Introduction Flashcards
what is differential psychology?
the study of observable differences between individuals, in terms of their underlying psychological determinants
idiographic vs nomothetic
qualitative vs quantitative
what are the three pillars of differential psychology?
intelligence
personality
interests
intelligence
general ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, learn quickly and from experiences
personality
dynamic organisation within the individual of their psychophysical systems that determines their unique adjustment to the environment
interests
the extent to which individuals prefer certain choices, activities, or behaviours
what applications can differential psychology have?
- health behaviours
- clinical/abnormal behaviours
- educational
- occupational
- relationships (social and developmental)
what is social psychology?
the scientific study of the way people’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviours are influenced by the real or imagined presence of others
what does social influence consist of?
the effect that words/actions/presence of others has on our thoughts, feelings, attitudes, or behaviours
what level can social influence exist on?
smaller/dyadic level, e.g., how family/partner influences self view
what other disciplines is social psychology related to?
personality psychology
sociology
level of analysis for personality psychology
enduring characteristics that are consistent across situations
level of analysis for social psychology
studying mind/behaviour of individuals in their social context
level of analysis for sociology
how society is organised/the study of people living together
methods and analysis in social psychology
- focus on context
- experimental design
- manipulation of social situations
methods and analysis in differential psychology
- focus on person
- correlational design
- measurement of psychological properties
what is the replication crisis?
both social and differential psychology have issues with whether longstanding findings can be replicated
why are there issues with replication?
- lack of unified theory due to student and convenience samples
- small effect sizes
- study focus on variables over holistic person
lewin, 1936
behaviour = function of (person, environment)
funder, 2006
behaviour = function of (person, situation)
what was mischel’s (1968) argument?
argued a situationist critique of personality, as trait/personality had an effect size of r=0.3 and accounted for less than 10% of the variance in behaviour
ross (1977) and the fundamental attribution error
there is the tendency to overestimate the extent to which behaviour is due to internal, dispositional factors and underestimate the role of situational factors
what did the milgram experiments show?
people are significantly influenced by the power of social situation, to an unexpected degree
criticism of mischel’s situationist argument
behaviour is most likely a result of a combination of traits and characteristics that are present, rather than one specific trait
what did ahadi and diener (1989) find?
multiple traits are needed to understand behaviourfu
funder and ozer (1983) found that…
social psychology studies produce effects of similar magnitude to situational studies
- their influence cannot be distinguished based on effect size
conceptual complication
it is difficult to exclusively attribute causality to either the person or the situation
how did ross (1977) attempt to attribute cause?
individuals all behave in the same way -> caused by situation
individuals vary in behaviour -> caused by disposition
what is interactionism?
considering the person and situation together rather than separately
multiplicative effects
behaviour = personality + situation
interactive effects
behaviour = person x situation
statistical/mechanical interactionism
dynamic (ongoing) interactionism
what is an example of interactionism?
trait activation theory and situation-specificity
- traits are expressed in behaviour in reaction to trait-relevant situational cues
