Brainscape's Knowledge GenomeTM

Browse over 1 million classes created by top students, professors, publishers, and experts.


See full index

Personality Psychology > Week 2 - Research Methods > Flashcards

Week 2 - Research Methods Flashcards

You may prefer our related Brainscape-certified flashcards:
Psychology 101 flashcards GRE® Psychology flashcards AP® Psychology flashcards
1
Q

Absolute continuity is measured by ______, whereas differential continuity is measured by ______.

A
  1. absolute continuity = analysis of variance
  2. differential continuity = correlation coefficient
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

What 4 things can undermine reliability?

A

low precision
state of participant / individual differences
state of the experimenter
variation in the environment

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

What 8 things does a scientific perdonality theory need?

A

Be parsimonious (not overly complex)
Be comprehensive (eg. Big 5 Model)
Be logically consistent
Be testable and verifiable
Be supported with empirical evidence
Be plausible
Well defined and operationalized
Be clear and precise

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

What is the refutability criterion from Popper?

A

A scientific theory must state what observable data should be possible or impossible - argued that Freud/Adler’s theories are not REAL SCIENTIFIC THEORIES, but more border on the verge of pseudoscience
- must be able to be refuted

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

What is the general consensus on the plaster vs. plasticity hypothesis?

A

Most personality psychologists agree that personality can change across childhood, but debate about adulthood

William James: “Plaster hypothesis - after 30, impossible to change personality, biological development becomes rigid and complete”

Plasticity hypothesis = personality is malleable and an change across the lifespan, because of new life experiences, psychotherapy, social influences

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

What is absolute stability? / rank order consistency?

A

measures constancy of personality traits over time, focus on means within a sample of a specific trait, ie. extroversion
- using analysis of variance or T-Tests pair samples, want to be NON-SIGNIFICANT OVER TIME to demonstrate absolute continuity

Strong evidence for consistency = 0.6-0.9 correlations

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

What is relative stability?

What type of measurement does it need?

A

people’s ranking compared to others changed, people scoring high on X compared to others is expected to stay at same level of X over time compared to other people

Needs the rank order to look the same, uses correlation coefficient,
needs a EXTREMELY HIGH CORRELATION COEFFICIENT across Time 1 and Time 2

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

How is personality change studied?

A

with absolute and relative continuity measures

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

What are the findings for personality change? (how someone measures on a specific trait over time and compared to others)

A

Big changes in young adulthood and then slow down, emotional stability and conscientiousness tend to rise

Rank order / differential stability tends to also increase with age but is still never that close to a perfect correlation coefficient of 1

Lower correlation rank order stability between long assessment periods, eg. studying people from 3-60 years
No gender differences
No support for the plaster hypothesis
Plasticity hypothesis is corroborated

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

What are the 4 types of data?

A

S Data - Self-reports, good insight for inner thoughts/feelings

I Data - Informants reports, family, friends, other lab participants, roommates, colleagues, good insight

L Data - Life Outcomes, hospital visits, tax record, marriages, university,

B Data - Behavioural Observations, audio recordings, lab, good for objectively viewing a person’s behaviour as they do not have a relationship to them/not biassed accounts of a person

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

Pros and Cons of S data?

A

Pros = large info, inner thoughts, causal force, simple/easy, true by definition, most cost-effective

Cons = error, bias, too easy, overused

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

Pros and Cons of I data?

A

Pros = large info, real world basis, common sense, true by definition, casual force

Cons = limited behaviours to context, bias, error, limited access to inner world

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

Pros and Cons of L data?

A

Pros = objective and verifiable, intrinsic importance, psychologically relevant

Cons = multi determination, lack of relevance to personality

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

Pros and Cons of B data?

A

Pros = wide range of contexts, appears objective

Cons = uncertain interpretation, expensive and difficult to do

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

How do the different RMs differ in personality psych?

A
  1. Correlative research, individual differences are central, situation is peripheral
  2. Experimental research, treatment/situation is central, ignores individual differences
  3. Case studies, single individual is central
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

What are 2 examples of mixed data?

A
  1. Behavioroid = asking people what would you do under these circumstances? S and B
  2. What do your parents say about your childhood? (mix of L and I data)
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

Funder’s 2nd law?

A

Funder’s 2nd Law: “There are no perfect indicators of personality; there are only clues, and clues are always ambiguous”

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

Funder’s 3rd law?

A

Funder’s Third Law, “Something beats nothing, two times out of three”
4 types of data, self-data, data from others, data about life outcomes/experiences, and behavioural data

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

What is validity?

A

the extent to which a personality test measures what is supposed to measure and how well it measures it

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
20
Q

What is face validity?

A

do they look like what they are supposed to measure?
Is face validity real? - it’s not empirical

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
21
Q

What is content validity?

A

Content validity = do the items cover the full breadth of the personality construct measured?

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
22
Q

Criterion validity?

A

does the measure predict an independent criterion in the same subject? You should get a correlation between the measure and the criterion

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
23
Q

Concurrent validity?

A

does your test correlate with a different test?

