Exam 1

Personality

an individual's characteristic patterns of thought, emotion, and behavior, together with the psychological mechanisms- hidden or not- behind those patterns

basic approach

theoretical view of personality that focuses on some phenomena and ignores others

trait approach

theoretical view of personality that focuses on individual differences in personality and behavior, and the psychological processes behind them

psychological triad

the three essential topics of psychology: how people think, how they feel, and how they behave

biological approach

the view of personality that focuses on the way behavior and personality are influenced by neuroanatomy, biochemistry, genetics, and evolution

psychoanalytic approach

theoretical view of personality, based on the writings of sigmund freud, that emphasizes the unconscious processes of the mind

phenomenological approach

theoretical view of personality that emphasizes experience, free will, and the meaning of life

learning

in behaviorism, a change in behavior as a result of experience

learning and cognitive processes approaches

combination of behaviorism, social learning, and cognitive processes approaches

funder's first law

great strengths are usually great weaknesses and surprisingly often the opposite is true as well

humanistic psychology

approach to personality that emphasizes aspects of psychology that are distinctly human

behaviorism

overt behavior and the ways it can be affected by rewards and punishments

social learning

mental processes such as observation and self-evaluation determine which behaviors are learned and how they are preformed

research

exploration of the unknown, finding out something that nobody knew before one discovered it

funders second law

there is no perfect indicators of personality, there are only clues and clues are always ambiguous

funders third law

something beats nothing, two times out of three

s data

self-judgements, or ratings that people provide of their own personality attributes or behavior

face validity

the degree to which an assessment instrument, such as a questionnaire, on its face appears to measure what it is intended to measure

self-verification

the process by which people try to bring others to treat them in a manner that confirms their self-conceptions

I data

informants' data or judgements made by knowledgeable informants about general attributes of an individual's personality

judgements

data that derive in the final analysis from someone using common sense and observations to rate personality or behavior

expectancy effect

the tendency for someone to become the kind of person others expect them to be aka self-fulfilling prophecy

behavioral confirmation

self-fulfilling prophecy tendency for a person to become the kind of person others expect them to be

l data

life data, more or less easily verifiable, concrete, real-life outcomes, which are of possible psychological significance

b data

behavioral data, or direct observations of another's behavior that are translated directly or nearly directly into numerical form

reliability

in measurement, the tendency of an instrument to provide the same comparative information on repeated occasions

measurement error

the variation of a number around its true mean due to uncontrolled, essentially random influences

state

a temporary psychological event, such as an emotion, thought, or perception

trait

a relatively stable and long-lasting attribute of personality

aggregation

the combining together of different measurements such as by averaging them

spearmen-brown formula

in psychometrics, a mathematical formula that predicts the degree to which the reliability of a test can be improved by adding more items

psychometrics

technology of psychological measurement

validity

the degree to which a measurement actually reflects what it is intended to measure

construct

an idea about a psychological attribute that goes beyond what might be assessed through any particular method of assessment

construct validation

the strategy of establishing the validity of a measure by comparing it with a wide range of other measures

generalizability

The degree to which a measurement can be found under diverse circumstances, such as time, context, participant population, and so on. In modern psychometrics, this term includes both reliability and validity

case method

Studying a particular phenomenon or individual in depth both to understand the particular case and to discover general lessons or scientific laws

experimental method

A research technique that establishes the causal relationship between an independent variable (x) and dependent variable (y) by randomly assigning participants to experimental groups characterized by differing levels of x, and measuring the average behavior (y) that results in each group.

correlational method

A research technique that establishes the relationship (not necessarily causal) between two variables, traditionally denoted x and y, by measuring both variables in a sample of participants

scatter plot

A diagram that shows the relationship between two variables by displaying points on a two-dimensional plot. Usually the two variables are denoted x and y, each point represents a pair of scores, and the x variable is plotted on the horizontal axis while the y variable is plotted on the vertical axis

correlation coefficient

A number between -1 and +1 that reflects the degree to which one variable, traditionally called y, is a linear function of another, traditionally called x. A negative correlation means that as x goes up, y goes down; a positive correlation means that as x goes up, so does y; a zero correlation means that x and y are unrelated.

objective test

A personality test that consists of a list of questions to be answered by the subject as True or False, Yes or No, or along a numeric scale

factor analysis

a statistical technique for finding clusters of related traits, tests, or items

p-level

In statistical data analysis, the probability that the obtained correlation or difference between experimental conditions would be expected by chance

type 1 error

In research, the mistake of thinking that one variable has an effect on, or relationship with, another variable, when really it does not

type 2 error

In research, the mistake of thinking that one variable does not have an effect on or relationship with another, when really it does

effect size

A number that reflects the degree to which one variable affects, or is related to, another variable

binomial effect size display

A method for displaying and understanding more clearly the magnitude of an effect reported as a correlation, by translating the value of r into a 2 × 2 table comparing predicted with obtained results

replication

Doing a study again to see if the results hold up. Replications are especially persuasive when done by different researchers in different labs than the original study

publication bias

The tendency of scientific journals preferentially to publish studies with strong results

questionable research practices

Research practices that, while not exactly deceptive, can increase the chances of obtaining the result the researcher desires. Such practices including deleting unusual responses, adjusting results to remove the influence of seemingly extraneous factors, and neglecting to report variables or experimental conditions that fail to yield expected results. Such practices are not always wrong, but they should always be questioned.

