When we talk about our personality, many of us treat it as a fixed, unchanging part of us. But the truth is our personality can evolve and often does, even without us deliberately trying. For example, many of us are more open to new experiences and willing to take more risks when we’re younger, and we become more content and less reactive to stress as we age……Continue reading….
By Jill Suttie
Source: Greater Good Magazine
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Personality can be determined through a variety of tests. Due to the fact that personality is a complex idea, the dimensions of personality and scales of such tests vary and often are poorly defined. Two main tools to measure personality are objective tests and projective measures. Examples of such tests are the: Big Five Inventory (BFI), Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2), Rorschach Inkblot test, Neurotic Personality Questionnaire KON-2006, or Eysenck’s Personality Questionnaire (EPQ-R).
All of these tests are beneficial because they have both reliability and validity, two factors that make a test accurate. “Each item should be influenced to a degree by the underlying trait construct, giving rise to a pattern of positive intercorrelations so long as all items are oriented (worded) in the same direction.”A recent, but not well-known, measuring tool that psychologists use is the 16PF. It measures personality based on Cattell’s 16-factor theory of personality.
Psychologists also use it as a clinical measuring tool to diagnose psychiatric disorders and help with prognosis and therapy planning. Modern conceptions of personality, such as the Temperament and Character Inventory have suggested four basic temperaments that are thought to reflect basic and automatic responses to danger and reward that rely on associative learning.
The four temperaments, harm avoidance, reward dependence, novelty-seeking and persistence, are somewhat analogous to ancient conceptions of melancholic, sanguine, choleric, phlegmatic personality types, although the temperaments reflect dimensions rather than distance categories.
The harm avoidance trait has been associated with increased reactivity in insular and amygdala salience networks, as well as reduced 5-HT2 receptor binding peripherally, and reduced GABA concentrations. Novelty seeking has been associated with reduced activity in insular salience networks increased striatal connectivity. Novelty seeking correlates with dopamine synthesis capacity in the striatum and reduced auto receptor availability in the midbrain.
Reward dependence has been linked with the oxytocin system, with increased concentration of plasma oxytocin being observed, as well as increased volume in oxytocin-related regions of the hypothalamus. Persistence has been associated with increased striatal-mPFC connectivity, increased activation of ventral striatal-orbitofrontal-anterior cingulate circuits, as well as increased salivary amylase levels indicative of increased noradrenergic tone.
Personality can be distinguished from more dispositional temperaments as reflecting adjustment to the culture in which one lives and grows, such as what to be ashamed or proud about, and cultural values. Many personality characteristics are human universals but other elements have proven to be unique to specific cultures and “the Big Five” have shown clear cross-cultural applicability.
Cross-cultural assessment depends on the universality of personality traits, which is whether there are common traits among humans regardless of culture or other factors. If there is a common foundation of personality, then it can be studied on the basis of human traits rather than within certain cultures. This can be measured by comparing whether assessment tools are measuring similar constructs across countries or cultures. Two approaches to researching personality are looking at emic and etic traits.
Emic traits are constructs unique to each culture, which are determined by local customs, thoughts, beliefs, and characteristics. Etic traits are considered universal constructs, which establish traits that are evident across cultures that represent a biological basis of human personality. If personality traits are unique to the individual culture, then different traits should be apparent in different cultures.
However, the idea that personality traits are universal across cultures is supported by establishing the Five-Factor Model of personality across multiple translations of the NEO-PI-R, which is one of the most widely used personality measures. When administering the NEO-PI-R to 7,134 people across six languages, the results show a similar pattern of the same five underlying constructs that are found in the American factor structure.
The biological basis of personality is the theory that anatomical structures such as genes, hormones, or brain areas underlie individual differences in personality. This stems from neuropsychology, which studies how the structure of the brain relates to various psychological processes and behaviors. For instance, in human beings, the frontal lobes are responsible for foresight and anticipation, and the occipital lobes are responsible for processing visual information.
In addition, certain physiological functions such as hormone secretion also affect personality. For example, the hormone testosterone is important for sociability, affectivity, aggressiveness, and sexuality. Additionally, studies show that the expression of a personality trait depends on the volume of the brain cortex it is associated with.
Genetic and environmental continuity in personality development: A meta-analysis”.
Between facets and domains: 10 aspects of the Big Five”.
Delineating the Structure of Normal and Abnormal Personality: An Integrative Hierarchical Approach”.
Personality Change from Life Experiences: Moderation Effect of Attachment Security”.
The Role of the Environment in Shaping Personality”.
Personality trait structure as a human universal”.
The Geographic Distribution of Big Five Personality Traits”.
The swerve : how the world became modern.
Testing Predictions From Personality Neuroscience”.
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