Personality Flashcards
When different personality traits are combined in a five-factor model what can they predict?
Leadership effectiveness (.48 correlation)
Outline the person-situation debate
A change of situation or context may change someone’s personality (e.g. an extravert in a context where they need to be quiet), but the rank order of people on a trait will still be preserved - behaviour will still correlate at least .4 despite a change of situation (i.e. extraverts will still be louder compared to introverts)
What are the different types of personality tests?
Comprehensive vs. Specific; Normal vs. Abnormal; Descriptive/Atheoretical vs. Explanatory/Theoretical
What’s the difference between a Comprehensive vs. Specific personality test?
Comprehensive – covers all of the variants in individual differences between people (e.g. big five);
Specific – hones in on one specific trait (e.g. assignment 2 questionnaire)
What’s the difference between a Normal vs. Abnormal personality test?
Normal – targeted at the general population (e.g. driving speed questionnaire);
Abnormal – designed to diagnose psychological disorders (e.g. state-trait anxiety)
What’s the difference between a Descriptive/Atheoretical vs. Explanatory/Theoretical personality test?
Descriptive – makes no attempt to explain why, merely describes what people are like (e.g. MMPI);
Explanatory – gives theoretical explanations of why people differ the way they do
What are four methods that can be used to construct personality tests?
Content constructed; Factor analysis approaches; Criterion groups; Theory (about why people behave a certain way)
Describe the methods used for a content constructed personality test
Review literature for inspiration; interview experts and people with insight (e.g. checklist of psychiatric symptoms, common sense)
What type of approach is used for factor analyses?
A lexical approach
Describe the methods used in constructing a personality test using criterion groups
Compare a group of people known to have the trait with a control group; develop questionnaire to maximize discrimination between the groups
What is empirical criterion keying?
Another term for criterion groups method of development - a method of testing which emphasizes the selection of items that discriminate between normal individuals and members of different diagnostic groups
What approach did Cattell initially use to develop his 16 personality trait test, before reducing it through factor analysis?
He used a lexical approach - identified 18000 names in the English dictionary which could be described as personality traits, then narrowed them down, and got people to rate them
Describe the “big five” personality theory
It’s a five factor model of personality traits: Openness to experience; Conscientiousness; Extraversion; Agreeableness; and Neuroticism; Each factor can be subdivided into 6 facets (a 30 factor personality test)
The most well known version of the Big 5 has 240 items, takes 30-40 mins, and uses T scores. What is it called?
NEO-PI-R (Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness – Personality Inventory – Revised) by Costa and McCrae; has different self-report and observer rating versions
Describe the validity of the Big Five
The 5 factors correlate with many other personality factors and established personality tests, as well as social outcomes and behaviours; e.g. conscientiousness has been found to predict the GPA of uni students (beyond entrance exam mark)
Does the Big Five generalise across different languages and cultures?
Yes, it’s been found to be robust, and is described as “latitude and longitude” against which other personality traits should be mapped (as they describe all individual differences)
What is the “lexical hypothesis” in the context of personality tests?
The assumption that all individual differences are encoded in language
What are the criticisms of factor analytic approaches to personality?
They require the lexical hypothesis to be correct; they may produce descriptions of personality but have no explanatory power; almost total reliance on factor analysis; totally atheoretical (with no insight into what makes people have particular traits)
Describe Eysenck’s Personality Inventory
He produced a combination of a factor analytic approach and a detailed biologically-based theoretical model - he said we can look inside the brain to find out about personality
What were Eysenck’s proposed biological underpinnings in his model?
Extraversion - all differences can be explained by differences in cortical arousal;
Neuroticism – differences in activation thresholds in the limbic system;
Psychoticism - differences in antisocial tendencies (not the same as psychotic or experiencing psychosis)
What were Costa and McCrae’s criticisms of Eysenck’s model?
It’s not possible to propose a detailed biological model given the current knowledge in this field (we don’t know enough about brain functionality); there’s no proof that it’s better than the Big 5 in terms of psychometric properties (doesn’t add anything we don’t already know)
What did Gray argue about Eysenck’s model?
That he was trying to map on the biological explanations after doing the factor analysis, rather than the other way around (getting the data and then inventing stuff to be consistent with it); extraversion and neuroticism should be reinterpreted as anxiety and impulsivity to map onto the underlying mechanisms more accurately
Describe Gray’s Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory, based on his research with rats
He proposed there are 2 systems in the brain for regulating sensitivity to reward and punishment:
- Behaviour Inhibition System (BIS) – reactivity/sensitivity to punishment = anxiety
- Behaviour Activation System (BAS) reactivity/sensitivity to reward = impulsivity
List 3 criticisms of Gray’s Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory
It’s extremely difficult to demonstrate in humans; it’s based upon primitive learning systems which control only very basic processes in the brain; though theoretically argued to have revolutionized the approach to personality, in practical terms, the model’s incomplete (no agreed upon method for measuring it)
