How personality can be measured

Question 1

Personality

Answer 1

1. Someone’s way of behaving, feeling and thinking, and relates to their view of their ‘self’
2. Personality is measured so that differences between us with regard to our personality can be studied

Question 2

Personality scales

Answer 2

1. It is hard to compare descriptions of personality, but we can compares scores (quantitative data)
2. Measuring personalities often includes scales that give characteristics and a number score
3. e.g. produce a score along a line from shy to outgoing
4. Scores from scales can be can be totalled to summarise personality and to give an overall score for a characteristics that has two extremes (e.g. introversion-extraversion)
5. Scales offer an objective way of measuring personality as those running the test do not interpret the results, reducing bias

Question 3

scales

Answer 3

1. classifying information using numbers that represent certain characteristics
2. participants are most likely given a likert-type scale

Question 4

Personality tests

Answer 4

1. Involve questions or statements, called ‘items’, which are answered using a standard scoring system to predict personality based on responses
2. Scales include dimensions which people judge themselves agains
3. Items of a personality test often focus on what are called the ‘Big Five’ dimensions

Question 5

likert-type scale

Answer 5

a scale where a person can rate their level of agreement to a statement

Question 6

items

Answer 6

statements or questions on a questionnaire, including those on a personality test

Question 7

dimensions

Answer 7

things that can be measures, such as ‘openness’ in personality

Question 8

Big Five Dimensions

Answer 8

1. openness
2. conscientiousness
3. extraversion
4. agreeableness
5. neuroticism

OCEAN

Question 9

conscientiousness

Answer 9

being organised, efficient, and careful through wanting to do things well

Question 10

neuroticism

Answer 10

tendency towards feeling depressed and having emotions such as angel and anxiety more than is average

Question 11

response bias in personality tests

Answer 11

1. someone carrying out a personality test might get used to answering in the same way through out the test
2. e.g. once they reply ‘agree’, they might keep on selecting agree to save them thinking or because they are unsure
3. To avoid this sort of response bias, some items in a personality test are reversed

Question 12

response bias

Answer 12

some way of answering questions or items in a misleading or set way

Question 13

Personality types

Answer 13

1. A theory of personality can be a type theory or a trait theory
2. personality types are limited to just some ‘types’ whereas traits cover wider aspects of behaviour

Question 14

Type theory

Answer 14

1. a theory suggesting a person’s personality can fit into a category or type, such as introvert or extravert
2. Is about giving someone a named characteristic

Question 15

Trait theory

Answer 15

1. a theory suggesting that personalities have characteristics that are on a continuum
2. looks at quality differences between peopl

Question 16

continuum

Answer 16

1. two characteristics that are opposite extremes with a line between them on which someone can ‘fit’
2. e.g. somewhere between introversion and extraversion

Question 17

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

Answer 17

1. Isabel Myers and Katharine Briggs (1956) based their test of personality type of Carl Jung’s idea that we experience the world in different ways
2. Jung suggested eight personality types made up from combinations of extraversion or introversion, sensing, intuition, thinking, and feeling
3. Myers and Briggs added judging and perceiving to this list
4. They wanted to enable people to discover their own way of dealign with the world
5. This was to help couples recognise their differences and work on them to smooth their path through the life

Question 18

Ways to experience the world according to Myer-Briggs

Answer 18

1. They turned the personality types from Jung into four overall ways that people experience the world
2. Extravert or Introvert
3. Sending or iNtuition
4. Thinking of Feeling
5. Judging or Perceiving

Question 19

Extravert

Answer 19

1. outgoing, confident, and good at mixing in social situations
2. opposite of introvert

Question 20

openness

Answer 20

1. one’s willingness to try new things as well as engage in imaginative and intellectual activities.
2. It includes the ability to “think outside of the box.”

Question 21

agreeableness

Answer 21

Agreeableness refers to how people tend to treat relationships with others.