Psychology UNIT ONE Development of personality

?

Key Definitions and Thomas, Chess and Birch

Personality: The thoughts, feelings and behaviours that make an individual unique.

Temperament: The genetic component of personality.

Aim: To discover whether ways of responding to the environment remian stable through life.

Method: They studied 133 children from infancy to early adulthood. The children's behaviour was observed and their parents were interviewed. The parents were asked about the child's routine and its reactions to change.

Results: Children fell into three types- 'easy' (happy, flexible and regular), 'difficult' (demanding, inflexible and cried a lot), 'slow to warm up' (did not respond well to change at first, but were usually happy once they had adapted). 

Conclusion: These ways of responding to the environment stayed with the children as they developed. Therefore, temperament is innate.

1 of 10

Temperament Buss and Plomin

Aim: To test the idea that temperament is innate.

Method: They studied 228 pairs of monozygotic twins and 172 pairs of dizygotic twins. They rated the temperament of the twins when they were five years old. They looked at three dimensions of behaviour, before comparing the scores for each pair of twins.

emotionality- how strong the child's emotional response was.

activity- how energetic the child was.

sociability- how much the child wanted to be with other people.

Results: There was a closer correlation between the scores of the monozygotic twins compared to the dizygotic twins.

Conclusion: Temperament has a genetic basis.

-monozygotic twins are treated in very similar ways so environment could have had an affect, research on twins cannot be generalised to people who are not twins

2 of 10

Temperament Kagan and Snidman

Aim: To investigate whether temperament is due to biological differences.

Method: They studied the reactions of four-month-old babies to new situations. For the first minute the baby was placed in a seat with the caregiver sitting nearby. For the next three minutes the caregiver moved out of the baby's view while the baby was shown different toys by the researcher.

Results: 20% of the babies showed distress by crying, vigorous movement of the arms and legs and arching of the back. They were classed as high reactive. 40% showed little movement or emotion. They were classed as low reactive. The remaining infants fell somewhere in between.

In a follow up study 11 years later, it was found that there was still a difference in the way the two groups reacted to new situations. High reactives = shy. Low reactives = calm.

Conclusion: These two temperaments are due to inherited differences in the way the brain responds.

-used a large sample (easier to generalise) -research took place in an experimental setting, lacks ecological validity -behaviour observed, behaviour may have been missed

3 of 10

Eysenck's type theory

Type theory: Personality types are thought to be inherited, caused by the type of nervous system that an individual has. They can be described using related traits.

Extroversion: People who look to the outside world for entertainment.

Introversion: People who are content with their own company.

Neuroticism: People who are highly emotional and show a quick, intense reaction to fear.

Aim: To investigate personality differences between people.

Method: 700 servicemen completely a questionnaire. Eysenck used factor analysis.

Results: Two dimensions of personality were identified: extroversion-introversion and neuroticism-stability.

Conclusion: Everyone can be placed along these two dimensions- most people lie in the middle

4 of 10

Personality EPI, EPQ and Evaluation

EPI: The Eysenck Personality Inventory, a series of yes/no questions used to measure the two dimensions of personality. The answers are used to identify someones personality.

EPQ: The Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, where a further dimension of psychoticism was added to the previous scale. Most people score low on this dimension but those with a high score are aggressive, hostile, insensitive, cruel and lacking in feelings. The three dimensions are not linked, so they are given a separate score for extroversion, neuroticism and psychoticism.

Evaluation:

-limited sample (servicemen) so cannot be generalised to other people

-only described a limited number of personality types

-used questionnaires to test personality, could've been based on mood

-believed that personality is genetic, didn't consider that personality can change as a result of experience.

5 of 10

Antisocial Personality Disorder

Antisocial Personality Disorder (APD): A condition in which the individual does not use socially acceptable behaviour or consider the rights of others.

APD affects 3% of males, 1% of females, and 75% of the prison population. It cannot be diagnosed until the individual is 18 years old, but can be recognised from around 15 years.

Characteristics of APD (have to show three or more to be diagnosed):

  • not following the norms and laws of society.
  • being deceitful by lying, conning others and using aliases
  • being impulsive and not planning ahead
  • being irritable and aggressive, often involved in physical fights or assaults
  • being careless about their own safety or the safety of others
  • being irresponsible, failing to hold down a job or pay back money owed to others
  • lacking remorse by being indifferent to hurting, mistreating or stealing from others
6 of 10

Biological causes of APD

The amygdala is located in the limbic system and is the temporal lobe of the brain. It is involved in memory and emotion, particularly fear.

The outer layer of the brain is known as the cerebral cortex or grey matter. This includes regions of the brain involved in muscle control, sensory perceptions such as seeing and hearing, memory, emotions and speech.

The prefrontal cortex is located in the frontal lobe of the brain. It is involved in expressing personality and appropriate social behaviour, as well as controlling aggression.

The amygdala is responsible for learning from the negative consequences of our actions- it responds to fearful and sad facial expressions in others. We therefore learn to avoid activities that we can see cause distress to others.

The amygdala is affected in people with APD. As a result, they do not learn to avoid behaviour that harms other people. This is because they are not affected by the distress shown.

Reduction in the grey matter means that people with APD are less likely to behave morally or show remorse for wrongdoing.

7 of 10

Biological causes of APD Raine

Aim: to support the theory that abnormalities in the prefrontal cortex cause APD.

Method: MRI scans were used to study 21 men with APD and a control group of 34 men. The subjects were all volunteers.

Results: The APD group had an 11% reduction in prefrontal grey matter compared with the control group.

Conclusion: APD is caused by a reduction in the grey matter.

Evaluation

-only studied males, cannot be generalised to women

-subjects were all volunteers, people with more severe APD are unlikely to volunteer (not representative)

-behaviours linked to one brain area often result from a defecit elsewhere in the brain. The cause of APD may therefore be more complex than this study suggests.

8 of 10

Situational causes of APD Elander

Some factors that lead to APD have their roots in childhood and include: socioeconomic factors such as low family income and poor housing, quality of life at home including poor parenting, educational factors including low school achievement and leaving school at an early age.

Aim: To investigate the childhood risk factors that can be used to predict APD in adulthood.

Method: Researchers investigated 225 twins who were diagnosed with childhood disorders and interviewed them 10-25 years later.

Results: Childhood hyperactivity, conduct disorders, low IQ and reading problems were strong predictors of APD and criminality in adult life.

Conclusion: Disruptive behaviour in childhood can be used to predict APD in adulthood.

Evaluation

-looked at twins so genetics may have influenced their behaviour. Participants had to remember experiences from their childhood so it relies on memory (could be unrelaible)

9 of 10

Situational causes of APD Farrington

Aim: To investigate the development of offending and antisocial behaviour in males studied from childhood to the age of 50

Method: The researchers carried out a longitudinal study of 411 males. They all lived in a deprived, inner-city area of London. They were first studied at the age of eight and were followed up until the age of 50. Their parents and teachers were also interviewed. Searches were carried out at the Criminal Records Office to discover if they, or members of their family, had been convicted of a crime.

Results: 41% of the males were convicted of at least one offence between the ages of 10 and 50. The most important risk factors were criminal behaviour in the family, low school achievement, poverty and poor parenting.

Conclusion: Situational factors lead to the development of antisocial behaviour.

Evaluation

-study was not a controlled experiment, other factors could have affected the behaviour -males were interviewed, could give socially desirable answers.

10 of 10

Comments

No comments have yet been made

Similar Psychology resources:

See all Psychology resources »See all Development of personality resources »