Ch.2, Textbook, Scientific Study of Personality Flashcards
Define L data.
Life Record Data (L-Data)
Information obtained about a person’s life (L) history or life record
Academic transcripts, medical records, court records, police records: can answer many research questions (for example, effects of stress on longevity by examining medical records)
Define O-data.
O-Data (Observation Data)
Info provided by individuals who have OBSERVED the individual whose personality is being assessed (the target individual)
Observational data is specifically useful when people may not accurately describe themselves (i.e. narcissists)
However, different raters may rate the person in drastically different ways, making data hard to reconcile
Emotional Intelligence: person’s ability to identify and control emotions experienced by oneself and others
Define T data.
(Performance on T*asks)
Measures people’s performance on tasks
Participants are generally unaware of the personality quality the test is attempting to measure
Also known as Implicit Measures of Personality; individual is not aware of the quality being measured
Typically conducted in lab setting
Define S-data.
S-Data (Self-Reported Data)
Info participants report about themselves
Most common source is questionnaires
Response Bias: people typically report better things about than themselves than is accurate
People may outright lie or be confused by wording of questions
Which methods of data collection tend to conflict the most with one another?
Self reports and T data conflict the most: self reports and observation data coincide and agree the most
Define an Electroencephalography and its advantages.
Method for recording electrical activity in the brain
Recordings are made through electrodes placed on scalp
Biochemical activity of neurons releases electrical activity that it can be detected by the electrodes
Done in lab setting
Helpful to simultaneously monitor patient’s psychological state AND EEG recording to identify regions of the brain that underpin psychological functions
Define Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Images brain region that are active while a person carries out a given psychological task
Blood flow to different areas of the brain fluctuate as those brain areas become active
Patients are placed in a specialized device (brain scanner) that contains a powerful magnet that detects variations in blood flow
FMRI only reveal regions of the brain that are active during a task, but don’t directly reveal the interconnections among these regions
DOES NOT MEASURE NEURAL ACTIVITY LIKE AN EEG; ONLY MEASURES CHANGE IN BLOOD FLOW/VOLUME
Define Diffusion Tensor Imaging
Method for displaying the interconnections among brain regions that fMRI fails to do: reveals the structure of the brain’s white matter, which contains the nerve fibers through which neural communications are transmitted from one region of the brain to the other
Define case studies and how they are idiographic in nature, as well as their advantages and criticisms.
In depth analysis of individuals, capture human complexities
“Idiographic” in nature: refers to methods whose goal is to yield a psychological portrait of the specific, potentially idiosyncratic, individual under study
Done as a part of clinical treatment to understand a client
Advantages: overcome the potential superficiality of correlational/experimental methods; allows for the understanding of the complexity of an individual
^^Better and more authentic than group data: group data reveals nothing about the individual
Criticisms: findings from case studies are not generalizable to the public, cannot make suggestions about causality, often results are subjective to researcher interpretation
Discuss Henry Murray’s argument regarding group data.
averages and overall group data obliterates individual characteristics and behavior
Define correlational studies, as well as its benefits and criticisms.
Personality tests and questionnaires
Associated with interest in individual difference
Refers to a research strategy, not to the particular measure (the correlation) : the strategy is where researchers examine the relation among variables in a large population BUT THEY MAY USE MORE ADVANCES MEASURES THAN THE CORRELATIONAL FACTOR/REGARDLESS IT’S STILL CORRELATIONAL RESEARCH
Advantages: ability to study large groups through questionnaires, highly reliable results produced from the measures correlational research intends to examine
Criticisms: provide superficial information from questionnaires, cannot draw conclusions about causality, self-reported data is often inaccurate
Define Acquiescence Response Style and the problem it poses in correlational research.
tendency to agree or disagree consistently with items regardless of their content; produces faulty data
Define Social Desirability Bias:
subjective may respond with more socially acceptable answers
Define experiments, advantages and criticisms.
Advantages: gives clues about causal relationships, can control the third variable problem far better, able to manipulate variables easily to form causation
Criticisms: logistical problems such as organization and execution of things that are difficult to study (child parent relationships in the first four years of life), ethical issues often restrict study, often cannot generalize results to the natural environment/public, of a brief duration and may overlook long-term psychological processes, some psychological phenomena cannot take place in a laboratory
Define Demand Characteristics and the threat it poses to experimental research.
process in which participants intentionally act in a way they think the researcher desires
