Trait Approach (Chapter 4)

Question 1

What are two important points on the trait appraoch

Answer 1

1) almost all research within the trait approach relies on correlational designs

2) It focuses exclusively on individual differences

Question 2

What does the trait appraoch seek to measure?

Answer 2

Measuring how individuals differ from one another

Question 3

The trait approach focuses exclusively on what?

Answer 3

Measuring

Question 4

What ages tend to be the most stable of all ages

Answer 4

50-70

Question 5

What does it mean by “situations matter as well” when assessing personality traits

Answer 5

An individual will act differently in different situations, for example someone will act shy with strangers but me warm and open with family members.

Personality traits are not the only factors that control behaviour, situations matter as well

Question 6

What is “Situationism?”

Answer 6

The belief that behaviour is largely driven by the situation, and that personality is relatively unimportant

Question 7

What are the three parts of a situationists argument

Answer 7

1) You cant predict what a person will do based on that persons personality

2) situations are more important than personality traits

3) everyday intuitions about people are wrong as people see others as being more consistent across situations than they really are

Question 8

The definitive test of the usefullness of a personality trait is whether it can be used to predict what?

Answer 8

Behaviour

Question 9

An absolute evalution of a .40 correlation can be obtained from a simple statistical tool called what?

Answer 9

A Binomial Effect Size Display (BESD)

Question 10

According to the BESD, a correlation of .40 means that a prediction of behaviour based on a personality-trait score is likely to be accurate ____ % of the time.

Answer 10

70%

Question 11

For some time, there was no research on the accuracy of personality, why is that?

Answer 11

Because how can personality judgements be judged as right or wrong? An attempt to answer it would simply pit one persons assessment of accuracy against anothers, who decides which is right?

Question 12

What is Constructivism?

Answer 12

The view that reality, as a concrete entity, does not exist. The only thing that exists are human ideas or constructions of reality

Eg. “If a tree falls in the forest with no one to hear, does it make a noise?” A constructionivist would say no

Question 13

What is Critical Realism?

Answer 13

Gathering all the information that might help you determine whether or not a judgement is valid and then making the best determination you can

Question 14

What is Convergent Validation

Answer 14

Its used for assessing the validity of a personality test. Its the process of assembling diverse pieces of information that converge (to meet) on a common conclusion

eg. “If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, its very probably, but still not absolutely, a duck.”

Question 15

For personality judgements, the two primary converging criteria are what?

Answer 15

Interjudge agreement = when two or more people making judgements about the same person provide the same description of that persons personality

Behavioural Prediction = When a judgement or measurement can predict the behvaiour of the person in question

Question 16

What is a Moderator Variable?

Answer 16

A variable that effects the realtionship between two other variables

Question 16

What is Predictive Validity?

Answer 16

The degree to which one measure can be used to predict the other.

eg.If my judgement that you are highly conscientious converges with the fact that you arrive on time for almost all your classes for the next three semesters, then my judgement is probably correct

Question 17

What are the 4 types of moderator variables?

Answer 17

1) the judge
2) the target (person who is judged)
3) the trait thats being judged
4) the information on which the judgement is based

Question 18

Woman are better than men at judgeing which two traits?

Answer 18

Extraversion and positive emotionality

Question 19

Good judges have greater “cardiac vagal flexibility” which is what?

Answer 19

A measure of heart function associated with social sensitivity

Question 20

What type of people are the most “judgeable”

Answer 20

Individuals who are stable and well organized, and who are also extraverted and agreeable

Question 21

What types of traits are easier to observe?

Answer 21

traits that are reflected by overt behaviours lile extraversion.

Traits like emotional stability and other mental states arent as not visible on the outside which is harder to judge

Question 22

What are the 4 stages of the Realistic Accuracy Model (RAM)

Answer 22

1) the person being judged must do something RELEVANT

2) this information must be AVAILABLE to a judge

3) this judge must DETECT this information

4) the judge must UTILIZE this information correctly

Question 23

Accurate self-knowledge has long been considered a hallmark of mental health for two reasons, what are they?

Answer 23

1) People who are healthy secure, and wise enough to see the world as it is, will tend to see themselves more accurately as well

2) A person with accurate self knowledge is in a better position to make good decisions on important issues ranging from what occupation to pursue to whom to marry

Question 24

Who knows ourselves the best, oursevles or our aquaintances?

Answer 24

We have better insight into our personal emotional experience than anyone else does, but the aquaintances judgements more accurately predict behaviour rhan self-judgements in nearly every comaprison

Question 25

What are 3 ways you can improve how well you know yourself?

Answer 25

1) You can look into your own mind and try to understand who you are (introspection)

2) You can seek feedback from other people

3) You can observe your own behaviour and try to draw conclusions from those observations

Question 26

The aphorism “know thyself” advised by Socrates suggests what about self-knowledge?

Answer 26

Knowing yourself is important but not always easy to do

Question 27

Research within the trait approach to personality is almost always __________ in design. This means that we measure not only the level of a trait that someone has, but also a ________ that corresponds with that trait. If they correspond strong enough, we can conclude that they are __________ and that it is possible that the level of the trait can then predict the behavior.

Answer 27

Correlational; Behaviour; associated

Question 28

There are a number of qualities that are related to good personality judgment. Researchers designed a test to determine if there were a certain overall quality that made people good at everyday assessment of personality and its relevance to behavior.
What was this quality called?

Answer 28

Dispositional Intelligence