In the 4D Model of Human Behavior
Personality is one of the sources of human behavior. Although in popular belief
it is seen as the only source of behavior, the reality is that Personality is,
out the four sources from the model, the weakest one. Taking this into account,
a legitimate question is why is it still included in the model?
To better understand why
personality is present in the model, I suggest taking a look at it from a
behavioral sciences perspective. If we accept the System 1, System 2
perspective or in other words the bird and computer brains,
then we will see that several personality traits are significantly important.
Moreover, personality traits are relevant for components of the other three
dimensions of the model, Environmental influences, Social influences and Internal
state.
In previous posts I have
presented the personality traits that I believe to be most important. These are
Intelligence,
The Big Five Personality Traits,
Need for Cognition,
Need for Uniqueness,
Regulatory Focus, and Life History Strategy adopted.
In the following paragraphs I will present most of these traits from the
perspective of behavioral sciences.
Let’s take a look at intelligence.
A very brief and somehow superficial definition of intelligence is the capacity
of processing information. At the same time, intelligence implies accurate
processing of information. Moreover, all tests that measure IQ include time
pressure. In simpler words, a person who takes an IQ test has very little time
to answer each question.
If we take the dual system of reasoning
perspective,
we see that time pressure implies a dominant reliance on System 1 or the bird
brain. This system of reasoning is fast whereas the computer brain (system 2)
is slow. From this point of view, it could be inferred that intelligence is
strongly related to the accuracy of System 1 (bird brain) reasoning.
Let’s take a look at need forcognition.
A very frugal definition of this trait would be how much a person likes to
think. A more elaborate definition would be the tendency to engage in effortful
thinking. If we take the dual system of reasoning approach, need for cognition
can be seen as a measure of usage system 2 or the computer brain.
Things are similar for the
Openness to experience trait from the Big Five personality traits.
This trait is correlated with need for cognition and it can be briefly defined
as intellectual curiosity. Openness to experience is strongly related to the
use of the computer brain (system 2).
Let’s take a look at need foruniqueness.
This trait could be briefly defined as the degree to which a person expresses
her own individuality and at the same time belong to a social group. This trait
is strongly related to social competition which is a component of the social
influences dimension. In my humble opinion, people with high scores on need for
uniqueness are more likely to be more competitive and engage in fierce social
competition.
Conscientiousness,
which is one of the Big Five personality traits, can be briefly defined as
ability to work hard and thoroughly. This trait is strongly related to self-control,
which in turn is very important for the internal state dimension. I believe
that conscientiousness score of a person would predict well the influence of
visceral influences on the person’s behavior.
Life History Strategy adopted is a trait that comes from evolutionary psychology and indicates how much a
person is inclined to invest in her own development and improvement and how
much is she inclined to “advertise” herself on the social market. This trait is
highly significant for social competition, a component of social influences. People
who are more on the side of the Fast Life History Strategy are more likely to
be more competitive on the social market and allocate more resources for
achieving a higher social status. People who are more on the side of the Slow
Life History strategy will devote more resources to investing in themselves and
less on communicating their value on the social market.
Regulatory focus is a trait that reflects which goals are more important for a person. People
who are more on the prevention focus side tend to have very salient goals of
avoiding losses. People who are more on the promotion focus side tend to have
very salient goals of achieving gains. This trait is strongly related to the
concepts of loss and risk aversions from prospect theory. People with a
dominant prevention focus, compared with people with promotion focus, exhibit
higher levels of both loss and risk aversions.
Personality is a valid predictor
of behavior and I believe that seeing it from this perspective gives more opportunities
to understanding its role.
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