Theoretical and Measurement Issues Learning Objectives 1 Know the four ways to measure personality and be able to recognize examples a Self Report ask them b Other reports ask other people c Situational tests put them in a situation d Biological Tests 2 Know the costs and benefits of self report data a Benefits b Costs i There are things people know about themselves that no one else does i People can lie job interviews ii There are things that people don t even know about themselves 3 Understand the difference between reliability and validity a Reliability the true level of the trait Degree to which measure actually represents i Reliability Consistency ii Some types of Reliability 1 Test retest reliability 2 Internal Consistency Asking the same question different ways iii A measure can be reliable but not valid A test is valid if it measures what it claims to b Validity measure 4 List and define the three kinds of validity covered in the lecture a Construct Validity the extent to which a test measures the construct that it is theoretically intended to measure It increases as empirical support is garnered for the various propositions contained in the construct s nomological net This is the most basic and encompassing form of validity and other forms of validity can be seen as derivatives from it b Content Validity The degree to which the items of a test cover the entire content domain of a construct and are not confounded with other content c Convergent Validity the extent to which different measures of the same construct relate to one another d Criterion Validity the extent to which a test is associated with external behaviors that it is designed to predict i When a test seeks to predict criterion behaviors that will occur in the future we speak of predictive validity ii When the criterion behaviors are obtained at the current time we speak of concurrent validity e Discriminant Validity The extent to which different measures of different constructs do not relate to one another f Face Validity the extent to which test seem in the eyes of the respondent to measure what they are supposed to measure This refers to the degree to which a respondent views the test as fair and appropriate under the conditions of administration 5 Define generalizability a Generalizability i Goal is to apply results obtained from a sample to the population ii Generalization is the ability to apply findings from a sample to the population 6 Be able to apply the two things you can say to sound smart when people talk about research this will make sense after the lecture a Correlation does not equal causation b Maybe the relationship is curvilinear 7 What is the construct approach to test construction a The extent to which a test measures the construct that it is theoretically intended to measure It increases as empirical support is garnered for the various propositions contained in the construct s nomological net This is the most basic and encompassing form of validity and other forms of validity can be seen as derivatives from it 8 What does an item analysis tell you a Used to determine the contribution that each item makes to the scale by correlating the scores on each item with the total score i Those items that make a negligible contribution those that produce low correlation will be dropped 9 Over which two dimensions do people change a Across Time i Some traits increase or decrease in intensity over time as people get older ii Examples iii Some traits change the way they manifest themselves iv Examples v Dominating b Across Situations i People change across situations ii Hartshorne May found low cross situation consistency in honesty helpfulness and self control Be able to recognize examples of person x situation 10 interactions a Person Situation Behavior i Different situations may lead to different behaviors for different kinds of people 11 Be able to discuss the mate guarding example discussed in class know what was manipulated what was measured and what personality trait determined how people responded in the study i People in monogamous relationships aren t always ii So people may keep and eye out for potential mate a Mate Guarding faithful stealers b Methods i Manipulations think of ii 4 or 5 instances when you felt jealous iii 4 or 5 things you did yesterday c Dot Probe Test i Attention to pictures of people ii Attractive men iii Attractive women iv Average men v Average women d Attention Adhesion Towards i What faces will people have the hardest time looking away from after being primed with jealousy i Do any of you think that thinking about being jealous wouldn t make you pay more attention to rivals e Predictions f Why i Chronic Jealousy ii How upset you would be if your significant other did various things e g smiles in a very friendly manner to someone of the opposite sex List and define three ways that personality makes 12 situations a Selection b Evocation c Manipulation i Getting others to do things for us 13 What was the MMPI designed to measure Be able to recognize examples of questions from the MMPI a Originally designed to be a clinical diagnostic instrument i Contains 550 statements such as 1 I have nightmares every few nights 2 At times I feel like smashing things 3 I would like to be a florist 4 I am sure I am being talked about 14 What is the criterion key method 15 16 a A method of construction assumes that a valid scale for say the trait of depression will consist of items that people whom clinicians have diagnosed as depression will consist of items that people whom clinicians have diagnosed as depressives frequently endorse regardless of the theory of depression with which one is working What is the MPQ a A personality inventory that assesses individual differences in 11 traits i Factor analyses of the responses to this yield three large factors of personality positive emotionality negative emotionality and constraint Who is Walter Mischel Why is he important a Walter Mischel was a personality psychologist know for his book on Personality and Assessment i He ignited firestorm of controversy in the 1970s and early 1980s regarding the validity of self report trait scales and the very viability of the concept of the personality trait While most personality psychologists today believe that traits are indispensable for a healthy psychology of a person his critique raised awareness in the field regarding the situated nature of human conduct and the limits of personality theories
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