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Personality Theory > Exam 2: Ch 4-7 > Flashcards

Exam 2: Ch 4-7 Flashcards

1
Q

Most psychological research on the trait approach relies on _____ studies

A

correlational

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2
Q

T/F: Trait approach is based on ratio rather than ordinal scales

A

False: The trait approach is based on ordinal scales

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3
Q

Person-situation debate

A

Asks the following question:

Which is more important in determining what people do: the person or the situation?

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4
Q

Situationism

A

The idea that situation predominately determines behavior

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5
Q

Single-Trait Approach

A

Examines link between personality and behavior by asking, “What do people that are [that single trait] do?”

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6
Q

Many-Trait Approach

A

Asks “Who does that?” - the reverse of the question for singe-trait. Researchers determine which traits correlate with specific behaviors and then see to explain the pattern of correlations

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7
Q

Essential-Trait Approach

A

“Which traits are most important?”

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8
Q

Typological Approach

A

Considers people to be too qualitatively different to compare them all on the same trait dimensions. Goal is to identify groups are people similar enough in traits and behaviors that they can be considered all part of the same “type”

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9
Q

High self-monitors

A

People who are very different between their inner and outer selves and in how they perform in different settings

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10
Q

Low self-monitors

A

People who are largely the same inside and out, and do not vary much from one setting to another

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11
Q

Narcissism

A

Excessive self-love, so extreme that is can be classified as a personality disorder.

Although charming at first, it usually wears off and the person is manipulative, overbearing, entitled, vain, arrogant, and exhibitionistic.

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12
Q

Causes of Narcissism

A

Extreme sensitivity to rejections/exclusion. Failure to control impulses and delay gratification,

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13
Q

California Q-set

A

Example of the Many-Trait Approach

Set of 100 traits/phrases to which the subject agrees or disagrees. The rater then sorts the phrases into categories 1-9, 1 being highly uncharacteristic and 9 being highly characteristic (forced distribution because each category must have a specific number of items). This forces the judges to compare all items directly against each other

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14
Q

LIWC

A

Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count: calculates the number of words that appear in each of a long list of categories, like “certainty words”

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15
Q

Jack and Jean Block’s Study

A

Assessed the personalities of preschoolers, then reassessed them 20 years later on their political beliefs, and scored them on a scale of liberal to conservative.

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16
Q

California F Scale

A

Measures the basic antidemocratic psychological orientation that is the suspected common foundation of intense racial prejudices.

An example of the many-trait approach

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17
Q

Pseudoconservativism

A

A pathological version of political conservativism that is motivated by one’s desire for security/”the usual”

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18
Q

Describe the major issue/bias in the examination of the correlation between political beliefs and personality

A

Most personality psychologists are liberals, so there is a built-in readiness to conclude that conservatives are flawed in some way.

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19
Q

Thematic Apperception Test

A

Henry Murray’s List of 20 “needs” that he described as central to the understanding of personality. He theorized this list

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20
Q

Jack and Jeanne Block’s Two Essential Characteristics of Personality

A

“Ego resilience” = psychological adjustment

“Ego control” = impulse control

Individuals high in ego resilience can adjust their level of control based on the circumstances.

“Undercontrol gets one into trouble, but resilience gets one out of it”

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21
Q

Undercontrolled individuals

A

Tend to act immediately upon impulses

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22
Q

Hans Eysenck’s 3 essential personality traits

A

Extraversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism

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23
Q

Auke Tellegen’s three “superfactors”

A

Positive emotionality, negative emotionality, and constraint

Roughly parallel, but better defined than Eysenck’s essential traits

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24
Q

Lexical hypothesis

A

The important aspects of human life will be labeled, and if something is truly important and universal, many words for it will exist in all languages

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25
Q

Openness to Experience

A

Sometimes called culture/intellect. High scorers are creative, imaginative, open-minded, and clever. Also more likely to be liberal, use drugs, and play an instrument

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26
Q

Agreeableness

A

Measures one’s tendency to be cooperative. Looks at conformity, compliance, likeability.

