PS 251 Personality Psychology 09 03 2014 Andrea E Mercurio Ph D NO DISCUSSION THIS WEEK Hella Introduction to the topic of Personality Psychology Is personality psychology all common sense NO A divide in psychology research psychology vs clinical psychology How can we gain insight into personality We can ask people o Survey interviews and questionnaires self report o Very common but must be careful with drawing conclusions o Sometimes people lie Sometimes people rationalize their actions after the fact differently than how they originally rationalized the decision We can observe people in action o Observational methods o See what they do and then infer things about them based on their behavior We can observe surroundings or belongings o Would I be able to learn something about your personality by visiting your dorm room Hell yeah Lights everywhere o Do the things people carry with them lend insight into personality Personality Psychology Defined An individual s characteristic patterns of thought emotion and behavior together with the psychological mechanisms hidden or not behind those patterns Think Feel Behave Psychological triad Sometimes we are not completely consciously aware of the things that are driving people to think or act a certain way Alternate Definition And individual s unique and relatively consistent patterns of thinking feeling and behaving People are generally consistent in their personality it s relatively enduring However this doesn t mean that one cannot adjust behavior actions holla at social norms Personality is also influenced by things around you early life experiences people you interact ed with mix of everything both inside and outside of you The Goal of Personality Psychology Explain the whole person in his or her daily environment Unfortunately you can t focus on everything at the same time It s a LOT of different things What are the Basic Approaches Trait Approach Biological Approach Psychoanalytic Approach Phenomenological Approach Learning and Cognitive Processes Approach Basic Approaches Competitors of Complements Not mutually exclusive They address different questions One Big Theory It s difficult to do everything well Advantages and Disadvantages of Personality Psychology Great strengths are usually great weaknesses and surprisingly often the opposite is true as well p 10 o Funder s First ANNOYING Law No but really Who is this kid Research Methods Let s Talk about Data Chapters 2 and 3 Personality Theories o Scientific Systematic o Testable Ex Freud a lot aren t testable o Comprehensive If a theory is a good theory it will account for a lot of things explain different aspects of behavior Account for things that we know to be true o Parsimonious Simple doesn t go beyond where it needs to go Doesn t get too complex use the simplest explanation o Productive Provide additional avenue for thinking in the area Clues to Personality behavior Data are Clues Look at all parts of the psychological triad thoughts feelings Data suggests things but they re only clues Funder s Second annoying Law There are no perfect indicators of personality only clues and clues are ambiguous We can t see personality Gather as many clues as possible even if they might be imperfect misleading o Funder s 3rd Law Something beats nothing Nothing s perfect no perfect indicators but we will use these clues Work with what you got What kinds of information would help you determine a person s typical level of happiness or sadness o Facial expression o Changes in their typical behavior o You could ask them if they re feeling happy or sad o Eating sometimes people eat a lot when they re sad Also sometimes when they re happy o Body language o Ask other people others who hang out with them get other perspectives o Changes in their social behavior 4 Main Kinds of Clues the distinction can sometimes be ambiguous S data I data L data B data Self Judgment or Self Report S Data What is S data o Usually collected with surveys interviews questionnaires o High face validity Face validity the degree to which an instrument appears to measure what it intends to measure High Yes Measures what it s supposed to measure Most common used by researchers the government and even magazines Advantages and Disadvantages o Advantages Easy to do Can gather a large amount of info in a short amount of time Could always ask one of the best ways to know directly Causal Force the way we think about ourselves can create it s own reality Some predictive value related to thoughts feelings behaviors Maybe people won t tell you their real feelings People lie Willfully and intentionally Sometimes researchers will build in a lie scale 2 or 3 questions I always tell the truth T F Obviously false Maybe people can t tell you Maybe they don t really know how they really feel or what they really think o Disadvantages Memory could also be an issue sometimes you search for an answer that fits into your self concept So simple easy leads to overuse not necessarily a bad thing more so a criticism Could however collect different types of data and see if they converge Informant Report I Data What is I Data o Data collected from someone who knows the person o Could be acquaintances a clinician co workers etc o Ratemyprofessor Missing the middle part you only get the ROOMMATES Examples Advantages and Disadvantages extremes o Advantages to Can collect information that s based in a depth of knowledge ex roommate Access to knowledge you usually wouldn t have access Based on real world interactions essence of reality Daily interactions Not contrived in a lab It s just more realistic How likeable are you Better to ask friends than the individual Certain things are defined by other people s impressions of you Can t get at that characteristic unless you ask other people Aspect of definitional truth Causal force other peoples opinion of you influences how you act this has causal relevance What if the informant source only knows the person in one context i e classmates Lack of access to private experience o Disadvantages Could be prone to error more emotionally based Everyone has a different judgment of a person Based off of extremes not taking into account every interaction just the things that you remember the most Life Outcomes L Data What is L Data this report o Obtained from archival records or self report you can verify o Concrete real life outcomes that might hold some type of psychological significance o Married Divorced Been to jail