PSYC 4520 1st Edition Lecture 2 Outline of Last Lecture I. What is Personality?a. The Person and the SituationOutline of Current Lecture b. Defining Personalityc. Levels of Analysisd. Six Approaches to Personalitye. Personality and Culturef. The Study of PersonalityII. Personality Research Methodsa.Data Sourcesb.The Hypothesis-Testing Approachc.Prediction v. Hindsightd.Replicatione.Case StudiesCurrent LectureCHAPTER ONE: What is Personality? (CONTINUED)Defining Personality- There is no agreement within the field of psychology on a definition for personality.- For the purposes of this course, we will define personality as o Consistent behavior patterns (across all situations)o Intrapersonal processes (internal motivations, what drives you)o Originating within an individual (not the situation)Levels of Analysis- Human Universals: Are there certain things that motivate all of us?- Individual differences (most important in the context of this course): o How do individuals differ?o What causes those differences?o What are the effects of those differences?- UniquenessThese notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.In Class Demonstration- The professor showed multiple pictures of bedrooms and offices and asked the class what we could infer about the individuals personality based off of these pictures. We saw a room covered in anime posters, a room with walls covered in bookshelves filled with books, a room filled with clutter, and a room with nice curtains and crosses on the walls. The professor’s point was that our personalities can be written on our space. Six Approaches to Personality- “There is only one religion, though there are several hundred versions of it.” –George Bernard Shawo While we’re not discussing religion in this class, this quote expresses the idea that there are certain commonalities among different belief systems (like in the following approaches to personality)- These approaches are the so-called “lenses” we will be looking through as we study the aspects of personality. They are very different but there are certain fundamental ideas that are present in each approach.o Psychoanalytico Traito Biologicalo Humanistico Behavioral/Social learningo CognitivePersonality and Culture - All personality occurs in a cultural context. In the words of the professor, “it’s all relative.”o He gave the example of an international student whose attire was rebelliously breaking the rules of her culture, while in American standards her dress was very conservative.- Individualistic cultures value the self and independence.- Collectivist cultures emphasize on cooperation, getting along, and a group mentalityThe Study of Personality: Theory, Application, Assessment, and Research- Each of the 6 approaches to personality has it’s own take on the following. - Theory: kind of abstract, philosophical. See diagram below.- Application: therapy- Assessment: testing- Research: experimentsCHAPTER TWO: Personality Research MethodsData Sources- L-data (life): biographical data, such as date of birth, address, etc. - O-data (other): asking other people about the traits of an individual- T-data (test): some kind of administered test - S-data (self): an individuals self-report on their personality- Most data collected is either T-data or S-dataThe Hypothesis-Testing Approach- Theories and Hypotheses o A theory is a model backed up by research, experiments, and evidence (NOT just a guess). A solid personality theory is both: 1) Parsimonious, meaning it is short, simple, and easy to understand, and 2) Useful, meaning it predicts human behavior, explains why people do what they do, etc.o A hypothesis is a prediction about what is going to occur when a theory is tested.Prediction vs. Hindsight- One cannot use hindsight to scientifically explain behavior.- “Bets must be placed in advance.” o The theory must be used to make a prediction; an experiment is then designed and performed to test the prediction, an observation is made as a result of the experiment; the theory may then be modified based on the observations, and so the loop continues.Replication- When we have a solid theory we can refer it back to multiple studies, not just one.- Replication is essentially the “testing of the tests”, that is, repeating studies to either confirm or discredit the results.- Replication can cause what is called the “File Drawer Problem”:o Many scientific journals only publish new findings or significant effectso When replication of an experiment fails, the experimenter may decide they have done something wrong or that there is an error, thus “filing it in a drawer”.General Research Methods:Case studies- Strength: case studies provide a richness of personal data- Limitations:o Generalizability: Case studies only focus on one individualo Causality: We may not be able to easily determine exactly what is causing an individual’s symptomso Objectivity: A case study is essentially one person’s objective view on another person’s objective experience- Appropriate for:o Rare cases (like assassins, for example, because it would be unlikely to conduct research on an entire group of assassins)o Illustrating the treatment of an individualo Demonstrating possibilities (for example, some hypnotized people have been reported to change skin temperature by imagining that it is on