personality exam 1

Personality

Someone’s usual pattern of behaviour, feelings, and thoughts

Includes tendencies all humans share and individual differences, some personality differences are obvious; others less so

Shaped by genetics, parents, peers, birth order, and culture

Assessment and measurement

how to measure personality - shaped personality into a quantitative science

scientific methods and statistical calculations to conduct studies and analyze data on personality

trait models

“what” of personality- belief that personality is made of descriptive units found in language called traits

biological dispositions, ways to describe personality

psychodynamics

motivations, processes - understanding the person in relation to more complex unconscious mental structures

inner forces impact the person

self processes

“who” of personality - examines the questions of identity

person-situation debate

on one side, the view that stable personality traits predict behaviour

on the other side, the view that situation is much more important, and personality doesn’t really exist

the view that stable personality traits predict behaviour versus the view that personality doesn’t really exist and the situation is much more important

person-situation interaction

both personality and situation influence behaviour

the person and situation work together in vapour ways to determine behaviour

• personality can be impacted by experience, people respond different to the same situation, people choose their situations, people change the situations they enter

when the person and situation work together to determine behaviour

extraversion

enjoys being outgoing and experiencing positive emotions; the opposite of introversion

introversion

enjoys time alone and can be reserved in social settings; the opposite of extraversion

situation

the other people and the physical environment surrounding a person

individual explanation

most psychological explanation individual, looking for causes of behaviours within people

situation explanation

focus on contexts: how situations can change people

nature-nurture

the view that genetics cause personality traits versus the view that the environment causes personality traits

conscientiousness

organized, ambitious, and self-controlled; opposite: being messy, unmotivated, and impulsive

self-report questionnaires

most common way to measure personality

relies on people to self-report

typically rate scales (e.g., T/F, Likeart scale

correlation

measures the relationship between two variables

the statistical relationship between two variables

positive correlation

two variables change together

when one variable is high, the other variable tends to be high as well

negative correlation

variables move in opposite directions

when one variable is high, the other variable tends to be low

internal reliability

all items on scale measure the same concept

when all of the items on a questionnaire measure the same thing

cronbach’s alpha

represents the average correlation between items

• should be between 0.6-0.6 to consider a scale reliable, 0.9 and above may be too high - narrowness of concepts

a statistical measure of internal reliability

test- retest reliability

taking test at two different times produces similar results

• pearl correlation coefficient(r ), consider alongside p-value, ideally compare the results; best with stable traits

taking the test at two different time produces roughly the same result

intercoder (interrater) reliabilty

two people code material, using the same set of rules, to determine if material meets certain criteria

• cohen’s kappa, ideally intercoder reliability should have similarity rates of at least, .40-.59 =-0.19 weak = 15%-35%, .60-.79 =-0.19 moderate = 35%-63%, .80-.90 = strong = 64%-81%, above .90 = almost perfect = 82%-100%

occurs when people coding stories or written material agree, using a set of rules, that it meets certain criteria

reliability

consistency of a measure

consistency, either within a scale or over time

validity

scale measures what it is supposed to measure

when a scale measures what it’s supposed to measure

face validity

measures what it’s supposed to measure

when scale items appear, at face value, to measure what they are supposed to measure

predictive validity

measure is related to a concrete behaviour or outcome

e.g., conscientious predicts academic performance

when a scale is related to a concrete outcome or behaviour

convergent validity

correlates with other scales measuring the same construct

e.g., extroversion in HEXACO-PI-R correlate with extroversion in NEO-PI-R

when a scale correlates wth other scales measuring the same constrct

discrimination validity

scale does NOT correlate with unrelated scales

e.g., why the Big Five is not highly correlated with WAIS

when a scale does not correlate with unrelated scales

barnum effect

tendency for people to believe cause, positive statements about themselves

the tendency for people to believe cause, positive stamens about themselves

descriptive statistics

enables comparisons of scores within our sample

numbers such as the mean, medium, and mode

informative reports

especially useful in measuring traits that are difficult to access in the individual due to ability or bias

e.g., FAQ to access functioning across activities in order adults; Conners scale ADHD assessment in children

clinical interviews

measure unexpected levels of traits; not for everyday assessment, instructed, semi-structured, fully structured

behavioural measurements

observations, self-report or recorded by an observer

archival or life outcomes data

studying archival records (e.g., school, hospital, police records, etc.), common in meta-analyses

projective tests

implicit motives, ambiguous stimuli

measures designed to elicit personality characteristics without directly asking

physiological measures

can reveal reactions not found in self-report measures, bodily responses and changes in physiology, fMRI, cortisol measurements, heart rate, GSR, etc.

