Interpersonal (Personality) Psychology CSCW January 26, 2004

What are people like?  Traits versus States –A trait is an enduring personality characteristic. –A state is a transient mood.  What is an object/concept/schema/personality trait inside people’s heads?  How do you know what a person is like?  What terms do you use to describe people?

What percentage of first year graduate students in the United States are enrolled in programs in each of the following fields of specizialization?  Business Administration______%  Computer Science______%  Engineering______%  Humanities and Education______%  Law______%  Library Science______%  Medicine______%  Physical and Life Sciences______%  Social Science and Social Work______%

 Tom W. is of high intelligence although lacking in true creativity. He has a need for order and clarity and for neat and tidy systems in which every detail finds its appropriate place. His writing is rather dull and mechanical, occasionally enlivened by somewhat corny puns and by flashes of imagination of the sci-fi type. He has a strong drive for competence. He seems to have little feel and sympathy for other people and does not enjoy interacting with others. Self-centered, he nonetheless has a deep moral sense.

 The preceding personality sketch of Tom W. was written during Tom’s senior year in high school by a psychologist on the basis of projective tests. Tom W. is currently a graduate student. Please rank the following nine fields of graduate specialization in order of the likelihood that Tom W. is now a graduate student in each of these fields:

 Business Administration______  Computer Science______  Engineering______  Humanities and Education______  Law______  Library Science______  Medicine______  Physical and Life Sciences______  Social Science and Social Work______

 In actual experiments, the correlation between perceived similarity and judged likelihood is.97.  The correlation between likelihood and perceived base rate is  Confirmed by many other experiments. => Our judgments about what things go together are not always veridical.

Actor vs. Observer conundrum:  People tend to attribute stable personality qualities to others, rather than seeing their behavior as the product of the situation. Ex.: Making Counter-Attitudinal Arguments

PANAS

Some personality tests and concepts  “The Big 5”---extroverted, friendly, orderly, relaxed, open- minded  MMPI (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory)  Self-efficacy (Bandura)  Need for cognition  SDO (Social-dominance orientation)  Oops: Bem: Masculinity/Femininity   Horoscopes (next slide)  Myers-Briggs (E or I, S or N, T or F and J or P)  Enneagram  Leadership through Quality

From the January 26 LA Times  Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 18). Teach people how to treat you. Protect your reputation. It's a big part of how you'll be getting future business. When the family is getting along, the whole world looks brighter. Try to get feuding people to talk.  Wow! They really know a lot about me!

Validity and Reliability  How similar (correlated) is this construct to other constructs it should be close to and different is it from other constructs it should differ from? (Bootstrapping.)  Is it distinct?  Does it stay the same over time?  Do the items in the scale vary together, or at least in subscales?

What do people want from each other?  LOTS OF THINGS  Depending on: –Who they are. –How they’re feeling at the moment. –Who the other person is. –How they’re feeling at the moment. –What the situation is.

What do people want from each other?

Interpersonal Model: A Social Personality Model COMMUNION AGENCY Personal motives with respect to other people.

Interpersonal Model: A Social Personality Model COMMUNION AGENCY ISOLATION SUBMISSION

Six Propositions about Motives 1. Interpersonal motives are hierarchical –Motive: high level –Personal strivings: medium level –Goal: more specific 2. Interpersonal motives fall into two broad, abstract categories. 3. The earliest expressions of communion and agency appear in infancy with the child’s attachment to caretakers.

Six Propositions 4. Interpersonal behaviors are usually motivated. - Goals may vary. 5. A particular behavior may stem from a combination of motives. –Advice giving: displaying competence (agentic), influencing others (agentic), connecting with others (communion) 6.Co-existing motives may be compatible or may conflict. -Competing with friends

Behaviors as well as Motives Can be Classified COMMUNION AGENCY ISOLATION, INDIFFERENCE SUBMISSION, YIELDING Connectedness, affiliation, warmth, love, nurturance Influence, control, dominance, power, status

BEHAVIOR IS AMBIGUOUS  The motive gives meaning to ambiguous behaviors. –Chatting = > “Have you heard the Word of the Lord today?” (learning an unexpected motive)  Because ambiguous behavior allows different interpretations, it can lead to miscommunication between interactants –“It’s cold in here.” –“I had a bad day today.”

Pulls for Complementarity COMMUNION AGENCY The complement of a behavior is the reaction that would satisfy the motive behind that behavior.

 Hostile behavior comes from frustrated motives what the motives are.  Hostile behaviors: assertive participants working with dominating partners produced 3 hostile comments/interaction (desert survival problem). (All other conditions <.5)  But NOT if believed partner non-human. (Shechtman, 2002)

 Examples: Advice Giving vs. Empathy  Frustrated motives = > interpersonal problems –Lack of capacity –Conflicting motives –Ambiguous behavior –Outdated Scripts –Constraints of reality