Theoretical and Measurement Issues in Trait Psychology Flashcards
Meaningful Differences Among Individuals
Trait psychology focuses on the ways people differ from each other, emphasizing the importance of individual differences in traits like extraversion, agreeableness, etc.
Stability Over Time
Many personality traits show consistent patterns over time, such as extraversion and shyness, even if their behavioral expressions change.
Consistency Across Situations
Traits are expected to show consistency across different situations, although situational forces may influence behavior.
Person–Situation Interaction
Behavior is a function of both personality traits and situational forces, represented as B = f(P × S).
Situational Specificity
Some behaviors are influenced by specific situations rather than general traits, e.g., test anxiety only in exam settings.
Strong vs Weak Situations
Strong situations lead to uniform behavior, while weak situations allow personality traits to guide behavior.
Situational Selection
People choose environments that are compatible with their personalities, such as extroverts selecting team sports.
Evocation
Traits elicit specific responses from others, creating or reinforcing social environments.
Manipulation
People use tactics to influence others’ behavior, intentionally altering the social environment.
Aggregation
Combining multiple observations provides a more reliable measure of traits than single observations.
Faking on Questionnaires
People may fake good or bad responses on personality tests, especially when stakes are high.
Barnum Statements
Vague generalities that seem personally relevant but actually apply to most people.
Carelessness
Respondents may answer randomly or inattentively; detected by infrequency scales or repeated items.
What are the three fundamental assumptions of trait psychology?
Meaningful individual differences, stability over time, and consistency across situations.
What does ‘aggregation’ mean in trait psychology?
It refers to averaging several observations to yield a more reliable measure of a personality trait.
What is the principle of person-situation interaction?
Behavior is a function of the interaction between personality traits and situational forces.
What is a ‘strong situation’ in trait psychology?
A situation that almost everyone responds to in a similar way, which reduces the influence of personality traits.
What is the purpose of an infrequency scale in personality questionnaires?
To detect careless or suspicious responses by including items that most people answer in a particular way.
What is the density distribution approach to traits?
Traits are seen as distributions of behavior over time, and the average behavior reflects the trait level.
How do psychologists detect ‘faking good’ or ‘faking bad’ on questionnaires?
By comparing response patterns to known faking profiles created from instructed participants.
What are the ethical concerns regarding using personality tests in the workplace?
Issues include fairness, invasiveness, misuse of results, and the risk of discrimination.
What are some tactics people use to manipulate others based on personality?
Charm, silent treatment, coercion, regression, self-abasement, responsibility invocation, and pleasure induction.
What are the pros of self-report data in trait measurement?
Cost-effective, allows access to internal thoughts/feelings, and easy to administer to large samples.
What are the cons of self-report data in trait measurement?
Subject to biases like faking, carelessness, and social desirability.