measurements assessing physical reactions such as heart rate or sweating

triangulation

multiple methods to determine personality, measures should correlate and show convergent validity

using different research methods to answer the same question, in order to be more certain of the answer

correlational studies

examines relationships between two people

• not causal, unable to determine direction of influence, confounding variable

commonly used in personality research

studies that examine the relationship between two or more characteristics of people

experimental

demonstrate cause and effect

• random assignment, IVs and DVs

may not be able to measure personality per se, but can amplify characteristic for study

a study in which people are randomly assigned to conditions

personality assessment

the way we measure and capture personality, using a variety of methods

self-report measure

questionnaires asking people to report on their own personality, usually through rating themselves on a list of adjectives or statements

socially desirable responding

the tendency of people to make themselves look better than they actually are

reverse-scored items

items scored in the opposite direction from the responses

acquiescence response set

the tendency of some respondents to agree with many items on a questionnaire

Likert scale

a range of numbers that correspond to how much someone agrees or disagree with an item

null correlation

when two variables are not related to each other

statistically significant

having a probability of less than 5% that the results are due to random chance

mean

the average score on a scale, calculated by adding everyone’s scores and dividing by the number of scores

median

the score that falls in the middle of all the scores on the test (also called the 50th percentile)mode

mode

the most frequent score

normal distribution

a distribution of scores in which most score in the middle and fewer score at the extremes; also known as a “bell curve”

standard deviation (SD)

a measure of spread around the mean; in a normal distribution, two-thirds of the data will lie within one standard deviation of the mean

percentile score

the percentage of people someone scores higher than on a scale or test; a score at the 90th percentile means someone scores higher than 90% of the people who took the scale

informant reports

when the people close to someone (roommates, family, friends) report on that persons personality

repressive copers

people who deny their anxiety even when they’re feeling very worries; they score high social desirability and low on self-report measures of anxiety

fMRI

functional magnetic resonance imaging, a type of brain scanning

confounding variables

in a correlational study, an outside variable related to the primary variables; also know as third variables

longitudinal study

a study that collects data on the same people at two or more time points as they age

independent variable

the experimental or control conditions in an experiment

random assignment

participants are equally likely to experience the experimental or control condition

dependent variable

the outcome the researcher is interested in measuring

informed consent

the procedure in which potential research participants are informed of any deception in the research and told about the true purpose of the research

research ethics boards (REBs)

committees tasked with ensuring that researchers follow ethical guidelines for the treatment of research participants

sufficiently large samples

having enough observations or people in a study to reliably detect an effect

replicate

when the same or a very similar study is conducted again, the results are similar

meta-analysis

a study that statistically analyzes the results of many studies on the same topic

many lab approach

when different groups of researchers do the exact same study at the same time

open practices

scientific practices that result in a high level of transparency, such as making data or research materials available to other researchers

traits

relatively stable tendencies of individuals

lexical hypothesis

important traits are embedded into language; single words

the important traits became embedded in our language, with the most important traits represented by the largest number of words

factor analysis

analyzing correlations to find related clusters

analyzing correlations among items to see which form related clusters

extraversion (E)

being outgoing and experiencing positive emotions

• warmth, gregariousness, assertiveness, activity, excitement seeking, positive emotions

enjoys being outgoing and experiencing positive emotions; the opposite of introversion

agreeableness (A)

caring for others and having a good relationship with other people

• trust, straight-forward news, altruism, compliance, modesty, tender-mindedness

caring for others and getting along with other people; opposite: being argumentative, combative, and self-centred

conscientiousness (C)

organized, ambitious, and self controlled

• competence, order, dutifulness, achievement, striving, self-discipline, deliberation

organized, ambitious, and self-controlled; opposite: being messy, unmotivated, and impulsive

neuroticism (N)

experiencing negative emotions

• (emotional stability) anxiety, anger hostility, depression, self-consciousness, impulsiveness, vulnerability

negative emotions such as worry and anger; opposite: calmness and emotional stability

openness to experience (O)

being interested in trying new activities, playing with new ideas, beliefs, and value systems

