Chapter 4-5: traits, needs, motives Flashcards
The trait approach
builds on how people intuitively think and talk about each other by translating the natural, informal language of personality into a formal psychology that measures traits and uses them to predict and explain human behaviour
Personality psych and everyday human observations are
not so different
Components of the trait approach
- based on empirical research that mostly uses correlational designs (trait predicts behaviour)
- focuses exclusively on individual differences
trait measurements are _______, not ________
ordinal
rational
ordinal data
ordinal data is a statistical data type consisting of numerical scores that exist on an ordinal scale, i.e. an arbitrary numerical scale where the exact numerical quantity of a particular value has no significance beyond its ability to establish a ranking over a set of data points.
can’t have 0
Rational scale
Rational scale
measurements compared in terms of ratios
ex. could have a 0
people are inconsistent
there will be numerous exceptions to people’s general or usual way of behaving
situations are also important
older people are more ______ in their ________ than _________
consistent
personalities
younger people
older adults are more stable in general (i.e. have an established identity, career…
Person-situation debate
Walter Mischel
which is more important for determining what people do? The people? or the Situation?
- traits are poor predictors of behaviours
- situations are better when accounting for differences in behaviour
- personality assessments and everyday intuitions about personality are fundamentally flawed
Predictability
test the usefulness of a personality trait is whether you can use it to predict behaviour
Situationist argument of predictability
predictive capacity of personality is limited
at best, correlations between personality traits and behaviour are about 0.3 (0.4 NIsbett)
Situationist argument of predictability: responses!
- unfair literature review
- focused on studies that obtained disappointing results rather than the numerous ones with impressive findings
- many studies were methodologically flawed, yet still found significant correlations - we can do better
- weak findings merely imply that psychologists can do much better reattach outside the lab
- some people (and behaviours) might be more consistent than others
- focus on behavioural trends instead of single actions at particular moments - 0.4 is not small
- comparison with an absolute standard: a correlation of 0.4 means that a prediction of behaviour based on personality trait is likely to be accurate 70% of the time
- could also compare with a relative standard: ability of situational variables to predict behaviour
Situationism
personality does not determine behaviour, situations do!
But:
- often, the impact of the situation is presumed to be what is left over after subtracting the correlation of personality to behaviour
- don’t tend to measure situational variables in a way that indicates precisely how or how much situations affect behaviour
- can compare by looking at effect sizes
Funder and Ozer (1983)
compared prominent examples from social psychology of the power of situations to shape behaviour
- Festinger and Carlsimth (1959) cognitive dissonance
- darley and latane (1968) bystander interventiom
- milgran (1975) obediance
2 possible conlcuions
situational variables are important
personality variables are also important
aggregate the results
Festinger and Calsmith (1959)
Cognitive dissonance
subjects paid one dollar found the study more interesting, because of the cognitive dissonance!
r = -0.36
Darley and Latane (1968)
Bystander intervention
Bystander intervention
r = -0.38
r= -0.39
less likely to help if others are around
Milgram 1975 obedience
r = 0.42, r = 0.36
2 variables:
- isolation of the victim - further away the obedience was higher than when the victim was in the same room
- proximity of the researcher - closer they are the more likely to obey
Are person perceptions erroneous?
despite the situations critique, the effect of the personality on behaviour do seem sufficient to be perceived accurately
people really do act differently from each other
The resolution of the situationist debate?
- situational variables are relevant to how people will act under specific circumstances
- personality traits are better for understanding how people act in general
- in the long run, personality affects many important outcomes
(people maintain their personalities even as they adapt their behaviour to particular situations)
Quality of information
- the value of info you can gather about a person’s personality can vary from situation to situation
(weak vs. strong situations)
common intuition is that you might be able to learn something extra about a person if you observe them in a stressful or emotionally arousing situation (may be correct)
Personality and life outcomes
personality affects life outcomes that matter to people (i.e. health, career satisfaction)
may affect so many outcomes because it is present throughout life
Interactionism
the principle that aspects of personality and or situations work together to determine behaviour
neither has an effect by itself, not is one more important than the other
the effect of the personality variable may depend on the situation or vice versa
situations are not randomly populated, people change situations by virtue of what they do in them
Interactionism: students and caffeine
students performed worse after lots of caffeine
interactionism and hostile people/white noise
when hostile people were allowed to blast white noise at each other, they kept turning up the volume, this did not happen with the non-hostile people
hostile people create a more hostile environment for themselves
Situationist side of interactionism
people are free to do what they want, rather than having their behaviour influenced by their consistent personality
everybody is equal to everybody else, and different outcomes are a function of the situations in which they find themselves
personality side of interactionism debate
appreciates the unique aspects of every individual
allows people to consistently be themselves
personality assessment
professional activity of numerous research, clinical and industrial psychologists, as well as a prosperous business
not restricted to psychologists
two criteria for evaluation (validity or accuracy): agreement and prediction
evaluating personality assessments
two criteria for evaluation (validity or accuracy): agreement and prediction
Personality test examples
MMPI California Psychological Inventory Sixteen personality factor questionnaire NEO personlaity inventory Implicit association test
many are omnibus tests; theres measure just one trait
omnibus
omnibus: measure wide range of traits
personality tests mainly take _____ data, but some use ______ data
S (results = how you define yourself)
B
(preferring to shower = emphathic response
replying to me vs. not me questions as quickly as possible to questions)
shyness is best predicted by _____ data, but unconscious predictions of shyness are predicted best by…
S B data (people who implicitly know they are shy will have faster associations)
Projective tests
a test that presents a participant with an ambiguous stimulus (a picture/inkblot) and asks the person to describe what they see
- answers reveal inner psychological states or motivations of which the participant may be unaware
ex. Rorschach, TAT, draw a person test
projective tests provide ______ data
B
objective tests
a personality test that consists of a list of questions to be answered by the participants as T or F, Yes or No, or along a numeric scale
not absolutely objective
ambiguity may be necessity for responses to imply anything about personality
( commonality scale of CPI)
use a large number of items!
