Week 4 Lecture 6 - measuring personality Flashcards
What are self report scales/inventories typically?
- introspective
- subjective
- structured
- contain more than one item per construct
What is a scale?
measures one dimension of personality
What is an inventory?
several scales that, together, measure multiple dimensions of personality
What is measurement error?
random error + systematic error
What is a score on a scale made up on?
true score + random error + systematic error
What is random error?
- non-systematic variation in the test score
- equally likely to score slightly higher vs. slightly lower than true score
- increasing the number of items helps
What is systematic error?
- test score always slightly higher or lower than true score
- increasing the number of items does not help
common sources of systematic error in self-report scales include:
- response set bias
- socially-desirable responding
- faking
What is straightlining?
a type of insufficient effort responding
What is acquiescence bias?
tendency to agree
What is nay saying?
tendency to disagree
What is midpoint responding?
saying neither agree nor disagree
How can we remove midpoint responding?
- remove midpoint option
- but not always appropriate
How can we remove acquiesce and nay saying bias?
- include reverse-scored items
- but this can be confusing for ppt if not done well (disagree with a negative)
What is socially-desirable response bias?
responding in a manner that would be deemed socially desirable
What is faking?
- deceptive intent
- particular concern in occupational / forensic settings
How can we control for socially-desirable response bias and faking?
- include lie detector items –> but maybe people give responses to these that account for the fact that everyone does this sometimes
- make all options socially undesirable
What is the Mach V scale?
- answer which option is most and least like your views
- the response to the socially-desirable buffer option is ignored
- option not selected as Least is taken as being more like their actual views
Steffans and Schulze König (2006): used behavioural measures as part of a broader validation study.
What did they argue and develop?
- Argued that self-reported personality and controlled, deliberate behaviour does not always represent who we truly are.
- Developed measures of trait-relevant ‘spontaneous behaviours’.
Steffans and Schulze König (2006): used behavioural measures as part of a broader validation study.
What did they find?
- Low concurrent validity between behavioural measures and self-report measures
- Inadequacy of behavioural OR self-report measure?
- Maybe implicit measures are better than explicit (self-report) measures…
Steffans and Schulze König (2006)
Modification of the Implicit Association Test (‘IAT’): used to measure people’s automatic associations to stimuli.
How did this IAT work?
Categorise words into:
- self vs others
- conscientious vs unconscientious
- half of trails pairs congruently with trait (self and conscientious)
- half of trails paired incongruently with trait (self and unconscientious)
- calculate RT for congruent and incongruent trails
- greater difference = more extreme value
For each Big 5 trait, Steffans and Schulze König (2006) measured:
- Reaction time difference on IAT task.
- NEO-FFI scores (self-report)
- Behavioural measure(s)
What did they find?
- Some correlation between IAT scores and self-report scores.
- For some traits, IAT score correlated more strongly with behaviour than self-report scores did.
- But, still fairly low convergent validity – seem to measure different things.
- Some measures may be better suited to certain traits..?
How did Steffans and Schulze König (2006) behaviourally measure agreeableness?
Participants turning up to take part in the study (for course credit) were (falsely) told that their name wasn’t on the list, and they might not be able to take part. Their responses were rated as an indicator of: AGREEABLENESS
How did Steffans and Schulze König (2006) behaviourally measure neuroticism?
Participants did a ‘horrendously demanding’ working memory task. When they made mistakes, they received ‘scolding’ messages. Stress-related reactions that they made were rated as a measure of: NEUROTICISM
How did Steffans and Schulze König (2006) behaviourally measure conscientiousness?
Participants were given an untimed computer task that required accuracy. Speed of completion was taken as a measure of: CONSCIENTIOUSNESS
How did Steffans and Schulze König (2006) behaviourally measure extraversion?
Participants were asked about their experiences of the study by a researcher. The time spent with the researcher, answering the questions, was taken as a measure of: EXTRAVERSION
What are other report?
Someone else rating your personality (or vice versa)
What are other report dependent on?
- External manifestations of feelings, thoughts etc.
- The proportion of situations that observer has access to.
Considering the item “they are the life and soul of the party,” what did Funder suggest must be considered before a judgement can be made in other report?
- relevance –> whether you produce trait-relevant behaviour
- availability –> whether this behaviour is available to the rater
- detection –> whether the rater detects that behaviour
- utilization –> whether the rater correctly interprets that behaviour
What is the self-other knowledge asymmetry (SOKA) model?
Both Self and Other ratings can be valid predictors of behaviour, but:
- Asymmetries in validity of self vs other knowledge
- Others more accurate than self when rating traits high in evaluativeness e.g. intellect
- Self more accurate than others when rating low observability traits e.g. neuroticism
- Strongest effects for ‘others’ who are less close.
What are projective tests of personality?
Describe/tell a story about e.g. ambiguous/ meaningless stimuli.
‘Projection’ of personality.
Scored according to e.g.
- Content
- Focus
What are some advantages of projective tests of personality?
- less dependent on introspection
- less prone to bias and faking
- reveal aspects person may be unaware of
What are some disadvantages of projective tests of personality?
- subjective (to reviewer), complex, unreliable scoring
- not based on mainstream personality theory
What is the apperceptive personality test?
- Make up a story about each picture
- Complete a structured questionnaire
found:
Personality has some influence on interpretation of pictures
