Research Methods Flashcards

1
Q

3 criteria of personality

A
  1. consistency/continuity, stability across time and/or situations
  2. causal force from within (internal causality)
  3. distinctiveness : summarize what an individual is like
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2
Q

main differences between social psych and personality psych

A

social: influence of situation. Person IN situation, regardless of individual characteristic

Personality: focus on individual, trait, characteristics. forget about social context.

  • not distinct, complement
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3
Q

goal of personality psych in terms of the 3 general criteria

A

show interaction between continuity of personality + internal causality. = can help predict person’s reaction to situation.

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4
Q

prof definition of personality

A
  • dynamic organization inside the person, of psychophysical systems that create the person’s characteristic patterns of behaviour, thoughts, and feelings
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5
Q

4 elements of personality

A
  1. organization
  2. processes and causal factors
  3. psychological and physical
  4. individualized patterns
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6
Q

how is personality organized?

A

patterns and hierarchies direct activity/behaviour

- “normal” personality is organized

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7
Q

how does personality have processes + causal forces

A

deterministic - personality is something + does something

not dormant, interacts to make you think, feel, behave.

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8
Q

how is personality psychological and physical

A
  • neither exclusively mental or neural.
  • brain + body relate to the mind.
  • neural processes may pre-dispose to extraversion/depression, but shaped by psychological situations
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9
Q

how is personality an individualized pattern

A

is consistent and recurring.

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10
Q

what are two key themes in personality psych?

A

individual differences

- interpersonal functioning

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11
Q

what are individual differences

A
  • no 2 are exactly alike
  • perspective on personality should address where the differences come from + why they are important
  • capture key differences in individual
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12
Q

why are individual differences important?

A
  • show needs and motivations.
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13
Q

what is intrapersonal functioning

A
  • deterministic tendencies or propensities (internal causes) that exist within the individual, which are elicited from situational factors (situation brings out the internal cause)
  • motive activated but situation needs to occur and have effect.
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14
Q

what is a theory?

A

summary statement; general principle, or set of principles about a class of events

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15
Q

2 purposes of theories?

A
  1. explain phenomena

2. predict new info

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16
Q

2 ways a theory is evaluated?

A

testing - should be testable: verifies, suggests changes

- should generate hypotheses: theory guides research

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17
Q

what is definition of theory?

A

predictions about specific events that are derived from one or more theories

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18
Q

theory - breadth of information behind

A
  • theory based on 1 source = weak, less credible, valid. more info the better
  • replication is key.
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19
Q

theory - parsimony

A
  • as few assumptios as possible

- keeps theory simple + organized

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20
Q

subjectivity of theories

A
  • good theories = strong feelings/opinions. however, it is subjective
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21
Q

what is the psychological triad?

- who named it that?

A

Funder,

  • thoughts, feelings + behaviour
  • important independently + as they combine/conflict
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22
Q

psych triad + personality

A

personality involved in psych triad when there are inconsistencies between 2+ areas.

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23
Q

relation between personality + clinical psychology

A
  • patterns of personality are extreme, unusual, cause problems the two fields come together.
  • understand the whole person
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24
Q

define personality

A

individual’s characteristic patterns of thought, emotion and behavior, together with the psychological mechanisms behind those patterns
- explain whole person

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25
Q

5 basic approaches to personality

A
  • trait approach
  • biological approach
  • psychoanalytic approach
  • phenomenological approach
  • learning and cognitive approach
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26
Q

the basic approaches compared

A
  • not competing, complementing + address different set of questions.
  • each approach handles diff things + ignores certain things
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27
Q

one big personality theroy?

A
  • accounts for certain things extremely well will probably not explain everything else so well
  • tries to explain everything? no best explanation for any one thing
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28
Q

what is Funder’s First Law

A
  • great strengths are usually great weaknesses, and surprisingly often, the opposite is true as well.
  • personality is coherent, each part stems from + depends on others. - narrow scope: manageable, but limited
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29
Q

examples of Funder’s first law

A
  • flaws of Presidents were the same attributes that allowed them to attain and effectively use power
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30
Q

Ted Talk: child strength + weaknesses

A
  • make talent your strength,
  • redirect and cultivate talent
  • harness power in weakness
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31
Q

what is pigeonholing?

A
  • emphasizing how individuals are different by categorizing/labelling people
  • sensitive to those that are really different
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32
Q

Funder’s second law

A

There are no perfect indicators of personality; there are only clues, and clues are always ambiguous

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33
Q

how is data just a clue about personality?

A

personality resides within each individual, inferences about personality must be based on indications that can be observed
- may be ambiguous, need a lot of data to get better understanding

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34
Q

What is Funder’s Third Law?

