Personality and Individual Differences in Psychology

Personality and Individual Differences

TOPIC 1: Personality and Psychology of
Personality and Individual Differences
Corr & Mathews (2009). The Cambridge Handbook of Personality Psychology
Larsen & Buss (2018). Personality Psychology (p.3-5)
2024-2025
Dr. Maja Wrzesień
(she, her)

Group Learning Outcomes

Understand the basic conceptual language
and definition of Psychology of Personality so
that students learn the meaning of individual
differences
V Understand different approaches to
personality

Defining Personality

8What is
personality?
. How would you describe your own
and the person sitting next to you
personality? (5 words)

Examples of Trait-Descriptive Adjectives

What is
personality?
· Examples of trait-descriptif adjectives:
· Thoughtful (refers to inner qualities of mind)
· Charming (refers to the effect a person has on other people)
· Domineering (refers to relational adjective, person position toward
others)
· Ambitious (refers to the intencity of desire to reach the goal)
· Creative (quality of the mind &nature of the producto one produce)
. Deceitful (strategy that one used to attein their goals)

Why Determine People's Personality?

WHAT IS PERSONALITY?
WHY DO WE DETERMINE PEOPLE'S PERSONALITY?

Consistency and Distinctiveness in Personality

WHAT IS PERSONALITY?
WHY DO WE DETERMINE PEOPLE'S PERSONALITY?
.To convey a sense of consistency or continuity in someone's behavior and
qualities across different contexts.
.To explain the influence between someone's personality and behavior
(personality predicts and helps to understand behavior).
·Personal distinctiveness form other people.
THAT'S WHY THE CONCEPT OF PERSONALITY IS USED.

Complexity of Personality Definition

WHAT IS PERSONALITY?
· Due to the complexity of personality definition (i.e., including in the definition
inner features, social effects, qualities of mind, qualities of the body, relation to
others, and inner goals) some text books on personality omit a formal
definition entirely
· DEFINITION: Personality is the set of psychological traits and mechanisms
within the individual that are organized and relatively enduring and that
influence his or her interaction with, and adoptions to, the intrapsychic,
physical, and social environment (Larsen, 2018)
3

Individual Differences and Behavior

PERSONALITY/INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES
People behave as they do, at least in part, BECAUSE of their personalities.
Individual differences: Encompasses several non-observable or "latent" constructs,
such as intelligence and personality, which represent major
sources of variation in behavior (Chamorro-Premuzic, 2013).
"The study of individual differences is rooted in an understanding of how
individuals exhibit variability in key psychological characteristics, and how these impact
important daily outcomes such as well-being, health and work success. Among the most
examined characteristics are personality traits" (Balsari-Palsule, 2020).
Personality is useful in describing, explaining, and predicting differences among individuals.
Just as economy theory might be useful for describing, explaining, and predicting
fluctuations in economy, personality traits describe, explain and predicts
individual differences.

Approaches to Personality Psychology

Different approaches
to Personality
Psychology
Differences in theoretical
principales and research methods:
· Idiographic versus nomothetic
psychology

Idiographic Versus Nomothetic Psychology

Variable-centered vs. Person-centered

IDIOGRAPHIC VERSUS NOMOTHETIC
Nomothetic Psychology
Variable-centered
Idiographic Psychology
Person-centered

General Laws vs. Unique Individual Understanding

IDIOGRAPHIC VERSUS NOMOTHETIC
Nomothetic Psychology
- General laws applicable to different
people.
- Aims to understand how different
variables develop and influence
people's life.
- Personality: camparing people with
each other about specific variables.
- Research method: study many
individuals at once, comparing them.
Idiographic Psychology
- Understanding of the each
unique individual.
- Aims to understand each
individual's uniqueness.
- Personality: understanding each
individual as a whole.
- Research method: case-studies,
personal interviews, archival
material (diary, letters), biography

Scientific Understanding of Personality

IDIOGRAPHIC VERSUS NOMOTHETIC
Which approach allows a better scientific understanding
of personality?
Nomothetic Psychology
v Ignores unique quality of personality
v The key to developing a scientific
understanding of personality.
Once we have scientifically valid
general principles, we can identify each
person's individuality.

