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Psychology 305A: Personality Psychology

September 11

Lecture 3

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1. Classroom Services has not yet provided locations for the peer mentor workshops and tutorials scheduled next week. The peer mentor schedule will be updated on the weekend.

Announcements

2. Thariq Badiudeen (TA for students A-K) has been assigned an office in room 4038C, Audain Art Centre. This has been updated in the syllabus posted on the course website.

A little R&R ….(Review and Reflect)

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Personality Assessment and the Trait Perspective

1. How do researchers establish the reliability and validity of a personality measure?

2. What are traits?

3. Has a comprehensive taxonomy of personality traits been developed?

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By the end of today’s class, you should be able to:

2. distinguish between face, predictive, convergent, and discriminant validity.

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1. distinguish between internal consistency, inter-rater reliability, and test-retest reliability.

3. describe Eysenck’s, Wiggins’, and the five factor personality taxonomies.

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How do researchers establish the reliability and validity of a personality measure?

• In order to accurately assess a personality variable, the measure that is used must be reliable and valid.

The consistency with which a measure assesses a construct across repeated measurements.

• Reliability

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Three forms:

1. Internal consistency:

• Relevant for multi-item measures (e.g., questionnaires).

• The degree to which the items in the measure produce similar responses (i.e., tap the same construct).

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Using the scale below, please indicate how much you disagree or agree with the following statements. Circle the appropriate number to the right of each statement.

1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Neutral Strongly disagree agree

1. I feel that I’m a person of worth, at least on an equal basis with others …………………………….. 1 22. I feel that I have a number of good qualities …….. 1 23. All in all, I am inclined to feel that I am a failure …. 1 24. I am able to do things as well as most people …… 1 2

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Structured Self-Report: Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale

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2. Inter-rater reliability:

• Relevant when observer ratings are obtained from two or more observers.

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• The degree to which the scores provided by different observers are consistent with one another (i.e., there

is consensus among observers).

• Involves calculating the correlation between the scores provided by different observers.

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3. Test-retest reliability:

• Relevant for all types of measures.

• The degree to which participants’ scores on the measure at time 1 are consistent with their scores on

the measure at time 2.

• Involves calculating the correlation between participants’ scores on successive test administrations

(i.e., their scores at time 1 and scores at time 2).

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The degree to which a measure assesses the construct it is intended to measure.

• Validity (or construct validity)

A measure that is reliable may or may not be valid; a valid measure must be reliable.

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Four forms:

1. Face validity:

• The degree to which a measure appears to tap the construct under study.

• E.g., Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale.All in all, I am inclined to feel that I am a failureOn the whole, I am satisfied with myself

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2. Criterion validity (or predictive validity):

• The degree to which a measure correlates with a behaviour that is theoretically related to the

construct under study.

• E.g., A self-esteem measure should be correlated with: alcohol and drug use persistence in the face of failure number of sexual partners (i.e., sexual promiscuity)

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3. Convergent validity:

• The degree to which a measure correlates with measures that assess conceptually-related constructs (i.e., constructs that are theoretically related to the construct of interest).

• E.g., A self-esteem measure should be correlated with measures of: depression. neuroticism. positive affectivity.

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4. Discriminant validity:

• The degree to which a measure does not correlate with measures that assess conceptually unrelated

constructs (i.e., constructs that are not theoretically related to the construct of interest).

• E.g., A self-esteem should not be correlated with measures of:

agreeableness. need for cognition. political attitudes (i.e., liberal vs. conservative).

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• Often, convergent and discriminant validity are examined simultaneously:

Dep Neur PosAff Agree NCogn Polatt

SE -.68 -.57 .63 .06 .09 -.02

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• According to the trait perspective, personality is best described as a constellation of traits (e.g., anxious, conscientious, outgoing).

Example: Peter is jealous. “Jealous” describes Peter’s behaviour.

• Traits are viewed as descriptive summaries of behaviour.

What are traits?

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Has a comprehensive taxonomy of personality traits been developed?

• Taxonomy: A classification system (e.g., Periodic Table of Elements).

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• Over the past century, dozens of taxonomies have been proposed for personality traits.

• Examples:

1. Eysenck’s personality taxonomy: PEN

Developed on the basis of pre-existing theory: Body Humors Theory (Hippocrates, Galen).

Proposes three personality dimensions: Extraversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism.

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Personality Types Derived from Eysenck’s Taxonomy

Low Neuroticism (Emotionally Stable)

High NeuroticismEmotionally Unstable

Introvert

PassiveCarefulThoughtful APeacefulControlledReliable

QuietPessimisticUnsociable BSoberRigidMoody

Extravert

SociableOutgoingTalkative CResponsiveEasygoingLively

ActiveOptimisticImpulsive DChangeableExcitableAggressive

A = Phlegmatic; B = Melancholic; C = Sanguine; D = Choleric

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2. Wiggins’ taxonomy: The Interpersonal Circle

Developed on the basis of pre-existing theory: interpersonal characteristics are most important in the description of personality.

Proposes two personality dimensions: Dominance and love.

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Wiggins’ Interpersonal Circle

Warm-agreeable

Cold-hearted

Unassured-submissive

Assured-dominant

Aloof-introverted

Unassuming-ingenuous

Gregarious-extraverted

Arrogant-calculating

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Emerged from decades of research by dozens of independent groups of researchers.

Developed through the use of factor analysis: a statistical method that is used to identify groups of highly inter-correlated traits. Example:

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3. The Five Factor (Big Five) Taxonomy: OCEAN

Most widely accepted taxonomy to date.

Structured Self-Report Items:

ImaginativeOriginalInventiveHard-workingProductiveDeterminedAmusingHumorous Popular

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Structured Self-Report Items:

ImaginativeOriginalInventiveHard-workingProductiveDeterminedAmusingHumorous Popular

“Openness”

“Conscientiousness”

“Extraversion”

Personality Dimension Label

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By the end of today’s class, you should be able to:

2. distinguish between face, predictive, convergent, and discriminant validity.

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1. distinguish between internal consistency, inter-rater reliability, and test-retest reliability.

3. describe Eysenck’s, Wiggins’, and the five factor personality taxonomies.