L3/CH4/CH5 Flashcards
Situationists
argue that behavior varies across situations and situational differences (not traits) determine behavior
3 assumptions made by trait psychologists
meaningful individual differences, consistency over time and across situations
2 changes made by trait psychologists
person-situation interaction and aggregation
Integration or interactionism
personality and situation (or environment) interact to produce behavior
3 types of situations
situational specificity, strong situations, weak situations
Situational specificity
certain situations can bring out behavior that is out of character for an individual
Strong situations
situations in which most people react in a similar way
Weak situations
weak or ambiguous situations wherein personality has the strongest influence
3 mechanisms of interactions (sequential)
selection, evocation, manipulation
Selection
tendency to choose situations in which one finds oneself as a function of personality
Traits associated with frequent use of social media
extraversion, neuroticism, agreeableness, conscientiousness
Evocation
certain personality traits may naturally evoke specific responses from others
Manipulation
various means by which people intentionally influence others’ behavior or alter environments
Selection in people high in dark tetrad traits
select loosely structured situations and people who admire them
2 responses evoked by people high in dark tetrad traits
viewed as brilliant and entertaining or selfish and egocentric
Manipulation in people high in dark tetrad traits
they manipulate the people who stick around
Person-environment fit
there are certain environments/situations that are more complementary to a person’s traits (i.e. the needs of a situation can be satisfied by certain traits or vice versa)
Benefit of a good person-environment fit
optimal functioning, performance, coping, health, happiness
Myers-Briggs type indicator
self-report assessment of personality designed to identify psychological preferences in how people perceive the world and make decisions
What is MBTI based on?
Carl Jung’s 8 psychological types (divided into perceiving and judging)
4 binaries in MBTI
extraverted/introverted, sensing/intuitive, thinking/feeling, judging/perceiving
What traits are each of intuitive, feeling, and judging correlated with?
openness, agreeableness, conscientiousness
Extraversion vs introversion
draws energy from others and likes activity; draws energy from own thoughts and is reserved
Sensing vs intuition
prefers getting information from senses; prefers information from a sixth sense and recognizing what else is possible
Thinking vs feeling
prefers logic, organization, and making decisions in an impersonal/objective way; prefers a person/value-oriented way of processing information, harmony, and forgiveness
Judging vs perceiving
prefers living a well-ordered and controlled life with rules and deadlines; prefers living spontaneously with flexibility and improvisation
Problems with MBTI
assumes categorical personality types rather than dimensional; low test-retest reliability; incomplete scale content; inability to predict managerial effectiveness; used due to popularity
Aggregation
process of averaging several single observations, which is a more reliable measure of a personality trait than a single observation
Traits according to aggregation
average level of experience or behavior across situations and over time, whether they are internal causal or descriptive summaries
2 common double standards about the impact of situations on behavior
fundamental attribution error and trait ascription bias
Fundamental attribution error
tendency to emphasize internal characteristics in explaining the behavior of other people but recognize situational factors in explaining our own behavior
Trait ascription bias
tendency to view ourselves as variable in terms of personality, behavior, and mood while viewing others as predictable across situations
2 main challenges in predicting single acts and behaviors
(1) causal density is high; (2) contextual factors are important and numerous
2 key qualities of a personality change
internal (rather than just acting differently due to a change in environment) and enduring
Personality development
the continuities, consistencies, and stabilities in people and the ways in which they change over time
3 forms of stability
rank order stability, mean level stability, personality coherence
Rank order
refers to one’s position within a group; assessed by looking at correlation between time points through test-retest
Rank order change
person’s trait changes relative to other individuals
Rank order stability
little or no change in rank-ordering or maintenance of individual position within a group
Mean level
average level of a trait in a population measured by looking at mean differences in longitudinal studies
Mean level change
average level of a trait changes over time
Mean level stability
no significant change in average level of a trait over time
Changes in sensation-seeking vs impulsivity over the lifespan
sensation-seeking peaks in late adolescence (16-20) then declines into adulthood, whereas impulsivity declines sharply early on then increases into early adolescence
Changes in self-esteem over the lifespan
significant decline during adolescence (especially for girls) and faster recovery for young men than young women
Psychological maturation
gradual increase in agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, and social dominance from young adulthood to middle age
Which of the big 5 traits decline over the lifespan?
openness and extraversion
Personality changes experienced by Phineas Gage
more impulsive, indulgent, disrespectful; expressed less restraint and forethought
Personality changes experienced by Kent Cochrane
less sociable and thrill-seeking but no change in agreeableness
Why is personality considered deep psychology?
large determined by biology; personality changes typically result from injury or disease that change brain structure and function
Personality coherence
predictable changes in manifestations or outcomes of a trait over time, even if underlying characteristics remain stable (i.e. rank order stability)
Method to actively become more extraverted
setting daily intentional goals (e.g. trying to have fun, make other laugh, etc.)
Method to actively become less anxious
mindfulness-based meditation training (also increased conscientiousness and cooperativeness)
Method to actively become more open-minded
intervention to increase cognitive ability in older adults, a single high dose of psilocybin (inducing mystical experiences)
Effect of using acid or mushrooms on antisocial tendencies
reduces likelihood of perpetrating physical violence against partner and improves emotion regulation
Density distribution of states
people high in a particular trait will have state distributions that are more dense with state manifestations of that trait
issues in personality tests
carelessness, faking, barnum statements
Method for detecting carelessness in trait questionnaires
infrequency scale (contains items that almost everyone answers in a particular way); duplicate questions spaced far apart
Barnum statements
generalities or statements that could apply to anyone
3 reasons why employers use personality assessment
personnel selection, integrity testing, concerns over negligent hiring
Legal issues of personality assessment in workplace
violation of right to privacy, discrimination, disparate impact, race or gender norming
Disparate impact
employment practice that disadvantages people from a protected group
Consequences of typological scoring in personality tests
assumes bimodal rather than normal distributions; unreliable due to cutoff scores; assumes between-category differences but not within-category
3 levels of analysis
population level, group differences within the population, and individual differences within groups
