Differential Psychology and Personality Assessment

These flashcards cover key concepts, definitions, and theories from the lecture notes on differential psychology and personality assessment.

Differential Psychology

The field focused on distinguishing individual differences in traits, abilities, aptitudes, and intelligence.

Rank Order

The maintenance of one's relative position within a group over time in terms of traits or activities.

Person-Situation Interaction

The concept that behavior is a function of the interaction between personality traits and situational forces, expressed as B = f(P x S).

Strong Situation

A situation where nearly everyone reacts similarly, minimizing personality influence.

Weak Situation

A situation where personality has the strongest influence on behavior.

Evocation

The process by which certain personality traits elicit specific responses from the environment.

Manipulation

The use of various means to influence the behavior of others and alter one's environment.

Infrequency Scale

A test scale containing items that most people would answer the same way, where abnormal answers trigger a flag.

Faking

The motivated distortion of answers to tests, such as appearing better off (fake good) or worse (fake bad).

Validating Tests

The process of comparing test results with purposely faked answers to ensure accuracy.

Disparate Impact

Employment practices that disadvantage protected groups, established if the selection rate is less than 80% compared to the highest selection rate group.

Content Validity

The degree to which a test closely approximates the job it is intended to measure.

Criterion Validity

The extent to which a performance test correlates with the performance of critical job behaviors.

Construct Validity

The relationship established between a specific trait and satisfactory job performance.

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

A personality test based on dichotomies of traits, resulting in 16 possible personality types.

Barnum Statements

Generalities or vague statements that can apply to anyone, often used in personality tests.

Nomothetic

The study of general characteristics across populations, focusing on statistical comparisons.

Idiographic

The study of individual cases to observe how general principles manifest over time.

Dispositional Domain of Knowledge

The area of personality study focused on traits individuals are born with and how they develop over time.

Biological Domain of Knowledge

The study of how biological events influence personality, including genetics and evolution.

Cognitive-Experiential Domain

The domain exploring personal thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and desires as they relate to personality.

Life-Outcome Data (L-Data)

Information about a person's life events used to predict personality traits.

Generalizability

The extent to which findings apply across different people and situations.

Five-Factor Model (Big Five)

A widely accepted personality framework consisting of Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, and Openness to Experience.

HEXACO Model

An expanded version of the Big Five that includes a sixth trait: Honesty-Humility.