Introduction/Methods (chapters 1-2)

Question 1

What is the Psychology Triad

Answer 1

The idea that personality psychology addresses how people feel, think, and behave. These things sometimes are in conflict with each other

Question 2

What is Personality?

Answer 2

An individuals patterns of thought, emotion, and behaviour

Question 3

Its hard to study someones personality, what is a way personality psychologists do so?

Answer 3

The Basic Approach - limiting what you look at, search for more specific patterns and ignoring the bigger picture, since it will be overwhelming

Question 4

What is the largest and most dominant approach in studying personality psychology

Answer 4

The Trait Approach - focuses on the ways that people differ psychologically and how these differences might be conceptualized, measured, and followed over time

Question 5

What approach in studying psychology focuses on biological mechanisms and individual differences in the body?

Answer 5

The Biological Approach

Question 6

What approach (in studying personality psychology) focuses on investigating the unconscious mind and the nature and resolution of internal mental conflcit

Answer 6

Psychoanalytic approach

Question 7

What is the Phenomenological approach

Answer 7

Focuses on peoples Conscious experience of the world

Question 8

What is Humanistic Psychology

Answer 8

The approach to psychology that emphasizes aspects of psychology that are distinctly human (things that wouldnt be of concern to your dog)

Question 9

What is Classic Behaviourism

Answer 9

Classic behaviourism focuses on overt behaviour and the ways it can be affected by rewards and punishments

Question 10

What is the Social Learning Theory

Answer 10

The Social Learning theory draws inferences about the ways that mental processes such as observation and self-evaluation determine which behaviours are learned and how their performed

Question 11

What is “Funders first law”

Answer 11

The idea that great strengths are usually great weaknesses, and vice versa

Question 12

What is the main goal of personality psychology

Answer 12

To explain the whole person and how people function in daily life

Question 13

Whats the difference between Technical training and Scientific training

Answer 13

Technical training teaches how to use what is already known; scinetific training teaches how to explore the unknown

Question 14

At the end of scientific education, a future scientist must demonstrate what?

Answer 14

That they have discovered something new

Question 15

What did Henry Murray comment about personality

Answer 15

That in order to understand personality, first we have to look at it

Question 16

What is Funders Second Law

Answer 16

There are no perfect indicators of personality; there are only clues, and clues are always ambiguous (not clear)

Question 17

What is Funders Third Law

Answer 17

Something beats nothing, two times out of three
(clues about someones personality might be misleading, but its better than nothing)

Question 18

What does BLIS stand for

Answer 18

B data - Behavioural Observations
L data - Life Outcomes (how the person is faring in life)
I data - Informants reports (how the person is described by acquaintances and others)
S Data - Self reports

Question 19

What are some advantages about S-data?

Answer 19

• we can get a lot of information out of them (you know yourself the best)
• we have access to thoughts, feelings, and intentions
• some s-data is true by definition (eg.self esteem)
• casual force (the idea of self-efficacy)
• simple and easy

Question 20

What are some disadvantages about S-data?

Answer 20

Bias (you dont think your kind but you tell the reporter you are)
Error (you might see yourself as kind but you are not)
Too simple and to easy

Question 21

What are some advantages and disadvantages about I-data (informants reports)

Answer 21

advantages
- large amount of information
- real-world basis
- common sense and context
- some I-data are true by definition (eg.likeability)
- casual force

disadvantages
- limited behavioral information (a person eill act different in different environemnts and around different groups of people)

• lack of access to private experience (information is only from the outside)
• bias and error

Question 22

What are some advantages and disadvantages about L-data

Answer 22

Advantages
- objective and verifiable (things like income and marital status can be expressed in exact numeric form)
- intrinsic importance (natural)

Disadvantages
- multidetermination (L data can have many casues)

Question 23

What are some advantages and disadvantages about b-data

Answer 23

Advantages
- wide range of contexts
- appearance of objectivity

Disadvantages
- difficult and expensive
- uncertain interpretation

Question 24

What is the Expectancy Effect / Behavioural Confirmation

Answer 24

The tendancy for someone to become the kind of person others expect them to be

Question 25

What are some of the types of ways you can get b-data

Answer 25

Diary and experience-sampling methods (participants fill out daily diaries about their day)

Electronically activated recorder (EAR), at certain intervals, sample sounds are recorded

Small wearable cameras

Data from cell phones (phone calls, how long they are and what no)

Social media

Labratory B-data (expereiments done in a lab)

Question 26

What are Projective tests

Answer 26

A personality test that asks clients to interpret meaningless or abiguous stimulus

Question 27

What are two advantages of labratory b-data

Answer 27

1) Range of Contexts: the psychologist doesnt have to sit arounf waiting for something to happen, they can just make it happen

2) Appearance of Objectivity: the psychologist is gathering information about personality and does. not have to take anyone elses word for it

Question 28

What are two disadvantages of Labratory b-data

Answer 28

1) difficult and expensive
2) uncertain interpretation: b-data is usually numbers, and numbers dont interpret themselves

Question 29

What is a Projective Test?

Answer 29

A personality test that asks the client to interpret meaningless or amiguous stimulus