Personality Exam 1

Thoughts

Mental processes such as thinking and believing

Emotions

How individuals feel

Behaviors

What people do, ranging from external actions like athletics to internal mental processes

Psychological triad

Thoughts, emotions, and behaviors

Levels of Personality Analysis

3 levels, human nature, individual and group differences, and individual uniqueness

Human Nature

Nearly universal to the human species

Individual and group differences

Features that distinguish certain people or are shared within specific groups

Individual uniqueness

The qualities that make a person entirely unique

Nomotheic

Seeking general laws through the comparison of individuals and groups

Idiographic

Intensive study of a single individual

Trait approach

How are people different from each other

Biological approach

How do genetics, brain physiology, and evolution effect personality?

Psychoanalytic approach

What is occurring in the unconscious part of the mind?

Phenomenological approach

What is the subjective nature of human experience?

Learning and Cognitive approach

What psychological processes (Rewards and punishment) underlie personality?

Social and Cultural approach

How does personality influence/is influenced by society and culture?

Adjustment and health approach

How does personality influence our health, and also how we cope and adapt?

Funder’s first law

Great strengths in a theory are usually also great weaknesses

Scientific theories

Based on empirical evidence, testable, and falsifiable

Utility of science

explains internal and external behaviors, allows for accurate future predictions of a persons behavior

S- data

Self report, a person’s evaluation of their own personality

I- data

Informant data, Judgements made by people who know the person

L- Data

Life outcomes, verifiable, real life, concrete facts

B- Data

Behavioral, observations of what a person actually does in natural or lab settings

Causal Force

This refers to the idea that what people think about themselves or what others think of them influencing how they behave and create their reality

Definitional truth

Some data is simply true by definition such as self esteem or likability

Fish and water effect

disadvantage of s data where individuals fail to notice their most obvious traits because they are constantly immersed in them

Behavioroid data

A mixed data type where participants report what they believe they would do in a certain situation

Projective tests

Presenting ambiguous stimuli and ask the individual to describe what they see, requiring them to “project” their unconcious

Projective tests (Examples)

Rorschach inkblot and thematic apperception test

Rorschach Inkblot Test

Reveals thoughts through interpretation of inkblots

Thematic Apperception Test

Used to assess motivational states by having individuals tell stories about drawings of people

Objective test construction methods

Rational method, factor analysis, and the empirical method

Rational method

Items are written that seem directly and obviously related to the trait being measured

Factor analysis

A statistical technique that identifies clusters of items that have something in common to discover the underlying structure of personality

Empirical method

Items are selected based on how pre-identified groups respond regardless of whether the item content seems logical

Psychometrics

Statistical significance

p < .05

Open science

Reporting all studies, describing all aspects of a study, avoiding data fabrication and plagiarism

Situationism

situational differences (not personality) is the determinants of behavior

Predictability argument

correlations rarely exceed .30 with traits, implying theyre unimportant

Predictability argument rebuttal

situational effects usually have around .3 to .4 meaning it is meaningful

Absolute consistency

changes in absolute terms depending on the setting (louder at concert than library)

Relative consistency

usually the loudest at the library will be the loudest at the concert

Interactionism

behavior is a function of the person and the environment

Defining accuracy (personality)

convergent validation and interjudge agreement

Moderators of accuracy

good judge, good target, good trait, good information

Realistic Accuracy Model (RAM)

relevance, availability, detection, utilization

Self vs others (Self knowledge)

acquaintances are as accurate as the self in predicting behavior

Improving knowledge (Self knowledge)

looking inward, seeking honest feedback, observing your own behavior

Single trait approach (personality)

behaviors associated with a specific trait (narcissism or self monitoring)

Many-trait approach (personality)

Investigates which traits are associated with a particular behavior such as word choice or life outcomes

Essential trait approach (personality)

identify which traits are fundamentally most important for understanding personality

Typological approach (personality)

pattern of traits that characterize an individual as a type

Openness

imagination, intellect, creativity

Conscientiousness

organization, dutifulness, reliability

Extraversion

sociability, assertiveness, energy level

Agreeableness

compassion, cooperation, warmth

Neuroticism

Emotional instability and anxiety

Lexical Hypothesis

all important individual differences have eventually become encoded into natural language as trait descriptive adj

HEXACO Model

adds honesty and humility to the big 5

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

business and schools, not scientifically reliable