PERSONALITY EXAM GUIDE 2025/2026 GRADED A (100%
CORRECT ANSWERS) MUST PASS
Things Personality Psychologists Study - -Psychological triad
--Thoughts, feelings, and behaviours. (It's not enough just to look at behaviour).
-The whole person
--Not just one trait or characteristic (also needs consistency).
Personality (Definition) - An individual's unique and relatively consistent patterns of thinking, feeling,
and behaving
Goals of Personality Psychology - -Explain the whole person in his or her daily environment
-Mission: Impossible
Trait Approach - How people differ psychologically (e.g., extraversion - introversion = we categorize
into introverted)
Biological Approach - Understand the mind in terms of the body
Psychoanalytic Approach - Understand irrationality (why we forget, slips), fantasies, dreams,
conscious and unconscious conflicts.
Humanistic Approach - -How conscious awareness produces uniquely human attributes, meaning
and happiness
-How we choose to see the world
Cross-Cultural Approach - How the experience of reality is shaped by culture
Self and Self-Concept - Beliefs about himself or herself, including the person's attributes and who and
what the self is
Personality Processes - Perception, emotion, memory, motivation
,Psychopathological Approach - Mental health, personality disorders
Approaches to Personality Address Key Questions - -How do our personalities develop?
-What are the core driving forces in our personalities, or more informally, what makes us tick?
-What accounts for individual differences?
Why are There so Many Approaches to Personality? - -Focus on different questions / aspects of a
question
-Focus on different phenomena
--E.g., trait approaches say nothing about dreams; psychoanalysis barely mentions learning;
humanistic psychology does not even acknowledge biology, etc.
-Other areas of psychology treat all people as if they were the same
-Personality psychologists emphasize individual differences
The Scientific Method - -The systematic procedure of observation and measurement
--Systematic Study: Has rules. An example would be seeing how many people smile at you when they
leave.
The Scientific Method: Answers Questions to... - - To describe what happens
- To predict when it happens
- To explain why it happens
- To control what causes it to happen
Clues to Personality - -All parts of the psychological triad matter! (thoughts, feelings, behaviors)
--But, this can't just be measured = "There are no perfect indicators of personality; there are only
clues, and clues are always ambiguous"
--Psychologist's job: put together the clues
-"Something beats nothing"
Funder's BLIS - -B Data = Behavioral Observations
-L Data = Life Outcomes
,-I Data = Informants' Reports
-S Data = Self-Reports
S Data - -Rationale = The world's best expert about your personality is very probably you!
-Usually questionnaires
-Most frequent data source
--Ex: Big Five Inventory:
--I see myself as someone who...
---- ...is talkative.
---- ...tends to find fault with others.
---- ...does a thorough job.
S Data: Advantages - -Based on a large amount of information
--You are always with yourself
--People are usually their own best expert
-Access to thoughts, feelings, and intentions
-Definitional truth: Something only the individual can answer (e.g., self-esteem: Ask "do I like
myself," only I can answer)
-Simple and easy data
S Data: Disadvantages - -Maybe they won't tell you
-Maybe they can't tell you
--Fish-and-water effect ~ Can't ask a fish if they're wet.
--Active distortion of memory (Freud)
--Lack of self-insight
-Too simple and too easy
I Data - -Acquaintances, coworkers, clinical psychologists...
-No training or expertise needed
-Based on observing people in whatever context they know them from
-Used frequently in daily life
, I Data: Advantages - -Based on a large amount of information
--Many behaviors in many situations
--Judgments from multiple informants are possible (and this way this can help us see if people are
faking).
-Based on observation of behavior in the real world
--Not from contrived tests or constructed situations
-Definitional truth (charm, likeability)
--Ex: I can't say if I'm popular but other people can.
I Data: Disadvantages - -Limited information
-Lack of access to private experience
-Error: more likely to remember behaviors that are extreme, unusual, or emotionally arousing
-Bias: due to personal issues or prejudices
--Most common: "letter of recommendation effect"
--Also: stereotypes (e.g., strong ideas about what all women [men] are like)
L Data - -Verifiable, concrete, real-life facts that may hold psychological significance (Criminal records,
graduating from high school = must be carefully determined).
-Behavioral residues that we leave and that are potentially relevant to our personality
--Ex: Finding things like gender, conscientiousness, etc.
**Mainly just used as a piece of information
L Data: Advantages - -Objective and verifiable
-Intrinsic importance
-Psychological relevance
L Data: Disadvantage - Multidetermination: L data can be influenced by much more than personality
B Data - -Information that is carefully and systematically recorded from direct observation.
