1 - Introduction to Personality Flashcards
Define Differential Psychology
A branch of psychology that deals with behavioural differences between individuals and groups
Define Personality, Traits and States
Personality
- a dynamic organisation of psychophysical systems inside a person that create their characteristic patterns of behaviour, thoughts and feelings
^ As defined by Gordon Allport
Personality is a psychological construct, a mental concept that influences behaviour via the mind behind the body
Traits
- aspects of these characteristics (that make up the personality) that are consistent and long lasting
States
- aspects of the characteristics making up the personality that are temporary, and depend on a person’s situation and motives at a particular time
e. g.
- climate vs weather
Karl Jung’s approach to personality
(Influenced by Adler’s work on social context and Freud’s psychoanalysis, as well as clinical and personal observations)
Based on psychoanalytical principles, stating at least 2 different personality types:
- Extraversion and Introversion
> but listed 6 more personality types, 4 pairs of opposites
Extroversion vs Introversion
Sensing vs Intuition
Thinking vs Feeling
Judging vs Perceiving
Jung’s model (4 pairs)
Extroversion vs Introversion
- Extroversion
> outgoing nature, easily adapts to situations, quickly forms attachments
- Introversion
> hesitant and reflective, shy’s away and airs on the defensive
Sensing vs Intuition
- Sensing
> paying attention to physical reality (senses), concerned with the tangible and present
- Intuition
> paying attention to impressions and patterns of information, interested in the possible (past or future)
Thinking vs Feeling
- Thinking
> interpretation using reason and logic (objective)
- Feeling
> evaluation on the basis of individual points of view (subjective)
Judging vs Perceiving - Judging > preferring order, being in control and making decisions - Perceiving > preferring to take in information
Compare Extroversion and Introversion
Extroversion
- consciousness focussing on external objects
Introversion
- consciousness focussing on the self
Application of Jung’s Theory
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
- based on Jungian personality types and is often used in occupational settings
- it’s unethical to use these results to screen out participants, rather better to use it to profile individuals to find their best suited role
Eysenck’s approach to personality
- Underpinned by biological theory
- based on Second Order Personality Traits
- Within the Ascending Reticular Activating System are two systems:
> Reticulo-Cortical system, managing arousal due to external stimuli
> Reticulo-limbic system, managing arousal due to emotional stimuli
What are the Reticulo-Cortical and Reticulo-Limbic systems and what do they indicate
Systems within the Ascending Reticular Activating System
- Reticulo-cortical system defines intro/extroversion, where high arousal to incoming stimuli is introverted and low arousal to incoming stimuli is extroverted (it takes less stimulation to put introverts into optimum interest and performance, but also less to put them into stress)
- Reticulo-limbic system defines emotional stability, where low arousal to emotional stimuli shows emotional stability
Eysenck’s personality model
Was developed using factor analysis
Eysenck’s model would place your personality on a 3D graph based on:
- Introversion Extroversion
- Emotionally Stable Emotionally Unstable (neuroticism)
- High Impulse Control Low Impulse Control (psychoticism)
Gray’s Approach to personality
Gray’s model focuses on how we respond to punishment and reward, thus providing a framework for conditioning, and clarifies ways in which individuals may differ in learning. Very tightly tied to neurophysiology.
Gray’s theory is based on the interaction between BAS and BIS (reinforcement sensitivity theory)
Describe the BIS BAS system and it’s use in bipolar analysis
Behavioural Approach System is based on reward seeking. The more active the BAS (higher score), shows higher levels of happiness and reward in relation to goal completion.
High BAS score indicates higher levels of impulsivity
Behavioural Inhibition System is based on avoiding punishment. Higher BIS activity shows increased sensitivity to punishment and thus avoidance of environments causing fear, anxiety etc.
High BIS score indicated higher levels of anxiety
The BIS/BAS system is used to analyse psychological disorders such as bipolar:
A high BIS score, showing high anxiety, indicates imminence to a depressive phase
A high BAS score, showing high impulsivity, indicates imminence to a manic episode
What does BIS stand for, and what does a high score indicate?
Behavioural Inhibition System
High BIS score indicated higher levels of anxiety
What does BAS stand for and what does a high score indicate?
Behavioural Approach System
High BAS score indicates higher levels of impulsivity
Costa and McCrae’s approach to personality
The most widely accepted model in psychology
- a trait model, rooted in the Lexical approach to personality and based on a data-driven approach
- generating their model based on super factor analysis
- proposed that all personality traits can be defined within 5 factors. Leading to the 5 Factor Model based on the Big 5 personality traits: OCEAN - Openness (to experience) - Conscientiousness - Extraversion - Agreeableness - Neuroticism
What do scores on Costa and McCrae’s 5 personality traits indicate?
Openness to experience
- High scores show curiosity and inventiveness
- Low scores show practicality and cautiousness
Conscientiousness
- HS = efficiency and organisation
- LS = impulsivity and carelessness
Extroversion
- HS = outgoing and energetic
- LS = reserved and solitary
Agreeableness
- HS = friendly and compassionate
- LS = critical and unkind
Neuroticism
- HS = anxious and sensitive
- LS = secure and calm
Psychoanalytic Approach to personality
.. theory based?
Lexical approach to personality
The description of personality will exist in the language we use. Thus we can pull out traits for overarching factors
(from the dictionary)
Factor analytic approach to personality
Purely a statistical approach, examining how different traits cluster together
Biological approach to personality
Neurophysiologically defined model developed with empirical testing
How to evaluate models of personality
- Explanation
- Empirical Validity
- Testable Concepts
- Comprehensiveness
- Parsimony
- Heuristic Value
- Applied Value
Models of personality need to be evaluated critically, so that they may be compared properly, by evaluating:
Explanation:
- does the theory provide a convincing explanation of typical commonly observed instances of that behaviour?
