Psychology of Personality Exam 1

idiographic approach

the goal of this approach is to understand the personality of a single individual with all of their quirks or idiosyncrasies and characteristics that make them unique

nomothetic approach

the goal of this approach is to discover universals, or, concepts that can apply to everyone by identifying traits that can describe all people or that can be applied to any person

Which psychologist developed a theory of personality involving both nomothetic and idiographic approaches?

Hans Eysenck

Which psychologist created the two approaches to the study of personality and is blamed for starting the battle?

Gordon Allport

What is the difference in science and other sources of knowledge?

Science progresses along a continuum from casual observations, which may inspire a hunch or guess about human behavior, to controlled experimentation, in which researchers attempt to prove a theory false. Other sources of knowledge rely on personal experiences, logical reasoning (eg. philosophy and ethics), etc.

Personality Psychology

the scientific study of what makes us who we are using the scientific method of investigation

What is the importance of publicly verifiable knowledge?

For a psychological finding or personality test to be accepted by the scientific community, it must be shared so that others can independently verify it.

What are some ways to publicly verify research findings?

Peer reviews, critiques, replication of experiments

The Common Rule

mandates that institutions that conduct research must establish and maintain an institutional review board (IRB) to review all research to ensure that it upholds ethical principles.

What is the difference in science and pseudoscience?

Pseudoscience is a claim or theory based on personal experiences that is presented as scientific but has no evidence, does not use scientific methods, and can’t be tested.

What are the 3 goals of scientific research?

Description, prediction, and explanation

What is positive correlation and an example of it?

When two variables increase or decrease at the same time. ex) studying and getting a better grade, not studying and getting a bad grade

What is negative correlation and an example of it?

when one variable increases, the other one decreases, or as one decreases the other one increases. ex) a good golf player has a lower score, driving faster as the speed goes up the time to the destination goes down

What is Quasi-experimental design vs other experimental methods?

cannot have an assigned variable such as gender, sex, age, neuroticism, etc. they use non-random assignment, while other experimental methods use random assignment to place participants into groups

How does random assignment rule out “third variables” or alternate explanations?

because each participant has an equal chance of experiencing the conditions meaning the experimental procedure is exactly alike for all participants except the one difference in the variable being studied

Example of quasi-experimental design

giving candy to one class to see if it improves scores, using the pre-existing groups

Independent variable

the variable that researches manipulate to see if there is a difference in response of the participants in which they measure

dependent variable

the variable that researches measure, the response of the participants

example of independent and depended variables

the effect of x medication on y person (x is independent, y is dependent)

What is the difference between hypothesis and theory?

a hypothesis is where researchers make an educated guess based on observation, and a theory is a thoroughly tested and widely accepted result of a hypothesis

What are the various components of a journal article?

IMRAD: introduction (hypothesis), methods (how the experiment is being conducted/conditions of the experiment), results (what they found), discussion (interprets results, addresses limitations, compares to other research, asks questions for future testing).

What does the IRB do when assessing risk?

respect for persons, informed consent, beneficence (do no harm), justice (everyone participates in research and its benefits)

construct

a hypothetical concept used in theories to explain and predict behavior which cannot be seen or measured directly ex. anxiety or intellegence

operational definition

the exact tests or measurement tools used to turn a construct into a tangible or countable variable ex. IQ tests or a questionnaire

What is the relationship between construct and operational definition?

researchers cannot directly test a construct so they rely on operational definition to form real data

What are the 4 levels of measurement?

Identity (values are used to identify or categorize things), magnitude (values indicate that one thing has more/less of the characteristic than another), equal intervals (the difference between values is consistent and meaningful throughout the scale), absolute zero (the scale has a true zero meaning none of the characteristics exist)

What is the 4 scales of measurement?

nomial (names or categorizes with no order), ordinal (categorizes and ranks values but the differences between ranks are necessarily equal), interval (values ranked and the differences are equal and meaningful but there is no true zero), ratio (has all 4 properties categories order equal intervals and a true zero)

How do the 4 properties of measurement relate to the four scales of measurement?

The properties of measurement describe what information a measurement provides and determine which scale of measurement it belongs to. IMEA NOIR

What are the 4 types of reliability?

test-retest (make sure the test is consistent), interrater (different raters or observers are consistent), internal consistency (items within a tests are consistent), and parallel-forms (two equivalent versions of a test are consistent)

What are the 3 types of validity?

construct (degree to which a tests actually measures the theory or concept), content (covers most or all important parts being measured), criterion (a measure is valid if its results are related to or predict outside criterion ex SAT or ACT)

Pros and cons of naturalistic observation

Pros: high ecological validity, natural behavior, can study behaviors that would be difficult to replicate in a lab… CONS: less control, harder to determine cause and effect, observer bias, some behaviors may be rare and not occur during observation

Pros and cons of laboratory observation

PROS: more control over the environment and variables, easy to replicate, easier to isolate specific behaviors or conditions, can reduce some outside influence… CONS: artificial environment, lower ecological validity, participants may change their behavior knowing they are being watched, setting may not represent real world behavior

Important rules during survey construction.

use clear and simple language, avoid leading questions (ex. dont you agree xyz), avoid double barreled questions (two things at once), avoid ambiguous questions (make sure everyone interprets the questions the same way ex. do you workout REGULARLY), response options should be appropriate and clear, avoid biased wording, be careful with question order, consider open vs closed ended questions (participants answer in their own words vs choosing from provided answers), loaded questions (emotiionally charged wording ex terrible)

what are the sources of personality data?

S data (self report), I data (informant, people who know the person), T data (test data), L data (life data, real life events or records)

Different sampling techniques?

cluster (random select entire group), stratified (picks a large sample at random and then smaller within), random, convenience (whoever is available, not random), representative (represents larger population)