Chapter 5 - The individual differences approach to personality

Question 1

Nomothetic approach

Answer 1

Builds testable theories that apply universally.

Question 2

Idiographic approach

Answer 2

Studies individuals in depth and one at a time without generalizing.

Question 3

Individual differences research

Answer 3

Identifies widely applicable dimensions of personality and other psychological abilities on which individuals’ scores can be placed and compared with population norms.

Question 4

Psychometrics

Answer 4

Measures individual differences using tests constructed to high standards of reliability and validity.

Question 5

Personality traits

Answer 5

Adjectives that describe enduring characterisics of people that are used as the building blocks of personality theories.

Question 6

Trait dimensions

Answer 6

Adjectival descriptors of people that are expressed as bipolar dimensions.

Question 7

Personality dimensions

Answer 7

Major bipolar features of personality that are widely applicable to people and form the structure of personality.

Question 8

Implicit personality theories

Answer 8

Lay theories about personality that people use to attribute motives and to describe themselves and others.

Question 9

Trait and state

Answer 9

Differentiates personality traits that persist over time from mood states that are transient and more dependent on situations.

Question 10

Trait clusters

Answer 10

Personality traits in individuals that have been found commonly to group together.

Question 11

Higher order traits

Answer 11

Personality traits that encompass clusters of surface traits.

Question 12

Surface Traits

Answer 12

Ordinary language descriptors of personality that encompass what people do and express.

Question 13

Trait theories of personality

Answer 13

Propose a hierarchical structure for personality built from traits and clusters of traits.

Question 14

Lexical hypothesis

Answer 14

Personality descriptors in ordinary language relate in a meaningful way to personality as encountered in everyday life.

Question 15

Factors

Answer 15

Technical term for empirically established personality dimensions.

Question 16

Factor analysis

Answer 16

Statistical technique for establishing personality dimensions.

Question 17

Hypothetical constructs

Answer 17

Psychological constructions used in theory building and hypothesis testing.

Question 18

Inductive approach

Answer 18

Focuses on the collection of data unconstrained by theory allowing patterns, relationships and eventually theories to emerge.

Question 19

Personality profile

Answer 19

Visual or numerical representation of an individual’s positions on a set of personality dimensions.

Question 20

Inductive-hypothetico- deductive spiral

Answer 20

Cyclic process whereby theories that emerge from data are used to generate testable hypotheses and then new data that are fed back into the cycle.

Question 21

Psychometric tests

Answer 21

Psychological tests that are based on rigorous psychometric properties and related to population norms.

Question 22

Test reliability

Answer 22

The extent to which a test gives the same result for an individual over time and situation.

Question 23

Test validity

Answer 23

The extent to which a test measures what it purports to measure.

Question 24

Test–retest reliability

Answer 24

The extent to which a test gives the same score for an individual on two occasions.

Question 25

Face validity

Answer 25

When test items can be seen to make sense and relate to the construct being measured.

Question 26

Construct validity

Answer 26

The extent to which a test measures the construct it claims to measure.

Question 27

Convergent validity

Answer 27

The extent to which two independent tests give the same scores for the same construct.

Question 28

Criterion validity

Answer 28

The extent to which the scores on a test equate with scores on an established test or predict an external criterion such as behaviour.

Question 29

Etic approach

Answer 29

Imports concepts, theories, meanings and tests from one culture to collect data and test hypotheses in another.

Question 30

Emic approach

Answer 30

Is based on concepts, theories, meaning and tests that originate from within the culture in which the research is conducted.

Question 31

Correlation coefficient

Answer 31

A statistical index of the strength and direction of the relationship
between variables.

Question 32

Primary factors

Answer 32

The first and largest set of factors or dimensions that emerge in factor analysis and can themselves sometimes be simplified further.

Question 33

Secondary factors

Answer 33

Dimensions or factors found in factor analysis by looking for relationships between primary factors.

Question 34

Conceptual nervous system

Answer 34

A simple, hypothetical model of an aspect of the nervous system used to explore relationships between brain, behaviour and personality.

Question 35

Type theory

Answer 35

Suggests personality

is based in biology which is treated as the determinant of type which in turn leads to traits.

Question 36

Ascending reticulocortical activating system (ARAS)

Answer 36

A part of the brain that controls cortical arousal.

Question 37

Limbic system

Answer 37

Part of the brain that organizes emotional responses.

Question 38

Longitudinal studies

Answer 38

Research designs that monitor psychological variables over long periods of time to chart development and change.

Question 39

Heritability

Answer 39

The proportion of variability in a trait or psychological measure within a population that can be accounted for by genetic inheritance.

Question 40

Monozygotic twins

Answer 40

Twins who develop from a single fertilized ovum that has divided and who therefore have identical genes.

Question 41

Dizygotic twins

Answer 41

Twins who develop from two fertilized ova and who therefore have different genes.

Question 42

Twin studies

Answer 42

Studies on heritability that often use comparisons between monozygotic and dizygotic twins because their genetic relatedness is known.

Question 43

Family studies

Answer 43

Studies on heritability that use comparisons between family members because their genetic relatedness is known.

Question 44

Adoption studies

Answer 44

Studies on heritability that use comparisons between adopted children and other family members whose genetic relatedness is known.

Question 45

Behaviour genetics

Answer 45

Large-scale, mathematically modelled studies of relationships between genetics and behaviour.

Question 46

Non-standard environments

Answer 46

Environments of siblings growing up in the same household which vary
in subtle ways and are experienced as different.

Question 47

Social learning

Answer 47

Takes place in social contexts that provide reward contingencies and models for information.

Question 48

Tuning

Answer 48

Maternal responses to an infant’s mood that provide an experience that the infant can use to self-regulate its mood.

Question 49

Situationism

Answer 49

The idea that personality is not consistent but that behaviour is under the control of environments and situations.

Question 50

Social norms

Answer 50

Expectations and prescriptions in the social and cultural context that influence behaviours and values.

Question 51

Modular personality

Answer 51

The idea that personality is not unitary, coherent and consistent but has different facets that are mobilized in different situations.

Question 52

Identification

Answer 52

Hypothetical process by which individuals experience some temporary merging with another or ‘becoming’ an aspect of another person.