Comprehensive Personality Psychology: Traits, Measurement, and Development

Personality

Our psychological traits and mechanisms that are internal, organized, and relatively enduring

Traits

How a person acts/feels on average e.g. anxious or easy-going?

Mechanisms

How people process information e.g. interpreting a compliment

Human Nature

Personality component possessed by nearly everyone e.g. the need to belong

Individual Differences

Ways in which each person is similar to or different from others e.g. being high/low in 'sensation seeking'

Group Differences

How people differ across groups e.g. culture, race, sex, gender

Individual Uniqueness

Ways in which someone differs from all people; everyone has unique qualities/combinations of qualities

Dispositional Domain

How people differ from one another e.g. iPhone vs Android users

Biological Domain

Focuses on the biological basis of behavior, thought, and emotion

Intrapsychic Domain

Mental mechanisms of personality often operate outside of conscious awareness

Cognitive-Experimental Domain

Conscious thought, feeling, and beliefs; the perception and interpretation of events/other people/selves

Social and Cultural Domain

Personality affects and is affected by cultural and social contexts e.g. cultural differences in politeness

Adjustment Domain

How we cope, adapt, and adjust to stress in daily life

Sources of Personality Data

Self-report data, Observer-report data, Test data, Life outcome data

Self-Report Data

Information provided by participants through questionnaires and interviews

Observer-Report Data

Information provided by an observer about another person; provides a different perspective

Observer-Report Data: Naturalistic Observation

Record what happens in participant's daily lives e.g. at a club/on campus

Observer-Report Data: Artificial Observation

In artificial settings/situations e.g. in a lab

Test Data: Standardized Tests

Standardized tests or test situations designed to elicit behaviors that serve as indicators of personality

Test Data: Physiological Measurement

Level of arousal; reactions to stimuli e.g. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)

Life Outcome Data

Info based on events, activities, and outcomes that is available to the public e.g. marriage records, arrest records

Reliability

Degree to which a test measures that "true" level of trait being measured

Test-retest Reliability

Participants get similar scores when tested more than once

Inter-rater Reliability

How much different raters agree on observation

Internal Consistency

Participants respond in similar ways to related items

Validity

Degree to which a test measures what it claims to measure

Face Validity

Items are relevant to what's being measured, e.g. Social Interaction Anxiety Scale

Predictive Validity

Can predict behavior from score

Convergent Validity

Scores on related scales are similar, e.g. social phobia and social anxiety

Discriminant Validity

Scores on unrelated scales are dissimilar, e.g. need to belong and disgust tolerance

Construct Validity

Combo of other types of validity

Generalizability

Degree to which test remains valid across contexts

Replication

The process of repeating a study to see if the original findings can be reproduced, which strengthens scientific confidence in the results.

Direct Replication

Attempts to use the exact same methods to reproduce the results

Conceptual Replication

Uses different methods to test the same underlying theory.

Experiments

Used to determine causality: whether changes in IV cause changes in DV

Manipulation of IV

One of the two key requirements of experiments

Random assignment

Participants have an equal chance of being assigned to either condition

Correlational Studies

Measure 2 things to see if there's a mathematical relationship

Causation

One variable directly causes a change in the other

Correlation

Identify relationships among variables as they occur naturally

Directionality problem

Which causes which?

Third Variable problem

Does something else cause both?

Range of correlation coefficients

-1 —------- 0 —------- +1 (Perfect - Relationship — No relationship — Perfect + Relationship)

Case Studies

In-depth examination of one person

Advantages of Case Studies

Detailed info about individual personality; Can be used to form a more general theory to be tested on a larger sample scale

Disadvantage of Case Studies

Results based on the study of a single person can NOT be generalized

Person-Situation Debate

A foundational conflict in psychology questioning whether behavior is determined more by stable personality traits or by the external situational context

Original idea of Person-Situation Debate

2 possible explanations for behavior: Personality traits → behavior; Situational factors → behavior

Traditional assumption

Cross-situational consistency

Walter Mischel

Proposed Situationism: If behavior varies most across situations, then situational differences (not traits) determine behavior

