Personality

Question 1

When different personality traits are combined in a five-factor model what can they predict?

Answer 1

Leadership effectiveness (.48 correlation)

Question 2

Outline the person-situation debate

Answer 2

A change of situation or context may change someone’s personality (e.g. an extravert in a context where they need to be quiet), but the rank order of people on a trait will still be preserved - behaviour will still correlate at least .4 despite a change of situation (i.e. extraverts will still be louder compared to introverts)

Question 3

What are the different types of personality tests?

Answer 3

Comprehensive vs. Specific; Normal vs. Abnormal; Descriptive/Atheoretical vs. Explanatory/Theoretical

Question 4

What’s the difference between a Comprehensive vs. Specific personality test?

Answer 4

Comprehensive – covers all of the variants in individual differences between people (e.g. big five);
Specific – hones in on one specific trait (e.g. assignment 2 questionnaire)

Question 5

What’s the difference between a Normal vs. Abnormal personality test?

Answer 5

Normal – targeted at the general population (e.g. driving speed questionnaire);
Abnormal – designed to diagnose psychological disorders (e.g. state-trait anxiety)

Question 6

What’s the difference between a Descriptive/Atheoretical vs. Explanatory/Theoretical personality test?

Answer 6

Descriptive – makes no attempt to explain why, merely describes what people are like (e.g. MMPI);
Explanatory – gives theoretical explanations of why people differ the way they do

Question 7

What are four methods that can be used to construct personality tests?

Answer 7

Content constructed; Factor analysis approaches; Criterion groups; Theory (about why people behave a certain way)

Question 8

Describe the methods used for a content constructed personality test

Answer 8

Review literature for inspiration; interview experts and people with insight (e.g. checklist of psychiatric symptoms, common sense)

Question 9

What type of approach is used for factor analyses?

Answer 9

A lexical approach

Question 10

Describe the methods used in constructing a personality test using criterion groups

Answer 10

Compare a group of people known to have the trait with a control group; develop questionnaire to maximize discrimination between the groups

Question 11

What is empirical criterion keying?

Answer 11

Another term for criterion groups method of development - a method of testing which emphasizes the selection of items that discriminate between normal individuals and members of different diagnostic groups

Question 12

What approach did Cattell initially use to develop his 16 personality trait test, before reducing it through factor analysis?

Answer 12

He used a lexical approach - identified 18000 names in the English dictionary which could be described as personality traits, then narrowed them down, and got people to rate them

Question 13

Describe the “big five” personality theory

Answer 13

It’s a five factor model of personality traits: Openness to experience; Conscientiousness; Extraversion; Agreeableness; and Neuroticism; Each factor can be subdivided into 6 facets (a 30 factor personality test)

Question 14

The most well known version of the Big 5 has 240 items, takes 30-40 mins, and uses T scores. What is it called?

Answer 14

NEO-PI-R (Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness – Personality Inventory – Revised) by Costa and McCrae; has different self-report and observer rating versions

Question 15

Describe the validity of the Big Five

Answer 15

The 5 factors correlate with many other personality factors and established personality tests, as well as social outcomes and behaviours; e.g. conscientiousness has been found to predict the GPA of uni students (beyond entrance exam mark)

Question 16

Does the Big Five generalise across different languages and cultures?

Answer 16

Yes, it’s been found to be robust, and is described as “latitude and longitude” against which other personality traits should be mapped (as they describe all individual differences)

Question 17

What is the “lexical hypothesis” in the context of personality tests?

Answer 17

The assumption that all individual differences are encoded in language

Question 18

What are the criticisms of factor analytic approaches to personality?

Answer 18

They require the lexical hypothesis to be correct; they may produce descriptions of personality but have no explanatory power; almost total reliance on factor analysis; totally atheoretical (with no insight into what makes people have particular traits)

Question 19

Describe Eysenck’s Personality Inventory

Answer 19

He produced a combination of a factor analytic approach and a detailed biologically-based theoretical model - he said we can look inside the brain to find out about personality

Question 20

What were Eysenck’s proposed biological underpinnings in his model?

Answer 20

Extraversion - all differences can be explained by differences in cortical arousal;
Neuroticism – differences in activation thresholds in the limbic system;
Psychoticism - differences in antisocial tendencies (not the same as psychotic or experiencing psychosis)

Question 21

What were Costa and McCrae’s criticisms of Eysenck’s model?

Answer 21

It’s not possible to propose a detailed biological model given the current knowledge in this field (we don’t know enough about brain functionality); there’s no proof that it’s better than the Big 5 in terms of psychometric properties (doesn’t add anything we don’t already know)

Question 22

What did Gray argue about Eysenck’s model?

