Table of Contents
1. Week 1 Background
2. Week 2 Personality and Culture... ...2
2.1 Week 2 Summary ... ...3
3. Week 3 Traits and Evolutionary Psychology . . 4
3.1 Week 3 Summary . ... .. 4 Week 4 Personality Disorders ... . . 6
4.1 Week 4 Summary . ... .. 7
5 Week 6 Trauma and Personality . ... 8
5.1 Week 6 Summary . ... .. 9
6 Week 7 DID and Culture . . ...11
6.1 Week 7 Summary . ... ...13
7 Week 8 Narcissism ... ... 14
8 Week 9 Psychopathy . ... 16
9.1 Week 9 Summary . ... .. 17
3 Week 10 The Dark Triad . . ... 18
10.1 Week 10 Summary . 11 Week 11 Personality and Cyberculture Summary . ... 20
12 Week 10 Self-transcendence Summary . ... 21
4 Wk3 Traits and evolutionary psychology
Trait psych and the FFM Nomothetic approach Lexical hypothesis
Traits are biologically fixed human universals
External influences might change how traits are exposed but not the traits themselves Traits and cross-cultural research
- Factor analysis found replications of 5 factor structure with few exceptions - Traits likely to shape culture geography of personality
Eastern countries more introverted
Hierarchical cluster analysis show cultures with similar personality profiles are clustered together
- Allik and colleagues: Differences between individuals within country are greater than differences between countries
- What causes geographical differences in personality?
Shared culture, shared genes, and shared physical environment Cultural differences have a genetic base
Selective migration may account for why recent immigrants from HK to Canada score similar to Canadians on E, O, and A.
Traits and genes
- 40% personality differs due to genetics, 60% environment Evolutionary psych and culture
Selective pressures and sex differences - Lactation evidence
Buss: females prefer wealthy men with status and resources and men prefer young, buxom women Ovulation effects: mate preference varies across the menstrual cycle
- Duel strategy (Thornhill & Gangesad)
1. Conception and ovulation: women prefer masculine, dominant, and symmetric men 2. Non-conceptive sex: non-genetic material benefits; retaining long term mate
- Ovulation leads women to perceive sexy cads as more investing fathers and committed partners
HOWEVER, Bussey and Bandura posit evolutionary psych cannot account for cultural diversity in gender roles
- Gender roles appear more nurture than nature
Rapid shift in gender roles is too short of a time to be genetically determined HOW DOES Evolutionary psych account for this cultural diversity and sex differences?
- Buss
a. Transmitted culture E.g. ideas and beliefs b. Evoked culture
E.g. pathogens
Importance of indicators of physical health including associating facial symmetry with good genes which is a universal feature of beauty
As pathogen presence increase, there is an increase in emphasis on physical attractiveness and vice versa
- Evolutionary psych explains individual differences by saying traits have emerged due to evolutionary pressure as they have adaptive and maladaptive associations
Back to pathogens e.g. wherein more pathogens = less E and O and more sexual restrictions
5 HOWEVER, might be more due to expression of traits through behaviour, people still
trait to be expressed Summary
Cross-cultural research demonstrates that the FFM is consistent across culture with few exceptions. Traits likely to shape culture as illustrated by the so-called geography of personality wherein Eastern countries more introverted and hierarchical cluster analysis show cultures with similar personality profiles are clustered together
HOWEVER, Allik and colleagues posit that differences between individuals within a country are greater than differences between countries. Regardless, these geographical differences in personality can be due to shared culture, shared genes, and shared physical environment, or selective migration may account for why recent immigrants from HK to Canada score similar to Canadians on E, O, and A. Cultural differences also have a genetic base with 40% personality differs due to genetics, and 60% environment.
natural selection. E.g. selective pressures may have contributed to sex differences as exemplified by
lactation evidence. As such, Buss illustrates that females prefer wealthy men with status and resources and men prefer young, buxom women. Moreover, Thornhill & Gangesad posit a Duel Strategy theory regarding ovulation effects wherein (1) during conception and ovulation women prefer masculine, dominant, and symmetric men (2) during non-conceptive sex women consider non-genetic material benefits like retaining a long-term mate. Thus, ovulation leads women to perceive sexy cads as more investing fathers and
committed partners
HOWEVER, Bussey and Bandura posit evolutionary psych cannot account for cultural diversity in gender roles as ultimately gender roles appear more nurture than nature and the rapid shift in gender roles is too short of a time to be genetically determined. Buss attempts to account for this cultural diversity and sex differences by saying culture is both transmitted through ideas and beliefs and is evoked by the
environment like, e.g., via pathogens. As pathogen presence increase, there is an increase in emphasis on physical attractiveness (facial symmetry) as indictors of psychical health and good genes and vice versa.
Specifically in regards to traits, evolutional psych says they have emerged due to evolutionary pressure as they have adaptive and maladaptive associations. Back to pathogens e.g. wherein more pathogens = less E and O and more sexual restrictions. HOWEVER, might be more due to expression of traits through
AND does not entirely account for Allik and colleagues finding that differences between individuals within a country are greater than differences between countries.
CRITICAL EVALUATION: Whilst evolutionary psych does successfully account for some major aspects of cultural diversity as can be understood by pathogens, ultimately is does not account for the rapid shifts in culture and the direct effect of environment on the expression of traits like Social Cognitive Theory does.