Exam 1 (CH.1, CH2)

Question 1

**Describe the three goals that distinguish the activities of personality psychologists from the layperson who is also interested in people?

Answer 1

1. Scientific Observation
   -Study Diverse groups of people
   - Ensure objectiveness
   - Specialized levels to study thinking
2. Systematic Theory
   - Systematic
   -Testable
   - Comprehensive
3. Applications from observations and theory to practice.

Question 2

What are Units of Analysis?

Answer 2

A concept that refers to the basic variables of a theory; different personality theories invoke different types of variables, or different basic units of analysis, in conceptualizing personality structure.

Question 3

What is a trait?

Answer 3

An enduring psychological characteristic of an individual; or a type of psychological construct (a “trait construct”) that refers to such characteristics.

Question 4

What is a type?

Answer 4

A cluster of many different personality traits that may constitute a qualitatively distinct category of a person (Personality type).

Question 5

What is structure?

Answer 5

In personality theory, the concept that refers to the more enduring and stable aspects of personality.

Question 6

What are two challenges that encompass growth and development psych?

Answer 6

1. Characterized patterns of development that are experienced by most. Individuals develop through emotional experiences and motives common to all.
2. Understanding development factors that contribute to individual differences. What factors cause someone to develope differently.

Question 7

What is the modern view of nature vs nurture?

Answer 7

They say that rather than one or the other it is both that effect the individual.

Question 8

**What are three ways in which parents influence their children’s behavior? Illustrate with an example.

Answer 8

1. Through their own behavior, parents present situations that elicit certain behaviors in children (e.g. frustration = aggression)
2. Parents serve as role models for the identification
3. Parents selectively reward behaviors.

Question 9

**Describe four of the seven conceptual issues in personality psychology?

Answer 9

1. Philosophical View of a person
2. Internal and external determinants of behavior
3. Consistency across situations over time
4. The unity of experience and action and the concept of self
5. Veryfiying states of awareness and the concept of the unconscious
6. The influence of the past, present, and future.
7. Can we have the science of personality what kind of science can it be

Question 10

**Why are operational definitions important?

Answer 10

1. Being able to replicate a study
2. For evaluating CONSTRUCT VALIDITY of the study.

Question 11

What is L-Data?

Answer 11

Information obtained from a person’s life history and life record.

Question 12

What is O-Data?

Answer 12

Information is provided by knowledgeable observers such as parents teachers or friends.

Question 13

What is T-Data?

Answer 13

Information obtained through experiment procedures that measure peoples performance on tasks.

Question 14

What is S-Data?

Answer 14

Information that participants report on themselves.

Question 15

What are the 5 contrasts of hard psychology and soft psychology?

Answer 15

1. H. Modeled after the natural sciences
   S. Modeled after the humanities.
   -
2. H. Nomothetic approach
   S. Idiographic approach
3. H. Reliance on experiments
   S. Reliance on descrptive studies

4.H. Molecular approach
S. Molar Approach

5. H. Objective
   S. Value Oriented.

Question 16

What are the three levels of personality description?

Answer 16

Level 1: Broad Compariive dimensions
“Psychology of the stanger”
Easily Gleaned and DECONTEXTUALIZED.

Level 2: Characteristic adaptions
More Nuanced
ways that a person adapts to developmental challenges, life goals, strivings
Contextualized (Goals, values etc.)

Level 3: Narrative Identity
Identity as life story/ unique to the individual.
persons internalized and unique life story
Centered around organizing themes.

Question 17

What are the four types of data that researchers collect and use?

Answer 17

LOTS
L-DATA
O-DATA
T-DATA
S-DATA

Question 18

What is personality psych?

Answer 18

An integrated network of psychological systems that contribute to an individuals enduring and distinctive patterns of experience and behavior.

Question 19

**Why is it not surprising that data from self-report questionnaires might disagree with scores obtained from laboratory procedures (T-data). Illustrate with an example?

Answer 19

Although EEG, fMRI, and DTI provide info about biological systems, it doesn’t give insight into psychological experience. It’s important that scientists use both. For example, fMRI gives images of the active areas of the brian but not the interconnection and personal experience.

Question 20

What does text suggest as the best alternative to questionnaire data? What is the problem with these alternative methods? Describe how the advantages and disadvantages of these alternatives overlap with the problem of objective knowledge and the problem of level of analysis in personality psychology?

Answer 20

The best alternative would be experiments, although questionnaires are good in terms of experience, they tend to be broad in judgment where as experiments are very specific in content.

Question 21

What are the advantages and disadvantages of experiments (related to two questions)

Answer 21

Pros
1. Can exercise a high degree of control
2. Can infer causality

Cons
1. Difficult to gather random sample
2. Experimental setting often seems artificial
3. Usually limited to short durations
4. Ethical constraints
5. Some variables can’t be manipulated
6. Can’t control variables.

Question 22

**Briefly compare the advantages and limitations of correlational with those of experiments?

Answer 22

The positives of correlation is that it has sample size, extreme reliability of indices of psychological constructs of what they’re meant to measure.

Limitations
1. Case studies difference, not rich in information just very superficial from the scores.
2. Can’t find causuaility
3. There may be biases from the individual taking the test from response styles (Saying yes or no a lot) or social desirability in answers.

Experiment pros and cons in different que.

Question 23

What is reliability?

Answer 23

The extent to which observations are stable, dependable, and can be replicated.

Question 24

What is validity?

Answer 24

The extent to which observations reflect the phenomena or constructs of interest to us (also “construct validity”).

Question 25

What are implicit measures?

Answer 25

Measurement processes in which participants are not aware of the purpose of a testing procedure or the meaning of their test responses from the perspective of the researcher. Cf. Explicit measures.

Question 26

What are explicit measures?

Answer 26

Measurement processes in which participants are aware of the purpose of a testing procedure and the likely meaning of their test responses from the perspective of the researcher. Cf. Implicit measures.

Question 27

What are etic research strategies?

Answer 27

Any research strategy that assumes (if only implicitly) that the nature of psychology constructs and the procedures through which they can be measured are unchanged from one culture to another.

Question 28

What are Emic research strategies?

Answer 28

Any research strategy that is sensitive to the possibility that psychological qualities may be unique to a given society or culture.

Question 29

What is a cross-sectional design?

Answer 29

A research design in which participants take part in the research on one occasion. Cf. longitudinal design.

Question 30

What is longitudinal design?

Answer 30

A research design in which the same set of participants takes part in the research on multiple occasions, which sometimes occur across extended periods of time. Cf. cross-sectional design.

Question 31

What are idiographic strategies?

Answer 31

Strategies of assessment and research in which the primary goal is to obtain a portrait of the potentially unique, idiosyncratic individual.

Question 32

What are nomothetic strategies?

Answer 32

Strategies of assessment and research in which the primary goal is to identify a common set of principles or laws that apply to all members of a population of persons.

Question 33

What is response style?

Answer 33

The tendency of some subjects to respond to test items in a consistent, patterned way that has to do with the form of the questions or answers rather than with their content.