task 1 - who are you? Flashcards
define S-data
➔ Every person asked same set of questions ➔ Most preferred ➔ Most used ➔ Best combined with more direct methods ➔ Good for analysing the ‘Big 5’ traits o Extraversion o Agreeableness o Conscientiousness o Neuroticism o Openness
what are the advantages of S-data?
➔ Easy and accurate ➔ People likely to be motivated to talk about themselves and might identify with the q’s ➔ Easy to interpret ➔ Cheap and quick ➔ Really practical and efficient so you can gather data from a large set of people ➔ Have a lot of control ➔ Large archive to use
what are the disadvantages of S-data?
Structure of q’s could be misunderstood ➔ Response biases* o Socially desirable responding: present themselves in a favourable light o Acquiescent responding: don’t consider the q o Extreme responding ➔ Takes effort and time ➔ People aren’t always self- aware → misunderstood perception of who they are ➔ Do we know ourselves well enough? ➔ Not as accurate as behavioural measures ➔ Could have issues with language...
define I-data
➔ Peer reports
➔ Indispensable
methodological tool for researchers in the social sciences
➔ Should be compared with self-reports to see if the results are congruent
➔ More valuable information provided by comparing the ratings made by the different observers→ peer-peer agreement or inter-judge agreement
what are the advantages of I-data?
➔ Objective
➔ Rich source of
info
➔ Principle of
aggregation: More judgements = more reliable
o More than one
method should be used to obtain a more accurate result
➔ Informants have observed loads =
the report includes attributes that reflect the characteristic → useful info across situations
what are the disadvantages of I-data?
Expensive: time and money** ➔ Difficult and invalid o Uncooperative informants o Dishonest answers ➔ Less practical and efficient o Need to find informants ➔ Questionnaire = response biases o Acquiescence and extreme responding o Not social desirability o Enhancement biases: show person in favourable light o Diminishing biases: make person look like shit ➔ Responses from others may be affected by new biases →fundamental attribution error: tendency to emphasize dispositions of others over situational factors in explaining behaviour ➔ Informants will never have as much information as the target→thoughts, feelings
define B-data
➔ Seeing how person acts
➔ Rare
➔ Need external judges view
and to code actions, either in a lab or naturalistic setting
what are the advantages of B-data?
➔ Lab setting: assess situation-
specific traits
➔ Naturalistic
setting: can use cameras and microphones to record in multiple occasions → BUT CAN BE EXPENSIVE AND OBTRUSIVE TO SUBJECT
➔ Maybe use an EAR:
Electronically Activated Recorder = captures short auditory snapshots of what the individual is doing at numerous times over a couple of days
what are the disadvantages of B-data?
➔ Not very practical or convenient
➔ Developing and accessing coding schemes that are required involves a great deal of effort
➔ Costs time and money
➔ Lab setting:
o Artificiality→lack of representativeness of how the individual generally acts
o Social desirability o Susceptibility to
demand
characteristics o Ethical concerns
➔ Only one behaviour is measured = limits the behaviours being assessed
➔ Observational data collected on one occasion might reflect specific situational factors rather than dispositional factors
what are the limitations of multiple method approaches?
- Requires extra time commitment, 2.money
- resources
- training to implement
define self-knowledge
Accurate self-perceptions about how one typically thinks, feels, and behaves, and awareness of how those patterns are interpreted by others
are self-perceptions consistent with objective measures?
• Studies comparing self-ratings on the ‘Big 5’ and behavioural measures on a broad scale show an average correlation between self-perceptions and laboratory behaviour of 0.34
• Mehl, Gosling, Pennebaker: used an EAR
1. Ratings on the Big 5 are represented in everyday behaviour (ex: introverts spend more time alone)
2. Self-views do reflect, to some extent, how people behave in their everyday lives
• Maybe, people’s perceptions of their personality are not very accurate, but their perceptions of their behaviour might be
• Personality ratings predict important life outcomes such as criminality, divorce, and mortality
• People know most about their internal traits (anxiety) and least about highly evaluative traits (intelligence)
do self-perceptions converge with others’ perceptions?
• Several meta-analyses showed correlations between 0.40-0.60
• Self-ratings seem to be more in line with spouses’ ratings than with friends’ or roommate’s
1. Self-other agreement increases with the other’s level of acquaintance
• On the other hand, these studies also show that people’s self-views are far from identical to their
reputations among those who know them best
define meta-accuracy
the capacity to know how others see us
define generalised meta-accuracy
reflects the awareness of their reputation
–> do they know how they’re seen?
