Lecture 2: Intro to Personality

Question 1

List the 3 levels of personality.

Answer 1

1. dispositional traits
2. characteristic adaptions
3. life narratives

Question 2

What are dispositional traits?

Answer 2

probabilistic descriptions of regularities in behaviour and experience

Question 3

How do dispositional traits arise?

Answer 3

In response to broad classes of stimuli.

Question 4

What is the ‘Lexical Hypothesis’?

Answer 4

That important traits are coded in language.

Allport and Odbert (1936)

Question 5

What did Cattell use (1943) to reduce A&Os list to 16 personality factors?

Answer 5

Factor analysis.

Developed by Spearman and Thurstone.

Question 6

What are 3 limitations of the 16PFs?

Answer 6

1. subjectivity
2. reliability
3. redundancy

Question 7

Name 3 measures of reliability.

Answer 7

1. test-retest reliability: temporal stability
2. split-half reliability: one half to other - internal consistency
3. Cronbach’s alpha: average of possible split-halves

Question 8

Name 3 sources of validity

Answer 8

1. face validity
2. content validity: relevant content sampled?
3. criterion validity: correlates with other measures?

Question 9

Breakdown criterion validity.

Answer 9

1. concurrent validity
   a. convergent
   b. divergent
2. predictive validity

Question 10

Which validity does the Big5 place an emphasis on and why?

Answer 10

Predictive. Other forms not always justified as empirically derived measure.

Question 11

List two limitations of traits.

Answer 11

1. generic

2. decontextualised

Question 12

What are characteristic adaptions?

Answer 12

Goals, interpretations and strategies in relation to life circumstances.

Question 13

What is a life narrative?

Answer 13

Internal story; individual constructs; provides unity and purpose

Question 14

What does a content analysis of narrative interview comprise of?

Answer 14

1. tone
2. theme
3. form

Question 15

What are the limitations of life narratives?

Answer 15

1. idiographic

2. no prediction