Ch. 4 perosnality

dufferebtuak psychology

• 1. meaning ful differences between individuals
• 2. cosistency over time
• 3. consistency across situations
• 4. person-situation interaction
• 5. Aggregation

People differ in amounts of traits, and differences can be accurately measured

According to trait psychologists, every personality is the product of a combination of a few basic, primary traits

Research indicates consistency over time for broad traits

Although consistent over time, how a trait is manifested in behavior might change over time

How can there be consistency in a trait if it is known to change with age (e.g., impulsivity)? Focus on the rank order differences between people

Trait psychologists traditionally assumed cross-situation consistency

If situations mainly control how people behave, then the existence or relevance of traits questionable

Low cross-situation consistency is in honesty, helpfulness, self-control

Personality psychologists should abandon their efforts to explain behavior with traits, focusing instead on situations

critique encouraged debate in personality psychology about the importance of traits compared to situations in causing behavior

If behavior varies across situations, then situational differences and not personality traits determine behavior

1. Behavior is a function of personality traits

2. Behavior is a function of situation

- Integration: personality and situation interact to produce behavior

- Differences between people make a difference only under certain circumstances

Certain situations can provoke behavior that is out of character for an individual

Situations in which most people react in a similar way (e.g., grief following loss of loved one)



When situations are weak or ambiguous, personality has its strongest influence

1. Selection- Tendency to choose or select situations in which one finds oneself, as a function of personality

2. Evocation - Certain personality traits may evoke specific responses from others

3. Manipulation - Various means by which people influence the behavior of others; tactics of manipulation vary with personality

- Longer tests are more reliable than shorter ones and are better measures of traits

- Single behavior or occasion may be influenced by extenuating circumstances unrelated to personality

• - implies that traits are only one influence on behavior
• - implies that traits refer to the person’s average level

- Method for detecting such problems is an infrequency scale embedded in test

-Infrequency scale contains items that most people answer in a particular way

-Another method for detecting carelessness is to include duplicate items spaced far apart in the survey—if the person answers the same item differently, this suggests carelessness

Attempt to appear better off or better adjusted than one is

Attempt to appear worse off or less adjusted than one is

Method to detect is to a devise scale that, if answered in particular way, suggests faking

Tendency to agree with items, regardless of content; psychologists counteract by reverse-keying some items

Tendency to give endpoint responses

Tendency to answer items in such a way so that one comes across as socially attractive or likable

- Represents distortion and should be eliminated or reduced

- Valid part of other desirable personality traits, such as agreeableness, and should be studied

- Integrity tests are surveys designed to assess whether a person is generally honest or dishonest; replaced polygraph

- When assessed against the “big five” personality traits, integrity is the combination of high conscientiousness, high agreeableness, and low neuroticism

Personality tests frequently used to screen out “wrong” individuals from a pool of applicants for police officers

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)

California Personality Inventory (CPI)

16 Personality Factor (16PF) Questionnaire

generality that could apply to anyone

When two variables are correlated with each other, the size of correlation depends, in part, on whether each variable spans full range in the sample

Violation occurs when participants are selected on the basis of one score, and then that score is correlated with another variable on which participants have been measured

Correlation between two variables will shrink as the range of scores on one (or both) variables is restricted

widely used personality assesment device in a business setting

Extraverted versus introverted

Sensing or intuitive

Thinking or feelings

Judging or perceiving

16

leadership

Tendency to choose or select situations in which one finds oneself, as a function of personality

Certain personality traits may evoke specific responses from others

Various means by which people influence the behavior of others; tactics of manipulation vary with personality