Midterm I - Note Cards Flashcards
What is Personality?
Personality is the set of psychological traits and mechanisms within the individual that are organized and relatively enduring and that influence his or her interactions with, and adaptations to, the intrapsychic, physical, and social environments.
How is Personality a set of Psychological Traits?
Personality is a set of general characteristics or average tendencies (ex. funny empathetic, kind)
What are the utilities of the Psychological Traits of Personality?
- Describe ourselves and others
- Explain behaviours
- Predict future behaviours
How is personality a set of Psychological Mechanisms?
Personality acts as our information processing system.
Input > Decision Rules (IF, THEN) > Output
Example:
Extraversion
Input: Bus stop w/ people > IF: Group of people, THEN: Opportunity for socializing > Output: Initiate Conversations
How is personality organized and relatively enduring?
Traits and Mechanisms are organized in a logical and consistent way - Not a random collection of thoughts, feelings, and urges
Traits are relatively enduring over time (While states are expereinces which don’t last long)
How does personality influence one’s interactions with the intrapsychic, physical, and social environments?
Personality impacts how we think, feel, and act/interact
Personality influences:
- Perceptions or interpretations of the environment
- Selection of situations we enter (friendships, classes, hobbies, etc.)
- Evocation of feelings or responses in others
- Manipulations, or ways we intentionally impact environment (conscientiousness)
How does personality infleunce our adaptations to the intrapsychic, physical, and social environments?
Personality serves adaptive functions - accomplish goals, cope, adjust, respond to challenges
Behavior is goal directed, functional, and purposeful
How is personality related to our intrapsychic, physical, and social environments?
Understanding a person’s environment is also key for understanding personality
Personality interacts with out environments, which in turn interacts with us
Each environment contributes to our reality
What are the Three Levels of Personality?
In some ways, every human is….
Like all others (Human Nature)
Like some others (Group)
Like no others (Individual)
What is the purpose of a theory?
Organize research findings to tell a coherent story
Used to make predictions
Provides a guide for future research
What makes a good theory?
Comprehensive
Guides future research
Testable
Avoids assumptions
Compatible with other areas of knowledge
In Personality Research, where is there a gap in the research?
A gap between grand theories of personality (human nature level of analysis) and contemporary research in personality (individual and group differences level of analysis)
We are lacking a unifying theory of personality!
Which Domain of Knowledge deal with ways in which individuals differ from one another?
Dispositional Domain
What are the goals of the Dispositional Domain of Knowledge?
To identify and measure the most important ways in which individuals differ from one another
The origin of individual differences and how these develop and change over time
Which Domain of Knowledge assumes that humans are collections of biological system and these system provide building blocks for behaviors, thoughts, and emotions?
Biological Domain
Which Domain of Knowledge deals with mental mechanisms of personality?
Intrapsychic Domain
Which Domain of Knowledge is closely related to Freud’s theory of pscyhoanalysis?
Intrapsychic Domain
Which Domain of Knowledge focuses on cognition and subjective expereince, such as conscious thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and desires about oneself and others?
Cognitive-Experiential Domain
Which Domain of Knowledge assumes that personality affects, and is affected by, cultural and social contexts?
Social and Cultural Domain
Which Domain of Knowledge assumes that personality plays a key role in how we cope, adapt, and adjust to events in daily life, and that personality is linked with important health outcomes?
Adjustment Domain
What are four ways we can study personality?
Self-Report Data (S-Data)
Observer-Report Data (O-Data)
Test-Data (T-Data)
Life-Outcome Data (L-Data)
What is S-Data?
Self-Report Data
Person provides information about themselves through a survey, questionnaire or interview
Most commonly used in personality assessment
What is a 20 Statement Test and what type of data is it?
A form of self-report data where you fill out a statement about yourself (such as I am…) 20 times.
What are some Advantages to using S-Data?
Access to thoughts, feelings, intentions
Simple and easy
Definitional truth
What are some Disadvantages to using S-Data?
May not respond honestly
Lack accurate self-knowledge
Potential overuse
What is O-Data?
Observer-Report Data
Information provided by someone else about another person
What type of observers can be used for O-Data?
Professional personality assessors - trained in personality assessment and observation
People who know the target person - better position to observe targets natural behaviors
What are the Four Horsement that can be used to predict a relationship?
Stonewalling
Defensiveness
Criticism
Contempt:
(biggest predictor, means you’ve lost respect for them - mocking, making fun, mocking tone of voice, etc.)
What are advantages to using O-Data?
Multiple sources of information (inter-rater reliability)
Provide access to information not attainable through other sources
What are disadvantages to using O-Data?