High scorers tend to be compassionate and polite, although may be push-overs

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27
Q

Conscientiousness

A

Comprises being dutiful, careful, rule-abiding, and ambitious.

High scorers are trusted in the workplace, do as they are told, and do not steal. They are usually good drivers but carry a lot of car insurance –> They avoid risks and seek to protect themselves just in case

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28
Q

Neuroticism

A

May also be called “negative emotionality”.

High scorers tend to deal ineffectively with problems and react more negatively to stressful events. They are sensitive to social threats and more likely to be unhappy, anxious, and even physically sick. They complain more frequently than low scorers

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29
Q

Convergent validation

A

When several reliable sources all point to the same conclusion

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30
Q

The Trait Approach

A

Assumes that individuals differ in their characteristic patterns of thought, feeling, and behavior. Such patterns are called traits.

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31
Q

Person-Situation Debate

A

Controversy over whether it is worthwhile to characterize people in terms of their traits, considering how inconsistent people are.

Situationists vs Personality Theorists

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32
Q

Situationist arguments

A

Behavior is mainly determined by one’s situation. Three specific arguments:

1 - Ability of traits to predict behavior is extremely limited

2 - The situations are more important than personality traits in determining what people do

3 - Not only is personality assessment a waste of time, but also many of people’s intuitions about each other are fundamentally wrong

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33
Q

Upper limit for predictability of behaviors based on personality traits

A

0.4

A quite low upper limit

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34
Q

Walter Mischel

A

Published Personality and Assessment in 1968. Argued that behavior is too inconsistent across situations to allow individual differences to be characterized accurately in terms of broad personality traits.

Mischel is considered, to a certain degree, to have kicked off the person-situation debate

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35
Q

Absolute evaluation of the .40 correlation

A

Requires calculation of how many correct and incorrect predictions of behavior a trait measurement with this degree of validity would yield.

Use BESD to do so

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36
Q

Relative evaluation of the .40 correlation

A

Compare this degree of predictability for personality traits with the accuracy of other methods (specifically, the predictability power of situational variables)

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37
Q

Strong vs Weak Situations

A

Strong situations command people to behave a certain way (there will almost always be a select few individuals, however, that do not conform due to STRONG personality traits).

Weak situations allow for more flexibility in the way that people behave.

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38
Q

Fundamental Attribution Error

A

Tendency of humans to make assumptions about one’s personality based on their actions, largely disregarding the situation. Often brief, biased, and limited

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39
Q

Interactionism

A

Recognizes that persons and situations must interact to produce behavior together. Also emphasizes the facts that

(1) The effect of a person variable may depend on the situation, and vice versa, (2) people with different personalities may choose/find themselves in different situations, and
(3) that situations are affected by the personalities of people who inhabit them

40
Q

With which effector of behavior does blame fall according to the situationist?

And according to the personality theorist?

A

Situationist: Blamed on environment/external factors

Personality: Blamed on the actor/intrinsic factors

41
Q

Percent of accurate predictions based on personality according to BESD

A

r of .40 → 70% accuracy

42
Q

Realistic Accuracy Model

A

Identifies four stages that affect the accuracy of a judgment:

Relevance, availability, detection, utilization

If accuracy is hindered, something is going wrong in at least one of these stages

43
Q

Effects of others’ judgements on the judgee

A

Availability of opportunity, self-fulfilling prophecies, expectancy effects

44
Q

Actor-observer bias

A

Tendency to attribute one’s own actions to external factors (like the situation), but the actions of others to internal factors (their personalities)

45
Q

Rosenthal and Jacobsen Study

A

Some children were labeled as “bloomers” in the classroom and were treated with more intellectual respect and given better feedback and more challenges

46
Q

Snyder, Tanke, and Berscheid

A

Social Expectancy Effect Experiment studying the effects of attractiveness on the perception of the individual. Finding: Attractive women are expected to be warm and friendly, and are treated in such a manner that they indeed respond that way

47
Q

Convergent validation

A

The assembly of diverse pieces of information pointing to a common conclusion.

