association, dream analysis, word association, sentence completion
Jung
Four dimensions (extraversion-introversion, intuition-sensing, thinking-feeling, judgement-perception)
Myers-Briggs Type Inventory: 4 preference scales
Trait approach
Trait has a genetic basis
Approach tries to describe individuals by a set of characterising attributes
Eysenck’s PEN theory
2 (extraversion-introversion, stability-neuroticism), later 3 (psychoticism-ego control added)
dimensions
Ascending Reticular Activating System (ARAS) in the brain stem relates to extraversion-introversion
Statistical approach to personality, factor analysis of many traits
Cattell’s 16PF
Big Five (OCEAN): 44 questions with Likert scale
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI): screens for personality and psychosocial
disorders
California Personality Inventory (CPI)
Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI)
Sensation Seeking scale (Zuckerman-Kuhlman): I like wild uninhibited parties, I prefer quiet parties
with good conversation
Cognitive-Behavioural approach
Personality is an accumulation of a set of learned tendencies and is the sum total of what we do and not
of what we think or feel
Classical/Pavlovian conditioning, Operant/Instrumental conditioning, Social learning
Bandura
Observational learning: tendency to model what is being seen/heard
Situational factors determine behaviour and thus personality
Perceived locus of control
Attributional style
Social learning
Rotter
Personality: interaction between individual and its environment
Relatively stable set of potentials for responding to situations in a particular way
Individuals behave in order to maximise their reinforcement
Behaviour potential (BP): likelihood of behaving in certain ways
Expectancy: subjective probability that behaviour will lead to a particular outcome
Reinforcement value: subjective value of outcome
BP depends on Expectancy and the Reinforcement value
Locus of control (of reinforcement): belief about whether the outcomes of our actions are contingent on
what we do or on events outside our personal control
Locus of control test: self-questionnaire of opinions, select alternative with which you agree the most
or disagree the least. Different domains (academic, health). Differences with age, status, gender.
INTELLIGENCE
Intelligence has been given many definitions, depending on the researcher
Francis Galton
Family-tree study suggested a hereditary link
Self-questionnaire study suggested a nurture component
Measured psychological variables as if they were physical variables (such as height or weight)
Eugenics: improve overall intelligence of the human species
James McKeen Cattell
Conducted many psychophysical experiments to measure intelligence differences
Wissler controversy: different psychophysical measures do not correlate with academic grades and do
not intercorrelate
" psychophysical measures are not valid in intelligence research
Alfred Binet
Main research question: How to identify subnormal children?
Simon-Binet intelligence test
Binet’s assumptions:
Intelligence is a general attribute that manifests itself across various tasks => wide range
Intelligence develops with age -> test development using item-response notions
Mental age is the absolute level of cognitive capacity (2 years rule of thumb)
Galton vs Binet
Galton
- Intelligence is hereditary
- Eugenics
- Focus of supernormal
Binet
- Intelligence develops, but genetic maximum never reached
- Mental orthopedics
- Focus on subnormal
Stanford-Binet
Terman’s revised version of the Simon-Binet test
Two versions (Army Alpha, Army Beta)
Charles Spearman
Binet used a large variety of tests, which all seem to correlate -> positive manifold
Factor analysis on large dataset
Two-factor theory of intelligence
- general ability (g)
- specific ability (s)
Only people with a high g are allowed to have voting rights
David Wechsler
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)
Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC)
Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scales of Intelligence (WPPSI)
L.L. Thurstone
Person-centered approach
Understanding how people reach their goals
7 primary abilities: verbal comprehension, word fluency, number, space, associative memory,
perceptual speed, reasoning
Raymond Cattell
Crystallised vs Fluid intelligence
Cattell’s Culture Fair test: 4 subtests
Guilford: 180 primary abilities related to operations, contents, and product
Vernon & Caroll: hierarchical model from g to s
Howard Gardner’s theory includes intra- and interpersonal abilities next to musical and movement
Robert Sternberg: analytical, practical, and creative intelligences
Flynn effect: observation that IQ scores increase from generation to generation
Reaction range: range of possible IQ scores one might achieve given various environments
Cognitive neuroscience
In the new field of cognitive neuroscience intelligence research has looked at finding processes and
structures in the brain that are particularly related to intelligence. Findings from neuropsychological
and neuroimaging studies has shown that the prefrontal cortex is particularly involved in performing
intelligence tests. Aging studies showed similar results, but the field is yet to make any progress that
could lead to any relevant and useful conclusions
Intelligence and politics
American immigrants before WWI
1921 immigration restriction to 3% annually
1924 2% of each European group in US
Arthur Jensen (1969): intelligence is largely hereditary, so there is no need for programs that help
subnormal children
Herrnstein & Murray (1995): the Bell curve
Explaining ethnic differences based on g
Warns America of a polarised state
Cognitive elite vs underclass
g exists, is stable, is heritable, can be measured adequately, and differences in g relate to differences in
academic aptitude
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN COGNITION
Besides the traditional research on individual differences in intelligence and personality, there is a
research program on individual differences in cognitive abilities in particular in working memory.
