Understanding Human Diversity Flashcards
What is differential psychology?
- the study of individual differences
Who were the pioneers in differential psychology?
Galton - wrote about individual differences of talent and character. Developed an index of correlation
Spearman - factor analysis. Proposed general intelligence
What did Heymans do in terms of early differential psychology?
- coded 110 well-known historical figures on 88 personality characteristics and 3 major traits
- also completed a large scale questionnaire
- concluded that impulsivity is hereditary
Describe the theory proposed by Cattell.
- fluid-crystallised g model
- Fluid = general problem solving ability (stable, not affected by environment)
- Crystallised= what you have learned (unstable)
What theory did Eysenck propose about personality?
- PEN model
What years were ‘the Decade of the Brain’ and what did this involve?
1990’s
- rise of neuroscience and its involvement for investigating personality
- use of MRI’s and fMRI’s
What are the advantages and disadvantages of self-report measures for personality?
Advantages:
- low cost
- easy to promote to large audiences
Disadvantages:
- social desirability
- acquiescence bias
- requires self awareness from participant
What is experience sampling?
Asking participants to record their thoughts / feelings over a period of time
What are observational measures?
Observers recording what is being done or how often certain behaviours occur
What are the disadvantages of experience sampling?
- the act of self-monitoring could cause influences in responses given
What are the advantages and disadvantages of observational measures?
Advantages:
- used when it is impossible / inappropriate to give instructions to participants (covert)
- used in naturalistic settings
Disadvantages:
- can only measure observable behaviour
- observer bias
What are performance measures?
Intelligence tests, reading / maths performance
- look at accuracy measures such as error rates and response times
What are the advantages and disadvantages of performance measures?
Advantages:
- objective
Disadvantages:
- ecological validity
What is a priming paradigm?
Participants are exposed to a stimulus and their response to it is measured
- sometimes the prime is presented so quickly participants don’t even realise they have been exposed to it
- masked priming also includes junk visual material to prevent the prime from entering conscious mind
What is factor analysis?
- a statistical technique to reduce a large number of variables into fewer ‘factors’
- multiple items can be used to measure the same construct in tests (e.g. for personality)
What is Exploratory Factor Analysis?
- does not assume a particular factor structure
- uses data to determine number of factors
- factor loadings are examined
What are factor loadings?
The correlation between variable and the factor in exploratory factor analysis
What is confirmatory factor analysis?
- researcher hypothesises a factor structure and tests how well it fits with actual data
What is an MRI?
- magnetic field causes hydrogen atoms to align in the same orientation
- when radio waves are passed through the head, energy is released
- MRI scanners detects energy
What is a PET scan?
- radioactive tracer is injected into the bloodstream and amount of radioactivity in each voxel of the brain is measured
How do fMRI’s work?
- BOLD (blood-oxygen level dependent) signal is measured, amount of deoxyhaemoglobin in the blood
- BOLD signals indicate oxygen consumed
What is the subtraction method? (in relation to fMRI’s)
The process of subtracting the control image of an fMRI from the visual stimulus image
- left with the area associated with task
What is the conjunction method? (in relation to fMRI’s)
Overlaying activation methods for different tasks, and identifying which parts of the brain overlap
What is functional specialisation?
The way a brain region’s response to a stimulus is distinguished from other regions
What is functional integration?
Brain mapping of the pathways and interactions when a process happens
What is Diffusion Tensor Imaging?
- aimed at specifying fibre tracts with white matter connecting cortex
- tracks diffusion of water molecules along neural tracts
- water moves faster along tracts - no neural connection means it moves randomly
What are genes?
- genes are made up of DNA
- a basic physical and functional unit of inheritance
What is genotype?
- genetic code of living individuals, which is inherited and found within all cells
What is phenotype?
- the outward manifestation of an individual
What is the genotype-first approach?
- an approach to genetic studies that focuses on a single gene that is known to exist in multiple variants and may be linked to a phenotype
What is the phenotype-first approach?
- an approach that starts with a given trait and determines which genes contribute most to the variations in that trait
What was Galton’s contribution into intelligence?
- measured intelligence based on reaction time, keenness of sight and hearing and the ability to distinguish between colours
- central hypothesis was that there are individual differences in intelligence
What was Binet’s contribution into intelligence?
- Binet-Simon Scale: first intelligence test that identified children who would require special education
- test results determined ‘mental age’
- calculated by how many tasks they were able to complete
What was Stern’s contribution into intelligence?
- Intelligence Quotation (IQ): mental age is proportional to their real age
IQ = mental age / chronological age x 100 - allowed for comparison across age groups
What was Terman’s contribution into intelligence?
- Stanford-Binet Scale (revision of the Binet-Simon Scale)
- larger group and age range of children sampled
What was Spearman’s contribution into intelligence?
- first to use factor analysis
- found positive correlations between intelligence tests - ‘positive manifold’
- general intelligence (g)
What are ‘g’ and ‘s’?
g- general intelligence
What did Galen propose about personality?
