Personality and Physical Activity EPHE 348

What is Personality? Basic definition - dimensions of individual differences in tendencies to show consistent patterns of thoughts, feelings, and actions, is (McCrae et al., 1990) Hypothesized to represent a biological influence towards culturally conditioned phenomena, behavior, and life events Traits are place holders for yet to be discovered neurotransmitters and genes The environment provides a means for the expression of personality

History of Personality Oldest history in psychology Dated to 400 B.C. with Hippocrates suggesting that there were four basic types of people associated with bodily humors melancholic (depressed) black bile choleric type (irritable) yellow bile sanguine (optimistic) blood phlegmatic (calm) phlegm

History Cont... Flash forward to the 20th century Gordon Allport (1930-40) one of the most influential trait theorists believed that traits are basic building blocks of psychological organization integrating what would be otherwise dissimilar stimuli and responses

History Personality was almost abandoned in the 1960’s & 1970’s Mischel (1968) argued that all individual differences are socially learned Personality has now seen a resurgence over the last 20 years from evidence of heritability, cross-cultural stability, and neuroscience

Heritability Twin studies are the most persuasive Identical twin evidence is consistently stronger than fraternal twins Explains about 50 % of personality New research is at the level of genetic markers Long way to go in this exciting area

Temporal Stability Test-retest reliability / stability is identical from 2 weeks to 45 years Appears to be continuity between temperaments and personality from childhood to adolescence Traits are relatively enduring reaching peak consistency at 50-60

Cross-Culture Reliability Identified similar personality structures and traits across all cultures

Neuroscience Attempts to understand personality with natural science Extraversion and cortical arousal Neuroticism and the nervous system Still in the early stages of research

How do we sort out the number of personality traits? Theorizing / hypothesizing (e.g., Hippocrates) Lexical studies English contains 18,000 words that refer to characteristics of a behavior Factor analysis reduces them into similar groupings Idea is that language has been at least partially developed to describe behavior

Leading Personality Theories One of the most famous and lasting pioneers in personality is Hans Eysenck Identified two major dimensions: 1) Extraversion-introversion 2) Neuroticism-emotional stability Third is Psychoticism - less researched

Eysenck’ s Model Extraversion = activity, sociability, assertiveness, expressiveness, ambition, dogmatism, and aggression Neuroticism = inferiority, unhappiness, anxiety, dependence, hypochondria, guilt, and obsessiveness Psychoticism = risk-taking, impulsiveness, irresponsibility, manipulativeness, sensation-seeking, tough-mindedness, and practicality

Eysenck meets Hippocrates

Leading Personality Theories The most popular model of personality is the five-factor model (Costa & McCrae, 1992; Goldberg, 1990) Proposes 5 key traits Neuroticism Extraversion Openness to experience Agreeableness Conscientiousness

Five-Factor Model Neuroticism = anxiety, depression, self-consciousness, vulnerability, angry hostility, impulsiveness Extraversion = warmth, gregariousness, assertiveness, activity, excitement seeking, positive emotions Openness to experience = fantasy, aesthetics, feelings, actions, ideas, and values Agreeableness = trust, straightforwardness, altruism, compliance, modesty, and tender-mindedness Conscientiousness = competence, order, dutifulness, achievement-striving, self-discipline, and deliberation

Personality and Health Personality influences health through two Routes: 1) Psychophysical – effect of psychological events on physiological, neuroendocrine, and metabolic processes 2) Behavioral – overt actions and inactions that influence exposure to pathogenic agents / disease

Personality and Physical Activity Rhodes and Smith (2006) meta-analysis of 35 studies N,E,C are reliable correlates with a small ES Linked to vigorous activities but not light activities No gender difference Potential cultural differences (Can/USA = E; UK = C)

Personality integrated with Social Cognition?

Extraversion (Rhodes, Courneya, Jones, 2002; Rhodes & Courneya, 2003; Rhodes, Courneya & Jones, 2003; Rhodes, Courneya & Jones, 2004)

Personality and the Stages of Change Research suggests that personality may affect stage progression and regression (Rhodes et al., 2001; Lochbaum et al., submitted) Significant difference in E, N, & C between Action/maintenance and contemplation /preparation No difference in precontemplation - personality acts as a facilitator / inhibitor but not a decision maker for exercise?

Personality as a Moderator of Intention-Behaviour High C individuals follow through with their exercise intentions more than low C individuals (self-discipline, organization, competence) (Conner et al., 2007; Rhodes et al., 2002) High E individuals follow through with their exercise intentions more than low E individuals (greater opportunity and environment for physical activity ) (Rhodes et al., 2002, 2003; Hagan et al., in press) Low N individuals follow through with their exercise intentions more than High N individuals (Less distraction/interference from mood ) (Hagan et al., in press)

Conscientiousness (Rhodes, Courneya, Blanchard & Plotnikoff, 2007)

Sub-Trait Analyses? Extraversion Positive Emotions Sociability Warmth Activity/ Adventurousness Assertiveness Sensation Seeking

Hagan et al. in press

Moderators of Intention-Behaviour Rhodes et al., 2005 –C Achievement Striving Hagan et al. in press – N Anxiety