-The most visible indication of an individual's personality is what she does
--Natural B Data
CORRECT ANSWERS) MUST PASS
Things Personality Psychologists Study - -Psychological triad
--Thoughts, feelings, and behaviours. (It's not enough just to look at behaviour).
-The whole person
--Not just one trait or characteristic (also needs consistency).
Personality (Definition) - An individual's unique and relatively consistent patterns of thinking, feeling,
and behaving
Goals of Personality Psychology - -Explain the whole person in his or her daily environment
-Mission: Impossible
Trait Approach - How people differ psychologically (e.g., extraversion - introversion = we categorize
into introverted)
Biological Approach - Understand the mind in terms of the body
Psychoanalytic Approach - Understand irrationality (why we forget, slips), fantasies, dreams,
conscious and unconscious conflicts.
Humanistic Approach - -How conscious awareness produces uniquely human attributes, meaning
and happiness
-How we choose to see the world
Cross-Cultural Approach - How the experience of reality is shaped by culture
Self and Self-Concept - Beliefs about himself or herself, including the person's attributes and who and
what the self is
Personality Processes - Perception, emotion, memory, motivation
,Psychopathological Approach - Mental health, personality disorders
Approaches to Personality Address Key Questions - -How do our personalities develop?
-What are the core driving forces in our personalities, or more informally, what makes us tick?
-What accounts for individual differences?
Why are There so Many Approaches to Personality? - -Focus on different questions / aspects of a
question
-Focus on different phenomena
--E.g., trait approaches say nothing about dreams; psychoanalysis barely mentions learning;
humanistic psychology does not even acknowledge biology, etc.
-Other areas of psychology treat all people as if they were the same
-Personality psychologists emphasize individual differences
The Scientific Method - -The systematic procedure of observation and measurement
--Systematic Study: Has rules. An example would be seeing how many people smile at you when they
leave.
The Scientific Method: Answers Questions to... - - To describe what happens
- To predict when it happens
- To explain why it happens
- To control what causes it to happen
Clues to Personality - -All parts of the psychological triad matter! (thoughts, feelings, behaviors)
--But, this can't just be measured = "There are no perfect indicators of personality; there are only
clues, and clues are always ambiguous"
--Psychologist's job: put together the clues
-"Something beats nothing"
Funder's BLIS - -B Data = Behavioral Observations
-L Data = Life Outcomes
,-I Data = Informants' Reports
-S Data = Self-Reports
S Data - -Rationale = The world's best expert about your personality is very probably you!
-Usually questionnaires
-Most frequent data source
--Ex: Big Five Inventory:
--I see myself as someone who...
---- ...is talkative.
---- ...tends to find fault with others.
---- ...does a thorough job.
S Data: Advantages - -Based on a large amount of information
--You are always with yourself
--People are usually their own best expert
-Access to thoughts, feelings, and intentions
-Definitional truth: Something only the individual can answer (e.g., self-esteem: Ask "do I like
myself," only I can answer)
-Simple and easy data
S Data: Disadvantages - -Maybe they won't tell you
-Maybe they can't tell you
--Fish-and-water effect ~ Can't ask a fish if they're wet.
--Active distortion of memory (Freud)
--Lack of self-insight
-Too simple and too easy
I Data - -Acquaintances, coworkers, clinical psychologists...
-No training or expertise needed
-Based on observing people in whatever context they know them from
-Used frequently in daily life
, I Data: Advantages - -Based on a large amount of information
--Many behaviors in many situations
--Judgments from multiple informants are possible (and this way this can help us see if people are
faking).
-Based on observation of behavior in the real world
--Not from contrived tests or constructed situations
-Definitional truth (charm, likeability)
--Ex: I can't say if I'm popular but other people can.
I Data: Disadvantages - -Limited information
-Lack of access to private experience
-Error: more likely to remember behaviors that are extreme, unusual, or emotionally arousing
-Bias: due to personal issues or prejudices
--Most common: "letter of recommendation effect"
--Also: stereotypes (e.g., strong ideas about what all women [men] are like)
L Data - -Verifiable, concrete, real-life facts that may hold psychological significance (Criminal records,
graduating from high school = must be carefully determined).
-Behavioral residues that we leave and that are potentially relevant to our personality
--Ex: Finding things like gender, conscientiousness, etc.
**Mainly just used as a piece of information
L Data: Advantages - -Objective and verifiable
-Intrinsic importance
-Psychological relevance
L Data: Disadvantage - Multidetermination: L data can be influenced by much more than personality
B Data - -Information that is carefully and systematically recorded from direct observation.
-The most visible indication of an individual's personality is what she does
--Natural B Data
