2. The Nature of Personality

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About this Lecture

Lecture

In this lecture, we think about the nature of personality, focusing in particular on: (i) findings that monozygotic twins share more personality traits than dizygotic twins, suggesting that personality has a genetic basis; (ii) a challenge to these findings, based around the fact that monozygotic twins tend to live in more similar environments than dizygotic twins; (iii) findings that separated monozygotic twins show more similar personality characteristics than dizygotic twins living together, demonstrating the significant role that nature plays; (iv) Roberts and colleagues’ meta-analysis, finding that children retain around 30% of their personality characteristics throughout their life; (v) the greater consistency of personality characteristics maintained as you get older; (vi) the interaction between genes and the environment, which can impact personality trait expression.

Course

In this course, Dr Anthony Miller (Staffordshire University) explores the role that personality plays in sport and exercise. In the first lecture, we think about different ways to measure aspects of personality, understood as an enduring trait. In the second lecture, we think about the nature of personality, including the findings from twin studies. In the third lecture, we think about some research into personality in sport, including Kroll and Crenshaw’s study of differing personality traits in athletes in different sports. Next, we think about some strategies to work with personality characteristics in order to improve individual and team performance. In the fifth and final lecture, we think about how these concepts can be summarised.

Lecturer

Dr Anthony Miller is a lecturer in the School of Health, Science and Wellbeing at Staffordshire University. Dr Miller’s research interests are in understanding human performance and wellbeing under pressure, with a particular focus on the social identity approach to leadership. Some of Dr Miller’s recent publications include 'Psychological distress across sport participation groups: The mediating effects of secondary irrational beliefs on the relationship between primary irrational beliefs and symptoms of anxiety, and depression' (2019) and 'Test-retest reliability of the irrational performance beliefs inventory' (2018).