A major methodological approach is the use of structural equation modelling.
A major assumption is that cognitive tasks are not measuring one cognitive ability, but a number
cognitive abilities. By giving several tasks that purport to measure the same cognitive ability, this
ability can be determined through factor analysis. These so-called latent variables can then be used in a
path analysis to address differential contributions of cognitive constructs to complex cognitive tasks.
This type of research requires testing many participants on a large number of tasks.
BIOLOGICAL DETERMINANTS OF PERSONALITY, INTELLIGENCE, AND COGNITION
There are differences methodologies that suggest a link between biology and psychology
Genetic analysis: certain psychological aspects are genetically determined
Neuropsychological: patients with certain brain damage have specific psychological dysfunction
Neuroimaging: certain brain areas are particularly active in certain psychological tasks
Heritability: estimated proportion of phenotype variance in a group of individuals that is attributable to
genetic variance
Concordance: conditional probability that a feature appearing in one individual also appears in another
individual
Family studies
Children share 50% of their genes with each parent
Correlate the degree of overlap among family members with the degree of psychological (personality,
intelligence, and so on) similarity
=> Environment forms a confound
Twin studies
Monozygotic twins share 100% of their genes, whereas dizygotic twins share 50%
Heritability = two times the difference between the correlation between MZ twins and the correlation
between DZ twins
=> Assumes equal environments
=> Assumes representativeness of sample
Adoption studies
Siblings in the same family should be more similar than siblings in different families
Positive correlation between adopted children with different parents support environmental influence
Positive correlation between adopted children with same parents support genetic influence
=> Representativeness
=> Selective placement
Twin studies have shown that in particular the structure of the frontal cortex has a strong hereditary
component. This is consistent with views that personality, intelligence, and high-level cognition have a
genetic component and are mediated by the frontal cortex. However, as the correlations are not 1.0
there is a non-genetic component. This fits with the concept of reaction range.
Environmental influences could be shared (same house) or non-shared (friends, hobbies) environments.
Reactive genetic-environment interaction (e.g., because you’re tall/black you’re treated in a particular
way)
Active genetic-environment interaction (e.g., sensation seekers seek risky environments)
PSYCHOMETRICS
A good test is: reliable, valid, generalisable, standardised
Reliability (consistency): extent to which a test is repeatable
- Test-retest
- Alternate forms
- Inter-rater
- Internal consistency: extent to which all items measure the same construct
- Inter-item correlation
- Item-total correlation
- Split-half reliability
- Alpha reliability
Validity
- Face (content)
- Construct
- Criterion (concurrent, predictive)
- Convergent: performance on test converges with other tests that measure the same construct
- Discriminant: test measures one construct and not something else
A test is invalid when it is unreliable, invites response sets or has biases
A standardised test has consistent testing conditions, has an objective scoring procedure, and tends to
measure relative performance
Constructing tests follows a number of steps:
- Defining the purpose of the test
- Mapping the purpose on the type of questions
- Creating the items
- Pilot study to select good items
- Item analysis
- Psychometrics (reliability, validity)
- Write a test manual (indicating standardised procedure)
Item response theory
A family of models that predict the probability of observing a particular response to an item
Binet selected items in the Simon-Binet test such that all children up to a certain age perform well on
the item
Four main approaches to personality:
! Humanistic approach
! Psychodynamic approach
! Trait approach
! Behavioural-cognitive approach
Humanistic approach
Rogers
Personality is determined by a person’s self-concept
Actualisation tendency: innate motivation to develop its potential to the fullest possible
Not many people are full-functioning individuals (openness to experience, existential living, orgasmic
trusting, experiential freedom, creativity).
Q-sort test: organise cards (I am smart, I am lazy) according to how you see yourself and according to
how you like to see yourself. Discrepancy indicates the work that needs to be done.
