Measuring personality Flashcards
What are the four main sources of personality data?
Self-report (S-data), Observer-report (O-data), Test data (T-data), Life-outcome data (L-data)
What is S-data and what are its advantages?
Self-report data; individuals provide information about themselves. Advantages: access to private info (e.g., emotions, goals), cost-effective.
What are two forms of self-report measures?
Unstructured (open-ended) and structured (e.g., true-false, Likert scales)
What is the Twenty Statements Test (TST)?
An open-ended self-report test where participants complete 20 “I am ___” statements to describe their self-concept.
What is observer-report data (O-data)?
Data provided by observers such as friends, family, or professionals who describe the target’s personality.
What are the advantages of O-data?
Access to external impressions, multiple observers increase reliability, inter-rater reliability possible.
What’s the difference between naturalistic and artificial observation in O-data?
Naturalistic: observing behavior in real-life settings. Artificial: controlled lab settings to elicit specific behaviors.
What is T-data in personality psychology?
Test data obtained from standardized testing situations designed to elicit personality-relevant behavior.
Give an example of T-data.
Megargee’s study on dominance and leadership using controlled lab tasks with pairs of participants.
What are some limitations of T-data?
Participant misinterpretation, experimenter influence, artificial settings.
What is L-data?
Life-outcome data; public records like marriage, job success, criminal records that reflect personality traits.
How is L-data typically used?
To validate or predict real-life outcomes using S-data or O-data (e.g., temper tantrums in childhood predicting divorce).
What are the three basic research designs in personality psychology?
Experimental, Correlational, Case study
What are the key features of an experimental design?
Manipulation of variables, random assignment or counterbalancing, measurement of outcomes (DV)
What does a correlational study measure?
The relationship between two variables without manipulation (e.g., self-esteem and happiness)
What is a case study and when is it used?
In-depth study of one individual; used for rare cases, generating hypotheses, illustrating theories.
What are the three main criteria for evaluating personality measures?
Reliability, Validity, Generalizability
What is test-retest reliability?
The consistency of scores across time.
What is internal consistency reliability?
How well items within a test correlate with each other.
What is inter-rater reliability?
The level of agreement between different observers.
What is face validity?
Whether the test appears to measure what it is supposed to on the surface.
What is predictive (criterion) validity?
Whether a measure can predict future behavior (e.g., sensation-seeking → gambling).
What is convergent validity?
Whether a measure correlates with other measures of the same trait.
What is discriminant validity?
Whether a measure does not correlate with unrelated constructs.
