Individual differences Flashcards
3 assumptions of the individual differences approach
1.it focuses on how individuals differ in their behaviour and personal qualities.
2.people vary on a range of psychological attributes, it is possible to measure and study these differences.
3.individual differences are useful for explaining and predicting behaviour and performance.
differences between nomothetic and idiographic approches
nomothetic - establishing general rules about human behaviour, assuming people act the same in given situations.
idiographic - focusing on those who do not ‘fit the mould’, those who are atypical or unique, assuming people act differently in given situations
3 strengths of the ID approach
+ useful, understanding of all behaviours and develop treatment for disorders.
+holistic, takes into account many explanations of behaviour
+ favours case studies, results are rich in detail
2 weaknesses of the ID approach
- favour case studies, small sample so cant generalise
- ethical issues, cause labelling and discrimination
Freud, A-PR
A: to support ideas about the origins of phobias
M: longitudinal case study on Little Hans from 3-5 years.
Pr:Little Hans’ father observed his son and collected data and sent it too Freud.
Freud - results
1.at 3, Little hans showed interest in his own penis, evidence for the phallic stage.
2.at 3.5, little hans resented his sister, subconsciously wishing his mother would drop her in the bath to drown, evidence of the oedipus complex.
3.hans felt anxiety his mother would leave him, punishment for the oedipus complex.
4.hans had a fear of being bitten by a white horse with black blinkers and marks around the mouth, the horse represented his father + castration fear
5. hand had a dream of a plumber providing a larger penis, the oedipus complex - identification with father.
Freud - conclusion
- fear of horses represented his fear of his father finding about his unconscious desire for his mother.
- Little Hans provided evidence for the psychosexual development theory.
baren - cohen, A-Pr
A: to find out why adults with HFA have problems with social relationships and to develop an advanced test for theory of mind in adults.
M: quasi and IM
S: 16A, 13m 3f. sampled via volunteer sampling using an advert in the national autistic society magazine.
50N, 25m 25f, randomly selected from cambridge population.
10 T, 8m 2f sampled via the tertiary referral centre in London.
baron - cohen, control tests
basic emotions: 6 faces were shown, showing 6 basic emotions - shocked, fear, disgusted, happy, sad and angry
gender of eyes: eyes were shown and the pps had to say if they were a females or males eyes
baron - cohen, procedure
25 eyes shown, 15x10cm, black and white, shown for 3 seconds. pps were tested individually in a lab or at home. eyes had two words describing the emotion, a target and a foil. a panel of 8 adults agreed on the words
boron - cohen, concurrent validity
pps completed the strange stories task. to establish concurrent validity if pps did poorly on one they should do poorly on the second.
boren - cohen, results and conclusion
adults with autism are less likely to identify the target than the other two groups.
A: 16.3/25
N: 20.3/25
T: 20.4/25
C: adults with HFA have an impaired theory of mind
a new test for ToM has been developed for HFA adults.
traits of a psychopath
people who show moral insanity, lack social emotions, uncaring and violence
background behind hancock
language shows an individuals thoughts to another person
underlying cognitive and emotional processes can be revealed through patters of word choice
aim of hancock
to test how crime narratives differ between psychopaths and non-psychopath murderers. speech was analysed for indications of a predatory world view
method and sample of hancock
quasi experiement
psychopathy was measured using psychopathy checklist revised (PCL-R)
use of a semi-structured interview
52 male murderers - 14 psychopaths, 38 non psychopaths
type of murder ranged from 1st degree, 2nd degree and manslaughter
procedure of hancock
participants were asked if they were interested in partaking in research.
the PCL-R was used to assess pps against 20 traits.
assessements were carried out by prison psychologists and experienced coders
inter rater reliability check was conducted by graduate student
pps were briefed on the aims and procedure. interviews lasted 25 mins. there was a standardised procedure but with open questions. pps were interview by 2 psych graduates and 1 research assisstant
each interview was transcribed - verbatim - and analysed using Wmatrix and the dictionary of affect in language
results of hancock
no significant difference in the number of words produced by psychopaths. psychopaths produced more subordinating conjunctions than controls - linking to blame externalisation
psychopaths used more words relating to basic physiological needs - linking to an uncaring and selfish nature
controls used more language related to social needs - linking to psychopaths being more dettached
psychopaths used more concrete nouns - speaking about physical things more than emotional thoughts.
conclusions of hancock
psychopaths are more likely to describe cause and effects relationships - link to blame externalisation
psychopaths will frame their murder in the past so is more psychologically distant
what is the definition of psychometric testing
the practise of measuring human traits such as personality, attitudes and abilities e.g. IQ test
what is the sample of Yerkes
1,750,000 American soldiers during world war 1
how did yerkes test his sample
tested them 3 tests:
army alpha - written test with 8 sections such as fill in the missing number from the sequence
army beta - pictorial test for illiterate men or men who failed army alpha
individual exam - an individual spoken test for those who failed army beta
what did yerkes find
average mental age of white Americans was 13
black americans scored significantly worse than white americans - aligning with ‘fairness of skin’
nordic europeans had the highest mental age
europeans with darker skin scored lower
aim of gould
to reveal basic problems in attempts to measure intelligence
method and procedure of gould
m: a review article on goulds book, where he reviewed intelligence testing carried out by yerkes
pr; gould revisited the pr and results gathered by yerkes with a critical eye to consider extraneous factors which may have impacted the results
results of gould
gould found the content of the tests relied heavily on cultural knowledge and access to formal education - this is why certain races performed differently not because one race is more or less intelligent
gould found there was inconstancies in testing across the camps e.g. men who failed army alpha should have tried army beta, but this did not happen every time
underlying racism meant less black people were recalled for the army beta test than should have, making their results lower.
conclusion of gould
the internal bias and systematic prejudice of the materials and procedure invalidates the results and conclusions of Yerkes. this measure of intelligence is invalid.