Why is it important to have lots of items on an objective test?
the principle of aggregation!
can improve the reliability of a test by simply making it longer
spearman brown formula
Validity of the test depends on ______
content
The rational method
basis is to come up with items that seem directly, obviously, and rationally related to what the test developer wishes to measure
may be based on pre-existing theory, or might reflect whatever questions the researcher find relevant
ex. WPDS
160 questions
these questions related to psychopathy for army recruits
According to the rational method, the validity of the measurement depends on (4)
- agreement on the meaning of the items Between the test-taker and the developer)
- the person who completes it must be able to make an accurate self-abasement
- the person must be willing to report the self-abasement accurately and without distortion
- all of the items on the test must be valid indicators of what the tester is trying to make
Factor analytic method
method of analyzing patterns of correlation in order to extract mathematically defined factors, which underlie and help make sense of those patterns
used not only for test construction but also to determine the # of fundamental traits
not much different form how people intuitively group things (i.e rides at Disneylands)
factor
property that makes items alike
Factor analysis steps
- after amassing a large number of items, collect data across a large sampling of people (sample should represent the group of people with whom you how to use the test)
- researcher statistically correlates the scores for each item with those for each of the other items (drop items that do not correlate highly)
- factor extraction: through statistical means, the researcher identifies mathematical factors which best account for the observed patterns of correlations. Each factor corresponds to a cluster of measures that correlate relatively strongly with one another and only weakly with items not in that cluster (0.3-0.4 or more)
- labelling the factors (its subjective, based on researchers conception of the combined meanings of the cluster of items that contribute most heavily to the factor being named. Each of these factor terms refers to a dimension of personality
limitations to the factor analytic method
it is a statistical tool (not a psychological one)
the quality of info you get from a factor analysis will be limited to the quality of the items you use (GIGO)
once a cluster of items is identified statistically, the psychologist must still decide how they are related conceptually
sometimes the factors tat emerge don’t make sense
limited:
by quality of items that you put in to it
subjectiveness
factors that emerge don’t always make much sense
the empirical method
based on the idea that certain kinds of people have distinctive ways of answering questions on personality inventories
- gather lots of items
- administer items to participants divided into groups you are interested in
- administer test to participants
- compare responses between the groups
ex. MMPI
items are selected solely on the basis of whether they are answered differently by different kinds of people, not content.
