Chapter 1 Flashcards
(20 cards)
Personality
A persons stable and enduring traits and characteristics, which lead them to behave in a steady way over time
Fundamental attribution error
The tendency to explain the causes of other people’s behaviour as a product of their internal characteristics and dispositions rather than external situational factors
Individual differences
Any characteristics that are susceptible to variation between individuals; for example, personality or intelligence
Personality theory
A set of propositions about the structure and/or development of personality that forms the basis of a coherent evidence-based explanation
Extraversion
A personality type characterised by outgoing and gregarious behaviour. It forms an extraversion-introversion continuum with introversion, at the opposite pole, typified by reserved and inward-looking behaviour
Psychoanalysis
A set of theories and therapeutic methods exploring the unconscious processes influencing human behaviour
Authoritarian personality
A kind of personality typified by obedience to authority, strict adherence to rules, and hostility towards anyone different from oneself
Anti-semitism
Prejudice and hostility towards Jews
Fascism
A political ideology or regime marked by extreme nationalism and racism, centralisation of authority and the suppression of political opposition
Attitudes
A persons beliefs and feelings about issues, events, objects or people, which are thought to influence behaviour
Scale
A set of items such as questions on a questionnaire which combine to measure a bigger construct (e.g. Personality characteristic) that cannot be measured directly.
Ethnocentrism
Belief in the superiority of ones own ethnic group or culture
F-scale
A measure of personality characteristics underpinning potential for fascism
Interview
A ‘conversation with a purpose’ designed to gather in depth information from research participants, interviews may be structured, asking the same questions of all participants, or semi-structured , allowing interviewers to adapt questions according to participants responses
Quantitative data
Data that can be measured, counted or expressed in numerical terms, for example, scores, ratings or percentages
Qualitative data
Data that is not in numerical form. There are different kinds of qualitative data, for instance interview material, written text such as newspaper articles, or diaries
Acquiescence response bias
A tendency to agree with statements presented in scales, regardless of content
Confirmatory bias
A tendency to pay most attention to those features of a phenomenon that appear to confirm prior expectations
Double blind
A research design where neither the participants nor the investigator know which group the participants belong to, thus reducing the risk of bias in measures and interpretations
Cognitive style
The habitual way a person processes information