p-hacking

Analyzing data in various ways until one finds the desired result

open science

A set of emerging principles intended to improve the transparency of scientific research and that encourage fully reporting all methods and variables used in a study, reporting studies that failed as well as succeeded, and sharing data among scientists

interactionism

the principle that aspects of personality and of situations work together to determine behavior, neither has an effect by itself, nor is one more important than the other

constructivism

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

critical realism

The philosophical view that the absence of perfect, infallible criteria for determining the truth does not imply that all interpretations of reality are equally valid; instead, one can use empirical evidence to determine which views of reality are more or less likely to be valid

convergent validation

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

interjudge agreement

The degree to which two or more people making judgments about 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

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

single-trait approach

The research strategy of focusing on one particular trait of interest and learning as much as possible about its behavioral correlates, developmental antecedents, and life consequences

many-trait approach

The research strategy that focuses on a particular behavior and investigates its correlates with as many different personality traits as possible in order to explain the basis of the behavior and to illuminate the workings of personality

essential-trait approach

The research strategy that attempts to narrow the list of thousands of trait terms into a shorter list of the ones that really matter

typological approach

The research strategy that focuses on identifying types of individuals. Each type is characterized by a particular pattern of traits

california q-set

A set of 100 descriptive items (e.g., "is critical, skeptical, not easily impressed") that comprehensively covers the personality domain

lexical hypothesis

The idea that, if people find something is important, they will develop a word for it, and therefore the major personality traits will have synonymous terms in many different languages

rank-order consistency

the maintenance of individual differences in behavior or personality over time or across situations

temperament

The term often used for the "personality" of very young, preverbal children. Aspects of temperament include basic attributes such as activity level, emotional reactivity, and cheerfulness

heterotypic continuity

The reflection of the consistency of fundamental differences in personality that changes with age; e.g., the emotionally fragile child will act differently than the emotionally fragile adult, but the underlying trait is the same

person-environment transactions

the processes by which people respond to, seek out, and create environments that are compatible with, and may magnify, their personality traits

active person-environment transaction

The process by which people seek out situations that are compatible with their personalities, or avoid situations that they perceive as incompatible

reactive person-environment transaction

The process by which people with different personalities may react differently to the same situation

evoactive person-environment transaction

The process by which a people may change situations they encounter through behaviors that express their personality

cumulative continuity principle

the idea that personality becomes more stable and unchanging as a person gets older, personality traits increase in rank order consistency as people get older

personality development

change in personality over time, including the development of adult personality from its origins in infancy and childhood, and changes in personality over the life span

cross-sectional study

a study of personality development in which people of different ages are assessed at the same tiem

cohort effect

The tendency for a research finding to be limited to one group, or cohort, of people, such as people all living during a particular era or in a particular location

longitudinal study

A study of personality development in which the same people are assessed repeatedly over extended periods of time, sometimes many years

maturity principle

the idea that traits associated with effective functioning increase with age

social clock

the traditional expectations of society for when a person is expected to have achieved certain goals such as starting a family or getting settled into a career

narrative identity

the story one tells oneself about who one is

Projective hypothesis

the process of interpreting a meaningless stimulus comes from needs, feelings, experiences, though processes, and other hidden aspects of the mind

implicit motives

motivations concerning achievement, intimacy, power, and other matters of which the participant might not be fully aware of

significant result

not necessarily large or important, but dramatic, unlikely to have happened by chance

null-hypothesis significance testing

In statistics, a test created to determine the chances that an alternative hypothesis would produce a result as extreme as the one observed if the null hypothesis were actually true.

population value

the real value

dispositional intelligence

knowledge about how personality is relevant to behavior

meta-accuracy

accuracy about being accurate

judgeable

others reach agreement most easily because they are the ones whose behavior is most predictable from judgements of their personality

sociosexulaity

willingness to engage in sexual relations with minimal acquaintanceship with or commitment to and from one's partner

weak situation v. strong situation

different people do different things v. social norms restrict people

narcissism

excessive self-love, can be extreme enough to be a personality disorder

orthogonal

getting a high or low score on any one of them is not supposed to predict whether a person will get a high or low score on any of the others

psychological maturity

behavioral and mental consistency and also to the specific traits that help a person to fulfill socially important adult roles

ego development

the ability to deal well with the social and physical world and to think for oneself when making moral decisions

plasticity principle

personality can change at any time but such change may not be easy

role continuity principle

taking on roles or images can lead personality to be consistent over time

identity development principle

people seek to develop a stable sense of who they are, and then strive to act consistently with this self-view