24
Q

Predictive validity?

A

does your test correlate and predict specific behaviours in the future?

25
Q

MOST IMPORTANT: construct validity

A

does your measure appropriately measure a theoretical construct? Is it related to one construct that it should be related to?

26
Q

What is the nomological network in validity?

A

a network of theoretical models including the relationship of your variables in measures to other variables in other related measures

27
Q

Must a personality theory be supported by empirical evidence?

A

no

28
Q

What is Discriminant/divergent validity?

A

your measure is NOT correlated with other UNRELATED measures, eg. a measure of narcissism is not correlated with life fulfilment

29
Q

What is Split half reliability?

A

split one test into two halves, and then correlate participants scores of the two halves of the same test

30
Q

Alternate form reliability?

A

= same participants are tested with one form of the same test and then another form of the same test

31
Q

Inter rater reliability?

A

the extent to which different observers rate a person in the same/similar way

32
Q

What is Heterotypic continuity in personality change?

A

reflects the consistency of fundamental differences in personality that change with age,

eg. introverted child ≠ introverted adult but still have the trait of introversion

33
Q

What are the three aspects of childhood temperament? (Vroman, Lo, & Durbin, 2014)

A

Positive emotionality
Negative emotionality
Effortful control

These 3 types of temperament act as precursors via heterotypic continuity to traits in adulthood, eg. positive emotionality as precursor to extroversion

34
Q

What are the 4 techniques to improve reliability?

A
  1. care with research procedure
  2. standardised research protocol
  3. measure important not trivial variables
  4. aggregation - averaging measures
35
Q

What is the Spearman-Brown formula in psychometrics?

A

more error-filled measures are, the more measurements you need

36
Q

What is construct validation?

A

strategy of establishing the validity of a measure by comparing it with a WIDE range of other measures

37
Q

What is generalisability?

A

a broad combination of validity and reliability - what can the result generalise to?

38
Q

What 4 things limit generalisability?

A
  1. participant demographic
  2. gender bias (difference in traits)
  3. shows vs. no shows
  4. ethnic and cultural lack of diversity
39
Q

What is the third variable problem?

A

a potential third complication in between two variables

40
Q

Can childhood personality ranks predict life outcomes?

A

YES
4- to 6-year-old children rated as more “inhibited” than most of their peers were slower to find a stable romantic partner and slower to find a first job 19 years later, compared to children rated as less inhibited

41
Q

Are personality disorders stable and fixable?

A

relatively but less stable that those without personality disorders

therapy not super effective

42
Q

What 5 things keeps personality stable across lifespan?

A
  1. heterotypic continuity
  2. your physical and environmental features shape and maintain personality
  3. birth order? not super well supported
  4. early experiences of stress/bullying/exclusion lead to adverse traits and health outcomes (chronic biological inflammation)
  5. person-environment transactions = seeking out environments that are compatible with personality traits
43
Q

What types of parents produce more well-adjusted children?

A
  1. educated parents produce more emotionally stable children, but not more contienscious
44
Q

What is the cumulative continuity principle?

A

the idea that personality becomes more stable and unchanging over time, eg. most between 50-70 years

45
Q

What are the 3 types of person-environment transcations?

A
  1. Active person– environment transaction =Person seeks out compatible environments and avoids incompatible ones
  2. Reactive person– environment transaction = Different people respond differently to the same situation
  3. Evocative person– environment transaction = Aspect of an individual’s personality leads to behavior that changes the situations he or she experiences
46
Q

Do traits change other traits?

A

YES

47
Q

Why might personality be more stable over time?

A

the environment often becomes more stable

along with other things like intelligence, eg. the “Flynn effect”

48
Q

What does the end of history refer to?

A

feeling that we changed a lot in the past and probably won’t as much in the future

49
Q

What two things do we need to establish personality development?

A

showing rank order consistency and increase or decrease in a trait

50
Q

cross sectional study?

A

study of people of different ages measured at the same time

51
Q

what are cohort effects?

A

tendency for a finding to be limited to a cohort of people, particularly all living together in same location or time period,

social and cultural environment shapes mass perspective

52
Q

what does longitundinal data show?

+ maturity principle?

A

people often become more stable and less neurotic and better self-esteem

people beocme more mature with age

53
Q

Why does personality change?

A
  1. aligns with cognitive changes
  2. changes in life social roles require building new qualities and skills
  3. the social clock pressure to do certain things by a certain age
  4. developing a narrative identity (eg. McAdams approach), around late adolescence
  5. changing goals
54
Q

what are the aspects of narrative identity?

A
  1. agency = getting through challenges and goals
  2. redemption = bad things happening that produced good things
55
Q

What traits do most people want to change?

A
  1. neuroticism
    in many countries many people of all ages want to change to more socially desirable
56
Q

what can produce personality changes?

A

yes - general intervention programs, targeted interventions, or behaviors and life experiences.

Personality Psychology (10 decks)

Brainscape helps you reach your goals faster, through stronger study habits.
© 2024 Bold Learning Solutions. Terms and Conditions