• canasta, aesthetics, feelings, actions, ideas, value

being interested in trying new activities and playing with new ideas, beliefs, and value systems; opposite: being conventional and less comfortable with change

continuum

extremely unliking to be completely at one end or the other, most are in-between, some traits correlate with others

e.g., extraversion is negatively correlated with neuroticism

ABC

affect, behaviour, cognition

extroverts

prefer to be with people, want to be leaders, are more active, experience more happiness and joy, seek stimulation and excitement

introverts

prefer quiet and solitude, would rather interact with close friends and family

ambiversion

are near the middle of extraversion, make the best salespeople, flexibility is a key characteristic of ambiversion

agreeable people

are trusting and sympathetic, prefer cooperation to competition, tend to be honest, forthright, humble, self-effacing, and compliant, tend to be good friends and caring romantic partners

linked to better health

disagreeable people

skeptical, cynical, dishonest, aggressive, grandiose, egocentric, manipulative, and callous, more likely to be involved with crime, risky sex, drug abuse, and other antisocial behaviour, likely to have a hostile attribute bias

can be motivating

high in conscientiousness

have high levels of willpower, are organized, work hard towards goals despite disruption or boredom, have good mental and physical health, have academic and professional success

low in conscientiousness

are impulsive, are easily distracted, have less ambition, are unorganized, tend to five up easily, are more likely to engage in drug and alcohol abuse, crime, risky sex, and gambling

may be more willing to try something novel, spontaneous

high in neuroticism

have negative emotions like anger, depression, anxiety, shame, and self-consciouesness (including frequent and intense negative emotions), more likely to take medications, drink alcohol or take drugs to improve mood, more prone to physical ad mental health issues

combined with other traits, higher neuroticism isn’s a bad thing! (tend to be more competitive, tend to attain more academic success compared to very low- neuroticism, more neurotic people tend to be highly creative (e.g., positive correlation with openness to experience), high conscientiousness and neuroticism channel anxiety into health behaviours)

low in neuroticism

calm, content, confident, optimstic, more resilient to stress

however, folks who score low or very low in neuroticism (more impulsive, see stimulation, fail to recognize limits, combined with low extraversion can experience emotional flatness)

high openness people

enjoy trying new things, play with complex ideas, consider alternative perspectives and value systems, tend to be creative, tend to be politically liberal and interested in social activism

low opens people

prefer routine, value the status quo, favour traditional and conventional activities, tend to be politically conservative

high in openers to experience

vivid fantasy life (imagination), artistic sensitivity, deep feelings, behavioural flexibility (adventurous), intellectual curiosity, unconventional attitudes

HEXACO

Honesty-humility, emotionality, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness to experience

emotionality = neuroticism + sentimentality

agreeableness = agreeableness + anger facet

honesty-humility (degree to which a person promotes their own interest above those of others)

considers moral behaviours under 4 facets: sincerity, fairness, greed avoidance, modesty

Honesty-humility

negative correlation (dark triad of personality, displaced aggression and vengefulness, sensation seeking and risk-taking behaviours, workplace delinquency)

positive correlation (employee integrity index, agreeableness of Big Five)

Big Five

five comprehensive personality domains; extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience (rearranged, they spell OCEAN or CANOE)

facets

more specific components of the Big Five; subcategories of Big Five traits

hostile attribution bias

the tendency to see others as hostile and aggressive

nature

genetics - DNA, one type of biological influence on personality

nurture

anything that happens following birth in environmental influence

shared environment

raised in the same family environment

for twin studies it does not seem to influence our personality

the effects of growing up with the same parents; also known as family environment

non-shared environment

experiences that are not shared

experiences not shared by siblings, such as certain friends, personal injuries, or participating in different activities

monozygotic twins (idenitcal twins)

share the same genetic profile

great for study purposes, genes are held constant

identical twins sharing the same genetic profile