PERSONALITY TYPE & HOW IT AFFECTS FUNCTION IN THE WORLD

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Christian Melton
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1 PERSONALITY TYPE & HOW IT AFFECTS FUNCTION IN THE WORLD Assoc. Prof. Peter En=co> Cogni=ve Neuroscience Unit, School of Psychology

2 Deakin University CRICOS Provider Code: 00113B

3 WHAT IS PERSONALITY? A stable set of traits that influence how we perceive and interact with our environment Affects the way we think about ourselves and others, our behaviour, and the beliefs/aitudes that we hold Arise from an interacjon between biology (genejcs) and experience (environment) PredicJve (e.g., our reacjons to stress)

4 HOW DOES PERSONALITY AFFECT FUNCTION IN THE WORLD? Personality is what makes us who we are

5 THE BIG 5 Openness (to experience): liberal/conservajve, convenjonal, roujne etc. Conscien=ousness: thoroughness, careful, vigilance, organised Extraversion: inner- focus vs. interest external to self Agreeableness: kindness, sympathy, cooperajon Neuro=cism: anxiety, worry, self- consciousness

6 HOW DO WE MEASURE PERSONALITY? Primarily through self- report; i.e., we ask people! Some 3 rd party observajon

7 COMMON PERSONALITY ASSESSMENTS NEO:PI Myers Briggs MMPI

8 NEO:PI Big 5 personality inventory I somejmes have wild ideas, I find philosophical arguments boring, I like to keep everything in its place so I know just where it is Strongly agree, disagree, neutral, agree, strongly agree

9 MYERS- BRIGGS Personality types (16): Introversion/Extraversion Sensing/IntuiJng Thinking/Feeling Judgment/PercepJon

10 MYERS- BRIGGS Org. Psych usage Team building, complementary personality types

11 MMPI Minnesota MulJphasic Personality Inventory EmoJonal adjustment 567 items: true or false

12 CLINICAL SCALES 1. Hypochondriasis 2. Depression 3. Hysteria 4. Psychopathic deviate 5. Masculinity- Femininity 6. Paranoia 7. Psychasthenia (obsessions, compulsions, anxiety) 8. Schizophrenia 9. Hypomania 0. Social introversion

13 Validity scales: Lie scale (I get angry somejmes), Infrequency scale (It would be bejer if all laws were thrown away), K scale (overly posijve)

14 FROM PERSONALITY TO DISORDER When is personality considered pathological? A personality disorder is an enduring pajern of inner experience and behavior that deviates markedly from the expectajons of the individual's culture is pervasive and inflexible has an onset in adolescence or early adulthood is stable over Jme, and leads to distress or impairment

15 PERSONALITY DISORDERS Cluster A Paranoid PD Schizoid PD Schizotypal PD

16 PERSONALITY DISORDERS Cluster B AnJsocial PD Borderline PD Histrionic PD NarcissisJc PD

17 PERSONALITY DISORDERS Cluster C Avoidant PD Dependent PD Obsessive- Compulsive PD

18 PSYCHOPATHY Interpersonal/affecJve: superficial charm, lying, manipulajng, lack of empathy, callous Lifestyle/anJsocial: parasijc, impulsive, anjsocial/criminal behaviour

19 PERSONALITY & ASPERGERS Where does personality stop and Aspergers start? Are these one and the same? What is responsible for a person s behaviour, percepjons etc.?

20 IS ASPERGERS PERSONALITY? Can we consider Asperger s a part of someone s personality? A different way of thinking and experiencing, rather than a pathological enjty?

21 WHAT DOES THE DSM SAY? 1. Deficits in social- emojonal reciprocity, ranging, for example, from abnormal social approach and failure of normal back- and- forth conversajon; to reduced sharing of interests, emojons, or affect; to failure to inijate or respond to social interacjons. 2. Deficits in nonverbal communicajve behaviors used for social interacjon, ranging, for example, from poorly integrated verbal and nonverbal communicajon; to abnor- malijes in eye contact and body language or deficits in understanding and use of gestures: to a total lack of facial expressions and nonverbal communicajon. 3. Deficits in developing, maintaining, and understanding relajonships, ranging, for ex- ample, from difficuljes adjusjng behavior to suit various social contexts; to difficuljes in sharing imaginajve play or in making friends; to absence of interest in peers.

22 DIAGNOSTIC CRITERIA Symptoms or traits? Introversion? ConscienJousness? Openness? Describe behaviour associated with certain Big 5 traits that are considered within the realm of neurotypical

23 IMPAIRMENT? For diagnosjc criteria to be met: Symptoms cause clinically significant impairment in social, occupajonal, or other important areas of current funcjoning Likely to be a highly subjecjve and debatable judgment; what is considered impairment to one person might be perfectly acceptable to another

24 ASSESSMENT RAADS, AQ etc. are these bejer conceptualised as personality inventories? E.g., I prefer to do things with others rather than on my own; I prefer to do things the same way over and over again; I don't parjcularly enjoy reading ficjon.

25 FOCUS ON POSITIVES DSM tends to emphasis negajve characterisjcs, ignoring posijve aspects that might be considered personality traits, or at least associated with personality traits What about, for example, analysis, focus on detail, problem solving, logical and crijcal thinking?

26 SOME FINAL THOUGHTS Each individual is highly complex We as a community seem to be narrowly the realm of normality and variajon that is considered acceptable The issue of impairment needs to come down to a quality of life decision; what does the individual want or need to have a good quality of life?

27 QUESTIONS? DISCUSSION?

5/6/2008. Psy 427 Cal State Northridge Andrew Ainsworth PhD

5/6/2008. Psy 427 Cal State Northridge Andrew Ainsworth PhD Psy 427 Cal State Northridge Andrew Ainsworth PhD Some Definitions Personality the relatively stable and distinctive patterns of behavior that characterize an individual and his or her reactions to the