Topic 2: Research Methods in Personality Psychology

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering personality research methods, scientific characteristics, psychological schools, evaluation criteria (reliability, validity, practicality), assessment tools, and response biases.

Scientific Research

A process aimed at producing and verifying new knowledge in form or content through systematic stages, techniques, and instruments.

Research Methodology

The discipline responsible for explaining the different modes and procedures used to conduct an investigation.

Steps of the Research Process

The four sequential stages of scientific research: 1. Formulation of the research problem, 2. Statement of hypotheses, 3. Testing of hypotheses, and 4. Communication of results.

Basic Research

A research category defined by its purpose, aimed directly at immediate application or fundamental theoretical understanding.

Applied Research

A research category intended to improve quality of life and contribute to the construction of new practical knowledge.

Experimental Research Design

A research design aimed at modifying the living conditions of the study object (people or phenomena) over the course of the investigation.

Non-experimental Research Design

A research design that does not require the modification or manipulation of variables.

Quantitative Research Approach

A research approach fundamentally grounded in numerical measurement.

Qualitative Research Approach

A research approach aimed at describing the specific qualities and features of a phenomenon.

Ethical Neutrality

A characteristic of scientific research requiring that researcher values do not interfere with research design and execution.

Pervin's Three Key Questions

The three fundamental questions in personality theory proposed by Pervin (1970): What (characteristics and organization), How (genetic and environmental interactions), and Why (causes of behavior).

Structure (Personality Theory)

One of the three core elements of personality theory, referring to the basic units of analysis and their structural organization.

Process (Personality Theory)

A core element of personality theory that encompasses motivational and dynamic factors underlying human behavior.

Growth (Personality Theory)

A core element of personality theory that analyzes developmental patterns leading to an individual's current personality.

Psychological Schools

Diverse theoretical frameworks—such as Structuralism, Functionalism, Gestalt, Psychoanalysis, Behaviorism, Constructivism, Humanism, and Cognitivism—that define specific objects of study and core theoretical principles.

Personality Psychology

The subfield studying consistent and dynamic patterns of thought, emotion, and behavior that differentiate individuals, aiming to describe, explain, and predict behavior.

Basic Psychology

The subfield studying general psychological processes (such as memory, learning, perception, and motivation) to discover universal laws of functioning.

Social Psychology

The subfield studying how individuals think, feel, and act in relation to others, analyzing the influence of social norms, roles, groups, and culture.

Clinical Psychology

The subfield focused on detecting, explaining, and treating psychological distress and mental disorders through therapeutic intervention.

Reliability

The degree to which an assessment instrument produces consistent and stable results over time or across similar conditions.

Test-retest Reliability

A form of reliability established when administering the same test to the same person under similar conditions yields consistent results.

Internal Consistency

A type of reliability evaluating whether individual test items measuring the same construct correlate with each other.

Inter-rater Reliability

A type of reliability demonstrated when different independent evaluators arrive at consistent scores or conclusions for the same subject.

Validity

The extent to which an assessment tool accurately measures the specific concept or trait it claims to measure.

Content Validity

A form of validity ensuring that an assessment instrument covers all relevant dimensions and aspects of the target construct.

Criterion Validity

A form of validity demonstrated when test scores correlate significantly with a relevant external variable or outcome.

Construct Validity

A form of validity confirming that a test effectively measures the specific theoretical concept or construct it claims to evaluate.

Reliability vs. Validity Target Model

A visual framework illustrating four combinations: reliable but not valid, low validity and low reliability, not reliable and not valid, and both reliable and valid.

Practicality (Test Evaluation)

The criterion requiring a measurement instrument to be useful, easily applicable, and manageable in practice.

Standardized Questionnaires

Personality assessment tools featuring rated scale questions (e.g., NEO-PI-R, 16PF, EPQ) that are objective and easy to compare, but subject to response biases.

Projective Techniques

Assessment tools using ambiguous stimuli (e.g., Rorschach, TAT) designed to elicit projections of a person's unconscious inner world.

Rorschach Inkblot Test

A classic projective technique using symmetrical ambiguous inkblot images to analyze personality characteristics and unconscious processes.

Structured Interviews

Assessment methods following a fixed script of questions (e.g., SCID, MINI) to combine depth with standardized evaluation.

Social Desirability Bias

A response bias in self-reports where respondents answer items in a manner that presents themselves favorably rather than truthfully.

Acquiescence Bias

A response bias characterized by a respondent's tendency to agree with or answer 'yes' to all items regardless of content.