Psychology Defined
Psychology is the scientific study of mind and
behaviour.
2 ways to resolve disputes:
1) non-peacefully
2) Peacefully
(1) by acceptance of authority
(2) by agreement on rules for
resolving disputes
Political Claims:
Dispute resolution
mechanism?
voting
Knowledge claims:
Dispute resolution
mechanism?
Science
Science defined
• Procedures for adjudicating knowledge claims
Standards of evidence
Decision rules for evaluating competing claims
• Methods for obtaining controlled or rigorous
observations
Systematic observation (empiricism)
Independent replication
Publicity of methods
Public of findings
Personality Science
Is Astrology a scientific theory of personality?
1. Are its claims empirically testable?
• Yes.
2. Are its claims consistent with already wellestablished facts about the physical world?
• No.
• Therefore evidence will need to be very strong.
Astrology could in principle be a scientific theory,
it is a very bad one. Why?
Because it consistently fails empirical testing.
Cool things we don’t cover…
1. X-raying your mind.
2. Finding your inner child.
3. Determining your “colour”.
5. Astrology, Phrenology, Graphology,
Enneagram, Scientology…
Scientology
L. Ron Hubbard's Grades
Chemistry (General) D, D
Math (Plane Geometry) F
German (1st yr) E, F
Math (Diff. Calculus) F
Physics (Sound/Light) E
Math (Diff. Calculus 2nd attempt) D
Math (Analytic Geometry) D
English (the Short Story) B,B
English (Rhetoric) C, B
Personality tests on the Web
If you google: "personality tests",
2,270,000 web pages
http://www.lovecalculator.com/
Chapter 1
Introduction
to Personality
What are trait words for?
bold, timid
reliable, disorganized
cool, nifty,
goof (see Urban Dictionary)
incompetent
untrustworthy
pedophile
Functions of trait words
1. Describe
thrifty
Someone good with money.
2. Evaluate
stingy
A jerk who won’t give $$ to me.
We need to predict what someone will do.
We need to evaluate someone's significance
for oneself.
George Bush's Personality
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkQcnDCjyuQ
Defining Personality
Popular meanings of "personality"
• A boring person (“He lacks personality.”)
• A desirable person ("She has a wonderful
personality.")
• A dramatic person (“You have quite the
personality!")
• A public person (“a well-known TV
personality")
Defining Personality
• Latin root is persona “mask”
• Per sonare = to sound through
–The hole in the actor's mask
• Cicero (50 BC): 4 meanings
1. Outer appearance to others
2. Inner, "real" self
3. A role, a part being played
4. A person of distinction
Cicero and Personality Debates
#1 & #2: Inner vs Outer
• Debate:
How to define personality
Hogan (1977):
– Actor perspective
– Observer perspective
(“inner self”)
(“outer self”)
The “Interpersonal perspective”
– Personality is observer defined phenomenon
– You have NO personality when deserted on an
island
Cicero and Personality Debates
#3: “Role”
• Debate:
Person-Situation debate
Is behavior due to traits or the situation?
#4: “Person of distinction”
– Distinction = high social value
– Value: e-VALU-tion; social evaluation
• Debate: social desirability debate
Are trait ratings descriptions or evaluations?
How badly biased are trait judgements?
Defining Personality
2 Definitions
• Little
• Big
Defining Personality
Little definition
(Gordon Allport, 1930s)
Personality=
An individual person's characteristic
patterns of thinking, feeling, and acting.
Personality Defined
Personality
is the set of psychological traits and
mechanisms within the individual that is
organized and relatively enduring and
that influences his or her interactions
with, and adaptations to, the environment
(including the intrapsychic, physical, and
social environment).
Personality Defined
Personality is the set of psychological
traits and mechanisms within the individual
that is organized and relatively enduring and
that influences his or her interactions with,
and adaptations to, the environment
(including the intrapsychic, physical, and
social environment).
Personality Defined
Personality is the set of psychological traits
and mechanisms within the individual that
is organized and relatively enduring and that
influences his or her interactions with, and
adaptations to, the environment (including
the intrapsychic, physical, and social
environment).
Personality Defined
Personality is the set of psychological traits
and mechanisms within the individual that
is organized and relatively enduring and that
influences his or her interactions with, and
adaptations to, the environment (including
the intrapsychic, physical, and social
environment).
Personality Defined
Personality is the set of psychological traits
and mechanisms within the individual that
is organized and relatively enduring and
that influence his or her interactions with,
and adaptations to, the environment
(including the intrapsychic, physical, and
social environment).
Personality Defined
Personality
is the set of psychological traits and
mechanisms within the individual that is
organized and relatively enduring and
that influences his or her interactions
with, and adaptations to, the environment
(including the intrapsychic, physical, and
social environment).
Personality Defined
Personality is the set of psychological
traits and mechanisms within the individual
that is organized and relatively enduring and
that influences his or her interactions with,
and adaptations to, the environment
(including the intrapsychic, physical, and
social environment).
Personality Defined
Personality is the set of psychological traits
and mechanisms within the individual that
is organized and relatively enduring and that
influences his or her interactions with, and
adaptations to, the environment (including
the intrapsychic, physical, and social
environment).
Personality Defined
Personality is the set of psychological traits
and mechanisms within the individual that
is organized and relatively enduring and that
influences his or her interactions with, and
adaptations to, the environment (including
the intrapsychic, physical, and social
environment).
Personality Defined
Personality is the set of psychological traits
and mechanisms within the individual that
is organized and relatively enduring and
that influence his or her interactions with,
and adaptations to, the environment
(including the intrapsychic, physical, and
social environment).
“For some kinds of thought, especially
moral decision-making about other
people’s social and psychological
situations, we need to allow for adequate
time and reflection.... “If things are
happening too fast, you may not ever fully
experience emotions about other people’s
psychological states and that would have
implications for your morality,”
- author of 2009 MRI study, Immordino-Yang
Texting Frequency
Personality Defined
Personality is the set of psychological traits
and mechanisms within the individual
that is organized and
relatively enduring and that
influence his or her interactions with, and
adaptations to, the environment (including
the intrapsychic, physical, and social
environment).
Is there psychological coherence in the
pattern of correlations with texting?
• Unreflective
• Materialistic
• Prejudiced
• Extraverted
Shallow & Friendly?
Personality Defined
Personality is the set of psychological traits
and mechanisms within the individual that
is organized and relatively enduring and
that influences his or her interactions with,
and adaptations to, the environment
(including the intrapsychic, physical, and
social environment).
Personality Defined
Personality is the set of psychological traits
and mechanisms within the individual that
is organized and relatively enduring and that
influences his or her interactions with, and
adaptations to, the environment (including
the intrapsychic, physical, and social
environment).
Personality Defined
Personality is the set of psychological traits
and mechanisms within the individual that
is organized and relatively enduring and that
influences his or her interactions with, and
adaptations to, the environment (including
the intrapsychic, physical, and social
environment).
Personality Defined
Personality is the set of psychological traits
and mechanisms within the individual that
is organized and relatively enduring and that
influences his or her interactions with, and
adaptations to, the environment (including
the intrapsychic, physical, and social
environment).
Henry Murray (1938)
Personality refers to the ways a person is
• like all other persons,
• like some other persons,
• and like no other person.
3 levels of personality analysis
Every human being is like…
All others
Human nature level
Some others
Indiv & Group difference level
No others
Indiv uniqueness level
1. Human Nature Level
Species typical traits and mechanism
The traits and mechanisms of
personality that are typical of our
species and are possessed by everyone
or nearly everyone.
2. Individual and Group
Differences Level
Ways in which each person is like
some other people
Worriers
Risk takers
3. Individual Uniqueness Level
Every individual has personal and unique
qualities not shared by any other person in
the world.
• Idiographic research (Paulness)
• Nomothetic research (Shyness)
A Fissure in the Field
Grand Theories of Personality
vs.
Contemporary Research in
Personality.
Grand Theories of Personality

