Personality Midterm 1-3

Personality

Organized, enduring psychological traits + mechanisms that influence how people adapt to environments.

Traits vs Mechanisms

Traits describe patterns; mechanisms explain how behavior happens.

Trait

Stable tendency across time and situations.

State

Temporary condition at a specific moment.

Adaptation (personality definition)

Changing behavior to meet environmental demands.

Dispositional Domain

Study of traits and individual differences.

Biological Domain

Study of genetics, brain systems, physiology.

Intrapsychic Domain

Unconscious motives and internal conflicts.

Cognitive-Experiential Domain

Conscious thoughts, interpretations, emotions.

Social & Cultural Domain

How culture and social context shape personality.

Mechanism

Process that interprets input → produces behavior.

Reliability

Consistency of measurement.

Validity

Accuracy — measures what it claims to measure.

Reliability vs Validity Rule

Reliability is necessary but not sufficient for validity.

Test-Retest Reliability

Consistency across time.

Internal Consistency

Items measuring the same construct correlate.

Inter-Rater Reliability

Different observers agree.

Construct Validity

Test measures intended construct.

Convergent Validity

Correlates with similar measures.

Discriminant Validity

Does NOT correlate with unrelated traits.

Generalizability

Test works across groups/settings.

Ecological Validity

Reflects real-world behavior.

Response Set

Bias in how someone answers questionnaires.

Social Desirability

Answering to look good.

Acquiescence

Agreeing with everything.

Extreme Responding

Choosing scale extremes only.

Correlational Study

Measures relationships; cannot infer causation.

Experimental Study

Manipulates variables; can infer causation.

Case Study

Deep analysis of one person; not generalizable.

O-Data

Observer ratings.

S-Data

Self-report.

Lexical Hypothesis

Important traits become encoded in language.

Factor Analysis

Statistical grouping of traits into clusters.

Big Five Traits

Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism.

Conscientiousness Predicts…

Academic success, job performance.

Openness Predicts…

Creativity, intellectual curiosity.

Neuroticism

Emotional instability, anxiety.

Eysenck's Model

Biological 3-trait model: Extraversion, Neuroticism, Psychoticism.

HEXACO Criticism of Big Five

Adds Honesty-Humility as a sixth trait.

Evocation

Personality accidentally brings out reactions in others.

Manipulation

Intentional influence on others.

Aggregation

Averaging behavior reveals stable traits.

Situationalism

Behavior mostly shaped by situations.

Dispositionalism

Behavior mostly shaped by traits.

Structured Assessment

Standardized questions and scoring.

Unstructured Assessment

Flexible, open-ended evaluation.

Idiographic Approach

Focus on unique individual.

Nomothetic Approach

Focus on general laws across people.

False Positive

Labeling someone as having a trait when they don’t.

False Negative

Missing a trait that is present.

Rank-Order Stability

Relative ordering of people stays the same.

Mean-Level Stability

Group average stays the same.

Mean-Level Change

Group average shifts over time.

Personality Coherence

Core personality theme persists despite behavioral change.

Temperament

Biologically based early emotional style.

Maturity Principle

People become more responsible and emotionally stable with age.

Heritability

Proportion of variance due to genetic differences in a population.

Heritability Trap

Applies to groups, not individuals.

Twin Study Logic

Compare MZ vs DZ similarity to estimate genetic influence.

Adoption Study Logic

Separate genes from environment.

Selective Placement

Adoption agencies match similar families.

Shared Environment

Experiences siblings share.

Non-Shared Environment

Unique individual experiences.

G×E Interaction

Different genotypes respond differently to same environment.

Passive rGE

Parents provide genes + environment.

Reactive rGE

Others respond to genetically influenced traits.

Active rGE

Person seeks environments matching traits.

Twin Formula

h² = 2(rMZ − rDZ)