week 4

Question 1

What are traits

Answer 1

Higher level descriptions of peoples thoughts attitudes and behaviours and remain relatively stable across a life span

Question 2

What are Facets

Answer 2

components of traits that tend to be more specific than traits that tend to become more or less relevant depending on the situation

Question 3

What are characteristics

Answer 3

Temporal moments of facets that tend to be more associated with the physical acts of facets

Question 4

What is idiographic approach

Answer 4

The study of one individual without comparing them with any other

Question 5

What is nomothetic approach

Answer 5

describes personality in terms of set of dimensions that can be applied to other people

Question 6

What is historical background part 1

Answer 6

Hippocrates and Galen began the classification of human temperaments or personality linked to the elements. Choleric, Sanguine, Phlegmatic, Melancholic

Question 7

Historical background part 2

Answer 7

Persian polymath Avicenna theory of temperaments: emotional aspects, mental capacity, moral attitudes, self-awareness, movement and dream

Emmanuel Kant: theorised about multiple personality types based on feeling and activity levels

Question 8

William Sheldon’s somatotypes

Answer 8

developed the idea of somatotypes and associated them with temperament
Types- endomorph-sociable, peaceful, tolerant, large body. Mesomorph: assertive, proactive, vigorous, muscular. Ectomorph: insecure, sensitive, delicate, weak muscles

Question 9

Criticisms of somatotypes

Answer 9

Based on stereotypes and assumptions, most modern researchers prefer to measure the degrees to which an individual has particular personality trait

Question 10

Allport theory

Answer 10

Cardinal traits: traits that dominate/shape behaviour-> central traits: basic building block of your personality-> secondary traits: variable traits like and dislike

Question 11

dispositional approach

Answer 11

arising from the factor analytic method. the dispositional domain concerns those aspects of personality that are stable over time relatively consistent over situation

Question 12

What are personality traits

Answer 12

is a dimension of personality used to categorise people according to the degree to which they manifest a particular characteristic

Rather than classifying people according to specific types or categories many theorists prefer to identify dimensions on which people differ along a range of values

Question 13

Raymond Cattell

Answer 13

psychometric test to predict peoples behaviour socially and at work. Collected large amounts of data: L-data: life records, Q-data: questionnaires, T-data: lab observations and testing. Developed the 16 personality factor questionnaire

Question 14

What are surface traits

Answer 14

collections of trait descriptors that cluster together

Question 15

What are source traits

Answer 15

identified via factor-analysis and refers to underlying trait that is responsible for the variance in there observable surface traits

Question 16

Hans Eysenck

Answer 16

identify personality dimensions, devise means of measuring them, test them using experimental procedures
Extroversion- interactivity with others, extraverts seen as sociable and impulsive who love excitement. Neuroticism- measure of emotional behaviours, neurotics were seen as emotionally unstable individuals with individual fears and obsessional symptoms

Question 17

Hans Eysenck part 2

Answer 17

p on a spectrum from aggressiveness and egocentricity to a high degree of self-control, high levels of P were linked to vulnerability to mental conditions but also potentially related to creativity, believed there was a genetic, heritable aspect of p

Question 18

Personality structure

Answer 18

he believed that these three types make up the basic structure of personality called PEN model. Developed a questionnaire to measure it called Eysenck personality questionnaire, good psychometric properties for E and N

Question 19

Personality traits

Answer 19

psychotic individuals emphasize hostility cruelty and traits with a strong need to ridicule and upset others. Introverted individuals are described as being reserved; independent rather than followers, socially awkward

Question 20

Origin to big five

Answer 20

emerged from a lexical hypothesis, five aspects of personality were identified by Fiske (1949) from lexical list: inquiring intellect, conformity, confident self-expression, Social adaptability, emotional control

Question 21

Big Five

Answer 21

openness to experience- involves characteristics of showing intellectual curiosity, divergent thinking and willingness to consider new ideas and an active imagination
conscientiousness-this dimension describes the degree of self-discipline, control and the active process of planning, organising and carrying out tasks
extraversion- This factor represents a measure of individuals sociability assertiveness and activity
agreeableness- This dimension indicates characteristics that are relevant for social interactions, such as traits of altruism and cooperativeness
Neuroticism- this dimension measure individual emotional stability and personal adjustment and tendency to experience negative affect, such as fear, sadness and more

Question 22

Big five measurement

Answer 22

Costa and McCrae originally developed a questionnaire to assess Neuroticism, this was then revised to include agreeableness and conscientiousness
revised to provide a more concise measure of the big 5 NEO-FFI. Consists of 5 scales, each consisting of 12 items resulting int total 60 items. Used 5-point likert scale format

Question 23

Big five cross-culture replication

Answer 23

these five factors have found support cross-culturally and replicate well across research into a wide range of applications

Question 24

Critical reflection Big five

Answer 24

what do you notice about the scientists whose work we’ve considered so far, whose voices might be missing, what is the effect of this on our understanding of personality

Question 25

Strengths to big five

Answer 25

empirical investigation, questionnaires developed, not bound to theoretical assumptions, scientifically sound area of psychological research, cross-cultural consistency in factors

Question 26

Limitations to big five

Answer 26

heavy reliance on self-reports. Derived from everyday language, factors analysis only as good as items included, descriptive but not explanatory, factors may not mean the same thing across cultures