A
  • something beats nothing, two times out of three

- maintain skepticism, but some data is better than no data.

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35
Q

4 types of Data

A

S data
I data
L data
B data

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36
Q

what is S data?

A

self-report

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37
Q

What are advantages of S data?

A
  • large amount of info
  • access to thoughts, feelings, intentions (things private to you)
  • some S data true by definition
  • Causal force
  • simple + easy (cost-effective)
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38
Q

Disadvantages of S data

A
  • Can’t (out of memory, fish-and-water effect, distorted, lack o insight)/Won’t report (private)
  • too simple + too easy = over-used.
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39
Q

What is I data?

- key to it?

A

Informants’ reports

  • judgement by knowledgeable informants about general attributes
  • key: informant is well-acquainted.
  • judgements or subjective opinions.
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40
Q

advantages of I data

A
  • large amount of info
  • real-world basis
  • common sense
  • some I data are true by definition
  • causal force
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41
Q

disadvantages of I data

A
  • limited behavioural info
  • lack of access to private experience (little inner mental life)
  • error (can’t remember everything.
  • bias
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42
Q

L data: advantages

A
  • objective and verifiable
  • intrinsic importance
  • physiological relevance
43
Q

L data: disadvantages

A
  • multi-determination

- possible lack of psychological relevance

44
Q

what is L data?

A

life outcomes, degree of success in daily living

  • results/residue of personality
  • obtained from archival records or from q’s to participant
45
Q

what is B data?

A

behavioural observations

  • used to infer personality
  • testing situation + observed. natural or contrived context
46
Q

B data: advantages

A

wide range of contexts (real + contrived)

- appearance of objectivity

47
Q

B data: disadvantages

A

uncertain interpretation

48
Q

why is S data effective?

A

describe self largely matches the way they are described by others.
- face validity

49
Q

what is face validity?

A

directly + obviously related to the construct they are designed to measure

50
Q

Fish-and-water effect

A
  • fish probably don’t know they’re wet.

- ppl don’t see their action as remarkable because they’re so accustomed to them.

51
Q

Two types of context

A
  1. immediate: situation + context

2. New behaviour: judgments made easily and automatically

52
Q

what behaviours are most likely to stand out in I-data?

A

extreme, unusual, emotionally arousing.

53
Q

What is the causal force advantage of S-data?

A

what you think of yourself may influence what you do
- self-verification: make ppl look at you the way you look at you.
-

54
Q

why is there a large amount of info in I-data?

A

descriptions based on hundreds of behaviours in lots of situations
- more informants the better

55
Q

what’s important about I-data relating to the real world?

A

chance of being relevant to aspects that affect important life outcomes

56
Q

how does I-data rely on common sense?

A

judgment includes context in immediate situation + other past behaviours

57
Q

how may i-data be a piece of definitional truth?

A

some aspects reside in reaction from others, hard to assess yourself on them

58
Q

how does I-data show a causal force?

A
  • reflect your reputation which affects opportunities + expectancies
  • people become what others expect them to be = expectancy effects, behavioural confirmation, self-fulfilling prophecy
59
Q

How may I-data have limited behavioural information?

A

limited validity as a description of what you are like in general, diff person in each situation/context

60
Q

how may I-data be biased?

A
  • affected by whatever bias the informants have

- general bias is more common.

61
Q

L data: ex - Social media

A
  • facebook page + records of tweets is direct reflection of what he has done
62
Q

what is the objective + verifiable advantage of L-data

A

outcomes are specific and may even be expressed in exact, numeric form

63
Q

why is L-data intrinsically important (advantage)?

A

shows what the psychologist needs to know

64
Q

why is L-data advantaged by psychological relevance?

A
  • strongly affected by psychological variables

- if certain life outcomes dont happen, may be marker of psychopathology

65
Q

what is the multideterminism disadvantage of L data?

A
  • many causes, specific connections might be difficult to find.
  • too many life outcomes to examine them all
66
Q

why is there possibly a lack of psychological relevance to L data (disadvantage)

A
  • chances of prediction L-data from personality are limited
67
Q

examples of natural b-data

A
  • diary: direct indications of specific behaviour
  • experience sampling methods: moment by moment reports of thoughts/actions/ feelings
  • ambulatory assessments: audio recorder turns on throughout the day
  • reports of behaviour form participant/acquaintance
  • watch person in context
68
Q

examples of laboratory B-data

A
  • psych experiments:
  • certain Personality tests (ex: MMPI, not face value. TAT
  • physiological measures: biological “behaviour” of participant
69
Q

distinction between s-data and question-answer -data

A

s: wanna know answer to quesiton
b: wanna know how u answer question + later interpret that.

