Chapter 2 The Scientific Study of People

Question 1

Case studies (43)

Answer 1

• Psychologist interacts extensively with the individual who is the target of the study.
• The psychologist tries to develop an understanding of the psychological structures and processes that are most important to that individual’s personality.
• Case studies inherently are idiographic methods in that the goal is to obtain a psychological portrait of the particular individual under study.

Question 2

Correlational coefficient (45)

Answer 2

-The statistic used to gauge the degree to which two variables go together:

Question 3

Correlational research (45)

Answer 3

-Researchers examine the relation among variables in a large population of people, where none of the variables is experimentally manipulated.

Question 4

Demand characteristics (54)

Answer 4

• In a psychological experiment, a demand characteristic is a subtle cue that makes participants aware of what the experimenter expects to find or how participants are expected to behave.
• Can change the outcome of an experiment because participants will often alter their behavior to conform to expectations.

Question 5

Electroencephalography (EEG) (38)

Answer 5

• A method for recording electrical activity in the brain. -The recordings are made through electrodes placed on the scalp.
• These electrodes record the electrical activity of the brain’s individual cells, or neurons; the biochemical activity of neurons inside the brain generates electrical activity that is so powerful that it can be detected by electrodes outside the brain, on the scalp.

Question 6

Experimental research (47)

Answer 6

-Variables are manipulated through the random assignment of persons to different conditions.

Question 7

Experimenter expectancy effects (54)

Answer 7

• A particular type of experimenter effect in which the expectations of the experimenter as to the likely outcome of the experiment acts as a self-fulfilling prophecy, biasing the results in the direction of the expectation.
• Without realizing it, experimenters may either make errors in recording and analyzing data or emit cues to the subjects and thus influence their behavior in a particular way.

Question 8

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) (38)

P38

Answer 8

• A method for depicting (or “imaging”) brain activity while a person carries out different tasks (or psychological “functions”).
• fMRI technology detects variations in blood flow and produces a picture of the brain that shows its most highly active regions and thus “functional” regions—that is, the regions that contributed directly to the task being performed.

Question 9

Idiographic (strategies) (37)

Answer 9

• Flexible assessment techniques tailored to the particular individual being studied
• A term deriving from the Greek idios, referring to personal, private, and distinct characteristics (as in “idiosyncratic”).
• Have the primary goal of obtaining a portrait of the potentially unique, idiosyncratic individual.

Question 10

L-data (33)

Answer 10

• Consist of information that can be obtained from a person’s life history or life record.
• For example, researchers interested in the relation between personality factors and school performance obtain life record (L) data: students’ grades in school

Question 11

Nomothetic strategies (37)

Answer 11

• Fixed measures which are applied in the same manner to all persons.
• The term comes from the Greek for “law,” nomos, and refers here to the search for scientific laws that apply, in a fixed manner, to everyone.
• Nomothetic techniques describe a population of persons in terms of a fixed set of personality variables, using a fixed set of items to measure them.

Question 12

O-data (33)

Answer 12

-Consist of information provided by knowledgeable observers such as parents, friends, or teachers. -Generally, such persons are provided with a questionnaire or other rating form with which they rate the target individual’s personality characteristics.

Question 13

Reliability (40)

Answer 13

• The concept of reliability refers to the extent to which observations can be replicated.
• The question is whether measures are dependable, or stable.

Question 14

Blah 1

Answer 14

Research involves the systematic study of relationships among phenomena or events. Four types of data are obtained in personality research: L‐data, O‐data, T‐data, and S‐data (LOTS). Three approaches to personality research are clinical research, laboratory experimentation, and correlational research using questionnaires.

Question 15

Blah 2

Answer 15

All research shares the goals of reliability and validity—of obtaining observations that can be replicated and for which there is evidence of a relation to the concepts of interest. As a human enterprise, research involves ethical questions concerning the treatment of subjects and the reporting of data.

Question 16

Blah 3

Answer 16

Clinical research involves the intensive study of individuals. This research method was illus- trated by a case study involving the self‐concept of an individual as he confronted the different social situations of his life.

Question 17

Blah 4

Answer 17

In correlational research, the investigator measures two or more variables and determines the degree to which they are associated with each other. Questionnaire measures are particularly important in correlational research. This research method was illustrated with research in which personality factors were found to predict longevity.

Question 18

Blah 5

Answer 18

Experimental research involves the manipulation of one or more variables to determine their causal impact on outcomes of interest. This approach to research was illustrated by the manipulation of variables related to the phenomenon of stereotype threat.

Question 19

Blah 6

Answer 19

Each of three approaches to research can be viewed as having its own set of potential strengths and limitations (Table 2.2). Thus, each research strategy has the potential to produce particular insights as well as its own pitfalls.

Question 20

Blah 7

Answer 20

Theories of personality differ in their preferences for types of data and approaches to research. In other words, there tend to be link- ages among theory, type of data, and method of research. It is important to keep such linkages in mind as the major theories of personality are considered in the chapters that follow. A single case studied from the standpoint of each theoretical perspective also will be presented for illustrative and comparative purposes.