Personality Lecture 1

Question 1

Define individual differences

Answer 1

the psychological differences between people and
their similarities

Question 2

Implicit personality theories

Answer 2

theories constructed by ourselves to understand behaviour: observations -> implicit theories -> behavioural prediction

Question 3

Problems with implicit personality theories

Answer 3

Evidence base, causal, non-random observation, confirmatory bias

Question 4

Lay definitions of personality

Answer 4

– Involve value judgements within a social
context
– Folklore, linking physical attributes to
personality (redheads are fiery)

Question 5

How does Maltby define personality?

Answer 5

…describes a psychological construct, that is, a
mental concept that influences behaviour via the mind-body interaction

Question 6

How does Allport define personality?

Answer 6

a dynamic organisation, inside the person, of psychophysical systems that create the person’s characteristic patterns of behaviour, thoughts and
feelings

Question 7

Allport’s diagram of personality?

Answer 7

Continual adjustment
I I
Mind and body interaction
I I
Stability
I I
Centrality of influence

Question 8

Why study personality?

Answer 8

1) Explain motivational basis of behaviour
2) Ascertain basic nature of human beings
3) Provide descriptions / categorisations of how
individuals behave
4) Measure personality
5) Understand personality development
6) Heritability vs environment
7) Understand mental illness & abnormal behaviour
– facilitate behaviour change

Question 9

Idiographic approach

Answer 9

– Focus on the individual
– Describe personality
variables within individual
– Each individual has a unique
personality structure (infinite)

Question 10

Nomothetic approach

Answer 10

– Focus on finite number of personality variables
– Occurring consistently across groups of variables
– Individual is located within this set of variables

Question 11

Research strategies of the approaches

Answer 11

Idiographic: emphasizes uniqueness of the individual
Nomothetic: Focuses on similarities between
groups. Unique combinations of traits

Question 12

Goals of the approaches

Answer 12

Idiographic: develop an in-depth understanding of the individual
Nomothetic: Identify basic “structure”. Minimum
number of traits to describe universal personality

Question 13

Research methods of the approaches

Answer 13

Idiographic: Qualitative. Use of case studies.
Some cross-study comparison possible
Nomothetic: Quantitative. Explore structure
Produce measures Examine r’ships between variables

Question 14

Data collection of the approaches

Answer 14

Idiographic: Diary studies, interviews, narratives, therapy session data
Nomothetic: self-report personality questionnaires

Question 15

Advantages of the approaches

Answer 15

Idiographic: depth of understanding
Nomothetic: General principles, predictive value

Question 16

Disadvantages of the approaches

Answer 16

Idiographic: difficulty in generalisation
Nomothetic: superficial understanding of individuals, detailed training needed

Question 17

What are the evaluation points?

Answer 17

1) Description
2) explanation
3) empirical validity
4) testable concepts
5) comprehensiveness
6) parsimony
7) heuristic value
8) applied value

Question 18

What does parsimony mean?

Answer 18

conceptual economy, simplest explanation is the preferred explanation, one that is briefer.

Question 19

What does Heuristic value mean?

Answer 19

stimulates research, encourage further thinking

Question 20

What does Testable concepts mean?

Answer 20

to allow reliable empirical investigation