- does it explain how and why individual differences in behaviours occur?
Empirical Validity:
- can the theory be used to predict future events or behaviour in specific situations?
Testable concepts:
- can the concepts within the theory be operationalised?
(can the concept be defined precisely enough to enable it to be reliably measured)
Comprehensiveness:
- does the theory explain both normal and abnormal behaviour?
- it’s unlikely that a theory will be able to explain all human behaviour as it is so varied. Normally consensuses emerge within research based on the commonality of a behaviour
Parsimony:
- the theory should be economical in the number of explanatory concepts used. All should be necessary to explain the phenomena under study
Heuristic Value:
- does the theory stimulate interest and research in the area?
- doesn’t necessarily have to be a good theory
Applied Value:
- does the theory lead to better control of unwanted behaviours?
- does it provide a qualitative leap in the particular area?
Define internal reliability (internal consistency)
- refers to whether all the aspects of the psychometric test are generally working together to measure the same thing
- commonly these aspects are a number of questions in the scale for which answers should correlate, suggesting they go together to form a single construct
- this is normally done using Cronbach’s Alpha. If done on SPSS, tick item/scale/scale if deleted, and it will show you which questions should be deleted. Do this one at a time from lowest correlation first
- when this is done you can add the scores up to get an overall score for what you are measuring
Define Test-Retest Reliability (reliability over time)
- this is a measure of consistency of results
- have the same group of people take the same questionnaire a week/month later, and test the correlation of the two sets of results
- the criteria for correlation is r<0.7
Define Validity
- is the test measuring what it is supposed to be measuring? there is no absolute way to determine this, but it is shows by measuring more specific kinds of validity > convergent > concurrent > descriminant > face > content > predictive
Define Convergent Validity
- a psychometric test’s convergent validity is shown by the extent to which it shows associations between measures (questions) of the same proposed construct
Define Concurrent Validity
- a psychometric test shows concurrent validity when the measured construct it is shown to be associated with known and accepted measures of that construct
- can be difficult if there is no prior research
Define Discriminant Validity
- when the construct is shown NOT to be related to something it shouldn’t be
- normally the measured construct is tested in its correlation to other constructs (it should not correlate)
- i.e. the 5 main personality dimensions (neuroticism, agreeableness, extraversion, openness and conscientiousness)
Define Face Validity
- how well does the test seem to measure what it is supposed to?
- best way to consider this is to have experts in the measured construct judge this
Define Content Validity
- to what extent does the measure represent all aspects of the phenomenon being measured
- i.e. behaviours / attitudes / feelings
Define Predictive Validity
- can the measure accurately predict the future occurrence of what was measured
Describe the difference between open-format and closed-format questions, which are more suitable for psychometric tests?
- open format questions ask for written detail with no determined set of responses. This results in time-consuming analysis and more qualitative data
- closed format questions are more suitable for psychometric tests as they require exact responses from a number of options. This allows the data to be simply broken down and quantified into testable data
What is the optimal proportion of questions in a psychometric test?
- the optimal length for a scale measuring any one construct should be 15-20 items as suggested by Kline
What’s the optimal proportion of participants in a psychometric test?
- ideally have 10 participants per question, but 5 is acceptable
Importance of clarity in a psychometric test
- questions must be clear, short and unambiguous
- the questions must not mean different things to different participants
- common errors are including every aspect of a situation in the question
Relevance of Leading Questions in a psychometric test
- these steer respondents to a particular answer, often due to phrasing
- should be avoided
Relevance of Embarrassing Questions in a psychometric test
- these must be avoided as the respondent may not answer truthfully and may not complete the questionnaire properly
Relevance of Hypothetical Questions in a psychometric test
- these should be avoided as they can place the individual in a situation they may never have considered rather than their real view
Importance of Reverse-wording Questions in a psychometric test
- these questions force the respondent to think about the question and will identify if someone is not
- include many of these
Response formats in a psychometric test
- yes / no
- scale formats such as Strongly Agree Strongly Disagree
Importance of importance in a psychometric test
- these are crucial and can be simple, and should be matched to the type of responses you are looking for
Implicit personality Theories
- theories that individuals create based on their personal experiences
- personal evaluation of a situation can be flawed, partly due to lack of interaction with a particular person, leading to skewed views on their behaviours
The aim of studying personality
- personality theorists aim to explain the motivational basis behind behaviour
Idiographic and Nomothetic approaches to the study of personality
The idiographic approach stresses the uniqueness of individuals, and aims to develop an in depth understanding case by case
- qualitative data, with difficulty making generalisations
- interviews etc.
The nomothetic approach focuses on similarities between groups of individuals, the individuals themselves being unique only in the ways their traits combine
- quantitive data exploring the structures and relationships between personality variables, can lead to fairly superficial data about any one person
- discovers general principles that can be used predictively
Public vs Private persona
Private persona is a persons true, inner self
Public persona is the way someone presents themselves in a public setting
Define Physiognomy
A theory linking facial features with character traits
Define Craniology (phrenology)
A theory that different human functions are located in different structures within the brain
Structural and Process models
The two sets of issues that are interrelated, and need to be assessed to understand the nature of individual differences
- Structural model considers the nature or individual differences. How do they differ? personality/experiences/social constructs
- Process model considers what causes these differences?
