Approaches to Personality II Flashcards
What is the lexical hypothesis?
All aspects of individual personality can be described from single words used in language
All aspects of individual personality can be described from single words used in language
This is known as…?
The lexical hypothesis
Describe Allport and Odbert’s (1936) study
List 3 points
- Drawing on Baumgarten’s work, they collected all personality terms from Webster’s Dictionary (555,000 terms originally)
- Selected all terms referring to behavioural differences = 18,000
- Removed terms relating to cognitive, physical or transient state = 4,500 (represent smaller number of distinct traits)
What are latent variables?
Variables that cannot be directly observed
Variables that cannot be directly observed
This is known as…?
Latent variables
Most psychological variables (individual differences)
a. cannot be directly observed
b. can be directly observed
a. cannot be directly observed
Most psychological variables (individual differences) cannot be directly observed
This is known as…?
Latent variables
Many physical variables(e.g. height, weight) can be directly observed and measured
This is known as…?
Observable variables
Individual differences are…?
a. Observable
b. Latent
b. Latent
How can we ‘observe’ individual differences (latent variables)?
By inferring/estimating them
e.g. on the basis of behaviour and self-reported experience
What are Psychometrics?
The scientific measurement of psychological variables
The scientific measurement of psychological variables
This is known as…?
Psychometrics
Extraversion is a…?
a. Latent variable
b. Observable variable
a. Latent variable
What 4 things is extraversion (latent variable) associated with?
- Talkative (enjoys talking to others)
- Sociable (enjoys socialising with people)
- Friendly (makes friends easily)
- Lively (are the life and soul of the party)
What are correlations used for?
Used to identify words that are similar enough in meaning to essentially be considered the same thing
Used to identify words that are similar enough in meaning to essentially be considered the same thing
This is known as…?
Correlations
The basis of ‘data reduction’ techniques
This is known as…?
Correlatins
Enable us to determine which terms are related to one another, and so represent a common ‘latent factor’
This is known as…?
Correlations
What do correlations enable us to determine?
Which terms are related to one another, and so represent a common ‘latent factor’
“I am a relaxed person & I am a carefree person”
Has a strong positive correlation between the two terms (r = .84)
What does this suggest?
It is highly likely that these 2 traits might belong to the same underlying factor (relaxed and carefree might be related to neuroticism, a common factor driving these responses to these 2 items)
simply = relaxed and carefree are related to a common latent factor of neuroticism
“I am a relaxed person & I am a anxious person”
Has a strong negative correlation between the two terms (r = -.78)
What does this suggest?
It is highly likely that these 2 traits might belong to the same underlying factor (relaxed and anxious might be related to neuroticism, a common factor driving these responses to these 2 items)
simply = relaxed and anxious are related to a common latent factor of neuroticism
“I am a relaxed person & I am a friendly person”
Has no correlation between the two terms (r = .06)
What does this suggest?
It is highly likely that these 2 traits do not belong to the same underlying factor (relaxed and friendly might not be related to neuroticism, a common factor driving these responses to these 2 items)
simply = relaxed and friendly are not related to a common latent factor of neuroticism
Why is conducting several correlations problematic to identify words that are similar enough in meaning to essentially be considered the same thing?
A little more difficult to work out which items belong together
Imagine if there were 4500 items: it is impossible to identify which items belong to each other just by looking at the correlations
Correlations can be problematic because it is a little more difficult to work out which items belong together
What is a solution for this?
Factor analysis