Situationism

Traits don't explain much; let's focus on situations instead

Result of Person-Situation Debate

Both sides tempered views; Trait psychology acknowledged importance of situation; Situationists acknowledged importance of traits

Modern Idea of Behavior

Personality and situation interact to produce behavior

Situational Specificity

Situations can provoke out-of-character behavior

Strong Situation

Clear social norms/pressure to conform

Weak/Ambiguous Situation

Personality has more influence

Act Frequency Research: Act Nominations

Identify which acts belong in which trait categories

Act Frequency Research: Prototypicality Judgements

Determine which acts are most central to each trait category

Act Frequency Research: Measure actual behavior

Measure actual behavior

Critique of Act Frequency Research

Role of context unclear; Hard to study rare/unobservable acts; Hard to capture complex traits; Atheoretical

Accomplishments of Act Frequency Research

Links trait terms to real behavior; Shows behavioral regularities; Helps to define traits

Lexical Approach

If an individual difference is important, there will be a word for it

Lexical Hypothesis

Important traits → described by more words; Important traits → described in more languages

Problems and Limitations of Lexical Approach

Some words for traits are unclear, e.g. 'thinker'

Statistical Approach

Start with a lot of items then use statistics to narrow the list.

Statistical Approach: Factor Analysis

Identifies groups of similar items (covariance).

Factor Loading

How much variation in an item is 'explained' by a factor.

Theoretical Approach

Start with a theory that says which variables are important.

Sociosexual Orientation (SOI)

An example of a theory in the theoretical approach.

Taxonomy

Classification system aimed at identifying and naming groups within a subject.

Eysenck's Hierarchical Model

A model consisting of 3 traits: Extraversion (E), Neuroticism (N), and Psychoticism (P).

Super-trait

A higher-level trait in Eysenck's model, such as Neuroticism.

Biological Underpinnings

P, E, and N have moderate heritability and identifiable physiological substrates.

Extraversion

A personality dimension characterized by sociability, talkativeness, and high engagement with the external world.

Neuroticism

A personality trait reflecting emotional instability and high reactivity to stress.

Psychoticism

A personality trait that includes taking risks and not conforming to social expectations.

Cattell's 16 Factor System

One of the largest sets of traits with major criticisms including failure to replicate.

The Wiggins Circumplex

Focuses on interpersonal traits and interactions between people.

Five-Factor Model

Also known as 'The Big 5', consisting of five broad factors: O.C.E.A.N.

Openness

A factor in the Five-Factor Model related to new experiences and ideas.

Conscientiousness

A factor in the Five-Factor Model characterized by being responsible, rule-bound, and considerate.

Agreeableness

A factor in the Five-Factor Model that describes how well one gets along with others.

Neuroticism (Big 5)

Also referred to as emotional stability in the Five-Factor Model.

Advantage of the Five-Factor Model

People act in ways consistent with traits, replicated over 50 years and in many languages.

Longitudinal Study

Follow a group of people over time

Broad traits

Relatively stable traits such as relationship security, but trait expression might change with time

Hartshorne and May

Found lack of consistency in honesty, helpfulness, and self-control, e.g. cheating in games and on exams

Aggregation

Averaging multiple observations to achieve more reliable measurements

Measurement Issues

Assumption that people differ from traits; relies on self-reports to measure trait levels

Carelessness

Participants rush through and don't pay attention; can be detected using an infrequency scale

Fatigue

Participants get tired and stop caring when the survey is too long; solutions include giving breaks and counterbalancing

Faking

Participants try to appear better or worse than reality, usually when consequences are known

Response Sets: Acquiescence

Agreeing regardless of content; can be mitigated by reverse-keying some items

Response Sets: Extreme Responding

Tendency to give endpoint responses; can be addressed using the forced choice method

Response Sets: Social Desirability

Participants respond in ways that make them appear likable; solutions include ensuring anonymity and encouraging honesty

Polygraph Machines

NOT A LIE DETECTOR; measures physical signs of anxiety

Selection

People choose certain situations, such as which organization to join or avoid

Evocation

Certain traits may passively elicit specific responses from others

Manipulation

People actively influence the behavior of others