Intro to TOP Flashcards
Widely believed to come from the Latin word,
“persona” referring to a theatrical mask worn by
Roman actors in Greek dramas to project a
role/false appearance
Personality
is a pattern of relatively permanent traits and
unique characteristics that give both consistency and
individuality to a person’s behavior
Personality
contribute to individual differences in behavior,
consistency of behavior over time, and stability of behavior
across situations
Traits
are unique qualities of an individual that
include such attributes as temperament, physique, and
intelligence
Characteristics
a set of related assumptions that allows scientists to use logical
deductive reasoning to formulate testable hypotheses
Theory
can never fill all the requirements of an adequate theory
Single assumption
can neither generate meaningful hypotheses nor
possess internal consistencyq
Isolated assumption
Is used by the researcher to formulate
hypotheses.
Logical deductive reasoning
A hypothesis must be this to be useful
Testable
Comes from the Greek terms “philo” meaning love and “sophia”
meaning wisdom (love of wisdom)
Philosophy
Pursues wisdom via thinking and reasoning
Philosophy
nature of knowledge
Epistemology
DOESN’T ENTIRELY CONCERN
ITSELF WITH VALUES/HOW TO
LIVE ONE’S LIFE, CONCERNED WITH
SCIENTIFIC/IMPERICAL
EVIDENCE, USES IF-THEN STATEMENTS
Theory
PRINCIPAL CORE IS
LEARNING VALUES, IS NOT CONCERNED WITH
EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE
Philosophy
refers to making guesses or
predictions about something without
having definite evidence or proof
Speculation
is the branch of study
concerned with observation and
classification of data and with the
verification of general laws through
the testing of hypotheses
Science
an educated guess or prediction
specific enough for its validity to be
tested through the use of the
scientific method
Hypothesis
a scientific investigator can derive
testable hypotheses from a useful
theory and then test
Testable hypothesis
a classification of things according to
their natural relationships.
* can evolve into theories when they begin
to generate testable hypotheses and to
explain research findings
Taxonomy
Primary function of scientific theory
is to describe and
explain how the world works
- focused on the importance of early
childhood experience and on relationships
with parents as guiding forces that shape
personality development - view sees the unconscious mind and
motives as more powerful than the
conscious one - share a concern with the dynamic forces
that determine our behavior
Psychodynamic theory
- primary assumption of this approach is that people strive toward meaning, growth, well-being, happiness, and psychological health.
- emphasize on the ability of humans to choose
for themselves and to lead their own lives - assume that not only are
we driven by a search for meaning, but also
that negative experiences are part of the
human condition and can foster psychological
growth - Both place high importance on the individual’s
experiences and subjective view
Humanistic-Existential Theories (Positive
Psychology)
- The only theory that does not explain
personality - argue that the unique and long-term
tendencies to behave in particular ways
are the essence of our personality - Traits serve the function of making
certain behaviors more likely in some
people
Dispositional theory
- Behavior, thought, feelings, and
personality are influenced by differences
in basic genetic, epigenetic, and
neurological systems between
individuals
Biological-Evolutionary Theories
- Focuses on observable evidences, and does
not study the unobservable concepts such
as drives, the unconscious mind, and
motives - All behaviors are learned through
association and/or its consequences
Learning-(Social) Cognitive Theories
argues that what
personality we have is shaped by how we
think and perceive the world
Cognitive perspective
studies both science and the
behavior of scientists
* investigates the impact of an
individual scientist’s
psychological processes and
personal characteristics on the
development of her or his
scientific theories and research
Psychology of science
leads to an indirect verification of the usefulness of the
theory
Hypothesis testing
is one that defines units in terms of observable events
or behaviors that can be measured
Operational definition
pertains to the era when and
where the theory was made
* the tendency to look at the world primarily from
the perspective of one’s own culture. (misogyny,
sexism, classism and elitism)
* Thinking that their perspective, belief, culture is
superior
Ethnocentrism
they believe that only their
theory was correct
Egocentrism
- extent to which the test generate consistent results
Reliability
degree to which the test measures what it is supposed to
measure
Validity
is the extent to which an instrument measures some
hypothetical construct
Construct validity
extent that scores on that instrument correlate highly
(converge) with scores on a variety of valid measures of that same construct
Convergent validity
- has low or insignificant correlations with other inventories
that do not measure that construct
Divergent validity
the extent that a test predicts some future behavior
Predictive validity
