Studied by 0 people
Looks like no one added any tags here yet for you.
Personality
A person's usual pattern of behavior, feelings, and thoughts
Extraversion
How outgoing, assertive, and talkative you are
Introversion
How shy and reserved you are
Situation
The other people and the physical environment surrounding a person
Person-situation debate
The view that stable personality traits predict behavior versus the view that personality doesn't really exist and situation is more important
Nature-nurture debate
The view that genetics causes personality traits versus the view that the environment causes personality traits
Conscientiousness
Being neat, organized, and achievement oriented
Person-situation interaction
When the person and situation work together to determine behavior
Self-report measure
Questionnaires asking people to report on their own personalities
Socially desirable responding
The tendency for people to make themselves look better than they actually are
Reversed-scored items
Items worded in the opposite direction from the measured trait
Acquiescence response set
A tendency to agree with everything
Likert scale
A range of numbers that correspond to how much someone agrees or disagrees with an item
Correlation
Measures the relationship between two things
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
Reliability
A scale is consistent over time
Internal reliability
All of the questions should measure the same thing
Cronbach's alpha
A statistical measure of internal reliability
Test-retest reliability
Your score should be the same when taking it two different times
Intercoder reliability
When people coding stories or written material agree, using a set of rules, that it meets certain criteria
Validity
A scale measures what it's supposed to measure
Face validity
Items look like they measure the thing they are supposed to measure
Predictive validity
The measure is related to a concrete outcome or behavior
Convergent validity
Occurs when the scale correlates with similar scales
Discriminant validity
The scale shouldn't correlate with measures of something different
Descriptive statistics
Numbers such as mean, median, and mode
Normal distribution
A distribution of scores in which most people score in the middle and fewer scores at the extremes
Standard deviation
A measure of how far a score is from the average
Percentile score
Represents the percentage of people in the norm sample who scored lower than you
Informant reports
When people close to someone report on his or her personality
Projective tests
A measure designed to elicit personality characteristics without directly asking
Physiological measures
Assess physical reactions such as heart rate or sweating
Repressive copers
People who deny their anxiety when they're feeling very worried
fMRI
Shows which areas of the brain receive more blood flow and are thus more active during certain tasks
Triangulation
Using different research methods to answer the same question
Correlational
Examine the relationship between two or more characteristics of people
Confounding variables
Factors that impact both the original variables and make it look like the two are causing each other
Longitudinal study
A study that collects data on the same people at more than one time
Experiment
A study in which participants are randomly assigned to conditions
Independent variable
The variable that the researcher manipulates in the experiment
Random assignment
Participants are equally likely to be assigned to each condition
Dependent variable
The outcome
Informed consent
Participants are told ahead of time what they will be doing in the study
Debriefing
Participants are told what the study is about
IRB's
Tasked with ensuring that researchers follow ethical guidelines
Sufficiently large samples
Having enough observations or people in the study to reliably detect an effect
Replicate
When the same or similar study is conducted again, the results are similar
Ethical guidelines
Tasked with ensuring that researchers follow ethical guidelines
Meta-analysis
A study of studies that statistically analyze all of the results together
Many labs 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
Traits
Relatively stable tendencies of individuals
Lexical hypothesis
The idea that important traits became embedded in our language as single words
Factor analysis
Analyzing correlations among items to see which form related clusters
Big 5
Five comprehensive personality domains
Extraversion
Outgoing & experiencing positive emotions
Agreeableness
Caring for others and getting along with other people
Conscientiousness
Organized, ambitious, self-controlled
Neuroticism
Worry & anger
Openness to experience
Interested in trying new activities, playing with new ideas, beliefs, and value systems
Facets
More specific components of Big 5; subcategories
Hostile attribution bias
The tendency to see others as hostile and aggressive
Genetics
The DNA from one's biological mother and father
Shared Environment
The effects of growing up with the same parents
Nonshared Environment
Experiences not shared by siblings, such as certain friends, personal injuries, participation in different activities, or individual experiences
Biology
Everything that appears in the body and brain, whatever its origin
Twin Study
A study that examines twins raised apart and together, usually to explore whether characteristics are caused by genetics or the environment
Monozygotic twins
Identical twins sharing the same genetic profile
Percentage of variance
Explained by genetics or environment; refers to the variation among a group, not a person
Impulsivity
The tendency to take risks, not plan, and seek high levels of stimulation
Contrast effect
When one sibling consciously tries to be different than the other
Gene-environment interaction
When genetics and environment work together to shape personality
Genotype
An organism's genetic predisposition
Phenotype
Observable characteristics of an organism resulting from the interaction of genotype and the environment
Epigenetics
Some environments can influence how much genetics matter
Gene expression
How much a gene influences traits or outcomes
Frontal lobe
The front part of the brain which makes plans, considers decisions and helps regulate emotions and behavior
Amygdala
The part of the brain responsible for processing reactions to fear
Discrepancy detection
Noticing things that are different in the environment
Neurotransmitters
The chemicals that carry signals over the gap between synapses in the brain
Circadian-rhythm
Physical, mental, and behavioral changes following a daily, 24-hour cycle
Morningness-eveningness
Whether you are a morning person or a night person
Evolutionary psychology
Field of research exploring how evolution shaped human psychology
Sociosexuality
Attitudes toward sex without commitment
Testosterone
A hormone that is much higher in men than women
2D:4D ratio
The ratio of the length of the index finger (second digit) to the length of the ring finger (fourth digit)
Self
The entire system of an individual's knowledge, evaluation, and regulation of him or herself
Individualism
A cultural system that values the needs of the self more than those of the group
Collectivism
Values the group ahead of the self
Self-concept
The image you have of yourself
Self-schema
A cognitive representation of the self
Material self
The extension of the self into the body, clothes, and possessions
Social self
The aspect of self that relates to social interactions
Social self
The part of the self related to group membership
Self-monitoring
The tendency to adapt behavior to fit the demand of the situation
Spiritual self
A person's moral center
Self-esteem
A person's attitude toward themself
Implicit self-esteem
The self-esteem you are not necessarily aware of having
Explicit self-esteem
The self-esteem you are aware of having
