Lecture 1 - Where to Start

Question 1

what are the 2 most popular personality tests

Answer 1

The Myers-Briggs Test

The Big Five Inventory

Question 2

why is the Myers-Briggs Test totally meaningless

Answer 2

Not reliable– get different results most times

no face validity

Question 3

why is the MB test so popular

Answer 3

categorical – people put into categories nicely

Positive– good results only

Question 4

how was the Big Five test created

Answer 4

through the lexical and factor analytic process

Question 5

explain the lexical and factor analytic process

Answer 5

18000 words in dictionary to describe people
then they were grouped into 4000 due to lots of synonyms
the narrowed down to 180 words by switching to factors analytical approach
then it was down to the last 5

Question 6

what are the big 5 taxonomy

Answer 6

Extraversion: 
Neuroticism:  
Openness to Experience:  
Agreeableness:
Conscientiousness:

Question 7

what is Extraversion

Answer 7

tendency to be outgoing, sociable, and assertive.

Question 8

what is Neuroticism

Answer 8

tendency to experience negative emotions.

Question 9

what is Openness to Experience

Answer 9

tendency to be receptive to new ideas, approaches and experiences.

Question 10

what is Agreeableness

Answer 10

Tendency to have concern for others, to have warm and trusting and sentiments.

Question 11

what is Conscientiousness

Answer 11

tendency toward organization, persistence and motivation in goal-directed behavior

Question 12

how to remember the big five traits?

Answer 12

OCEAN or CANOE

Question 13

can any of the big five be broken down into even more parts

Answer 13

only extroversion

Question 14

what parts is extroversion broken into

Answer 14

social vitality and social dominance

Question 15

what is social vitality

Answer 15

positive emotions and energy

Question 16

what is social dominance

Answer 16

confidence/assertive

Question 17

Openness to experience has a positive correlation to what

Answer 17

intelligence and education

Question 18

what is the opposite of oppenness to experience

Answer 18

conventional or down to earth

Question 19

why is agreeableness the most poorly named big five trait

Answer 19

has to do with how ‘human’ you are and not if you agree with everyone around you

Question 20

what big five trait has the least socially desirable name

Answer 20

neuroticism

Question 21

what is the formal definition of traits

Answer 21

Dimensions of individual differences in tendencies to show consistent patterns of thoughts, feelings, and actions.

dimensions not types
tendencies not dispositions
consistencies across situations over time

Question 22

who said “Like with all of the Big 5 traits we should think of E as a large factor in personality composed of many smaller facets. Extraversion is really a family of smaller related traits (such as sociability, assertiveness and excitement seeking), all sharing a resemblance to each other, but each carving out something of its own identity within the broad family constellation.”

Answer 22

Dan McAdams Description of the breadth of the big 5 Factors:

Question 23

what are most of the seinfeld characters most notable big five trait

Answer 23

highly neurotic and very low on agreeableness

Question 24

what are the features of the big five

Answer 24

Apply to all people
Bipolar
Comparative (normal distribution)
Generalized (de-contextualized, non-conditional)

DESIGNED TO BE INDEPENDENT OF EACHOTHER

Question 25

what are some caveats of the big five

Answer 25

Natural to begin by trying to pin down our profile.
There is more nuance to the Big Five than I have described.
There is more to personality than the Big 5.
Our Big 5 profile isn’t what is most unique (or important) about us.

Question 26

How can we (start to) describe an individual’s personality?

Answer 26

ANSWER: Learn to use the Big Five Trait System to organize your personality judgments