Week 12 Personality 1 Flashcards
What is personality?
a complex construct that integrates all domains of psychological study- characteristic way of feeling, thinking, perceiving and acting
description of an individual of what they normally and usually are
What are general process theories?
focus is on the general process through which personality develops- often involve stages.
little on measurement or differences between individuals
e.g. freud, bandura, maslow
What are structural/descriptive theories?
emphasis individual differences, trait theories e.g. Cattell, Eyseneck, Guilford, Five Factor Model
Discuss Cattell’s theory
there are 16 primary traits which are adequate for capturing how individuals differ from each other- complete descriptive theory, believes it can describe someone’s entire personality through these traits
What is a trait?
a predisposition to respond to situations in a consistent way
is unobservable
predicts behaviour
What is the nomothetic view?
-trait theories assume there is a set of dimensions of personality on which all people can be placed
-responses from the individual are understood in a group context
-
What is the idiographic view
- a single set of traits cannot be relevant to all individuals
- traits are ok but a different set may be required for each person
What are the components of standard measures?
- ask the person- self-report
- observe the person (projective techniques)- on the basis of the belief that personality is unconscious and cannot adequately self-report
Self-report inventories possess psychometric properties, this includes:
- they measure (assign a number)
- standardized norms
- reliability and validity of test scores is assessed
- manual provides this info
What are some other points to know about self-report questionaires
- includes items about individual’s thoughts, feelings, attitudes and/or behaviours
- items can be trait names, adjectives, questions, statements
- usually measure several variables but can also measure single variables
- used to assess both normal and abnormal personality
What are the two different types of response formats for self-report
- absolute
2. comparative/forced choice
What are examples of absolute format?
no-yes, false-true, disagree-agree
What are examples of comparative/forced choice format?
I become homicidal when people try to reason with me, the sight of blood no longer excites me
What are the advantages of self-report methods (over observational methods)
- easy to construct + to establish norms
- can be administered to groups + individuals
- require little training for administration + scoring
- time and cost effective
- can be used in a variety of applied settings
What are the main disadvantages of self-reports
-the person may not have an accurate perception of themselves
-the person may engage in self-deception to portray a good/bad image
(fakeability- easy to fake responses)
What is response tendency?
the way in which a test-taker answers items on the test, regardless of the content of the items
What is acquiescence and non-acquiescence re response tendency?
acquiescence- tendency to agree with what’s presented
non-acquiescence- tendency to not agree with what’s presented
What is socially desireable responding?
tendency to see oneself in a favourable light
What is an overcautious approach?
tendency to choose the middle options on response scales
What is extremes in responding?
endorse items in an unusual/uncommon way
What are other things that can effect peoples resports in self report qs?
cognitive factors- attention, concentration, comprehension
What do self-report Qs assume of the individual?
that they are of well and average intelligence & able to understand the Qs on the test
What are the three basic approaches for constructing self-report inventories?
- external
- inductive
- deductive
How is the external approach determined?
via criteria external to questionnaire domain
What does the external approach assume?
that people come in “batches” (happy-unhappy, depressed-maniac)- and this differentiation will help you come up with appropriate items for the test
What is the 3 step process for the external approach
- devise items externally that are identified with the factor of interest
- administer items to 2 groups- one known to have the trait (criterion group) and the other known not to have the trait (reference group)
- keep the items that discriminate between the two groups
What does not necessarily matter for the external approach?
the reason that an item discriminates
What is the problem with external approach
unreliability of criterion- we might find that the items discriminate in one sample but not in another
What is an example of the external method?
MMPI-2
What does the inductive method attempt to do?
identify the universals of personality by inferring from specific cases to the generalities - the number/nature of the scales of the questionnaire follow from the data analysis
What are the four steps of the inductive process?
- generate a large number of items
- administer to as many people as possible
- factor analyse results to group the items into scales (groups items together so they are more correlated to another item than they are to others)
- we then see what the factors might be tapping and devise labels for them
What are examples of the inductive method?
16PF, NEO PI-3
What is the deductive method?
choice + definition of constructs (traits) precedes item formulation- there is a theory of personality, then based on that theory we will have to have items that measure these particular traits
What is the three step process for deductive approach?
- formulate the construct or use an existing well formulated construct
- deduce basic descriptors from the construct’
- write items
What are examples of deductive approach
MCMI-III
Myers-Briggs Typological Indicator
How was the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory developed? (External)
- criterion groups were psychiatric patients with a particular diagnosis and patients without that particular diagnosis
- items were retained which reliably distinguished between the two groups
- 567 statements phrased as self-statements and were true/false
How many clinical scales and how many validity scales are in the MMPI?
10 clinical 3 validity
What are three examples of the clinical scales in the MMPI?
hysteria, depression, paranoia
What are the three validity scales in the MMPI?
- lie score- measure of social desirability
- frequency score- detects extreme response sets re 10% of everyone else
- correction score- re pushing the boundaries/moral of society
When are the clinical scales only interpreted re MMPI?
if the individual has acceptable scores on the three validity scales
What are MMPI Content scales?
scales that were made using the deductive method- taps into other constructs
What is the main great thing about the MMPI?
the ability of it to detect scales/items that impact on the validity of scores
Discuss a bit about the 16 Personality-Factor Questionnaire (Cattell- inductive)
- measure of normal personality traits
- factor analysis yielded 16 factors “primary source traits of personality”
- 185 items, 170 phrased as self-statements and rated true/false or forced choice
On the 16 primary factors for Cattell, what do the scores 1-10 correlate to?
1-3 low scoring on that factor, 7+ high
What do the scores of the 16 primary factors combine to do?
give you a score on the 5 global factors
What are the three response indices (response styles/tendencies) for Cattell
- impression management- social desireability
- infrequency- extremes
- acquiescence- tendency to say true/false
Discuss the NEO-PI: Five-Factor Model(inductive)
- items derived from previous questionnaires and rationally derived items from domain descriptions
- 240 items phrased on self-statements and rated on a 5 point scale
- 5 factors, each made up of 6 facets
What does the NEO-PI-3 not have?
no validity (response style/tendency) indices
Discuss the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-III (Deductive)
scales reflect the classificatory system of DSM-IV- Axis II Personality disorders
-175 items phrased as self-statements and rated as true/false
What are the four Modifying indices for the Milon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory?
- disclosure
- desireability
- debasement
- validity
Discuss the Myer Briggs Type Indicator?(deductive)
items were written to assess personality using Jung’s classification
belief that ppl have definite preferences in how they approach the world, receive info about the world & make conclusions about the world
four bipolar dimensions
ipsative rather than normative approach (forced choice rather than scale of how much they agree re Likert)
What are the four bipolar dimensions for the Myers Briggs Type indicator?
extraverted-introverted (attitude)
sensation-intuition (way of perceiving)
thinking-feeling (judgment)
judgment-perception (orientation to world)
The scores on the four dimensions of the Myer Briggs Type indicator give how many possible types?
16
What type of format does the Myer Briggs use?
forced choice
What is the main criticism of the Myer Briggs scale?
its psychometric scales are shocking- test-retest reliability was .4 (very unreliable)- suggests that across time you are more likely to get a different type with the administration of the test