Lack access to privat experiences
Bias
Error
What is T-Data?
Information provided by standardized tests or testing situations
Used to see if different people behave differently in identical situations
Situations are designed to elicit behaviors that serve as indicators of personality
How can T-Data use physiological data?
Using blood pressure, galvanic skin response, heart rate, brain functioning (fMRI, MRI, EEG, etc.)
What are some advantages and disadvantages to using physiological T-Data?
Adv: Appearance of objectivity (can’t fake it)
Dis: Artificial setting and conditions - accuracy of recording dependent on participant perceiving situation as experimenter intended
What are Projective Techniques for obtaining T-Data?
Person is presented with ambiguous stimuli and asked to describe what they see
Assumption that person projects personality onto ambiguous stimuli
Ex. Thematic Apperception Test and Rorshach Test (ink blots)
What are some advantages and disadvantages to using projective techniques to obtain T-Data?
Adv: May provide useful means for gathering information about wishes, desires, fantasies, that a person is not aware of and couldn’t report
Dis: Difficult to score, uncertain validity and reliability
What is L-Data?
Information that can be gleaned from events, activities, and outcomes in a person’s life that is available for public scrutiny
Ex. speeding tickets, medical files, tax returns, hospital records, facebook, social media, etc.
What does posting a lot of pictures on Facebook say about your personality?
High ratings in narcissistic traits
What is reliability?
Reliability refers to the consistency or stability of a measure.
What are the main types of reliability?
Test-Retest Reliability - Degree to which results are consistent over time
Inter-Rater Reliability - Degree to which multiple observers are being consistent in their observations and scoring
Internal Consistency Reliability - The degree to which all the items on a test measure the same construct
What is Validity?
Degree to which test measures what it claims to measure (accuracy)
What is Face Validity?
Whether or not it appears to be a good measure of the construct
What is predictive or criterion validity?
The extent to which the test can predict the construct it is measuring or an outcome
What is convergent validity?
Does the measure correlate with other measures of the same construct?
What is discriminant validity?
Does the test differ from other measures it should differ from?
What is construct validity?
Measures the theoretical construct - it is measuring what it is supposed to measure
What is Generalizability?
Degree to which a measure retains validity across different contexts, including different groups of people and different conditions
What is an Experimental Method?
A research design used to determine causality (whether one variable causes another)
What the key requirements for a design to be experimental?
Manipulation of one or more variables
Ensuring that participants in each experimental condition are equivalent to each other at start of study (random assignment)
What is a Correlational Study?
A design which identifies what goes with what in nature
Correlational method: statistical procedure for determining whether there is a relationship between two variables
What is a Case Study?
In depth examination of the life of one person involving interviews, observations, archival research, etc.
Advantages to a case study?
Personality in greater detail
Insights into personality to formulate a general theory to test on larger sample
In-depth knowledge about an outstanding figure
Words that describe traits or attributes of a person that are characteristic of a person and perhaps enduring over time
Trait-Descriptive Adjecives
What is a trait?
A consistent and stable characteristic
What does ‘Traits as Internal Causal Properties’ suggest about traits?
Traits are internal properties of a person which cause behavior
Internal - individuals carry their desires, needs, and wants from one situation to another
Causal - explain behavior of individuals who possess them
Traits as Internal Causal Properties believes that traits can lie ___________ even when behaviors are not expressed and they are ___________of behavior, ruling out other causes
Dormant
Causes
What does ‘Traits as Purely Descriptive Summaries’ suggest about traits?
Traits are just descriptive summaries of a person’s attributes, no assumptions about internality or causality
Traits are enduring aspects of a person’s behavior - behavior is not caused by traits but traits are a way to describe observable behavior
This allows for role of other causes
The most important traits are those that should guide:
Definition of individuals
Development of measures
Research to understand and predict behavior
What does the Lexical Hypothesis state?
All important individual differenes have been encoded within the natural language
What is the main assumption of the Lexical Approach?
All traits that are listed and defined in the dictionary form the basis of describing differences among people
Trait adjective terms are important for people in…
Communicating with others about others
Lexical Approach: Two Criteria for identifying important traits
Synonym Frequency - if an attribute has many trait adjectives to descrive it than it is a more important dimension of individual difference
Cross-Cultural Universaility - the more important an individual difference is the more languages that will have a term for it
Limitations to using the Lexica Approach?
Many traits are ambiguous, obscure, or difficult
Personality is conveyed through different parts of speech, not just adjectives
So many traits are defined as important in this method and no scientific method for narrowing it down
What does the Statistical Approach entail?
