Chapter 4 Flashcards
(14 cards)
What is differential psychology?
studying forms of individual differences and personality traits such as abilities, aptitudes, and intelligence
Which is more consistent over time, personality traits or attitude, interests, & opinions?
personality traits – esp. broad based ones
What is situationism?
if behaviour differs from situation to situation, it must be situational differences (rather than personality traits) that determine behaviour
What is person-situation interaction?
behaviour is a function of the interaction between personality and situational forces
What is aggregation?
the process of adding up, or averaging, several single observations, resulting in a more reliable measure of a personality trait than a single observation of behaviour
What is carelessness in terms of a measurement issue?
Participants filling out questionnaires carefully due to rushing, unmotivated, tired, etc.
How can you catch carelessness?
- infrequency scales – if one or two of these items are “wrong”, then the test can be flagged
- duplicate questions
What is an infrequency scale?
items in a questionnaire that almost all people will answer in a particular way
What is faking in terms of a measurement issue?
motivated distortion of answers on a questionnaire
How can you catch faking?
Build a “faking good” profile and a “faking bad” profile and compare participants to these
What is a Barnum statement?
statements that could apply to anyone - generalities
What is the MMPI?
personality test used in the workforce that assess a large number of characteristics
Which is better in selecting police officers? The MMPI-II or the CPI?
CPI
What is the main criticism with the MBTI?
- it is based on a theory that is not widely endorsed by research or academic psychologists
- people are usually somewhere in between, not at the extremes