48
Q

The two primary converging criteria for personality judgments

A

Interjudge agreement (multiple judges making the same conclusion) and behavioral prediction

49
Q

Predictive validity

A

When a predicted behavior occurs in line with the prediction of a corresponding trait.

50
Q

Moderator variable (and the 4 main ones that affect personality judgments)

A

One that affects the relationship between two other variables; it changes the correlation between a judgment and its criterion.

The Four: The Judge, The Target, the trait that is being judged, and the info on which the judgement is based

51
Q

Judgability

A

A matter of “what you see is what you get” - The behavior of judgable people is organized coherently

52
Q

Sociosexualtiy

A

The willingness to engage in sexual relations with minimal acquaintanceship with, or commitment to and from, one’s partner

53
Q

Traits that are able to be judged fairly accurately after just 5 seconds of interaction? Which traits are not?

A

Accurately judged: Extraversion, conscientiousness, and intelligence

Not accurately judged: Neuroticism, Openness, and Agreeableness

54
Q

Boundary on the Acquaintanceship Effect

A

A judge who has known the judgee for a longer period of time does not always make the most accurate predictions of their behaviors. It depends on the contexts in which the judge knows the judgee and in which the prediction is being made.

e.g. a student more accurately predicting their professor’s behavior in class next week compared to the prediction made by the professor’s wife

55
Q

Critical Realism

A

The philosophical view that the absence of perfect, infallible criteria for determining the truth does not imply that all interpretations of reality are equally valid. Rather, one can use empirical evidence to determine which views of reality are more or less likely to be valid.

Under this frame of thought, the answer to the question, “What criteria can be used to assess accuracy?” is:

All info that might be helpful

56
Q

Constructivism

A

The philosophical view that reality does NOT exist and only idea of reality exist. These ideas are “constructions”

57
Q

The most predictable traits based on people’s faces

A

Extraversion agreeableness

58
Q

“Input” in Rosenthal’s thoery

A

The way that teachers teach higher volume and more difficult material to “high-expectancy” students

59
Q

“Output” in Rosenthal’s Theory

A

Teachers giving extra opportunities to high-expectancy students to allow them to show what they have learned

Think: Output= Opportunity

60
Q

“Feedback” in Rosenthal’s Theory

A

Teachers giving more differentiated, specific feedback to high-expectancy students in comparison to low-expectancy students

Think: Feedback = diFFerent, speciFic Feedback

61
Q

“Climate” in Rosenthal’s Theory

A

The way that teachers project a warmer emotional attitude towards high-expectancy students compared to low

Think: climate = WARM attitude

62
Q

The four-factor theory proposed by Robert Rosenthal regarding intellectual expectancy

A

High-expectancy students excel beyond their peers because teachers treat them differently in four ways:

climate, feedback, input, output

63
Q

Characteristics of individuals that are good targets

A

High in judgability, predictable behavior based on past behavior, and they are more well-adjusted, agreeable, and extraverted

64
Q

T/F: Family/culture can be one of the main interferences to developing self-knowledge

A

True! Restrictive cultures may limit self-expression, which would limit self-knowledge

65
Q

Methods of improving self-knowledge (four)

A

Introspection, seeking neutral feedback, observing your own behavior

66
Q

The four opposing tendencies in the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

A

Extraversion vs Introversion

Sensing vs Intuition

Thinking vs Feeling

Judgment vs Perception

67
Q

Why is Myers-Briggs popular?

