Brainscape's Knowledge GenomeTM

Browse over 1 million classes created by top students, professors, publishers, and experts.


See full index

PSYC 305 > Introductory Concepts, Research Methods, and Personality Assessment > Flashcards

Introductory Concepts, Research Methods, and Personality Assessment Flashcards

1
Q

What is personality?

A

Personality is a dynamic organization, inside the person, of psychophysical systems that create the person’s characteristic patterns of behaviour, thoughts, and feelings

  • Responsive to situations
  • Enable us to be adaptive and responsive to environmental demands
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

Psychological processes are intertwined with…

A

…our biological processes
* Tackles the nature/nurture debate

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

Why study personality?

3 distinct goals of personality psychologists:

A
  • 1: descriptive
  • 2: explanatory (how do we come to exhibit those patterns of behaviour)
  • 3: predictive (e.g., in clinical, forensic, military, corporate settings)
  • Emphasis on describing and explaining - once achieved, can look into predictive
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

What methods do psychologists use to study personality?

A

The scientific method

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

The scientific method

A

characterized by systematic and objective observation

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

Components of the scientific method

The scientific method

A
  1. Theory
  2. Hypothesis
  3. Operationalization
  4. Research
  5. Observation
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

Theory

The scientific method

A

a proposed explanation or interpretation of the relations among constructs

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

Construct

The scientific method

A

a conceptual or hypothetical variable that cannot be directly observed
* Personality - NOT A CONSTRUCT!

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

Operationalization

The scientific method

A

translation of a construct into a variable that can be observed and measured

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

Research methods include (3 TYPES):

A
  • Experimental
  • Correlational
  • Case studies
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

3 key components of Experimental studies:

Research methods

A
  • Causal inferences
  • Random assignment
  • Manipulation of an independent variable
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

Researcher in an experiment - 3 steps

Research methods

A
  1. Randomly assigns participants to groups that will receive different levels of the hypothesized “causal” or independent variable (to prevent systematic error)
  2. Administers a distinct treatment
  3. Measures the hypothesized “effect” or depended variable for each group
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

What to conduct when experiments aren’t ideal?

Research methods

A

Correlational studies: examine the extent to which 2 naturally-occurring variables covary

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

The degree to which variables covary is typically quantified by…

+ what are its small, moderate, and large correlations?

Research methods

A

the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient r

  • r = +/- 0.20 is a small correlation
  • r = +/- 0.40 is a moderate correlation
  • r = +/- 0.60 is a large correlation
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

Coefficient of determination:

Research methods

A
  • r^2 = coefficient of determination
  • Reflects the proportion of variance in one variable that is “accounted for” by a second variable - EX: self-esteem and depression, r = -0.35 (as self-esteem goes up, depression goes down, between small/moderate correlation)
  • r^2 = 0.12 = 0.12, 12% of variance in depression scores is accounted for by scores on self-esteem
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

Case studies

Research methods

A

…generate theory, illustrate theory, or examine rare phenomena through in-depth analysis of one person or a small group of people

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

READINGS

A
18
Q

Personality Psyc - when did it start? Why? What’s a potential issue?

A
  • Important to show that personality traits predict important life outcomes, such as health and longevity, marital success, and educational and occupational attainment.
  • But simply showing that personality traits are related to health, love, and attainment is not a stringent test of the utility of personality traits. These associations could be the result of “third” variables, such as socioeconomic status
19
Q

The person–situation debate

A
  • Often at the root of the perspective that personality traits do not predict outcomes well, if at all
20
Q

What was Mischel’s argument in the person-situation debate?

A
  • Specifically, **Mischel argued that personality traits had limited utility in predicting behavior **because their correlational upper limit appeared to be about .30
21
Q

What did the correlational upper limit of .30 become known as?

A

The “personality coefficient”

22
Q

Two conclusions made from Mischel’s arguments

A
  • First, personality traits have little predictive validity
  • Second, if personality traits do not predict much, then other factors, such as the situation, must be responsible for the vast amounts of variance that are left unaccounted for (shared variance)
23
Q

How have researchers addressed/solved the situational third-variable issue in personality psychology research?

