
The motivation to engage in extreme and risky behaviors High self-esteem is associated with a variety of positive psychological and health outcomes.

High self-esteem means having a positive attitude toward oneself and one’s capabilities. People high in self-consciousness spend more time preparing their hair and makeup before they leave the house. The tendency to introspect and examine one’s inner self and feelings Self-consciousness (Fenigstein, Sheier, & Buss, 1975) People with a promotion orientation are more motivated by goals of gaining money, whereas those with prevention orientation are more concerned about losing money. Refers to differences in the motivations that energize behavior, varying from a promotion orientation (seeking out new opportunities) to a prevention orientation (avoiding negative outcomes) Regulatory focus (Shah, Higgins, & Friedman, 1998) People high in the need for cognition pay more attention to arguments in ads. The extent to which people engage in and enjoy effortful cognitive activities Need for cognition (Cacioppo & Petty, 1982) Those high in need for achievement select tasks that are not too difficult to be sure they will succeed in them.


The desire to make significant accomplishments by mastering skills or meeting high standards People with higher internal locus of control are happier, less depressed, and healthier in comparison to those with an external locus of control. In comparison to those with an external locus of control, people with an internal locus of control are more likely to believe that life events are due largely to their own efforts and personal characteristics. Internal versus external locus of control (Rotter, 1966) Individualists prefer to engage in behaviors that make them stand out from others, whereas collectivists prefer to engage in behaviors that emphasize their similarity to others. Individualism is the tendency to focus on oneself and one’s personal goals collectivism is the tendency to focus on one’s relations with others. Individualism-collectivism (Triandis, 1989) Table 11.1 Some Personality Traits That Predict Behavior TraitĮxamples of behaviors exhibited by people who have the traitĪuthoritarianism (Adorno, Frenkel-Brunswik, Levinson, & Sanford, 1950)Ī cluster of traits including conventionalism, superstition, toughness, and exaggerated concerns with sexualityĪuthoritarians are more likely to be prejudiced, to conform to leaders, and to display rigid behaviors.

It seems then that the predictions of physiognomy may also, in the end, find little empirical support. In contrast to the predictions of physiognomy, the researchers found that these people would have made more accurate judgments about the strangers if they had just guessed, using their expectations about what people in general are like, rather than trying to use the particular facial features of individuals to help them. Olivola and Todorov (2010) recently studied the ability of thousands of people to guess the personality characteristics of hundreds of thousands of faces on the website What’s My Image? ( ). In contrast to phrenology and somatology, for which no research support has been found, contemporary research has found that people are able to detect some aspects of a person’s character-for instance, whether they are gay or straight and whether they are Democrats or Republicans-at above chance levels by looking only at his or her face (Rule & Ambady, 2010 Rule, Ambady, Adams, & Macrae, 2008 Rule, Ambady, & Hallett, 2009).ĭespite these results, the ability to detect personality from faces is not guaranteed. William Sheldon erroneously believed that people with different body types had different personalities.Īnother approach to detecting personality is known as physiognomy, or the idea that it is possible to assess personality from facial characteristics.
