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Personality. What makes us unique individuals?. What is “Personality”?. Trait theory: Personalities can be characterized by presence and magnitude of traits that are common across all people. Are personalities stable?. Tests have been devised to measure personality traits.
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Personality What makes us unique individuals?
What is “Personality”? • Trait theory: • Personalities can be characterized by presence and magnitude of traits that are common across all people
Are personalities stable? • Tests have been devised to measure personality traits. • The tests show high stability over time. • Do the tests really measure anything? • Psychics • Barnum Effect
Genetic basis of traits • Personality traits might simply be softer expressions of psychological disorders. • Gloomy -- depression • Eccentric -- Schizophrenic • Happy -- manic
The confounding influence of situations • Do people act the way they do because of their personality, or the situation? • Low behavioral correlations across situations. • We generally see people in the same situations (students & teachers, athletes, etc.)
Is personality real? • Do people really have personalities? • Is personality just our attempt to understand people around us, to make them more predictable? Do we see “consistency” where none exists?