Exam 1 Study Guide  

Can be used to confirm whether the test items fall into hypothesized groups.

∙ Data Types

o S-Data: self-report; efficacy expectations

 Usefulness: can reflect complex aspects of character that  no other data source could access

 Advantages

∙ Large amount of information, access to thoughts,  

feelings, & intentions, self-verification, simple & easy  

 Disadvantages

∙ Maybe they won’t/can’t tell you, too simple & too  

easy

o I-Data: informant; other individuals will provide their insight;  someone who knows you/the participant

 Usefulness: allows for outside opinion on the individual’s  personality

 Advantages

∙ Real-world basis, common sense, causal force,  

Positive emotions, assertiveness, sociability.

definitional  

 Disadvantages

∙ Limited behavioral information, lack of access to  

private experience, error, bias

o L-Data: life outcomes; any kind of public information

 Usefulness: verifiable, concrete, may hold psychological  significance  

 Advantages

∙ Objective & verifiable, psychological relevance,  

intrinsic importance, multi-determination

 Disadvantages

∙ Hard to tell cause

o B-Data: behavior; watching/observing people (sometimes can be  collected in experiments If you want to learn more check out What are the disciplines of neuroscience?

 Allows you to collect your own observations on the  

individual’s personality

Relevance, availability, detection, utilization.

 Advantages

∙ Range of contexts, appearance of objectivity

 Disadvantages

∙ Difficult & expensive, uncertain interpretation  

∙ Types of Research  

o Case Studies: involves a very close examination of a person or  event

 Advantages

∙ A well-chosen case study can be a source of ideas,  

sometimes the method is absolutely necessary

 Disadvantages/weaknesses

∙ The degree to which its findings can be generalized  

as unkown

o Experimental: have to randomly assign to two or more groups;  manipulate the factor interested in  If you want to learn more check out What are the two different types of lenses on a light microscope?

 Advantages If you want to learn more check out What does double jeopardy mean?

∙ Gains insight into methods of instruction, researcher  can have control over variables, intuitive practice  

shaped by research  

 Disadvantages

∙ Subject to human error, sample may not be  

representative, human response can be difficult to  

measure

o Correlational: an associational research study; no experimental  groups, everybody is treated the same We also discuss several other topics like What are the anthropological evidence?
We also discuss several other topics like Who started the napoleonic wars?

 Advantages

∙ Allows to collect much more data than experiments,  

the results tend to be more applicable to everyday  

life

 Disadvantages/weaknesses

∙ Cannot provide a conclusive reason for a  

relationship, causation cannot be determined  

∙ Key Statistical Concepts

o Correlation: (r) represents the strength of the linear relationship  between two variables

o Factor Analysis: identifies groups of things that seem to have  something in common  

o Null hypothesis significance testing: the most common method  used to determine whether or not scientific results matter  Tells us what % of the time we would find the same  

relationship between variables

o Effect Size vs/ Statistical Significance If you want to learn more check out What is the difference between a peptide and a polypeptide?

 Correlations are a measure of effect size, they tell us the  goodness of fit between data & least square lines

o Data aggregation: measuring personality across situations o Binomial effect size display: a way of expressing effect size based on probability  

∙ Key Research Concepts

o Reliability: a reliable measure gives you a result you can trust o Validity: measuring what you intend to measure

o Generalizability: do your measures work on everyone? o What problems can affect these research concepts and how do  researchers address them?

 Reliability

∙ Problems – participant error, experiment error,  

distractions, situations & temporary states  

∙ Improvements – data aggregation, clear/carefully  

designed experimental protocol  

 Validity

∙ Problems – when something doesn’t measure what it  intends to measure, no validity w/o reliability  

∙ Improvements – attempting new tests

 Generalizability

∙ Problems – will it continue to apply across time,  

ethnicity, gender, culture

∙ Improvements – adapt measures to fit different  

cultures

∙ Person vs. Situation Debate

o Walter Mischel’s role in debate

 Reviewed personality studies & found that correlations  between personality traits & behavior in different situations fell under .30

 Caused psychologists to question whether the concept of  personality traits was useful

o Funder’s research responding to debate

 Reanalyzed classic social psychology studies

o Personality’s influence on situations (strong vs. weak)   Strong situations: situations where nearly all people act the same way; personality is useless

