Personality Theories Exam 1
funder's first law
Great strengths are usually great weaknesses, and surprisingly often the opposite is true as well
correlation coefficient
A numerical index of the degree of relationship between two variables.
research
A scientific process that involves the systematic and careful collection of data.
trait
A characteristic that an organism can pass on to its offspring through its genes.
scatter plot
A graph with points plotted to show a possible relationship between two sets of data.
basic approach
A theoretical view of personality that focuses on some phenomena and ignores others.
reliability
Ability of a test to yield very similar scores for the same individual over repeated testings
person-situation debate
a controversial debate centering on whether people really do behave consistently across situations
spearman-brown formula
a mathematical formula that predicts the degree to which the reliability of a test can be improved by adding more items.
case method
a procedure for gathering scientific information by studying a single individual
correlational method
a research procedure used to determine how much events or characteristics vary along with each other
california Q-set
a set of 100 descriptive items that comprehensively cover the personality domain
measurement error
an error that occurs when there is a difference between the information desired by the researcher and the information provided by the measurement process
conscientiousness
being careful and vigilant (organized, planning, dependable)
constructs
categories people develop to help them organize information
learning and cognitive processes approach
classic behaviorism and how it can be affected by rewards and punishments
Self data
comes from the person/self
face validity
extent to which respondents can tell what the items are measuring
life data
facts about someone
phenomenological approach
focus on people's conscious experience of the world
psychoanalytic approach
focus on the unconscious mind and internal mental conflict
aggregation
group; gathering
learning
how behavior changes as a result of rewards, punishments, and other life experiences
trait approach
how people differ psychologically
psychological triad
how people feel, think, and behave
neuroticism
how we strongly react to positive/negative events (emotions are extreme, worrying, reactive)
openness to experience
intelligence (seeks new culture, food, experience)
judgements
mental assessments of the presence of attributes and the benefits associated with those attributes
behavioral data
observational reports about the behavior and the conditions under which the behavior occurs or changes
big 5 (OCEAN)
openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism
construct validation
the strategy of establishing the validity of a measure by comparing it with a wide range of other measures
self-verfication
the tendency to seek evidence to confirm the self-concept
biological approach
understand the mind in terms of the body
agreeableness
warmth, kindness how well you get along with others (friendly, help others, unassertive)
behavioral confirmation
when we act in a way that makes our expectations about a group come true
informant data
Data supplied from people who know the participants
many-trait approach
Examine correlations between one behavior and many traits
experimental method
The approach that the proper way to explore the workings of the universe was through repeatable experiments rather than speculation.
essential-trait approach
The research strategy that attempts to narrow the list of thousands of trait terms into a shorter list of the ones that really matter.
expectancy effect
The tendency for someone to become the kind of person others expect him or her to be
funder's second law
There are no perfect indicators of personality; there are only clues, and clues are always ambiguous
funder's third law
something beats nothing, two times out of three
psychometrics
study of the measurement of human abilities, attitudes, and traits
extraversion
surgency (large groups, social bug, energetic)
validity
the extent to which a test measures or predicts what it is supposed to
generalizability
the extent to which we can claim our findings inform us about a group larger than the one we studied
interactionism
the idea that situations and personality interact to determine behavior