Intro to Personality and Social

Question 1

personality psychology

Answer 1

the study of the differences between us and our unique personalities

Question 2

social psychology

Answer 2

the study of people as a society and us together

Question 3

personality

Answer 3

a set of psychological traits and mechanisms within the individual that refer to differences among individuals in a typical tendency to behave, think or feel in some conceptually related ways, across a variety of relevant situations, and across a fairly long period of time

Question 4

individual differences may include…

Answer 4

-academic performance
-performance at work
-relationships
-criminality
-abnormality

Question 5

ideographic approach

Answer 5

-focuses on uniqueness of individuals
-uses qualitative methods - e.g. case studies, interviews, narratives

Question 6

nomothetic approach

Answer 6

-focuses on large groups of people
-uses quantitative methods - e.g. questionnaires, direct observations, experiments

Question 7

pro and con of ideographic approach

Answer 7

pro- in depth understanding of the individual or the specific social context

con- difficult to detect general laws of personality

Question 8

pro and con of nomothetic approach

Answer 8

pro- allows us to find general laws of personality

con- more superficial understanding of a specific individual or social context