Cohrs

Question 1

What is the aim of Cohrs?

Answer 1

To examine associations between Big 5 Personality, Right Wing Authoritarianism, Social Dominance Orientation and generalised prejudice (using self-report data)

To see how self and peer ratings on Big 5, RWA and SDO matched up to one another

Question 2

What was the sample of Cohrs?

Answer 2

Opportunity sampling of friends and neighbours of authors/associates and their peers from Germany

Study 1: 193

Study 2: 424 (many from twin register)

Question 3

What was the procedure of Cohrs?

Answer 3

Completed self-report Qs on RWA, SDO, Big 5 personality traits and prejudice towards homosexuals, people with disabilities and ‘foreigners’ in Germany

Assessed on scales
Study 1: 1-7
Study 2: 1-5

Peers completed the same Qs about their assessment about the main participant

Compared self-report data to that completed by the peers about the main participant

Question 4

What are the results of Cohrs?

Answer 4

If an individual is less open to experience, they are more likely to be RWA and prejudiced

High levels of RWA = high levels of prejudice

High levels of SDO = high levels of prejudice

Question 5

What is a strength of participants receiving the same questionnaire in Cohrs?

Answer 5

Standardised so can be retested increasing reliability of the findings about personality’s effects on prejudice

Question 6

What is a weakness of Cohrs using rating scales in his questionnaire?

Answer 6

Prevents participants from explaining their answers so reduces validity of how well the results can represent the reasons for prejudice

Question 7

How did Cohrs test for the effects of social desirability on personality and prejudice self-reporting?

Answer 7

Gathered peer-report data to assess validity of self-report data

Question 8

What is a weakness of Cohrs using only one culture?

Answer 8

Population validity, ethnocentric as it is only conducted in Germany so results about prejudice may not be representative of how personality influences prejudice in other groups

Question 9

How does Cohrs reduce subjectivity?

Answer 9

Compares self-report and peer-report and found agreements between them

Question 10

Why can we not draw cause and effect from Cohrs’ results?

Answer 10

Purely correlational research, may be other factors which influence prejudice