4 humors
- blood = sanguine (cheerful, optimistic)
- yellow bile = choleric (energetic, passionate)
- black bile = melancholic (sad, depressed)
- phlegm = phlegmatic (quiet, rational)
What is Freud’s Tripartite model of personality?
- Id = innate desires, impulsive, aggressive
- Superego = moral, ethical
- Ego = mature, mediator
What did the ‘grand personality systems’ suggest? (1930-50’s)
- multiple constructs are organised on multiple levels
- personality is unified and organised totally (one self)
- emphasised motivation that explains behaviour
- emphasised personality development across the lifespan
What did Allport suggest about personality?
- emphasised traits (have dynamic and motivational properties
What are traits according to Allport?
- not theoretical / real and found within an individual
- traits guide and drive behaviour
- traits are empirical (measurable)
- traits have overlapping functions
- stable traits can change over time
What is the proprium (according to Allport)?
- highest personality structure
- it develops through the stages of life, from developing sense of body to self-identity / esteem
- striving for internal satisfaction and sense of fulfilment
What did Henry Murray suggest about personality?
- published book ‘Explorations in Personality’
- contradicted Allport = viewed personality as conflicting (conscious and unconscious) conflicting voices
What are Murray’s psychogenic needs?
- 20 needs
- primary needs = arising from internal bodily states (need for survival, sex etc)
- secondary (psychogenic) needs = concerned with emotional satisfaction and arise indirectly from primary needs
What is prepotency?
Unsatisfied needs are more urgent and dominant, taking over all other needs
What was Murray’s view on personality development?
- recognised childhood events can affect development of specific needs
- press = needs activated by specific situations in later life
- thema = combination of needs (personal factors) and press (environmental factors that pressure behaviour)
What is ‘unity thema’?
a dominant thema which organises and gives meaning to an individual’s life
- powerful force in determining personality
What did Cattell suggest about personality?
- similar to Allport - traits are fundamental
- trait = mental structure, an inference made from observed behaviour to account for consistency in one’s behaviour
- similar behaviours are correlated together
What are source traits (Cattell)?
- underlying factors that determine surface manifestations
- drive surface traits
- more important than surface traits
- identified by factor analysis
- observable
What does the lexical approach assume? (3 assumptions)
- people encode in the everyday language so normal traits are the same across languages
- frequency of use of personality descriptors correspond with their importance for personality
- the number of words describing a trait correspond with importance of that trait for personality
What is Eysenck’s hierarchal model of personality?
- lowest level = specific responses
- specific responses combine to make habitual responses
- habitual responses combine to make traits
- collection of traits makes a super trait
What does the lexical approach assume? (3 assumptions)
- people encode in the everyday language so normal traits are the same across languages
- frequency of use of personality descriptors correspond with their importance for personality
- the number of words describing a trait correspond with importance of that trait for personality
What are the 3 super traits as proposed by Eysenck’s PEN model?
- extraversion
- neuroticism
- psychoticism
What are the characteristics of extraversion?
- extraverts = sociable, impulsive, excited
- introverts = quiet, introspective, well-ordered life
What are the characteristics of neuroticism?
- emotionally unstable, unreasonable fears, obsessional, impulsive
What are the characteristics of psychoticism?
- insensitive to others, hostile, need to ridicule and upset others, free from anxiety / fear
How has Eysenck’s PEN model contributed to the sutdy of personality?
- combines descriptive and casual aspects of personality
- has comprehensive description of the 4 hierarchal levels, enhancing comparison with other theories
- model is testable
What is the 5 factor model of personality?
- Openness
- Conscientiousness
- Extraversion
- Agreeableness
- Neuroticism
What is the HEXACO model of personality?
- added a 6th factor called ‘honesty-humility’
- emotionality
- xtraversion
- agreeableness
- conscientiousness
- openness to experience
What are the criticisms of the HEXACO model?
- the sixth factor sometimes correlates with agreeableness (is there really a 6th factor)
- there are other constructs that have been found independent of the Big 5
- the HEXACO model isn’t just the Big 5 + 1
What is the general factor of personality (GFP)?
2 factors that add together to underpin much of variance in personality
- stability (alpha) = conforming and being stable
- plasticity (beta) = being open to change (non-conforming)
What are the criticisms of GFP?
- correlations between Big 5 are due to social desirability of self-report measures
- social desirability bas is a personality trait in itself, rather than being a response style
What were the 2 neural mechanisms that Eysenck (1967) proposed?
Excitatory mechanism = keeps an individual alert, active and aroused
Inhibitory mechanism = causes inactivity and low energy
What circuit is extraversion linked to according to Eysenck?
Reticulo-cortical circuit = arousal circuit responding incoming (external) stimuli
- introverts have over-aroused circuits (so actively avoid stimulation), whereas extroverts have under-aroused circuits