Answer 22

That he was trying to map on the biological explanations after doing the factor analysis, rather than the other way around (getting the data and then inventing stuff to be consistent with it); extraversion and neuroticism should be reinterpreted as anxiety and impulsivity to map onto the underlying mechanisms more accurately

Question 23

Describe Gray’s Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory, based on his research with rats

Answer 23

He proposed there are 2 systems in the brain for regulating sensitivity to reward and punishment:

1. Behaviour Inhibition System (BIS) – reactivity/sensitivity to punishment = anxiety
2. Behaviour Activation System (BAS) reactivity/sensitivity to reward = impulsivity

Question 24

List 3 criticisms of Gray’s Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory

Answer 24

It’s extremely difficult to demonstrate in humans; it’s based upon primitive learning systems which control only very basic processes in the brain; though theoretically argued to have revolutionized the approach to personality, in practical terms, the model’s incomplete (no agreed upon method for measuring it)

Question 25

What is the MMPI?

Answer 25

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory; a comprehensive personality test designed to diagnose abnormal groups (most frequently used test by neuropsychologists)

Question 26

What has the MMPI been used for?

Answer 26

Differentiating between organic (or medically based) and psychiatric disorders; detecting personality changes following head injury; assessing the validity of a patient’s self-report, including lie scales

Question 27

What method of development does the MMPI use?

Answer 27

Criterion groups (empirical criterion keying)

Question 28

How was the MMPI developed?

Answer 28

They created a large pool of items (logic, reason, literature reviews, expert opinion); gave the preliminary questionnaire to several groups of psychiatric in-patients and a control group; used item analysis to choose items that could discriminate best between groups; standardized the test using a control group

Question 29

For empirical criterion keying to work, does the content of the items matter?

Answer 29

No, as long as they discriminate between the groups (i.e. they may lack face or content validity); so the direction of d (whether positive or negative) doesn’t matter, as long as the groups are separated

Question 30

Describe the psychometric properties of the MMPI

Answer 30

Standardization sample: 2600 people; test-retest and internal consistency; construct validity: 10,000 studies have mapped specific MMPI profiles onto specific behaviours (e.g. alcoholism, neurological disorders, etc); criterion validity: MMPI scores for a non-clinical sample mapped onto ratings by their spouses; scores for psychiatric patients mapped onto ratings by the professionals treating them

Question 31

What are some weaknesses with the MMPI?

Answer 31

Item overlap (many items appear on more than one scale, so artificially high correlations between the different scales); response style (could do with more reverse items; many demographic variables correlate with MMPI scales, which has implications for interpretation); clinical samples are not nationally representative

Question 32

What are psychasthenia, hypomania, and hypochondriasis?

Answer 32

Psychasthenia – old-fashioned term for obsessive compulsive disorder; Hypomania – manic-depressive disorder; Hypochondriasis – exaggerate health problems

Question 33

List five methods we can use to spot faked responses to personality questionnaires

Answer 33

1. Look for outliers: extreme empirical frequencies (e.g. people not saying anything negative about themselves)
2. Look for inconsistency in responses between pairs of similar questions (ideally where one question is reversed)
3. Get Ps to choose which of two alternate statements best describes them when statements are balanced for social desirability (to control for faking good/bad)
4. Include questions that everyone who’s being honest should admit to
5. Look for people who leave a high number of items blank or choose “don’t know” option

Question 34

The MMPI-2 lie scale has multiple validity scales (not psychometric validity). What are they?

Answer 34

Cannot say – missing or double-marked responses;
L (lie) scale – negative statements that apply to most people (e.g. I don’t always tell the truth);
F (infrequency) scale – “eccentric” statements with low endorsement rates (e.g. would be better if all laws were thrown away);
K (correction) scale – willing to admit deviancy (statements considered embarrassing but normal; e.g. I feel useless at times) - more subtle version of the L scale

Question 35

What is TRIN (true response inconsistency), in the context of MMPI-2 lie scales?

Answer 35

The number of true responses to items opposite in content (i.e. items which ought to yield opposite responses but don’t)

Question 36

VRIN (variable response inconsistency) is another measure of response consistency across items. What does FB (back F) mean?

Answer 36

Whether later responses are similar to earlier responses

Question 37

Describe the evidence suggesting that the lie scales in the MMPI actually work

Answer 37

When people without mental disorders were asked to fill in the MMPI as if they had a mental disorder (i.e. they had to fake it), the lie scales successfully detected them

Question 38

Describe some ways of measuring personality that are not questionnaire based

Answer 38

Direct observation of behaviour; self-report (not in questionnaire form); ratings from other people; simulations/role play; projective personality tests (inkblots, pictures, word association, etc); physiological responses (GSR; HR; penile plethysmograph; polygraph/lie detector; pupillometrics)