Personality and Physical Activity
EPHE 348
What is Personality?
• Basic definition - dimensions of individual differences in
tendencies to show consistent patterns of thoughts, feelings, and
actions, is (McCrae et al., 1990)
• Hypothesized to represent a biological influence towards
culturally conditioned phenomena, behavior, and life events
• Traits are place holders for yet to be discovered
neurotransmitters and genes
• The environment provides a means for the expression of
personality
History of Personality
• Oldest history in psychology
• Dated to 400 B.C. with Hippocrates suggesting
that there were four basic types of people
associated with bodily humors
–
–
–
–
melancholic (depressed) black bile
choleric type (irritable) yellow bile
sanguine (optimistic) blood
phlegmatic (calm) phlegm
History Cont...
• Flash forward to the 20th century
• Gordon Allport (1930-40)
– one of the most influential trait theorists
– believed that traits are basic building blocks of
psychological organization integrating what would
be otherwise dissimilar stimuli and responses
History
• Personality was almost abandoned in the 1960’s
& 1970’s
• Mischel (1968) argued that all individual
differences are socially learned
• Personality has now seen a resurgence over the
last 20 years from evidence of heritability, crosscultural stability, and neuroscience
Heritability
• Twin studies are the most persuasive
• Identical twin evidence is consistently stronger than
fraternal twins
• Explains about 50 % of personality
• New research is at the level of genetic markers
• Long way to go in this exciting area
Temporal Stability
• Test-retest reliability / stability is identical from
2 weeks to 45 years
• Appears to be continuity between temperaments
and personality from childhood to adolescence
• Traits are relatively enduring reaching peak
consistency at 50-60
Cross-Culture Reliability
• Identified similar personality structures and
traits across all cultures
Neuroscience
• Attempts to understand personality with
natural science
• Extraversion and cortical arousal
• Neuroticism and the nervous system
• Still in the early stages of research
How do we sort out the number
of personality traits?
• Theorizing / hypothesizing (e.g., Hippocrates)
• Lexical studies
– English contains 18,000 words that refer to
characteristics of a behavior
– Factor analysis reduces them into similar groupings
– Idea is that language has been at least partially
developed to describe behavior
Leading Personality Theories
• One of the most famous and lasting
pioneers in personality is Hans Eysenck
• Identified two major dimensions:
– 1) Extraversion-introversion
– 2) Neuroticism-emotional stability
• Third is Psychoticism - less researched
Eysenck’ s Model
• Extraversion = activity, sociability, assertiveness,
expressiveness, ambition, dogmatism, and aggression
• Neuroticism = inferiority, unhappiness, anxiety,
dependence, hypochondria, guilt, and obsessiveness
• Psychoticism = risk-taking, impulsiveness,
irresponsibility, manipulativeness, sensation-seeking,
tough-mindedness, and practicality
Eysenck meets Hippocrates
Leading Personality Theories
• The most popular model of personality is the fivefactor model (Costa & McCrae, 1992; Goldberg, 1990)
• Proposes 5 key traits
– Neuroticism
– Extraversion
– Openness to experience
– Agreeableness
– Conscientiousness
Five-Factor Model
• Neuroticism = anxiety, depression, selfconsciousness, vulnerability, angry hostility,
impulsiveness
• Extraversion = warmth, gregariousness, assertiveness,
activity, excitement seeking, positive emotions
• Openness to experience = fantasy, aesthetics,
feelings, actions, ideas, and values
• Agreeableness = trust, straightforwardness, altruism,
compliance, modesty, and tender-mindedness
• Conscientiousness = competence, order, dutifulness,
achievement-striving, self-discipline, and deliberation
Personality and Health
• Personality influences health through two
Routes:
– 1) Psychophysical – effect of psychological events
on physiological, neuroendocrine, and metabolic
processes
– 2) Behavioral – overt actions and inactions that
influence exposure to pathogenic agents / disease
Personality and Physical Activity
• Rhodes and Smith (2006) meta-analysis of
35 studies
– N,E,C are reliable correlates with a small ES
– Linked to vigorous activities but not light
activities
– No gender difference
– Potential cultural differences (Can/USA = E;
UK = C)
Personality integrated with Social
Cognition?
Large
Effect
Intention
Exercise
Small
Effect
Behavior
Perceived
Control
Medium
Effect
Extraversion
Extraversion
(Rhodes, Courneya, Jones, 2002; Rhodes & Courneya, 2003;
Rhodes, Courneya & Jones, 2003; Rhodes, Courneya & Jones, 2004)
.43*
Affective
Attitude
.39*
.34*
Instrumental
Attitude
.06
.60*
.13*
Subjective
Norm
.25*
.25*
.74*
Intention
.12*
.04
.08
Perceived
Control
.18*
.23*
Extraversion
Exercise
Behavior
Personality and the Stages of Change
• Research suggests that personality may affect stage
progression and regression (Rhodes et al., 2001;
Lochbaum et al., submitted)
• Significant difference in E, N, & C between
Action/maintenance and contemplation /preparation
• No difference in precontemplation - personality acts as
a facilitator / inhibitor but not a decision maker for
exercise?
Personality as a Moderator of
Intention-Behaviour
• High C individuals follow through with their exercise intentions
more than low C individuals (self-discipline, organization,
competence) (Conner et al., 2007; Rhodes et al., 2002)
• High E individuals follow through with their exercise intentions
more than low E individuals (greater opportunity and
environment for physical activity ) (Rhodes et al., 2002, 2003;
Hagan et al., in press)
• Low N individuals follow through with their exercise intentions
more than High N individuals (Less distraction/interference
from mood ) (Hagan et al., in press)
Conscientiousness
Walking
(Rhodes, Courneya, Blanchard & Plotnikoff, 2007)
5.5
Low
Conscientiousness
5
Med
Conscientiousness
High
Conscientiousness
4.5
4
3.5
3
Low
Medium
Intention
High
Sub-Trait Analyses?
Extraversion
Positive
Emotions
Sociability
Assertiveness
Warmth
Sensation
Seeking
Activity/
Adventurousness
Affective
Attitude
.14
.62
.14
Activity
(Extraversion)
.30
.23
Instrumental
Attitude
.18
.42
.27
Intention
.14
Subjective
Norm
Self-Discipline
(Conscientiousness)
.10
.12
.13
.38
Perceived
Control
Hagan et al. in press
.54
Exercise
Moderators of IntentionBehaviour
• Rhodes et al., 2005 –C Achievement
Striving
• Hagan et al. in press – N Anxiety