Week 21: Personality Flashcards
The study of personality
Focuses on the stable differences between behaviours, thoughts and interactions (since minor changes in these characteristics do not indicate different personalities). THINK: if you are an outgoing person but tired and so you aren’t friendly for 1 day.
What is Personality?
A pattern of thinking and interacting that is unique to every individual and remains relatively consistent over time and across situation.
Or
A pattern of consistent thoughts feelings and behaviours that characterize each person as a unique an individual.
Personality testing is hard because…
Hard to define personality! But all tests must be:
STANDARDIZED- same distribution, same instructions, same environment of testing
RELIABLE- taken today, taken in 6months must be same result
VALID- measuring what was set out to be measured
MMPI-2 test
Minnesota multiphasic inventory test
- objectively scored test
- 500 multiple choice t/f questions about yourself
NEO-PI-3 test
Neuroticism Extroversion and Openness personality inventory test asks a series of statements that you can agree or disagree with on a five point scale. Now based on the 5 factor model.
- objective
- 240 statements
- respond with strongly disagree to strongly agree
Rorschach test
- diagnostic test (not objective)
- ink blots presented in paper
- participants asked what they see in the ink blots
- (like clouds in the sky) the idea is that they project their personality into what they describe and see in the ink lot
- attempts to score objectively but controversial
- used to diagnose psychosis and also used in therapy more, less so as a personality test
Meyers Briggs Type Indicator
- limited validity & reliability
- took one online and it told me things that I didn’t agree with
- measures personality types and cognitive types
- used on dating sites
Thematic Apperception Test
- projective test
- used for therapy and diagnosis more than a personality determinator
- ambiguous images are shown and participant makes a story about the images (the idea is that they will project their personality onto the made up story)
- no formal scoring system
Factor analysis
Statistical process/method that is used to reveal the underlying categories or factors that influence a data set.
10 event decathlon (divided up into speed events, strength events).
Measurements of limb size (divided up into body size).
Carried out by measuring the variances between all items and grouping the ones that are highly correlated.
Raymond Cattell
- used factor analysis with 18 000 adjectives that Gordan Allport used to describe personality in the 1930’s
- came up with 16 traits
16-PF Questionnaire
- Almost 200 statements to agree or disagree with
- multiple choice test
- uses the 16 traits developed by Cattell
Problems: redundant traits, long, complex
Five-factor model
- Factor analysis has improved with technology (obvi)
- capable of more complex number crunching
- found that there are really 5 factors that encompass personality
O C E A N
- Openness to experience
- Conscientiousness
- Extraversion
- Agreeableness
- Neuroticism
Openness to experience
LOW: conventional, down-to-earth (but I don’t think that fits)
HIGH: creative, imaginative, curious, non-conforming
This personality factor describes a person’s willingness to try new things and having a wide-set of interests
Conscientiousness
LOW: unreliable, spontaneous, sloppy
HIGH: ambitious, reliable, attention to detail
This personality factor describes how organized, methodical and ambitious (to achieve a goal) a person is.
Extraversion
LOW: likes to be alone, solitary, introverted
HIGH: sociable, optimistic, affectionate
This personality factor describes how talkative, outgoing and assertive a person is.
