Psychology of Personality - Introduction

PSYC 3370

psychology

study of the mind (cognition + behavior + emotion)

personality

psychological traits/characteristics/mechanisms that differentiates individuals

set at about age 5/6

• organized

• relatively stable/average tendency

• influences intrapsychic, physical, social interactions → behavior, cognition, emotion

intrapsychic

within your own mind

physical

body

social

interactions with others

number of personality traits

unlimited/unknown

levels of personality analysis

• like everyone else/human nature

• like some others/group

• like no other/individual uniqueness

like everyone else/human nature (levels of personality analysis)

basic universal needs

like some others/group (levels of personality analysis)

religions, beliefs, hobbies

like no other/individual uniqueness

DNA, habits, combination of traits, preferences

domains of knowledge about human nature

6 domains that develop personality

• dispositional

• biological

• intrapsychic

• cognitive/experiential

• social/cultural

• adjustment

dispositional (domains of knowledge about human nature)

traits, a demeanor/presentation

biological (domains of knowledge about human nature)

somatic

• genetics, psychophysiology, evolution

intrapsychic (domains of knowledge about human nature)

within your mind, made by freud

• unconscious, id, ego

cognitive/experiential (domains of knowledge about human nature)

thought processes, experiences → behavior, feelings

social/cultural (domains of knowledge about human nature)

society, culture, environment, traditions

adjustment (domains of knowledge about human nature)

coping, adaptation, resiliency against difficulties

personality and psychology in general is

abstract

self report

volunteers give subjective answers about their experience

structured interview

everyone is read the same exact questions

• fair → reduces variability and bias

unstructured interview

no piece of paper, questions are random

semi-structured interview

some of the same questions, includes new follow up questions

observer report data

observers writes down the behavior they see to reduce bias from the volunteer

personality tests

look for traits or pathology

• usually done with a likert scale or true false questions

projective measure

not objective (QnA or TF), volunteers give interpretations (rorschach, fill-in-the-blank, drawings)

• proven, gives useful insight

• but not solid in court

reliability and validity scores

makes a measure more scientific by norming it

reliability

results are consistent

validity

in general, the test measures what you want it to measure

face validity

can the volunteer understand the purpose of the questions/what the test is trying to measure

• can be bad if your volunteer lies → use lie scales

predictive validity

can the test predict external criterion?

convergent validity

does the test correlate with similar tests?

(kindness correlates with selflessness)

discriminant validity

does the test not correlate with opposite tests?

(kindness should not correlate with selfishness)

construct validity

combines general validity, convergent validity, and discriminant validity

• the test measures what it is supposed to measure

• the test correlates with similar tests

• the test does not correlate with opposite tests

generalizability

another factor of reliability and validity, the test results are able to be applied to a larger population

research study types

• case study

• correlational study

• experimental method/study

case study

only study 1 person in-depth

• easy to conduct

• hard to generalize

correlational study

measures the relationship between 2 factors

not equal to causation

experimental method/study

tries to find likelihood of causation

• manipulate an independent variable

• control outside/environmental factors

• measure the dependent variable