Task 1

Question 1

Self-report questionnaires (Advantages)

Answer 1

 No one else has access to more information than we have about our-selves and this information is rich in motivational and other introspective details
 Participants might be more motivated to talk about themselves rather than about another person
 Can control most response biases
 Inexpensive and quick way to gather a lot of data

Question 2

Self-report questionnaires (disadvantages)

Answer 2

 Wording can influence the accuracy of the given answers
 Leaves room for biases (a systematic tendency to response to a range of questionnaires items on some basis other than the specific item content)
 Social desirability bias: Some people might try to place them in better light
• This can be reduced by giving a question e.g. sometimes I get angry. When the person answers never he might lie
 Acquiescent Responding: in which individuals agree with the responses without considering what the question is asking
• Can be reduced by balancing the scoring key of the questionnaire when construction the measurement
 Extreme responding: giving extreme ratings on scales
 People are predisposed toward self-enhancement (they try to maintain positivity about them-selves at the expense of being unrealistic)
 People might not know enough about them-selves to answer the question properly
 Making proper questionnaires takes a lot of time because a certain validity has to be guaranteed as well as cultural response differences have to be covered

Question 3

Informant reports (advantages)

Answer 3

 Peers who observed a person over a long time in everyday life can judge the personality quite good
 Is more objective than self-report data
 More based on currently observable reality
 Informants are likely to have observed the target in many situations so they have a broader picture
 Potential to be inexpensive (internet)
 Multiple raters can lead to higher reliability
 Principle of aggregation: Due to receiving several information from different people the reliability increases
• Also implies that more than one method should be used in order to obtain a more accurate result

Question 4

Informant report (disadvantage)

Answer 4

 Expensive to do
 Informants might be uncooperative and dishonest
 Personality is in the eye of the beholder
 Might be to positive about the target because they are friends or a family member
 Acquisition responding
 Extreme responding
 Fundamental attribution error: Explaining others behaviour with internal characteristics rather than situational factors
 Peers might not be able to predict how others would behave in more specific situations

Question 5

Behavioral measures (advantage)

Answer 5

 Artificial and natural setting are possible (can lack of external validity)
• You can trigger a certain behaviour an artificial setting
 Can get situation specific information

Question 6

Behavioural measures (Disadvantage)

Answer 6

 Ethical problems in observations, hard to develop coding schemes, time and money is needed to carry out proper observations
 Social desirability: because they are watched
• EIR: recorder which is activated without noticing the participant so he doesn’t feels watched
 The link between a behaviour and a specific personality characteristic might not be direct

Question 7

Life outcome data

Answer 7

obtain records of the persons life which seems likely to be relevant to an individuals personality (e.g. using cell phone bill as measurement for sociability)

Question 8

Life outcome data (advantages)

Answer 8

 Often report important outcomes in a person’s life
 Objective indicators of behaviour
 Demonstrates behaviour that occurs multiple times (higher validity)

Question 9

Life out come data (disadvantages)

Answer 9

 Not always accurate enough, could be elicited by a different trait, event
 Might be influenced by stereotypes (e.g. if the bedroom is from am men or women)

Question 10

Multiple Method Approach

Answer 10

o Helps to increase construct validity
o Gives the possibility for researcher to address new questions which would be not possible with only one methods
o Is not really fast data but the quality is much higher
o Principle of aggregation

Question 11

Self-knowledge

Answer 11

accurate self-perceptions about how one typically thinks, feels, and behaves, and awareness of how those patterns are interpreted by others
o Biases: overestimating abilities and present them-selves more favourable than they rate others
 Seem to be automatic and effortless
o Self-perceptions are moderately reacted to how a person will act in a laboratory setting
o Correlation between self-knowledge and personality ratings: Is between 0,4 and 0,6
o Measurements for accuracy:
 Comparing to behavioural methods
 Comparing to informant methods
 Comparing their self-perceived reputation to the real one

Question 12

Meta perception

Answer 12

You know how others see you (general)

Question 13

Interior residue

Answer 13

Things in you room that you only use in your room (e.g. pens on the table)

Question 14

Exterior residue

Answer 14

Thing that are in your room, but you generally use outside your room (e.g. Surfboard)

Question 15

Self-directed identity claim

Answer 15

a thing you have because you like it (e.g. a plant)

Question 16

Other directed identity claim

Answer 16

a thing you have to present others a certain trait of you

Question 17

Cue Utilisation

Answer 17

Using cues to infer certain personality traits of a person

Question 18

Zero acquaintance studies

Answer 18

When the observer doesn’t know the participant

Question 19

Long acquaintance studies

Answer 19

When the observer does know the participant for a long time (certain cues provide more information)