Startes with a pool of personality items (trait words, series of questions about behavior, experience, or emotion)
Consists of having a large number of people rate themselves then using a statistical procedure to identify groups or clusters of items
What is the main goal of the Statistical Approach?
To identify major dimensions of personality
What is Factor Analysis?
Most commonly used statistical procedure
Identifies groups of items that covary but tend not to covary with other groups of items
Provides a means for determining which personality variables have some common property
What is Factor Loading?
Index of how much a favctor explains a variable in factor analysis (-1 to 1)
What does the Theoretical Approach entail?
Starts with a theory, which determines which variables are important
Strength of the theory determine the strength of its ability to determine important traits
Eysenck’s Hierarchical Model of Personality is strongly rooted in ______
A model of personality based on traits believed to be highly _______ with a likely _____________ foundation
Biology
Heritable
Psychophysiological
What are the three main traits in Eysenck’s Hierarchical Personality Model?
Psychoticism
Extraversion - Introversion
Neuroticism - Emotional Stability
What are the four levels of Eysencks Hierarchical Model of Personality?
Level One - Super-Traits
Level Two - Narrow Traits
Level Three - Habitual Responses
Level Four - Specific Acts
If enough specific acts are repeated frequently they become habitual Responses
Extraversion Traits
Sociable, lively, active, assertive, sensation-seeking, carefree, dominant, sugent, venturesome
Habitural Responses: partying, popularity, practical jokes, high activity level
Neuroticism Traits
Anxious, depressed, guilt feelings, low self-esteem, tense, irrational, shy, moody, emotional
Habitual Responses: worrying, anxiety, depression, insomnia, over-reactivity
Psychoticism Traits
Aggressive, cold, egocentric, impersonal, impulsive, antisocial, unempathetic, creative, tough-minded
Habitual Responses: solitary, cruel, inhumane, insensitive to others pain, aggressive
What are the Biological Underpinnings for the basic dimensions of Eysenck’s Hierarchical Model of Personality
High Heritability
Identifiable Physiological Substrates
E - Brain arousal/reactivity (Extroverts have low levels of cortical arousal and Introverts have high levels)
N - changeability of ANS (fight or flight)
P - high testosterone, low levels of MAO
What did Cattell believe and what was his goal? (The 16 Personality Factor System)
Goal was to identify and measure the basic units of personality
Believed that the true factors of personality should be found across different types of data, such as self-reports and laboratory tests
What were some practical applications of Catell’s 16 Personality Factor System?
Used to develop personality assessment tool - 16-PF
Used to create personality models in business applications, clinical settings, counseling, and research for predicting human behavior
What are some major criticisms of Catell’s Taxonomy?
Some personality researchers have failed to replicated the 16 factors
Many argue that a smaller number of factors captures important ways in which individuals differ
Wiggins Cicumplex started with the ______ approach
Lexical
The Wiggins Cicumplex argues that trait items specify different kinds of ways in which individuals differ: _______, _______, _______, _______, _______, ______, ______
Interpersonal
Temperament
Character
Material
Attitude
Mental
Physical
Wiggins Circumplex was most concerned with _______
Interpersonal traits
Wiggins Cicumplex defined inerpersonal as ______________ between people involving __________
Interactions
Exchanges
Wiggins Circumplex: Interpersonal events may be defined as dyadic interactions that have relatively clear cut social (_____) and emotional (____) consequences for both participants
Status
Love
What are some advantages and disadvantages to Wiggins Circumplex?
Adv: provides an explicit definition of what constitutes interpersonal behavior and specified relationships between each trait and every other trait in the model
Dis: Interpersonal map is limited to two dimensions, other traits may have important interpersonal consequences
The Five-Factor model is originally based the combination of _______ and _______ approaches
Lexical
Statistical
Which is the most supported taxonomy of personality traits?
Five-Factor Model
What are the Big Five?
Openness
Conscientiousness
Extarversion
Agreeableness
Neuroticism
High and Low scores for Openness…
High: creative, artistic, curious, imaginative, nonconforming
Low: convetional, down-to-earth, uncreative
High and Low scores for Conscientiousness
High: organized, reliable, neat, ambitious
Low: Unreliable, lazy, careless, negligent, spontaneous
High and Low scores for Extraversion
High: talkative, optimistic, sociable, affectionate
Low: Reserved, comfortable being alone, stays in background
High and Low scores for Agreeablesness…
High: good-natured, trusting, helpful
Low: rude, uncooperative, irritable, aggressive, competitive
High and Low scores for Neuroticism…
High: worrying, insecure, anxious, temperamental
Low: calm, secure, relaxed, stable
Of the big five, what predicts higher educational attainment and earnings?
High: Openness, conscientiousness
Low: Neuroticism
Of the big five, what predicts Happiness?