A
  • Researchers have directly addressed the claim that situations have a stronger influence on behavior than they do on personality traits.
  • Social psychological research on the effects of situations typically involves experimental manipulation of the situation, and the results are analyzed to establish whether the situational manipulation has yielded a statistically significant difference in the outcome.
  • Regardless, when the effects of situations are converted into the same metric as that used in personality research, the effects of personality traits are generally as strong as the effects of situations
24
Q

General finding from paper:

A
  • Specific personality traits predict important life outcomes, such as mortality, divorce, and success in work.
  • Depending on the sample, trait, and outcome, people with specific personality characteristics are more likely to experience important life outcomes even after controlling for other factors.
25
Q

Limitations/considerations in research findings

A
  • Cognitive abilities
  • These are only modest predictors of occupational attainment when “all other factors are controlled,” but they play a much more important, indirect role through their effect on educational attainment.
26
Q

Difficulties/recommendations from the study:

A
  • Because most personality inventories include many items, researchers may be pressed either to eliminate them from their studies. One solution is to pay attention to previous research and focus on those traits that have been found to be related to the specific outcomes under study instead of using an omnibus personality inventory.
  • If researchers are truly interested in assessing personality traits, they should invest the time necessary for the task. This entails more in-depth assessments.
  • Finally, if one truly wants to assess personality traits well, then researchers should use multiple methods for this purpose and should not rely solely on self-reports
27
Q

Researchers need to turn their attention to several issues:

A
  • First, we need to know more about the processes through which personality traits shape individuals’ functioning over time.
  • Second, we need a greater understanding of the relationship between personality and the social environmental factors already known to affect health and development.
  • Third, we need to know much more about **the development of personality traits at all stages in the life course. **
  • Fourth, results raise fundamental questions about how personality should be addressed in prevention and intervention efforts.
28
Q

LECTURE 2

A
29
Q

What methods do psychologists use to study personality?

A

Meta-analytic studies: combine the results of multiple studies

30
Q

The researcher (3)

Meta-analytic studies

A
  1. Obtains all published studies on the phenomenon of interest
  2. Calculates an effect size for each study
  3. Averages the effect sizes across all studies
  4. Typically quantified by the Pearson product moment correlation coefficient (r) or Cohen’s d (d) (reviewed last class)
    * In contrast to r, d may exceed +/- 1.00
31
Q

How are personality variables measured? (3)

A
  • Observer ratings (e.g. interviews, behavioural observations, informant data)
  • Implicit assessments (e.g. Ink Blot Test)
  • Self-reports (e.g., the 20 Statements Test, True/False items, Adjective Checklists, Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale)
32
Q

In order to accurately assess a personality variable, the measure must be…

A

reliable and valid

33
Q

Internal consistency

3 forms of reliability

A
  • Relevant for multi-item measures
  • Reflects the degree to which the items in a measure produce similar responses
  • Involves calculating the average inter-item correlation (Cronbach’s Alpha, acceptable at .75)
34
Q

Inter-rater reliability

3 forms of reliability

A
  • Relevant for observer ratings with two or more observers
  • Reflects the degree to which the scores provided by different observers are consistent with one another
  • Involves calculating the correlation between the scores provided by different observers
35
Q

Test-retest

3 forms of reliability

A
  • Relevant for all types of measures
  • Reflects the degree to which participants scores on a measure at time 1 are consistent with their scores on the measure at time 2
  • Involves calculating the correlation between participants scores on successive test administrations
36
Q

4 forms of validity

A
  • Face: the degree to which a measure appears to tap the construct of interest
  • Predictive/criterion
  • Convergent
  • Discriminant
37
Q

Face validity

A

the degree to which a measure appears to tap the construct of interest

38
Q

Predictive/criterion validity

A

the degree to which a measure correlates with behaviours that are theoretically related to the construct of interest

EX: self-esteem measure should be correlate with: alcohol and drug use (lower levels of)

39
Q

Convergent validity

A

the degree to which a measure correlates with measures that assess conceptually-related constructs
* A self-esteem measure should be correlated with measures of: depression

40
Q

Discriminant validity

A

the degree to which a measure does not correlate with measures that assess conceptually unrelated constructs
* EX: A self-esteem measure should not be correlated with measures of agreeableness, need for cognition, and political attitudes

PSYC 305 (3 decks)

Brainscape helps you reach your goals faster, through stronger study habits.
© 2025 Bold Learning Solutions. Terms and Conditions