methods and assessments

Question 1

what is the popular observational study mentioned in the lecture?

Answer 1

mary ainsworth’s strange situation

• observes child’s behavior with stranger and caregiver
• gives rise to attachment theories

Question 2

observing oneself is called ___________.

Answer 2

introspection

Question 3

Carl Jung’s 8 personality types (_ _ _ _) were conveived from his work with ____________.

Answer 3

MBTI; introspection

Question 4

are observations formal or informal sources of info?

Answer 4

informal

Question 5

what are the pros and cons of observational studies?

Answer 5

pros:
- easy to collect data
- useful info

cons:
- misinterpretation
- memories may be biased

Question 6

the common method for studying personology is _____________.

Answer 6

observational - case studies

Question 7

what is personology?

Answer 7

study of person as an entire coherent entity
- personal and social functioning, thoughts, feelings, reactions and actions

Question 8

case studies of personology involves __-_______ study of a ______ person, across _____ periods of _________. It is heavily _________ with. It’s depth provides __________ take on that person studied.

Answer 8

in-depth; single; long; observations; tempered; critical

Question 9

what are the pros and cons of case studies?

Answer 9

pros:
- in-depth knowledge
- info pertains to everyday life
- context insight (discovery and verification)

cons:
- high specificity, low generalisability

**elaboration on contextual insight as a pro for case studies:

Discovery: The case study provides clarity on how and why certain results or phenomena emerged. It helps in understanding the real-life conditions or events that led to the observed outcomes.

Verification: It also allows for the confirmation of findings within the same environment or situation. This means the results can be validated against the same contextual factors, enhancing their relevance and reliability.

Question 10

which research method provides real time answers? what are participants supposed to do?

Answer 10

experience/diary sampling

participants has to answer qns about mood states, behaviors and experiences multiple times a day

Question 11

what is one issue of the traditional diary sampling?

Answer 11

recall issues/biased memory of participants

Question 12

what does the beeper study find? which research method was used?

Answer 12

research method: experience sampling

finding of the beeper study is that high testosterone individuals characterised by:
- restless
- thinking
- action
- right now
- likely with friends

Question 13

pros and cons of experience sampling

Answer 13

pros:
- in-depth info
- across extended period of time
- avoids recall issues
- researchers can discern patterns from large amt of data

cons:
- labor intensive
- alot of time commitment
- data collection across few participants only

Question 14

generalisability is a forced trade-off with ______.

Answer 14

depth

Question 15

correlational studies establish meaningful _____ between 2 variables.

Answer 15

r/s

Question 16

direction and strength are key aspects of what kind of study?

Answer 16

correlational - establish r/s

direction - negative/positive

strength - magnitude

**r coefficient
r = +1: Perfect positive correlation
r = -1: Perfect negative correlation
r = 0: No correlation
0 < |r| < 1: The closer the value is to ±1, the stronger the correlation.

Question 17

what are the 2 defining characteristics of the expt method?

Answer 17

1. random assignment
2. manipulation of variable (IV)

Question 18

conceptual definition: how cool someone is

what could the operational definition be?

Answer 18

scores on an administered scale for coolness

Question 19

true or false.

both correlational and expt studies can occur naturally or in a controlled environment.

Answer 19

false.

correlational - natural

expt - controlled

Question 20

what is a multifactorial study?

Answer 20

study that incorporates elements of both correlational and experimental

Question 21

what are 3 methods of direct assessments in personality psychology?

Answer 21

1. objective tests (response clearly indicated and scored)
2. self-report measures (eg. likert scale. great validity - measures what it wants to measure)
3. informant measures (info/data from friend/family/anyone other than person being studied)

Question 22

what are the 3 cons of direct assessments in personality psychology?

Answer 22

1. social desirability - answer to appear socially acceptable
2. self-enhancement bias - overstate positive traits and downplay negatives
3. reference group effect - compare themselves to their reference group, skewing results

Question 23

what are 2 methods of indirect assessments in personality psychology?

Answer 23

Implicit Association Test (IAT)

projective tests

Question 24

During projective tests, participants describe ____________ stimuli based on their __________ needs, feelings and experiences.

Answer 24

ambiguous; unconscious

Question 25

what are the 2 cons of projective tests?

Answer 25

1. requires subjective interpretation by researcher
2. issue with developing reliable and valid scoring system

Question 26

what is the hypothesis for IAT, an indirect test on personality via sorting tasks?

Answer 26

people form automatic/implicit associations betweenc ertain concepts based on previous experience/behavior

Question 27

high reliability = greater _______ - lower _______ (error)

Answer 27

consistency; randomness

Question 28

what is reliability?

Answer 28

consistency/repeatibility of measurement

Question 29

internal vs test-retest reliability

Answer 29

Internal Reliability: Ensures all test items measure the same thing consistently.

Test-Retest Reliability: Checks if the test gives the same results when taken at different times.

Question 30

what are the types of validity?

Answer 30

1. construct validity - match btwn conceptual and operational definitions (other validities help establish this most impt one)
2. content validity - how well test covers all parts of construct it aims to measure
3. criterion validity - how measure correlates with gold standard
   a) concurrent validity - new measurement + gold standard administered concurrently
   b) predictive validity - how well test predicts future outcome
4. convergent validity - how closely a measure is related to toher measures that consider the same/similar constructs
   *discriminant validity - measure does not correlate to other assessments presumed to measure the construct
5. face validity - how much a test appears to measure what it’s supposed to measure, based on superficial impression

Question 31

what are the 2 types of criterion validity?

Answer 31

criterion validity - how measure correlates with gold standard

1) concurrent validity - new measurement + gold standard administered concurrently

2) predictive validity - how well test predicts future outcome

Question 32

reliability vs validity

Answer 32

Reliability: Consistency of the test results (results same everytime)

Validity: Accuracy of the test (measures what it wants to measure)

Question 33

definition of variable:

dimension along which ____ exists. In case of personality psychology, variable is the dimensionalong which people ______ in thinking, feeling and __________.

variable must have at least 2 ________, but can have an infinite number of _______.

Answer 33

variations; differ; behaving

values/variations; levels

Question 34

if variable is age, the levels could be?

if the levels are male/female, the variable could be?

Answer 34

18-20, 21-24, 25-30

gender