 Weak/ambiguous situations: situations that allow for  

variations in behavior; personality is useful

o The Personality Coefficient: the .30 from Mischel’s studies is  labeled the “personality coefficient”  

o Contexts in which personality or situational variables are better  at predicting behavior

 Personality

∙ Personality traits influence the situations a person  

finds herself in

∙ Personality traits influence how situations unfold

∙ Classic interaction: 2 variables in combination have  

meaningful effect

 Situational  

∙ Situational variables are better at predicting how  

people act in an array of situations  

o Has led to data aggregation

o Interactions between personality & situations (moderator  variables)

 Moderator variable: a 3rd variable that affects the strength  of the relationship between a dependent & independent  variable

 Need for consistency – higher = greater predictive power of situations

 Age – older = greater stability in personality traits

 Self-monitoring – higher = greater predictive power of  situations

∙ Personality Assessment  

o Projective tests: objectively meaningless stimuli elicit responses  that provide insight into the respondent’s personality

 Advantages

∙ Allow psychologists to assess unconscious aspects of  personality, not transparent  

 Disadvantages

∙ Questionable reliability & validity

 Data obtained: B-Data

o Objective tests: responses are less open to interpretation than  projective tests, though pure objectivity is elusive  

 The Rational method: write items that relate obviously to  whatever you measure  

∙ Advantages

o Client capable of self-assessment

∙ Disadvantages

o Not useful when items are unclear/invalid

 Factor Analysis Method:

∙ Confirmatory testing: can be used to confirm whether test items fall into hypothesized groups

∙ Exploratory testing: can be used to explore whether  

test items fall into sensible groups  

∙ Advantages

o Helps with correlation

∙ Disadvantages

o Harming factors is subjective, sometimes factor

structure is difficult to interpret

 Pure Empirical Methods: based on experimentation or  observation

∙ Advantages

o Very difficult to “fake”

∙ Disadvantages

o Validation is crucial, difficult to justify if  

challenged

 Type of data obtained = S-Data/B-Data

o Discriminatory use of personality tests in employment

 Griggs v. Duke Power

∙ Power Co. had five branches of the company by race; the white man was paid more & worked less

∙ The workers had to take subjective/objective tests  

(sorted)

∙ The Power Co. was sued for racism before Title 9 was created

∙ Personality Judgments

o Consequences

 Opportunities can be expanded or limited

 Expectancy effects – intellectual/social – occurs when an  assessment of your personality allows you to act in the way of assessment

∙ Intellectual: target of the expectations need not know about them to be affected

∙ Social: a study suggested that our behavior w/ other  people is influenced by how they expect us to act  

(Snyder & colleagues 1977)

 Stereotype threat: when people are place in situations  where they might confirm negative stereotypes, they tend  to perform poorly on tasks

o Accuracy of Personality Judgments

 First impressions – based on face, fashionableness  

(extraversion), loud voice (extraversion), music preference  Moderators of accuracy – skill level of the judge, reliability  of the target, the trait under consideration, amount of  

available information, quality of available information

o Realistic accuracy model – relevance, availability, detection,  utilization

∙ Trait Theory

o The 3 approaches to studying traits

 Single-trait:

∙ Self-monitoring: addresses fundamental issues  

concerning the relationship between one’s private  

inner reality & the external self, presented to others

∙ Narcissism: usually negative  

 Many-trait: California Q-Set (100 phrases), word use  

(certainty words), depression, political orientation

 Essential-trait: reducing the many to a few (traits)

o Personality Types

 Somatotypes: ectomorph (long, thin limbs), mesomorph  (wide shoulders, narrow waist), endomorph (increased fat  storage)

 Well-adjusted: flexible, resourceful, successful,  interpersonal relationships

 Maladjusted over-controlling: self-deprivation, difficulty  maintaining interpersonal relationships

 Maladjusted under-controlling: impulsive

o Big Five personality traits: neuroticism, extraversion,  agreeableness, conscientiousness, & openness

o Correlations between big 5 personality traits & behavior/life  outcomes

 Neuroticism: people who score high on this trait tend to  deal ineffectively w/ problems in their lives & react more  negatively to stressful events

 Openness: people scoring high are viewed by others as  creative, imaginative, open-minded, & clever

 Conscientiousness: organized, dependable, self-discipline  Agreeableness: compassionate, cooperative, trusting  Extraversion: positive emotions, assertiveness, sociability