Course Materials: Texts

Funder, The
Personality
Puzzle, 6th Edition.

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Theories of
Personality
Handbook. (Custom
Courseware)

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Course Website(s)
Course
Avenue to
website:
Learn:

http://intropsych.mcmaster.ca/ps
ych2b3/

Course Syllabus
Evaluation:

Two midterm
tests:
30% each
40 MC questions
Non-cumulative
1. Thursday
October 29th
Final Exam:
2. November 19th
40%
80 MC
questions
Cumulative
(only readings
after 2nd
midterm)

McMaster Student Absence

Form absences
Only for MEDICAL
Can only be used ONCE per
term
Cannot be used for
assignment worth 30% or
more of final mark
Cannot be used for final
exams
Cannot be used for 2B03
midterms
Medical documentation to
Associate Dean required

Nature vs. Nurture?

What is human
nature?
How
does personality
develop?
What motivates
us?
Conscious
vs
unconscious?
Group vs
nomothetic
individual?
idiographic

More global and

general
Long history of interest
Many large-scale
theories
Theories dont guide
research
Theories
generated/tested
differently

Theorists clinicians, not

scientists
Influenced by theorists

personality
Little empirical
support
Non-scientific
evaluation
Theories difficult to test:
Postdictive, not
predictive
Vague, abstract
concepts

Historic role in personality

theory development
Currently important
Have been influential in the
past
Nicely illustrate a particular
perspective
They are interesting in and of
themselves

Whatever makes for

consistency in our
behavior
Whatever is
responsible for
individual

Constru
ct

Constru
ct

O O O

O O O

It is important to realize that in

physics today we have no
knowledge of what energy is. We
do not have a picture that energy
comes in little blobs of a definite
amount. It is not that way.
I dont demand that a theory
(Richard Feynman)
correspond to reality because I
dont what [reality] is. Reality is
not a quality you can test with
litmus paper. All Im concerned
with is that the theory should

the wave function doesnt

describe a real microworld but
only knowledge useful for making
predictions. (Roger Penrose)
Quantum mechanics says there is
no reality when you dont make a
measurement. From this point of
view, the atom waves passing
through the interferometer arent
real; they are merely convenient
fictions invented by physicists to
predict where the atoms will appear

A good scientific theory is like

a symbolic tale, an allegory of
reality. Its characters are
abstractions that may not exist
in reality; yet they give us a
way of thinking more deeply
about reality. Like a fine work
of art, the theory creates its
own world: It transforms
reality into something else - an

I think it is delirium to
believe that our theories
describe literally the world
as it is. The success of a
theory at explaining or
predicting the facts in no
way proves the objective
reality of that theory. It
simply demonstrates the

Type Approach:
Limited number of distinct
personality types
Emphasis on biological
bases of personality
Oldest
approach

The
The
Four
Four
Humour
Humour

Blood
Yellow
Bile

Hippocra

Phleg
m
Black
Bile

Galen

Trait Approach:
Personality = internal
characteristics and
tendencies
Emphasis on biological
factors
Say little about
development

Psychodynamic Approach:
Personality = action &
interaction of psychic
structures
Behavior = interaction
between biology and
experience
Says MUCH about
development

Behaviorist Approach:
Personality =
consistent patterns of
behavior
Emphasized
experience and
learning
Influenced by Watson,
Skinner

Humanist Approach:
Personality =
manifestation of the Self,
inner
Stressunity
positive
motivation and reaching
of
full
potential
Search for personal
meaning
Idiographic approach

Cognitive Approach:
Personality = style of
information selection &
processing
Often allied with
behaviorist approach
Most recent approach

Evolutionary Psychology
Approach:
Emphasizes biological
bases of personality

Focus on adaptive
function of personality
through evolution
Growing in influence in
the field

Shared human nature, not

individual differences
Tooby & Cosmides (1990):
Human nature unitary though
susceptible to quantitative
variation.
Often speak about human
nature in terms of basic
motives.

Wiggins (1990):
Agency: Strivings for power and
mastery.
Communion: Intimacy, union,
solidarity with others.

Hogan (1990):

Status: Respected; recognized

uniqueness.
Popularity: Acceptance, liking.

Buss (2008):
Sex
Aggression: Resource
management, mate retention
Parental motivation
Status/power seeking

Type approach
Trait approach
Psychodynamic approach
Behaviorist approach
Humanist approach
Cognitive approach
Evolutionary psychology
approach