Personality 2 Flashcards
What is a nomothetic approach?
Nomothetic: measure everyone on pre-selected list of characteristics that everyone possesses to one degree or another. You can use this to compare people directly on traits. (certain set of preset) (extraversion)
What is an idiographic approach?
Idiographic approach: Describe individual’s unique personality in depth. You can use this to focus on “Central Traits.”
What is a trait? What are the key assumptions of a nomothetic trait perspective on personality?
Trait: Stable personality dimension used to categorize people based on the degree to which they possess the trait in question.
Every person possesses certain traits, personality characteristics reflected in traits are stable over time, and stable across situations. ex, aggressive people are aggresive across the board
Briefly describe the development of a trait approach to personality. How did researchers identify traits that were later associated with the Big Five traits that capture personality? Make sure to describe the role of the lexical hypothesis and of factor analysis.
The Lexical Hypothesis, Factor analysis.
What is the Lexical Hypothesis
The Lexical Hypothesis: If something is important, people will invent a word for it (for example, personality traits.
Allport cataloged almost 18000 words to describe people, and reduced that number to about 4500 words/phrases. Cattell and colleagues ended up with 1500 words.
What is factor anylasis
Factor analysis allowed them to reduce this data to 3 general dimensions of personality. When giving these tests to people, they came across patterns of correlation, where they ended up with the Big 5. Personality traits are normally distributed
Briefly describe the development of a trait approach to personality. How did researchers identify traits that were later associated with the Big Five traits that capture personality?
Extraversion: Assertive, share opinions, sociable, optimistic, friendly.
Introversion: Reserved, quiet, less assertive and sociable
Provide a brief personality sketch of someone who scores high on agreeableness, and of someone who scores low.
High on agreeableness: Helpful, trusting, polite, compassionate.
Low of agreeableness: Insensitive, skeptical, aggressive
Provide a brief personality sketch of someone who scores high on the trait of conscientiousness, and of someone who scores very low. What behaviors or experiences does conscientiousness predict?
High on conscientiousness: Works hard, sets goals, uses time wisely, organized.
Low on conscientiousness: Undependable, careless, unorganized.
Predictive of academic and professional success
Provide a brief personality sketch of someone who scores high on the trait of neuroticism, and of someone who scores very low
High neuroticism: Frequent distress, mood swings, anxious, moody.
Low neuroticism: Relaxed, poised, emotionally steady
Provide a brief personality sketch of someone who scores high on the trait of openness, and of someone who scores very low.
High on openness: Imaginative, openness to new ideas, unconventional thinkers.
Low on openness: Conventional, less likely to take risks, less interested in aesthetics
In what sense do the Big Five traits qualify as “core traits” as described by Costa and McCrae (1992)?
They are stable, high interobserver agreement, can be applied for everyone, emerge consistently across studies and situations, found across different cultures, subcultures and demographics groups, and due in large part to genetics
How do Twin Studies help researchers determine the heritability of traits?
Twin studies show how much of the difference in a trait between people is caused by genes and how much is caused by the environment
How is an understanding of the normal curve and normal distribution related to interpreting scores on personality tests?
To determine how much of one trait a person possesses, which leads to information about their personality
