LB - Individual Differences

• personality


  consistent behaviour patterns and intrapersonal processes
• Paradigms/Approaches to Personality

  • psychoanalytical approach: Unconscious mind and motivations
  • phenomenological/humanistic approach: conscious world experiences (personal responsibility and self-acceptance)
  • trait approach: how people differ (traits and behaviours)
  • learning approach: behaviourism, cognitive personality theory. role of reward and punishment
  • cognitive approach: perception and memory
• Intelligence (mental capacities)


  general ability to reason, comprehend etc. from experience
• Emotional Intelligence


  capacity to recognize own and others emotions and respond
• Ability EI


  Assessed similar to IQ, its the cognitive ability to process info, max performance
• Trait EI


  similar to trait personality theories, dispositional tendency, typical performance
• Types of Intelligence models

  • 2 factor: general and specific factors influence intelligence level
  • Multiple factors: 2 factor was too reductionist, Thurstone (1938) tested 7 mental abilities
• Intelligence Tests

  • IQ - mental age/actual age x 100 (looks at attention, verbal reason +2)
  • Wechsler scales: verbal (short term) and performance (psychomotor abilities)
  • Triarchic theory, 3 components: analytical, creative intelligence and practical
  • Gardner: 8 types of intelligence
• Emotional Intelligence

  • self-awareness (understand emotions)
  • self-management (control emotions/reactions)
  • motivation (use emotion to motivate for a goal)
  • empathy/social skills (build relations)
  • social skills (lead, discern relationships)
• trait activation theory


  traits are activated by situational factors