Maslow
Hierarchy of needs (from deficit needs to being needs)
Personal Orientation Inventory: self-report, 2 basic scales (inner directed support, time competence)
Psychodynamic approach
Freud
Personality is made up of id, ego, and superego
Emphases role of unconscious in personality
Internal conflicts evokes defence mechanisms that underlie differences in personalities
Murray’s need theory
Primary needs (biological)
Secondary needs (achievement, power, affiliation, intimacy) drive personality
Projective tests as a window to the unconscious
Interpretation of ambiguous information leads to projection of unconscious impulses
Rorschach: holistic vs detailed responses, time taken to answer, content, typical or unusual responses
Thematic Apperception Test: what led up to, what do you see in the picture, and what happens next
TAT assesses personal needs
House-Tree-Person, free association, dream analysis, word association, sentence completion
Jung
Four dimensions (extraversion-introversion, intuition-sensing, thinking-feeling, judgement-perception)
Myers-Briggs Type Inventory: 4 preference scales
Trait approach
Trait has a genetic basis
Approach tries to describe individuals by a set of characterising attributes
Eysenck’s PEN theory
2 (extraversion-introversion, stability-neuroticism), later 3 (psychoticism-ego control added)
dimensions
Ascending Reticular Activating System (ARAS) in the brain stem relates to extraversion-introversion
Statistical approach to personality, factor analysis of many traits
Cattell’s 16PF
Big Five (OCEAN): 44 questions with Likert scale
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI): screens for personality and psychosocial
disorders
California Personality Inventory (CPI)
Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI)
Sensation Seeking scale (Zuckerman-Kuhlman): I like wild uninhibited parties, I prefer quiet parties
with good conversation
Cognitive-Behavioural approach
Personality is an accumulation of a set of learned tendencies and is the sum total of what we do and not
of what we think or feel
Classical/Pavlovian conditioning, Operant/Instrumental conditioning, Social learning
Bandura
Observational learning: tendency to model what is being seen/heard
Situational factors determine behaviour and thus personality
Perceived locus of control
Attributional style
Social learning
Rotter
Personality: interaction between individual and its environment
Relatively stable set of potentials for responding to situations in a particular way
Individuals behave in order to maximise their reinforcement
Behaviour potential (BP): likelihood of behaving in certain ways
Expectancy: subjective probability that behaviour will lead to a particular outcome
Reinforcement value: subjective value of outcome
BP depends on Expectancy and the Reinforcement value
Locus of control (of reinforcement): belief about whether the outcomes of our actions are contingent on
what we do or on events outside our personal control
Locus of control test: self-questionnaire of opinions, select alternative with which you agree the most
or disagree the least. Different domains (academic, health). Differences with age, status, gender.
INTELLIGENCE
Intelligence has been given many definitions, depending on the researcher
Francis Galton
Family-tree study suggested a hereditary link
Self-questionnaire study suggested a nurture component
Measured psychological variables as if they were physical variables (such as height or weight)
Eugenics: improve overall intelligence of the human species
James McKeen Cattell
Conducted many psychophysical experiments to measure intelligence differences
Wissler controversy: different psychophysical measures do not correlate with academic grades and do
not intercorrelate
" psychophysical measures are not valid in intelligence research
Alfred Binet
Main research question: How to identify subnormal children?
Simon-Binet intelligence test
Binet’s assumptions:
Intelligence is a general attribute that manifests itself across various tasks => wide range
Intelligence develops with age -> test development using item-response notions
Mental age is the absolute level of cognitive capacity (2 years rule of thumb)
Galton vs Binet
Galton
- Intelligence is hereditary
- Eugenics
- Focus of supernormal
Binet
- Intelligence develops, but genetic maximum never reached
- Mental orthopedics
- Focus on subnormal
Stanford-Binet
Terman’s revised version of the Simon-Binet test
Two versions (Army Alpha, Army Beta)
Charles Spearman
Binet used a large variety of tests, which all seem to correlate -> positive manifold
Factor analysis on large dataset
Two-factor theory of intelligence
- general ability (g)
- specific ability (s)
Only people with a high g are allowed to have voting rights
David Wechsler
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)
Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC)
Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scales of Intelligence (WPPSI)
L.L. Thurstone
Person-centered approach
Understanding how people reach their goals
7 primary abilities: verbal comprehension, word fluency, number, space, associative memory,
perceptual speed, reasoning
Raymond Cattell
Crystallised vs Fluid intelligence
Cattell’s Culture Fair test: 4 subtests
Guilford: 180 primary abilities related to operations, contents, and product
Vernon & Caroll: hierarchical model from g to s
Howard Gardner’s theory includes intra- and interpersonal abilities next to musical and movement
Robert Sternberg: analytical, practical, and creative intelligences
Flynn effect: observation that IQ scores increase from generation to generation
Reaction range: range of possible IQ scores one might achieve given various environments
Cognitive neuroscience
In the new field of cognitive neuroscience intelligence research has looked at finding processes and
structures in the brain that are particularly related to intelligence. Findings from neuropsychological
and neuroimaging studies has shown that the prefrontal cortex is particularly involved in performing
intelligence tests. Aging studies showed similar results, but the field is yet to make any progress that
could lead to any relevant and useful conclusions
Intelligence and politics
American immigrants before WWI
1921 immigration restriction to 3% annually
1924 2% of each European group in US
Arthur Jensen (1969): intelligence is largely hereditary, so there is no need for programs that help
subnormal children
Herrnstein & Murray (1995): the Bell curve
Explaining ethnic differences based on g
Warns America of a polarised state
Cognitive elite vs underclass
g exists, is stable, is heritable, can be measured adequately, and differences in g relate to differences in
academic aptitude
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN COGNITION
Besides the traditional research on individual differences in intelligence and personality, there is a
research program on individual differences in cognitive abilities in particular in working memory.