A

Provides seemingly rich, intriguing, insightful descriptions of each type. All types have positive explanations. People enjoy learning their type

68
Q

Criticisms of Myers Briggs

A

Not useful for selection or prediction of life outcomes. Based on normally distributed scores. Unreliable. No evidence that different types follow, persist in, or succeed in different lines of work

69
Q

Caspi’s three personality types

A

Based on level of adjustment:

(1) Well-adjusted, (2) Maladjusted-overcontrolled: too uptight, deny their own pleasure, (3) Maladjusted-under-controlled: too impulsive, prone to risky activities

70
Q

T/F: Knowledge of a person’s type allows for the most accurate predictions of their behavior and life outcomes.

A

FALSE. No benefit of the type approach over the trait approach

71
Q

Describe the issue with cutoff scores in typological approaches

A

Individuals who are both close to the average, but in slightly different directions, will be classified as different personality types

72
Q

Rank-order consistency

A

The maintenance of individual differences in behavior or personality over time or across situations

73
Q

Temperament

A

Includes basic attributes that are present at birth, including activity level, emotional reactivity, and cheerfulness

74
Q

Heterotypic Continuity

A

The expression of fundamental differences will vary as one ages, but the underlying trait is the same (ie an emotionally fragile child acts differently than an emotionally fragile adult, but the underlying trait is the same)

75
Q

Effectors of Personality Stability

A

Temperament, physical and environmental factors, birth order (1st child is treated differently than following), early experience, person-environment transactions, cumulative continuity and maturity

76
Q

Cumulative continuity principle

A

Personality becomes more stable with age. Goes along with the fact that environment becomes more stable with age

77
Q

Person-Environment transaction

A

People creating environments that are compatible with, and may magnify, their personality traits

78
Q

Active Person-Environment Transaction

A

People seeking out situations that are compatible with their personalities and avoiding those that are incompatible

79
Q

Reactive Person-Environment Transaction

A

People with different personalities (may) react differently to the same situation

80
Q

Evocative Person-Environment Transaction

A

The process by which a people may change situations they encounter through behaviors that express their personality

81
Q

Cross-sectional study

A

Surveys different groups of people at different ages

82
Q

Cohort Effect

A

The tendency for a research finding to be limited to one group

83
Q

Maturity Principle

A

The idea that the traits required for adult roles increase with age

84
Q

Social Clock

A

The traditional expectations of society for when a person is expected to have achieved certain goals, like starting a family or getting settled into a career.

85
Q

Narrative identity

A

The story one tells oneself about who they are. Builds progressively to view oneself in the following roles (cumulatively):

actor, agent (starting around age 7-9, guided by goals and values), then author

86
Q

Generalizing Gradient

A

Reflects the degree to which a response learned to one stimulus is also elicited by other, similar stimuli

87
Q

Steps to Personality Change

A
  1. Both Pre-conditions (desire and belief in feasibility)
  2. Self-regulated behavioral changes
  3. Self-regulated changes become habitual
  4. Trait change
88
Q

Four Approaches to Personality Change

A
  1. Psychotherapy (eg cognitive-behavioral, often w drugs)
  2. General Interventions (often directed at groups of high-risk children)
  3. Targeted interventions
  4. Life experiences
89
Q

Self-Affirmations

A

Ex of a targeted intervention. Involves patient writing an essay about one or more values that are important to them. Sheer act of writing proves to decrease defensiveness. Leads to lasting change

90
Q

Firstborns are more _______.

Laterborns are more ________.

A

1st: Ambitious, supportive of traditional values

Later: independent, open-minded, and even rebellious

91
Q

Social investment principle

A

Changing social roles at different stages of life can cause personality to change. Infants, children, adults, and the elderly all connect to society in different ways

92
Q

Corresponsive principle

A

Person-environment transactions can cause personality traits to remain consistent, or even magnify, over time`

93
Q

Identity Development Principle

A

People seek to develop a stable sense of who they are, and then strive to act consistently with this self-view

94
Q

Role continuity principle

A

Taking on roles like being a “jock” or a “brain” can lead personality to be consistent over time

95
Q

Plasticity principle

A

Personality can change at any time (but such change may not be easy)

Personality Theory (4 decks)

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