Primarily address the 1st level of
analysis, the human nature level

Don’t represent contemporary research in
the field of personality psychology.
Contemporary Research

Primarily addresses 2nd level of analysis
ie., the ways individuals and groups tend to
differ (e.g., "extraversion", "collectivism")

BUT, studying personality psychology needs
to be more than just covering the current
research topics.
Bridging the Fissure
Domains of knowledge create specialization
 Integrating the domains of knowledge
gives us the whole personality…

D.O.K.
D.O.K.
D.O.K.
D.O.K.
D.O.K.
D.O.K.
A Whole
Person.
And The
Whole Picture
of which the
Person is a
part.
Six Domains of Knowledge
Dispositional Domain
Deals centrally with the ways in which
individuals differ from one another
e.g., basic traits
Six Domains of Knowledge
Biological Domain
Humans are collections of biological
systems that provide the building
blocks for behaviour, thought, and
emotion.
Six Domains of Knowledge
Cognitive-Experiential Domain
Our thoughts, feelings, beliefs and
desires shape our personality.
Am I a good person
or evil?
What makes me
fearful?
Do I see myself as
having a successful
career?
Six Domains of Knowledge
Intrapsychic Domain
Refers to the mental mechanisms of
personality, many of which operate
outside the realm of conscious
awareness.
Six Domains of Knowledge
Social and Cultural Domains
Personality doesn’t merely reside within
the head and nervous system, but affects,
and is affected by, the social and cultural
context.
Six Domains of Knowledge
Adjustment Domain
 Some
personality traits are related to
poor adjustment
 Studying disorders of personality
deepens our understanding of “normal”
personality
What about theory?
If astrology is a bad theory, what are the
characteristics of a good theory?
1) Provides a guide to the best questions to ask
2) Integrates known facts into a coherent
framework of understanding
3) Makes accurate predictions (generates new
facts)
How Evaluate Theories?
• Comprehensiveness
• Heuristic value
• Testability
• Parsimony
• Compatibility with other theories
Beliefs vs Theories
Belief
• what you privately like or want to think
Theory
• a claim of about the nature of the world
verified by observatons
Methods chapter is next….