High: extraversion
Low: Neuroticism
Of the big five, what predicts Forgiveness?
High: agreeabless
Low: Neuroticism
Of the big five, what predicts Risky sexual behaviors?
High: extraversion and neuroticism
Low: conscientiousness and agreeableness
Empirical Evidence for the five factor model…
Most support among the comprehensive taxonomies
Replicable in studies using english language trait words as items and using different item formats
Found by many researchers in different samples and languages
Replicated every decade over the past 50 years, suggesting replicable over time
What is Personality Development?
Continuities, consistencies, and stabilities over time
and
The ways in which people change over time (must be enduring and internal)
What is Rank Order Stability?
Maintenance of individual position within the group in spite of the developments of the group (where you stack relative to others)
If people maintain their position on a trait relative to others over time, that trait is said to have…
High Rank Order Stability
High Rank Order Instability happens when…
People change their rank order within the group over time for a certain trait
What is Mean Level Stability?
Average level of the trait in the population (high, low) remains stable over time
Constancy of level in a particular group
If a groups overall Extraversion level raises over time, this is an example of…
Mean Level Change/Instability
If everyones ranked order of a trait stays the same but overall the level for the group as a whole rises, this represents…
High rank order stability
Mean level instability/change
What is Personality Coherence?
Maintaining rank order for a trait relative to others but changing in the behavioral expressionor manifestation of the trait over time
The habitual acts may change but the trait is still the same
A child who bullies other kids when he is younger but grows up to be involved in heated political debate is representing…
Personality Coherence and Rank Order Stability
What is Population Level Analysis?
Changes or constancies that apply more or less to everyone
Ex. Freud’s theory of psychosexual development
What is Group-Level Analysis?
Changes or constancies that affect groups differently
Ex. Gender differences, cultural differences
What is Individual Difference Level of Analysis?
Changes or constancies that affect individuals differently
Can we make predictions about people based on personality traits?
What is Temperament?
Individual differences that emerge very early in life, are heritable, and involve behaviors that re linked with emotionality or arousability
Temperament Factors Include….
Activity Level
Smiling and Laughter
Fear
Distress to Limitations
Soothability
Duration of Orienting
Temperament is assessed by ….
Caregivers
Findings showed that children who scored _______ on any of the termperament factors at one point would score ________ at a later time period - this was more consistnt during later infancy (9-12 months) than earlier infancy (3-6 months)
High
High
What are the four findings of the Temperament Study on Personality Stability over time?
- Stable individual differenes emerge early in life and are noticeable by observers
- There is moderate stability over time in the first year for most temperament variables
- Stability of temperament tends to be higher for short intervals of time than long intervals of time
- Level of stability tends to increase with age
Measures taken early in life an predict personality later in life, the predictability ______ over time
Decreases
What is Dolce Vita?
By the time we reach age 50 we will either have solved all the rpoblems of our life or just won’t are - either way you’ll be happier
After age 50 we care less what people think of us, we don’t go out of our way to be social just for the sake of it, and less open to new eperiences
More set in our ways
Openness, extraversion, neuroticism ______ with age until 50
Agreeablenessa and Conscientiousness _____ with age until 50
Decline
Increase
What is self-esteem?
Relative distance between current self descriptions and ideal self descriptions
Changes seen in self-esteem from adolescence to adulthood…
No change at population level
Differences at group level: Females tends to decrease and males tends to increase
Patters in Sensation Seeking?
Increase with age from childhood to adolescence
Peaks in late adolescence, around ages 18-20
Falls more or less continously with age after the 20s
What are Cohort Effects?
Changes over time that are attributable to living in different time periods rather than to ‘true’ change
Ex. changes in social norms and gender roles affected woman’s scores in assertiveness throughout the 90’s
Increased self-control and delayed gratification predicted:
Higher SAT scores
Better able to cope with frustration and stress
Higher educational attainment
Lower BMI
Better life outcomes on other measures
Adult outcomes of children with temper tantrums…
Men, who as children, had frequent and severe temper trantrums achieved lower levels of education, lower occupational status at their first job, changed jobs frequently, and had erratic work patterns
What three aspects of personality strongly precit marital disstisfaction and divorce?
Husbands Neuroticism
Husbands Impulsivity
Wife’s Neuroticism
What are predictors of health and longevity?
High: conscientiousness, extraversion
Low: hostility, neuroticism
If you marry someone similar to you, do you tend to remain more stable over time than if you marry someone who is different than you?
People married to a spouse similar to themselves showed most personality stability
People married to a spouse least similar to themselves showed most personality change
Seleciton of spouse is potential source of personality stability and change