- can include items that seem contrary or even absurd
- responses are difficult to fake
- are only as good as the criteria by which they are developed, or against which they are cross-validated
empirical method: _______ tend to answer true to “I like tall women”
aggressive males
Accuracy of personality judgment
convergent validation
two primary converging criteria
- inter-judge agreement
- behvaioural prediction
convergent validation
the process of assembling diverse pieces of info that converge on a common conclusion
i.e. the duck test
inter-judge agreement
degree to which 2 or more people making the judgments about the same person provide the same description of that person’s personality
behavioural prediction
the degree to which a judgement or measure can predict the behaviour of the person in question
Moderator of accuracy
the good judge
the good target
the good trait
good info
Moderator of accuracy: the good judge
highly intelligent
conscientious
women are better judges in extraversion and positive emotionality
people high in communion
psychologically well adjusted
more optimistic = better judge
communion
style of trying to maintain interpersonal relationships
Moderator of accuracy: good target
judgeability
coherence and consistently in behaviour
extraversion and agreeableness
judgeability
the extent to which an individual’s personality can be judged accurately by others
Moderator of accuracy: the good trait
more easily observed traits are judged with higher levels of inter-judge agreement than are less visible traits
sociosexuality
willingness to engage in sexual relations within minimal acquaintanceship with, or commitment to and from, one’s partner
female judgements of ______ are especially accurate, but male judgments or _____ are even more accurate
males
males
Moderator of accuracy: good info
more info is usually better
especially for certain traits
BUT advantages of longer acquaintanceship does not hold under all circumstances (there is a boundary on the acquaintanceship effect)
connecting traits to behvaiour
single trait approach
many trait approach
esential trait approach
typological approach
Single trait approach
focused on the nature, origins, and consequences of single traits of special importance
conscientiouness
predicts better job performance, longevity, and health
high in this trait = do better in interview, get more promotions
also spend more time preparing
tendency to not procrastinate
these people tend to avoid risk and seek to protect themselves in case something happens
high in this trait
- lead longer lives
- engage in less risky behaviour
realistic accuracy model
target -> relevance -> availability -> detection -> utilization -> judge - (accuracy) -> target
accuracy is achieved when all four have been met
many trait approach
examine many traits at once
I data
ex. California Q -set
- consist of 100 phrases that each describe as aspect of personality that might be important
- raters sort the items into categories ranging from highly uncharacteristic (1) to highly characteristic (9)
- distribution is forced; usually is peaked or “normal”
- can provide I data or S data
Delay of gratification
marshmellow study
- denying oneself immediate pleasure for long-term gain
- personlaity correlates of a behaviour measure at age 4 could be detected through personality assessments 1 year earlier and 7 years later
correlations differ by sex
- ego control (impulse control)
- ego resiliency (psycho adjustment)
- men worse at delaying gratification than females
- girls and boys showed similar pattern
girls that were attentive, resourceful, intelligent delayed the most these traits were missing from the boys
the boys who delayed the most were shy, …
in only the girls had ego control and ego reliance
boys had…
drug abuse
adolescents who used illegal drugs by age 14 were described with the Q-sort nearly a decade earlier
regardless of immediate effects of the situation
the adolescents most likely to abuse drug had suffered psychological problems years before that
- restless and fidgety
- emotionally unstable
- disobediant
- nervous
- domineering
- immature
- aggressive
- teasing
- susceptible to stress
essential trait approach
identify the most important traits
essential trait approach: Block and Block (1980)
ego control and ego resilience
under control can get you into trouble but resilience can get you out
ego control
psychological tendency to inhibit the behavioural expression of motivation and emotional impulse
- over or under controlled
ego resilience
the ability to vary ones level of ego control in order to respond appropriately to opportunities and situational circumstances
Hans Eysenk
example of many trait approach
extraversion
neuroticism (unstable emotionality)
psychoticism (aggressiveness, creativity, impulsiveness)
most important traits should be heritable
should also be associated with particular aspects of physiology and brain functioning
Raymind Cattell
many trait approach example
16 traits: - socialble -unsocialble - intelligent - unintesligent - emotionally stable-unstable dom-sub cheerful - brooding conscientious - undependable bold - timid sensitive - insensitive suspicious - trusting imaginative - practical shrewed - naive guilt proclivity - guild rejection radicalism - conservatove self suffiency - group adherence self -discipline - uncontrolled will
tense - relaxed
the big 5
- based on the lexical hypothesis: the idea that, if people find something important, they develop a world for it
(many personality traits and synonymous terms in different languages)
neuroticism, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness
factors are orthogonal
- stability and plasticity
universality of the Big 5
may correspond to essential, universal questions people need to ask about a stranger they are about to meet
- Extraversion: are they dominant/active or passive/submissive
- openness: are they agreeable (warm and pleasant) or disagreeable (cold/distant)
- conscientious: can I count on them?
- neuroticism: are they crazy (unpredictable) or sane (stable)
- smart or dumb? (intelligence)
- personality questionnaires translated into various languages have yielded at least 4 of 5 factors (not openness)
- analysis of the chinese language yielded 5 factors: social orientation, competence, expressiveness, self control, optimism
- central attributes are similar to an important degree, yet are also different from one culture to another
funder’s third law: do the best with what you can
beyond the big 5
may be more to personality than just five traits
- 6th factor: honestly-humility
concerns about the degree to which broad traits at the level of the big five (or 6) are sufficient for conceptual understanding
humour and cunning are often left off
motivation
a drive is a set of psychological tension that feels good when it is reduced
- primary vs. secondary drives
implies that in the ideal state of existence all needs have to bee satisfied
there can be no _____ without _______ a drive
reinforcement
reducing
motivation: true reinforcement
the movement from a state of higher need to a state of lower need
approach - avoidance conflict
- an increase in drive strength will increase the tendency to approach or avoid a goal
- whenever there are competing responses, the stronger one will win out
- the tendency to approach a + goal increases the closer one is to the goal
- the tendency to avoid a negative goal also increases the closer one is to a goal
- tendency 4 is stronger than tendency 3
