measuring personality Flashcards
Why can’t we assume that scores on a self-report scale are reflective of an indivdual’s true score?
Scores on self-report scales are comprised of the following
true score
random errors
systematic errors (including straight lining, social desirability bias, faking)
What are the causes of systematic errors in self-report scales of personality?
straight lining - insufficient effort responding, including acquiescence bias
social desirability bias - people are generous with their personality and favour answers that compliments their personality
faking - intentionally lying/deceiving, often occurs at high stakes
Outline how the Mach V scale attempts to address bias.
Machiavellanism scales – high risk of bias due to deceptive nature of machiavellianism personality type
Each Q consists of 3 statements, ppt rate which one they identify with the most to the least: one Mach item, one non-Manch item and a buffer statement which has the highest social desirability rating
As most will choose the buffer, second highest option will be taken as most reflective of ppt’s views
Outline the potential solutions proposed to address the validity and reliability of self-report personality scales.
random error - increasing number of items measuring a construct
straight lining - remove mid point (if applicable), using reverse-scoring
faking - adding lie detector items (can lead to overestimation of bias)
Name the main alternatives to self-report measures of personality.
Behavioural measures
Implicit association tests
Other report
Projective tests
Why is measuring personality an important topic?
Want measurements must be as accurate as possible because:
Matters for scientific reasons – want to be confident in conclusions we make about personality
Ethical reasons – data can be used to inform future policy
Used to draw inferences between groups – we need to be sure measurements used are reliable and fair
Outline behavioual measures as an alternative for self report measures of personality.
Aims to measure spontaneous behaviours as they are more reflective of who we are.
Ppt engages with various tasks, measuring certain traits, and behaviour is taken as a reflection of a measure of that specific trait
Evaluate behavioural measures as an alternative for self report measures of personality.
low concurrent validity between the behavioural and self-report measures (not measuring the same thing)
further research needed through implicit association tests to see which are more accurate - concluded that certain measures are more appropriate for certain traits.
Describe an example of an implicit association test of personality.
Steffans and Schulze Kong (2006) used an IAT test to test the effectiveness of personality tests at accurately measuring personality types.
IAT is used to measure automatic associations to stimuli
Ppt were asked to categorise words into self vs others or conscientious vs conscientious in a series of congruent or incongruent trials
logic here is that people are fastes when ‘self’ words are paired with words that are most similar to them - rts calculated for congruent and incongruent trials
for each Big 5 trait - ppt reaction time on IAT, self report NEO score and behavioural measures - concluded that behavioural measures ans self report have low convergent validity and are measuring two different things/are better suited for some traits more than others.
Outline Funder’s evaluation of other report measures. Draw Funder’s Model.
As we are rating other people’s personality, we are limited by two things
1. the extent the individual’s behaviour reflects their true personality
2. whether the person sees target personality of the individual
Funder argues that this limits our ability to rely on rater’s interpretation of another’s individual’s behaiour.
Outline Vazire’s evaluation of other report measures.
Argues both self report and other methods can be valid predictors but the following factors influence our ability to assess someone else’s traits
Trait observability - highly observable traits are more easily assessed by others, for low observability traits you are better as you access to inner thoughts ans feelings (e.g neuroticism)
Trait evaluativeness - how much the trait is desirable/related to self-esteem
high evaluativeness - more accurate from others (but not if they know you too well/hold you dearly)
Outline projective tests as an alternative for self report measures of personality.
ppt presented with ambiguous or meaningless stimuli (e.g inkblock) and asked to describe what they see or tell a story about it
Suggested that responses are a ‘projection’ of personality
Responses are scored on content and focus
Evaluate projective tests as an alternative for self report measures of personality.
o Advantages of this method over self report – less dependent on self judgement/introspection = less prone to bias and faking
o Disadvantage – very subjective from experimenter/who is interpreting the test = unreliable scoring, assessing responses are not based on mainstream personality theories but rather older theories (e.g Freudian)
What is the Apperceptive Personality Test?
Combines aspects of projective tests and structured scoring system of self-report scales - make up a story about each picture and then complete a questionnaire about how the character appears e.g ‘rate how smart the character appears’
ratings/story - projection of own personality in their stories and interpretations
measures on PEN dimension (low convergent validity found)
