Chapter Two S Data o Definition A person s evaluation of his or her own personality questionnaires surveys o Advantages High face validity Based on a large amount of info Access to thoughts feelings intentions Definitional truth Causal force self perceptions can create own reality self verification Simply easy data o Disadvantages Deception Memory imperfect Too simple easy I Data o Definition individuals personality o Advantages Judgments by knowledgeable informants about general attributes of Based on large amount of information Based on real observation Definitional truth Causal force people become what others expect them to be o Disadvantages Limited behavioral information Lack of access to private experience Error remember certain memories Bias personal issues prejudices L Data o Definition arrests hospital records income o Advantages Objective verifiable Verifiable real life facts that may hold psychological significance Intrinsic importance we care Psychological relevance affected by personality o Disadvantages Multidetermination many things can cause B Data o Definition o Types Information recorded from direct observation natural or contrived Natural based on how people act in real life diary Advantage o Realistic Disadvantage o Difficult and expensive o Desired contexts may seldom occur Laboratory Types o Experiments o Personality tests o Psychological measures biological behavior Advantages o Range of context o Appearance of objectivity judgments must still be made though Disadvantages o Uncertain interpretation Chapter Three Why psychologists emphasize research methods o Science often questioned people think psychology isn t scientific lack of hard o Need to learn to question everything be skeptical think analytically Scientific education teaching what is known and how to find out what is not yet known facts Ex Psychologist Technical training conveying what is already known about a subject so that the knowledge can be applied Ex Medical Doctor Quality of data o Three questions 1 Reliability the tendency of a measurement instrument to provide similar information of repeated occasions Measurement error the cumulative effect of extraneous influences States vs traits o State in the moment o Trait more consistent average Factors that undermine reliability o Low precision of measurement problems recording o State of participant illness fatigue o State of experimenter doesn t treat the same o Environment noise different temperatures Factors that enhance reliability o Be careful double check o Use standardized procedure or protocol o Measure something that is important topics that participants are interested in o Aggregation averaging data from multiple people 2 Validity degree to which a measurement actually reflects what one things or hopes it does Constructs an idea about a psychological attribute that goes beyond what might be assessed through any particular method of measurement o Cannot be directly seen Ex gravity intelligence o Can only be seen through their effects o Using a construct is like proposing a theory o Construct Validation gather as many different measurements of construct as you can and see if they correlate together 3 Generalizability the degree to which a measurement or result of an experiment applies to other tests situations or people Gender bias unfair treatment due to gender Cohort effects particular impact on people s lives that is bonded by time or common life experience Ethnic and cultural diversity o WEIRD populations Western Educated Industrialized Rich Democratic Research designs much as possible DV o Case studies closely studying a particular event or person in order to find out as o Experiments a technique that establishes the causal relationship between an IV Random assignment manipulate IV causality o Correlational studies a research technique that establishes the relationship between two variables by measuring both variables in a sample of participants Scatter plot Correlation Coefficient strength and direction of relationship Chapter Four Two points about trait theory o Based on empirical research o Focuses on individual differences Person situation debate which is more important for determining what people do o Mischel 1968 behavior is too inconsistent to characterize with traits Three issues about the person situation debate o Does personality of an individual transcend the immediate situation o Are common intuations about people fundamentally flawed o Why do psychologists continue to argue about the consistency of personality when the basic empirical questions were settled long ago Three situationist arguments and the personality responses o 1 Predictability Upper limit to how well one can predict behavior based personality Unfair selective literature review by Mischel We can do better 40 limit poor methodology Need to get out of laboratory and focus on behavioral trends Correlation of 40 is not small o 2 Situationism situations are more important than personality traits in determining behavior as well Both personality and situations are important determinants of behavior cant say personality doesn t matter unless you say this is for the situation o 3 Person perceptions are erroneous the professional practice of personality assessment is a waste of time and everyday intuitions about people are fundamentally flawed general intuition about humanity is wrong Interactionism personality and situations work together certain types of people go to or find themselves in different types of situations people change the situations they are in o Stanford prison study Why was this debate so important reflects what people want to believe o People are free to do whatever they want traits don t dictate our life o Everybody is equal and differences are a function of the situation o If the situation can be all powerful then nothing we do is ever really our fault Chapter Five Personality characteristic patterns of behavior thought or emotional experience that are relatively consistent across time and situations o Includes many variables o Motives intentions goals strategies and how people perceive and construct things Two basic criteria for assessing personality assessment o Agreement does this judgment agree with other judgments obtained through other techniques or from other judges o Prediction can this judgment of personality be used to predict behavior or life outcomes Types of tests o Omnibus measure wide range of traits vs one trait measures IAT