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PSYC-387 UNL Exam 1 Study Guide
QUESTIONS WITH ANSWERS
Personality - CORRECT ANSWERS ✔✔consistent behavior patterns and intrapersonal processes originating within the individual Goal of Personality Psychology - CORRECT ANSWERS ✔✔explain the whole person in his/her daily environment kinds of questions that personality psychology seeks to answer - CORRECT ANSWERS ✔✔ How is the focus of personality psychology different than other fields? - CORRECT ANSWERS ✔✔clinical psych: both attempt to understand the whole person -normal vs. extreme patterns of personality emphasizes individual differences -other areas treat all people as if they were the same basic approaches to personality - CORRECT ANSWERS ✔✔complements>competitors
not One Big Theory -it's difficult to do everything well Trait approach - CORRECT ANSWERS ✔✔people lie on a continuum of personality characteristics aggression: focuses on individual differences and the stability of aggressive behavior -aggressive children are more likely to become aggressive adults depression: focuses on identifying depression-prone individuals -person's general emotional level at present can indicate that person's emotions in the future Biological approach - CORRECT ANSWERS ✔✔understand the mind in terms of the body aggression: genetic predisposition towards aggression -evolutionary theory depression: certain people inherit a genetic susceptibility to depression -levels of neurotransmitters
aggression: learnt behavior, aggressive behavior that is rewarded will be repeated depression: results from lack of positive reinforcers in a person's life -depends on how people interpret their inability to control events -certain individuals use a depressive filter to interpret and process information S-Data (Self-Report Data) - CORRECT ANSWERS ✔✔information provided by a person -survey, interview advantages: based on large amount of information -access to thoughts, feelings, intentions -causal force: efficacy expectations (what you think you are capable of and the kind of person you think you are) -simple and easy data (SONA, mass screening) disadvantages: maybe people won't/can't tell you -memory is limited and NOT perfect -fish-and-water effect -lack of self-insight
Fish-In-Water Effect - CORRECT ANSWERS ✔✔people may be so used to the way they characteristically react and behave that their own actions stop seeming remarkable (fish don't know they are wet) Causal Force - CORRECT ANSWERS ✔✔a persons determination to be a particular way because they think they are that way s-data (efficacy expectations) I-Data (Informant-Report Data) - CORRECT ANSWERS ✔✔information provided by someone else about another person -tends to agree with S-Data advantages: based on large amount of information (judgments from multiple informants) -causal force: expectancy effects/behavioral confirmation disadvantages: limited behavioral information -lack of access to private experience
-observer effect Natural & Artificial B-Data - CORRECT ANSWERS ✔✔natural: the person's real-life environment (work, class) -realistic -desired contexts may seldom occur artificial: social settings that are constructed (laboratory) -experiments -difficult to fake responses Why is it important to collect as many types of data as possible? - CORRECT ANSWERS ✔✔all sources of data have limitations consistent findings increase confidence -triangulation: data sources converge, the overlap is where the most thorough and accurate analysis (confidence) is Validity - CORRECT ANSWERS ✔✔the degree to which a measurement actually reflects what one thinks or hopes it does reliability is necessary but not sufficient for validity
Reliability - CORRECT ANSWERS ✔✔stability of a measurement (consistency) factors that undermine: -state of the participant, experimenter -environment Aggregation - CORRECT ANSWERS ✔✔averaging allow random influences to cancel each other out especially important for predicting behavior (outcome of person-situation debate) Case Study - CORRECT ANSWERS ✔✔in-depth examination of the life of one person can yield explanations of particular events, general lessons, and scientific principles Correlational Study - CORRECT ANSWERS ✔✔seeks to determine whether there is a relationship between to variables
Basic Criteria for Personality Assessments - CORRECT ANSWERS ✔✔agreement and behavioral prediction Types of Data personality assessments provide - CORRECT ANSWERS ✔✔most tests provide S-data (Big 5) some provide B-data (IAT, MMPI, Intelligence) B-Data Personality Tests - CORRECT ANSWERS ✔✔performance-based or projective tests useful when can't use S-data (are you smart?) useful when you don't care about the answer per se, but what it suggests Barnum Effect - CORRECT ANSWERS ✔✔people usually find personal meaning in statements that could apply to many people (horoscopes, astrology, etc.)
Person-Situation Debate - CORRECT ANSWERS ✔✔the controversy concerning whether the person or the situation is more influential in determining a person's behavior, and how consistent outcomes: -trait psychologists acknowledged the important of situations -situationists acknowledged the importance of trait led to practice of aggregation and focus on person-situation interaction Fundamental Attribution Error - CORRECT ANSWERS ✔✔the tendency for observers, when analyzing another's behavior, to underestimate the impact of the situation and to overestimate the impact of personal disposition Walter Mischel (Person-Situation Debate) - CORRECT ANSWERS ✔✔"behavior is too inconsistent across situations for individual differences to be characterized by traits Person-Situation Interaction - CORRECT ANSWERS ✔✔behavior can be explained as a function of personality traits and a function of situation
Personality Stability - CORRECT ANSWERS ✔✔with age, personality traits become more stable, as reflected in the correlation of trait scores with follow-up scores seven years later causes: -early experiences: stress (poverty, abuse) associated with frailty, fatigue, poor health outcomes -person-environment transactions: active, reactive, evocative -cumulative continuity principle Rank-Order Stability - CORRECT ANSWERS ✔✔you change, but your position within the group stays the same -causes: -temperament is affected by genetics (heterotypic continuity) -physical and environmental factors -birth order (first borns: ambitious, more traditional values, more C laterborns: independent, open-minded, more rebellions, more O, E, A) Heterotypic Continuity - CORRECT ANSWERS ✔✔maintaining rank order relative to others but changing in the manifestation of trait (temper tantrums as kid -> divorce in adulthood)
Cumulative Continuity Principle - CORRECT ANSWERS ✔✔individual differences become more consistent with age -environment also becomes more stable as we age 3 person-environment transactions - CORRECT ANSWERS ✔✔Active Person-Environment Transaction: person seeks out compatible environments and avoids incompatible ones -aggressive person goes to bar where fights are frequent -introvert avoids social gatherings Reactive Person-Environment Transaction: different people respond differently to the same situation -extravert finds party enjoyable -introvert finds same party unbearable Evocative Person-Environment Transaction: aspect of an individual's personality leads to behavior that changes the situations he or she experiences -conscientious person tells group "it's time to get to work" -disagreeable person starts argument over minor matter Personality development over lifespan - CORRECT ANSWERS ✔✔change in the mean level of a personality trait over time
desires for personality change and obstacles - CORRECT ANSWERS ✔✔desire for change is normal, and usually in the socially desirable direction -to make life better obstacles: -takes effort -not seeing a reason for change (blame negative experiences on the situation or other people than own personality) -people like consistency and predictability interactionism - CORRECT ANSWERS ✔✔the idea that situations and personality interact to determine behavior
