individual differences: personality Flashcards
what is pervin, cervone and johns definition of personality?
“Characteristics of the person that account for
consistent patterns of experience and action”
(Pervin, Cervone, & John, 2004)
what is hughes and bateys definition of personality?
“… a relatively stable and consistent set of
traits that interact with environmental factors
to produce emotional, cognitive and
behavioural responses” (Hughes & Batey, 2017)
what are the 4 key influences in the development of personality?
- Genetic Inheritance
- Family Experience
- Culture
- Life experience
The product of all of the above
what is the nature vs nurture debate?
Do genes (nature) or environmental factors (nurture) contribute more to a person’s being?
what is the Bouchards case that supports the nature debate?
Twin Studies - case study
Bouchard studied identical twins called oskar and jack and found although they had been separated at birth they were very similar personality and behavioural wise. (nature)
what is the case study in support of the nurture debate?
Isabel the chicken girl - case study
born and left in a chicken coop by her mother. she couldn’t speak, wasn’t toilet trained/ imitated the behaviour of the chickens (nurture)
Kamala and Amala - wolf children - caste study
girls who were raised by wolves behaved wolf like doing things like howling walking on all fours and ate directly from bowls with their mouths
what do interactionists believe about the nature vs nurture debate?
that both are needed in order for human developmet
what is a trait?
“A dimension upon which people differ psychologically.
Traits are stable over time” (Arnold et al., 2010, p. 715)
what is an example of a trait?
tendencies to be enthusiastic, demanding, easy-going,
nervous, likeable, competent etc
what is factors analysis?
Factors analysis is a statistical technique used to identify key
factors that underlie relationships between variables (Arnold
2010, p. 701)
what is the 5 factor model of personality?
based on factor analysis that was derived by groups of psychologists including Goldberg as well as Costa & McCrae, 1987 it presented 5 big personality traits common amongst people around the world
what is the big 5 personality traits?
Openness
Conscientiousness
Extraversion
Agreeableness
Neuroticism
what did Costa & McCrae define openness as?
Openness to Experience: like working with ideas and
possibilities, ready to re-examine attitudes and values
what did Costa & McCrae define Conscientiousness?
Conscientiousness: highly organised and thorough in
one’s approach to tasks, a desire to do things well
what did Costa & McCrae define Extraversion?
Extraversion: quantity and intensity of energy directed
outwards into the social world, outgoing, assertive
what did Costa & McCrae define Agreeableness?
Agreeableness: being helpful to others, mindful of
others’ feelings, preferring cooperation to competition,
kind, sympathetic
what did Costa & McCrae define Neuroticism?
Neuroticism: prone to worry and self-doubt, highly
affected by their emotions in stressful situations
what are adjectives of openness
Artistically sensitive, intellectual
interests, reflective, insightful, curious
what are adjectives of conscientiousness
Efficient, reliable, responsible, ethical,
organised, self-disciplined, scrupulous
what are adjectives of extraversion
Talkative, outgoing, candid, energetic,
adventurous, sociable, assertive
what are adjectives of agreeableness
Good-natured, forgiving, generous, noncritical, warm, cooperative, trusting
what are adjectives of neuroticism
Anxious, tense, hostile, excitable,
emotionally unstable, impulsive
what is Reliability?
consistent accurate measurement; few measurement errors
the extent to which a study can be repeated
what is Criterion-related validity?
the strength of relationship between a predictor
(e.g., personality/intelligence test, interview) and the criterion (e.g. effective
work behaviours)
what is Content validity?
covers representative behaviours/indicators of a construct
→ expert judgement needed
what is Construct validity?
Does an instrument measure what it intends to measure.
Expected relations to (theoretically) similar constructs/measures.
→ correlations & factor analyses (CFA, EFA)
Positive correlation
As one variable increases, the other variable also increases & vice versa
Negative correlation
As one variable increases, the other variable decreases & vice versa
according to the Meta-analytic evidence (Barrick & Mount, 1991; Barrick et al., 2001; Wilmot & Ones, 2021) how good is the big 5 at predicting job performance?
Conscientiousness – positively predicts job performance across a
range of jobs
Emotional stability (i.e., low Neuroticism) – positively associated
with job performance; law enforcement; military
Extraversion – positive relation in some jobs i.e., social jobs, such
as sales and management
Agreeableness – positively related to teamwork; healthcare
Openness – positively predicts training performance; professional
occupations
what is the johari window model?
a quandrant consisting of:
arena: a personality trait and is known to everyone
blindspot: your reputation part of your personality known by others but not yourself
facade: part of your personality known to yourself and not to others
unknown: part of your personality not known by anyone
