Week 8 Mandy's notes

Question 1

Define personality

Answer 1

the enduring patterns of thought, feeling, motivation and behaviour that are expressed in different circumstances

Question 2

What are some theories of personality?

Answer 2

»Psychodynamic/psychoanalytic theories
»Behavioural theories
»Cognitive-social theories
»Trait theories
»Humanist / Interpersonal theories

»Genetics
»Culture

Question 3

What are the paradigms in personality assessment?

Answer 3

»Psychoanalytic
»Interpersonal
»Personological
»Multivariate (trait)
»Empirical
»Social-cognitive
»Positive psychology

Question 4

Approaches to personality theories

Answer 4

»Deductive (items derived from theory, like face validity, but test takers can fake good or fake bad)

vs Empirical (like multivariate or trait approaches. Driven by data gathered)

»Assessments might use Objective or Projective techniques

Question 5

The psychoanalytic approach

Answer 5

Originated in the work of Sigmund Freud
»the role of unconscious motivational process in normal and abnormal personality functioning;
»Elaborated on by a number of researchers during the
course of the twentieth century
»Anna Freud
»Erik Erikson

Question 6

The Rorschach

Answer 6

Most infamous
»Controversial
»Based on responses to 10 bilaterally symmetrical inkblots
»The way that people organise their responses to the
images is supposed to reflect how they respond to other ambiguous situations

Weakness:
»Low predictive validity
»Low reliability of scoring systems
»Requires a lot of training

Question 7

The interpersonal approach

Answer 7

Based on the work of Harry Stack Sullivan
»Popularised by Timothy Leary
»Proposes that personality exists only in the interaction between people
»The study of interpersonal processes is therefore central to personality assessment

Question 8

Interpersonal Circumplex:

Answer 8

way of describing interpersonal behaviour

Question 9

The personological approach

Answer 9

Began with the work of Henry Murray
»Focuses on (principally) psychogenic needs of the
individual
»Extent to which the environment promoted or inhibited these needs

Question 10

Thematic Apperception Test (TAT

Answer 10

Not designed to be diagnostic
»Clinical and non-clinical uses

Weaknesses:
»Questionable reliability and validity

Question 11

The multivariate (trait) approach

Answer 11

The oldest approach to personality
»Began with early “type” approaches
»Modern form: there are a number of dimensions of individual difference that people have in common and that serve to specify the individual’s personality
»Allport
»Cattell
»Eysenck
»Costa & McCrae

Question 12

Trait Theorists: The Five-Factor Model (FFM)

Answer 12

Trait Theorists:
The Five-Factor Model (FFM)

»Openness
(open to new ideas vs. conventional & narrow in interests)

»Conscientiousness
(responsible & organized vs. irresponsible & careless)

»Extroversion
(sociable & talkative vs. withdrawn & quiet)

»Agreeableness
(trusting & good-natured vs. suspicious & ruthless)

»Neuroticism
(emotionally unstable & moody vs. emotionally stable & easygoing)

Question 13

Measures of personality traits

Answer 13

NEO Personality Inventory (Costa & McCrae)
»Big Five Inventory (BFI; John, Donahue, & Kentle, 1991

Good Reliability and Predictive validity

Question 14

Limitations of the trait approach

Answer 14

Self-report can lead to inaccurate self-presentation
- this limitation is addressed by empirical approach.

Good face validity can lead to social desirability bias

Question 15

The empirical approach

Answer 15

A way of constructing psychological tests
»Relies on collecting and evaluating data about how
each of the items from a pool of items discriminates between groups of respondents

»Groups who are thought to show or not show the attribute the test is to measure

Question 16

What’s an example of the empirical approach?

Answer 16

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)
Most widely used and researched standardised
“personality” test
»MMPI developed as a measure to:
- distinguish between “normal” and “abnormal” groups and
- assist in differential diagnosis of major psychiatric disorders
»California Psychological Inventory (CPI)
»Strong Vocational Interest Blank (SVIB)

Question 17

The social-cognitive approach

Answer 17

Key theorists:
»Walter Michel
»Albert Bandura
»George Kelly
»Unique experiences of individuals are important in
shaping consistencies in thoughts and behaviours
»(rather than motivational forces or genetically determined predispositions)
»“Person variables” are more flexible than traits

Question 18

Encoding & personal relevance

Answer 18

Personal constructs
(Kelly, 1955)
»Mental representations of people, places, things, and
events that are significant to a person. Personal value
(Mischel, 1979)
»“The importance individuals attach to various
outcomes or potential outcomes”
(Burton, et al., 2015, p. 431)

Question 19

Expectancies & competencies

Answer 19

Behaviour-outcome expectancy:
“a belief that certain behaviour will lead to a particular outcome” (Burton, et al., 2015, p. 431)
»
Self-efficacy expectancy:
“a persons conviction that she can perform the actions necessary to produce the desired outcome (Bandura, 1977)” (Burton, et al., 2015, p. 431)
»
Competences: skills and abilities for solving problems

Question 20

Self-regulation

Answer 20

Setting goals, evaluating performance, and adjusting behaviour to achieve these goals in the context of ongoing feedback”

Question 21

The social-cognitive approach

Answer 21

Assessment methods
»Clinical Interview
»ABCs
»Formal measures of self-efficacy, specific skills, 
etc.  
»Self-monitoring of behaviours
»Assessment needs to be context-specific

Question 22

Positive psychology example measures

Answer 22

Example measures:
»General Self-Efficacy Scale (Jeruselum& Schwarzer,
1992)
»Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965)
»Hope Scale (Snyder, et al 1991)
»Life Orientation Test-Revised
»Widely used measure of optimism
»Satisfaction with Life Scale (Diener, Emmons, Larsen & Griffin, 1985)
»Usually developed using logical-content approach