Me, myself and us by Brian R Little
The science of personality and the art of well-being.
Personality psychology emerged as an academic specialty in the
1930s, but its root extends back to philosophical and medical theories in the
fourth century BCE Greece. Influential among these ancient theories were those
that emphasized how various bodily humors - air, black bile, blood, and
yellow bit - gave rise to four corresponding temperamental types: phlegmatic,
melancholic, sanguine, and choleric personalities.
Freudian psychoanalytical theory saw personality as being shaped
by the protected conflict between unconscious, primary sexual needs and the
prohibitions of society. In George Kelly’s ‘The Psychology of Personal
Constructs’, he challenged.
Generally speaking, introverts achieve higher marks in school, so
by the time they are in university they are more likely to obtain a first class
graduating average. The researchers suggest that learning environment that is
critical. Extraverts learn better in environments that are stimulating and
engaging and conventional schools may not be able to provide such an
environment.
There are two other areas of intellectual achievement in which
there are notable differences between those who are high and low on extroversion. Extraverts have better memories than introverts do, but only in
short-term memory. Introverts do better on long-term memory tasks. Extraverts
are more likely to opt for quantity, introverts for quality.
If we watch social interactions, we can easily spot the difference
between introverted and extroverted styles. Extraverts stand closer, but speak
more loudly. They tend to touch and poke, even hug. Introverts are less
intense, more subdued, and definitely less huggy.
They also have contrasting verbal styles. Extraverts use direct,
simple, concrete language. Introverts have a tendency to craft communications
that are more oblique, contingently complex, and weasel-worded.
Human personality has both an inner and an outer reality. The
inner reality consists of what we are intending to do - what personal projects
we are pursuing at any given time. The outer reality consists of images that we
create, consciously or not, for others. It in in the nexus between these two
realities that our personalities are constructed, challenged, and
reconstructed.
We can think of our everyday behavior as expressions of three
different motivational sources that energize it. The first is biogenic: its
roots are genetic and its influence arises from brain structures and processes
that the rapidly emerging field of personality neuroscience is studying. If you
make a loud noise near the newborns, what will they do? Some will orient toward
the noise and others will turn away. Those who are attracted to the noise end
up being extraverts later in development; those who turn away are more likely
to end up being introverts.
One of the more interesting ways of informally assessing extroversion at the biogenic level is to do the lemon-drop test. There are
several variations on the test, and I draw here on a demonstration procedure I
frequently used with my undergraduates.7 Here are the ingredients you will
need: an eyedropper, a cotton swab (the little stick with a wrap of cotton on
either end, we use for babies and are admonished not to stick in our ears), a
thread, concentrated lemon juice (regular lemon juice won’t work as
effectively), and the willing tongue of a volunteer (such as yourself). Attach
the thread to the center of the double-tipped cotton swab so that it hangs
exactly horizontal. Swallow four times, then put one end of the swab on the
tongue, holding it for twenty seconds. Then place five drops of the
concentrated lemon juice on the tongue. Swallow, then place the other end of
the swab on the same portion of the tongue and hold it for twenty seconds. Then
hold up the swab by the thread. For some people the swab will remain
horizontal. For others, it will dip on the lemon juice end. Can you guess
which? For the extroverts, the swab stays relatively horizontal, but for
introverts it dips. The reason is that introverts, because they have relatively
high levels of chronic arousal, respond more vigorously to strong stimulation,
like lemon juice, so they create more saliva. Extraverts, being less responsive
to high levels of stimulation, stay relatively dry mouthed. In fact, there is
evidence that because of this tendency toward lower salivation levels,
extraverts actually have higher levels of tooth decay than do introverts
Each of the Big Five dimensions of personality can be assessed in
terms of its biogenic roots.(The five factors are openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism). For example, there is growing evidence that
highly agreeable individuals have higher levels of oxytocin.
In contrast with the American extroverted ideal, other cultures
place a higher premium on introversion. This is sort of sociogenic sources of
motivation.
Beyond the influence of the biogenic and sociogenic source of
motivation, there is another compelling influence on our daily behavior that I
call idiogenic motives. They represent the plans, aspirations, commitments and
personal projects that we pursue in the course of daily life. Their origin is
idiosyncratic and singular. By invoking biogenic causes we can explain a
person’s behavior as the natural playing out of traits. By invoking sociogenic
causes we can explain the same behavior as the natural consequences of social
norms. But by invoking idiogenic causes we seek the reasons why a person is
engaged in a particular pattern of behavior.
The situations and settings of our everyday lives plan an
important role in the quality of our lives. The better the ‘fit’ between a
person’s biogenic traits and the characteristics of the environment, the better
the consequence for well-being. One of the functions of the environment
is to provide the right resources for enabling our personal projects. Our own
research has shown that highly sociable individuals are happier if they are
engaged in personal projects that involve a lot of social interaction.
[To fully connect with the audience, my lectures need to be fast
paced, intense and interactive - in short, highly extroverted.]
High self monitors (HSM) are concerned about how others see
them, and they behave so as to reflect the norms and expectations of the
situations they enter. Low Self Monitors (LSM) are less concerned with how
others view them and are guided in their behavior by their own traits and
values rather than situational expectations. Knowledge of SM scores provides us
with rich material for reflection on the personality and well-being.
As you read this, that i am standing opposite to you when I ask
you to do the following. Please write, with your finger, the letter Q on your
forehead. Do it now. Did you put the tail on the right side or the left
side as viewed from inside your head looking outward? Which you did might offer
a clue about whether you are a HSM or LSM. Those who put the tail to right side
as viewed from inside your head looking outward more likely to be LSMs and
those with the tail to the left m HSMs. The logic is that HSMs convey their
information literally from the point of view of the audience, whereas LSMs do
it from their own perspective. Another such example is when a person is served
a steak. HSM like person will take steak even for putting slat first, whereas
LSM will salt the steak first before tasting.
Are we better described as onions or avocados? When asked to list
their attributes, HSM tend to report more publicly visible or available aspects
of themselves, such as physical features, status, and roles they play. LSMs are
more likely to report their internal attributes such as their values, enduring
preferences, or the kind of subsumed by Big Five factors. HSMs are rather like
Onions one keep peeling back layer after layer, until one discovers no
substantial self there at all. LSMs are like avocados when you dig down you
discover a pit, a firm core that is invariant.
Students were asked to look at each situation and determine its SM
press - that is, to what extent it was the kind of situation in which people
should be monitoring their conduct very closely.
The highest SM press from the student’s interview are::
Job interview
Public speaking
Appearing in court
Meeting the dean of the university
Funeral
Giving a seminar in class
Serving customers
First Date
The lowest SM press are:
Sick at home
Watching TV with friends
Rock concert
Camping alone
‘Talking to a close friend
At the beach
Grocery shopping
Dinner at McDonald's
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