Feeling for Individual Life

IDIOGRAPHIC VERSUS NOMOTHETIC
Which approach give more of a feeling for the individual life?
Time-consuming and laborious.
Case studies are a fruitful source of
ideas about personality.
v Need to investigate personal experiences
from individual's point of view.
?
Idiographic Psychology

Comparing People vs. Understanding Individuals

IDIOGRAPHIC PSYCHOLOGIST
NOMOTHETIC PSYCHOLOGIST
Personality must be understood by
comparing people with each other
with regard to specific variables
Personality must be understood
within each individual

Personality Understanding

IDIOGRAPHIC PSYCHOLOGIST
NOMOTHETIC PSYCHOLOGIST
Personality must be understood by
comparing people with each other
with regard to specific variables
by Personality
Personality must be understood
within each individual

Goals of Psychological Approaches

NOMOTHETIC PSYCHOLOGIST
IDIOGRAPHIC PSYCHOLOGIST
Personality must be understood by
comparing people with each other
with regard to specific variables
Personality must be understood
within each individual
GOAL: Fully understanding how
different variables develop and
influence people's lives
GOAL: Fully understanding each
individual's uniqueness

Approach Appeal

WHICH APPROACH SEEMS MORE
APPEALING TO YOU?

Putting Approaches into Practice

PUT INTO PRACTICE
NOMOTHETIC PSYCHOLOGY
IDIOGRAPHIC
PSYCHOLOGY
1. Case studies are a fruitful source of ideas about personality
2. Ignores unique quality of personality
3. The key to developing a scientific understanding of personality
4. Time consuming and laborious
5. Once we have scientifically valid general principles, we can identify each
person's individuality
6. Need to investigate personal experiences from individual's point of view

Categorizing Statements

PUT INTO PRACTICE
NOMOTHETIC PSYCHOLOGY
IDIOGRAPHIC
PSYCHOLOGY
2. Ignores unique quality of
personality
1. Case studies are a fruitful
source of ideas about personality
3. The key to developing a
scientific understanding of
personality
4. Time consuming and laborious
5. Once we have scientifically
valid general principles, we can
identify each person's
individuality
6. Need to investigate personal
experiences from individual's
point of view

Dispositional Versus Situational Approaches

DISPOSITIONAL VERSUS SITUATIONAL
DISPOSITIONAL
approach
SITUATIONAL
approach
Differ on the basis of whether they conceptualize personality in terms of largely
invariable and consistent dispositions
Views personality in terms of consistent and
unchanging dispositions to act, think, and feel
regardless of context.
Views personality in terms of unrelated states or
behaviors determined by situational factors

Approaches to Personality Conceptualization

APPROACHES TO PERSONALITY
Dispositional approaches are nomothetic in nature
(i.e., they describe different people using the same
terms), and can be further divided into traits and
types according to whether they assess personality
dimensions in an ordinal (traits) or categorical (type).
· Saying that someone is introverted or extraverted
is a categorical distinction, whereas saying that
someone's Extraversion score is 49 is a
quantitative distinction.
Figure 2.1 presents a graphical depiction of
the different approaches to the conceptualization of
personality
p1
1) Situational: personality as inconsistent states/behaviors.
p2
p2
2) Idiographic: describes different people in different terms.
o p2
Types p1 o
p1
p2
Traits
3) Nomothetic: describes different people using same terms
(extremes) or traits (continuum).
FIGURE 2.1 Situational (states), idiographic, and nomothetic (types and traits) approaches to
the study of personality (p = person)

Conclusion

Thank you
"Remember, you're like some other people and like no other person" (Little, 2016)