A major methodological approach is the use of structural equation modelling.
A major assumption is that cognitive tasks are not measuring one cognitive ability, but a number
cognitive abilities. By giving several tasks that purport to measure the same cognitive ability, this
ability can be determined through factor analysis. These so-called latent variables can then be used in a
path analysis to address differential contributions of cognitive constructs to complex cognitive tasks.
This type of research requires testing many participants on a large number of tasks.
BIOLOGICAL DETERMINANTS OF PERSONALITY, INTELLIGENCE, AND COGNITION
There are differences methodologies that suggest a link between biology and psychology
Genetic analysis: certain psychological aspects are genetically determined
Neuropsychological: patients with certain brain damage have specific psychological dysfunction
Neuroimaging: certain brain areas are particularly active in certain psychological tasks
Heritability: estimated proportion of phenotype variance in a group of individuals that is attributable to
genetic variance
Concordance: conditional probability that a feature appearing in one individual also appears in another
individual
Family studies
Children share 50% of their genes with each parent
Correlate the degree of overlap among family members with the degree of psychological (personality,
intelligence, and so on) similarity
=> Environment forms a confound
Twin studies
Monozygotic twins share 100% of their genes, whereas dizygotic twins share 50%
Heritability = two times the difference between the correlation between MZ twins and the correlation
between DZ twins
=> Assumes equal environments
=> Assumes representativeness of sample
Adoption studies
Siblings in the same family should be more similar than siblings in different families
Positive correlation between adopted children with different parents support environmental influence
Positive correlation between adopted children with same parents support genetic influence
=> Representativeness
=> Selective placement
Twin studies have shown that in particular the structure of the frontal cortex has a strong hereditary
component. This is consistent with views that personality, intelligence, and high-level cognition have a
genetic component and are mediated by the frontal cortex. However, as the correlations are not 1.0
there is a non-genetic component. This fits with the concept of reaction range.
Environmental influences could be shared (same house) or non-shared (friends, hobbies) environments.
Reactive genetic-environment interaction (e.g., because you’re tall/black you’re treated in a particular
way)
Active genetic-environment interaction (e.g., sensation seekers seek risky environments)
PSYCHOMETRICS
A good test is: reliable, valid, generalisable, standardised
Reliability (consistency): extent to which a test is repeatable
- Test-retest
- Alternate forms
- Inter-rater
- Internal consistency: extent to which all items measure the same construct
- Inter-item correlation
- Item-total correlation
- Split-half reliability
- Alpha reliability
Validity
- Face (content)
- Construct
- Criterion (concurrent, predictive)
- Convergent: performance on test converges with other tests that measure the same construct
- Discriminant: test measures one construct and not something else
A test is invalid when it is unreliable, invites response sets or has biases
A standardised test has consistent testing conditions, has an objective scoring procedure, and tends to
measure relative performance
Constructing tests follows a number of steps:
- Defining the purpose of the test
- Mapping the purpose on the type of questions
- Creating the items
- Pilot study to select good items
- Item analysis
- Psychometrics (reliability, validity)
- Write a test manual (indicating standardised procedure)
Item response theory
A family of models that predict the probability of observing a particular response to an item
Binet selected items in the Simon-Binet test such that all children up to a certain age perform well on
the item
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