70
Q

B- data range of contexts advantage

A
  • provide important info about aspects of their personalities that are ordinarily hidden
71
Q

b data : appearance of objectivity advantage

A

info gathered directly + can increase precision.

- may be numerically expressed = high reliability

72
Q

B-data disadvantage of uncertain interpretation means?

A

numbers interpreted.
- appearances are often ambiguous + misleading
- what behaviour means depends on interpretation
= marshmallow test

73
Q

Marshmallow test as example of B-data

  • supposed to measure?
  • Funder furthers this study
A
  • supposed to measure delayed gratification
  • Funder: what if delay because they think that’s what they’re supposed to do - more obedient, loyal, cooperative when they wait. cooperating with research person.
74
Q

what is triangulation? why is it needed?

A

better to gather more than 1 type of info because all have disadvantages. Use a few kinds of data to find one conclusion. more data = more confidence in validity

75
Q

what is funder’s fourth law

A

there are only 2 kinds of data: terrible data and no data

76
Q

define reliability (in measurement)

A

tendency of an instrument to provide the same comparative info on repeated occasions.

77
Q

what is measurement error?

A

the variation of a number around its true mean due to uncontrolled, essentially random influences

78
Q

4 factors that undermine reliability

A
  1. low precision
  2. state of the participant
  3. state of the experimenter
  4. variation in the enviro
79
Q

how does low precision undermine reliability

A

if not taking care or precise measurement = may not be accurate

80
Q

how state of the participant undermine’s reliability

A

sick, sleepy etc. may have behaved differently.

81
Q

how does state of the experimenter undermine reliability?

A

if untrained, drunk, no sleep = effects the quality of how it is presented to the participant.
- ppl respond differently to race, gender, dress etc

82
Q

how does variation in environment undermine reliability

A

fire alarm, loud in hallways, other distractions.

- temp, weather, small effects that may be significant

83
Q

4 techniques to improve reliability

A
  1. take care with the procedure (careful, double check)
  2. use constant, scripted procedure/protocol for all participants (proper training for experimenter)
  3. measure something that is important to participant, rather than trivial
  4. aggregation: combine measurements by averaging
84
Q

what is validity

A

degree to which a measurement actually reflects what it is intended to measure

85
Q

reliability + validity

A

reliability (same score each time) is necessary but not sufficient for validity.

86
Q

define constructs

A

an idea about a psychological attribute that goes beyond what might be assessed through any particular method of assessment

87
Q

what is construct validation?

A

the strategy of establishing the validity of a measure by comparing it with a wide range of other measures

88
Q

define generalizability

A

the degree to which a measurement can be found under diverse circumstances (time, context, participant population)
- includes both reliability + validity

89
Q

How University studies affect generalizability

A
  • student samples
  • shows vs no-shows tell us about ppl who show, no info on no show.
  • cohort effects: limited to one place in time
  • ethnic and cultural diversity: limited subset
90
Q

what are WEIRD people

A
Western
Educated
Industrialized
Rich
Democratic
91
Q

how does burden of proof relate to generalizability

A

resisting making simple generalizations about other cultures, including differences, researchers should share the burden + explain why, when, how it’s not generalizable

92
Q

case study method

A

studying a particular phenomenon/individual in depth to understand the particular case + in hopes of discovering general lessons or scientific laws

93
Q

advantages of case study method

A
  1. describes the whole phenomenon
  2. well chosen study can be source of ideas
  3. sometimes, necessary
94
Q

disadvantage of case study method

A
  • not controlled.

- need further confirmation

95
Q

experimental design - define?

A

technique that establishes the causal relationship between X and Y, by randomly assigning participants to experimental groups characterized by differing levels of X and measuring the average behaviour (y) that results.

96
Q

what is key to the experimental method?

A

random assignment

- allows pre-existing conditions to cancel out.

97
Q

what is correlational method?

A

research technique that establishes the relationship (not necessarily causal) between 2 variables, traditionally denoted x+y, by measuring both variables in a sample of participants

98
Q

comparing experimental + correlational methods

A

both attempt to assess relationship between 2 variables.

  • experiment: casual variable manipulated,
  • correlation: just measured
99
Q

3 rules for causation

A
  1. covariance
  2. temporal precedence
  3. internal validity
100
Q

what is covariance?

A

the proposed causal variable must vary systematically with changes in the proposed outcome variable

101
Q

what is temporal precedence?

A

the proposed casual variable comes first in time, before the proposed outcome variable

102
Q

what is internal validity?

A

the ability to rule out alternative explanations for causal relationship between the two variables

103
Q

complications for the experimental method

A
  • third-variable problem
  • may create levels of variables that are unrealistic
  • correlations measure existing things.
104
Q

different goals of correlational vs experimental methods

A

experiments determine whether one variable can affect another, not how often/how much it does.