Ch 4- Persons, Situations, and Personality Judgement

constructivism

philosophical view that reality, as a concrete entity, does not exist and that only ideas (constructions) of reality exist

Rosenthal effect

person’s performance or behavior changes due to expectancies of others (demonstrates form of self-fulfilling prophecy)

critical realism

philosophical view that absence of perfect, infallible criteria for determining the truth does not imply that all interpretations of reality are equally valid

• one can use empirical evidence to determine which views of reality are more or less likely to be valid

  • people gather all info that might help them determine if judgement is valid

convergent validation

the process of assembling diverse pieces of information that converge on a common conclusion

• the more items of diverse info that converge, the more confident the info

interjudge agreement

the degree to which two or more people making judgements a/b the same person provide the same description of that person’s personality

behavioral prediction

the degree to which a judgement or measurement can predict the behavior of the person in question

predictive validity

the degree to which one measure can be used to predict another

• does the scale predict outcomes we think it should?

moderator variable

a variable that affects the relationship between two other variables

judgability

the extent to which an individual’s personality can be judged accurately by others

acquaintanceship effect

if you know someone for longer time, you will know them better

Realistic Accuracy Model (RAM)

1. person being judged must do something relevant

2. info must be available to judge

3. judge must detect this info

4. judge must utilize info correctly

trait approach

assumes that people are (relatively) consistent across situations