Ch 1 Learning Objectives p 4 12 14 21 1 Define personality and understand each of the elements of the definition of personality a Personality i Psychological traits that influence interactions with the environment ii The what 1 Characteristics that make people different 2 Average tendencies that describe explain an predict behavior iii The how processes Inputs attention 1 2 Decision rules available options 3 Outputs actual behavior 2 What are three reasons personality traits are useful a Describe people b Explain behavior c Predict future behavior 3 What is the difference between personality traits and mechanisms a Traits what a person is b Mechanisms how a person operates i More flexible and dependent on situations time place roles 4 What are the three components of personality mechanisms i Motivational factors ii Cognitive factors 1 Values beliefs plans expectations iii Developmental factors 1 Evolution of self identity over time 5 At what levels do personality psychologists analyze similarities and differences Be able to define each level and provide examples a Human nature how we are alike b Group difference how people are like others in their group different from others c d Individual differences how people are like unlike others Individual uniqueness how people are any others 6 What are the six domains of knowledge about personality What sort of topics apply to each domain a Biological i i b Intrapsychic c Dispositional i Ways people differ traits d Phenomenological Inherited predispositions through genetics physiology and evolution Internal mental mechanisms of psychological processes i The unique way an individual perceives the world e Socio cultural i Social and cultural context f Adjustment adaptive i Meetings challenges in life From the book 7 What purposes should a good theory fulfill a Verifiability b Comprehensive c Applied value d Parsimony and heuristic value e Generate new research and theorizing f Account for the possibility of faulty interference or incorrect observation 8 What is the difference between theories and beliefs a Theory an idea waiting to be tested and proved disproven b Belief information taken at face value as truth without needing any proof 9 What are the five scientific standards for evaluating personality theories Be able to define of each standard a Comprehensiveness i Does the theory do a good job of explaining all of the facts and observations within the domain b Heuristic value c Testability d Parsimony i Does the theory provide a guide to important new discoveries about personality that were not known before i Can it be readily evaluated tested through empirical research i Simpler and more straightforward explanation is preferred to a more complex one e Compatability and integration across domains and levels i Does the theory fit in with current research and information Ch 2 Learning Objectives p 24 31 34 36 38 52 1 Describe and provide examples of the four sources of data collected by personality psychologists three from class one from the book a Self report Interviews reports questionnaires i ii Advantage there are things people know about themselves that others do b Test data not iii Disadvantage i ii Naturalistic iii Artificial iv Advantage v Disadvantage 1 People lie 2 There are things people do not know about themselves Information provided through examination and scored by another person 1 Observing subject in their natural habitat 1 Observing the subject in a laboratory setting 1 Controlling the conditions and eliciting relevant behaviors 1 Sacrifices realism 2 Patient may guess what is being measured and alter their behavior 3 Researcher might influence behavior c Projective techniques i Subject is given standardized stimuli and asked their opinions ii Advantage 1 Sometimes allows the subject to reveal more about themselves than intended iii Disadvantage 1 Difficult to administer requires high degree of training 2 Results are open for interpretation 2 Define three types of reliability and be able to recognize examples of each a Reliability consistency b Test retest c Internal consistency d Inter rater i Does the test administered produce consistent results each time it is given i How well the items in a test measure the same construct or idea i Do those that are rating the test agree amongst each other 3 Define four types of validity and be able to recognize examples of each a Face b Predictive c Convergent i The extent to which a test is subjectively viewed as covering concepts it purports to measure i Does the test correctly predict the behavior that it is designed to predict i Does the score of one test match the scores of other tests designed to examine similar constructs d Discriminant i The scores from one test are not correlated with scores from another procedure designed to measure other variables or constructs 4 How are reliability and validity related a Validity is to accuracy b Reliability is consistency c An experimental design or collection of data must have both validity and reliability in order to be deemed good science 5 Define generalizability a How well does the information obtained relate to larger contexts including different groups of people in different conditions 6 Know the advantages and disadvantages of correlational research a Advantage i Describes relationships between variables ii Can measure things you can t control b Disadvantage i Correlation does not equal causation ii Variable A may be related to variable B 1 But variable A may not have caused variable B 7 What is the 3rd variable problem with correlational research What is the directionality problem a 3rd variable i Perhaps our results involved a 3rd unaccounted for variable that caused variable A or B to occur b Directionality i Variable A could have caused variable B ii Variable B could have caused variable A 8 Explain the benefits of experimental research What are the features of experimental research Why are these features important for achieving the goal of experimental research a Systematic control and manipulation of the independent variable in order to observe change in the dependent variable b Can determine causality c Requires i Random assignment study ii Control condition 1 Participants in each condition are equivalent at the beginning of 1 Manipulation of the independent variable 9 Know what is meant by statistical significance a If the results from experimentation could have occurred by chance 5 or fewer times out of 100 b P value
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