Chapter 2: Personality Data & Assessment

Question 1

What about research?

Answer 1

• Emphasis on method
• Research: is exploring the unknown

Question 2

What about the clues of personality?

Answer 2

Personality applies to all aspects of the triad
- don’t try to change someone’s personality
- clues are ambiguous (2nd law)
- something beats nothin 2/3 times (3rd law)

Question 3

What is S Data?

Answer 3

Self-judgement/report
- face validity, how answer own question, most frequent data from questions/surveys
- Advantages:
1) large amount of data- you are always with you and own best expert
2) access to own thoughts, feelings, and intentions,
3) definitional truth,
4) causal force: want something to be true so you make it true,
5) simple/easy
- Disadvantages:
1) Bias - maybe won’t tell
2) Error - can’t tell (fish-and -water (cannot say because always in environment), active memory distortion, lack self-insight
3) too simple/easy (overused –> forget other methods)

Question 4

What is I Data?

Answer 4

Knowledgeable informant acquaintances, coworkers, clinical psychologists
- observations
- Advantage:
1) large amount of data (many situations, many judgements possible)
2) real world (not contrived tests)
3) common sense & context (situation & observer)
4) Definitional truth
5) causal force (reputation affects opportunity and experience)
- Disadvantages
1) Limited behavioral information (only se behavior which change on situation)
2) Lack of access to private experience
3) Error: (faulty memory/unusual events remembered- emotional event)
4) Bias (b/c relationship dynamic)

Question 5

What is Funder’s Second Law?

Answer 5

There are no perfect indicators of personality, only clues which are always ambiguous
(but just because may be misleading doesn’t mean you don’t collect the clues)

Question 6

What is Funder’s Third Law?

Answer 6

Something beats nothing two times out of three

Question 7

What is L-Data?

Answer 7

Life - archival data, social media, residue of personality (affect on world)
Advantage:
1) Objective and verifiable (exact number)
2) Intrinsic Importance: gives psychologist what needed for prediction
3) Psychological Relevance: strongly affected by psychological variables
Disadvantage: multidetermination (variety different affecting factors)

Question 8

What is B-Data?

Answer 8

Behavior, what is visible (leads to residue, L)
Natural: follow & watch 24/7 or diary: self-collected but not self-judgement
Laboratory: researcher causes situation mundane/other and observe reaction also can measure physiological reaction (BP, HR, Skin)
Advantage:
1) Range of contexts: know reaction in unusual situations
2) Appearance of Objectivity: psychologists own observation, measurable (also subjective elements)
Disadvantage
1) Difficult and expensive: resources, participants, equipment
2) Uncertain interpretation, interpretation depend on behavior, context, prior experience

Question 9

What are the aspects of data quality?

Answer 9

Reliable, valid, generalizable

Question 10

What about reliable data?

Answer 10

(repeatable)
- Problems: state or trait, all measures subject to error, state participant/researcher, unusual/unpredictable changes in environment
- Solutions: be careful (profred, double check), common procedure, measure something important (x trivial), aggregation (++ researchers/test then average, Spearman-Brown formula)

Question 11

What about validity of data?

Answer 11

Actually measure what want to measure
- must first be reliable, wants to measure what it actually true
- issue: personality aspects are constructs that cannot be touched our measured so can only measure affects- if all measurements align then considered valid to measure construct
- theory not a fact

Question 12

What about generalizability of data?

Answer 12

Apply to other participants/times/situations/etc. ?
- Over participants: include all categories? gender/ethnic problem: shows/no shows (indicate personality)
- Burden of Proof:
1) Hard enough statements own culture - resist generalizing other culture
2) those who question generalizability must propose why would not generalize
Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic

Question 13

What is the case method research design?

Answer 13

Lots of specific observational data
- does the topic justice, suggests ideas, and sometimes absolutely necessary
- not generalizable

Question 14

What is the experimental and correlational research designs? (similarities, differences, issues)

Answer 14

• Both: relationship between variables and statistical variables are relatable
• Different: manipulation
• Correlational: x account external variables or reveal which causes which
• Experimental: not sure exactly what manipulated, was the manipulation realistic, often requires deception, sometimes not possible at all