Lecture 2 Flashcards
four ways people misunderstand personality
- confirmation bias (seek information consistent with out beliefs, ignore the inconsistent)
- limited information (base inferences on little information, people’s behavior vary a lot between contexts)
- overlook comparison group (we need control condition for our observations)
- the pleasant truth problem: we tend to believe an idea is true if the idea makes us feel good, if feel wrong it is wrong.
according to professor what part of science is missing in astrology or homeopathy
there is no correction. science should be self-correcting
theory about how something works - predictions based in theory - observations - testing & comparing the observations with the theory. Correct theory with new observations. THAT PART IS MISSING.
True or false: personality is set before we develop our attitudes, values, and beliefs.
true
True or false: personality can drive health outcomes like type A personality mystery, optimism, cancer
personality can’t cause cancer
Type A personality
- exaggerated sense of time urgency
- competitive and ambitious
- hostile and aggressive
whats the vicious cycle of hostility
- hostility undermines social support (people won’t be nice to you back)
- that provokes conflicts
- and then your whole environment is stressful
why is there no more research on type A personality with heart disease
Because hostility explains the whole thing. Hostility damages the heart by increasing cardiovascular reactivity
techniques to reduce hostility
- cognitive reappraisal training
- progressive muscle relaxation
- self-talk: repeating calming statements to yourself to prevent yourself from erupting
true or false: optimism is robustly associated with health
true. Better health, because when you are excited for a future you will take care of yourself: go run in the morning, eat well
true or flase: myers-briggs personality measure predicts outcomes or behaviors (health, social status, relationship quality)
false. that test was based on ungrounded theories, developed by non-scientists, marketed and sold for profit. doesn’t work
apply the 4 mistakes to the harry potter house test
- confirmation bias: categories are vague enough to apply to anyone
- limited information: people’s behaviour vary a lot depending on context, can’t put them just in one house
- base rates/lack of comparison group: ok Griffondors would lead to that outcome, but what about non-Griffondors, would they also lead to that outcome
- if we like that house, we’ll want to be in that house
true or false: big five personality index has scientific method and has strong reliability over time.
true
big five
OCEAN
- openness
- conscientiousness
- extraversion
- agreeableness
- neuroticism (experiencing irritability, anger, sadness, anxiety. worry, hostility, self-consciousness, and vulnerability)
nomethetic vs ideographic
nomethetic = between-persons
ideographic = within-persons (measure variables within a person over time)
which of the big five show the most pro-environmental behaviour
(the 3 first) openness, conscientiousness, extraversion
which of the big five traits were not linked to emissions reducing behaviours
agreeableness & neuroticism
theory of general intelligence
performance on a variety of tasks, people whos core highly on one type of item typically score highly on other items
theory of general intelligence: what is the positive manifold of g
the observation that if one scores well on one test, they are likely to score well on the other tests as well.
fluid intelligence vs crystallized intelligence
fluid intelligence: information processing (reasoning, analogies). independent of education.
crystallized intelligence: knowledge acquired through experience, culture-based.
examples of crystallized intelligence
vocabulary, general knowledge
Outcome of study on blook donation/self-interest
people underestimated how prosocial people were, aka people are not as selfish as expected
dictator game
a (the dictator) freely decides how much x of an endowment to give to B (the recipient)
ultimatum game
a (the proposer) decides how much x of an endowment to give to B (the responder). B has veto power to accept or reject a’s offer.
trust game
a (the trustor) decides how much x of an endowment to give to B (the trustee). b can return any amount to A
prisoner’s dilemma
a and b decide independtly whether to cooperate or defect.
public goods game
each number of a group decides how much of an individual endowment to contribute to a group account. contributions are multiplied by a constant and share equally across groups members
commons dilemma
each member of a group decides how much x to take from a common resource.
which economic game best represents taking out the trash in a shared flat
Public Goods Game.
Players: The flatmates.
Contributions: Represent the act of taking out the trash.
Common Pool: Represents the clean and pleasant living environment.
Outcome: If all players contribute (take out the trash regularly), everyone benefits from a clean flat.
True or false: personality is fairly stable over the lifespan and predicts important outcomes and behaviours like health, social status, relationship quality
True
