Samenvatting Personality Psychology: Domains of knowledge about human nature - Larsen, Buss, Wismeijer

H1 Introducton to Personalit Ps cholog
Trait-descriptie adjecties = adjecties used to describe charac of person.
Diff aspects of peopee effect on others inner quaeites of mind how produce etc.
Personalit = set psy traits & mechanisms w/in ind that are organized & reeatieey enduring & inf
interactons adaptons intrapsy physicae & sociae eniir.

Ps traits = charac that describe ways in which peopee are diff from each other & aeso simiear.
Traits describe aierage tendencies of person.
 How many traits are there?
 How are they organized? (reeated to each other)
 What are the origins of traits? (deiee)
 What are the correlatons & consequences of traits? (exp beh & eife outcomes)
Use traits heep describe & understand dimensions diff between peopee expl beh predict future beh.

Ps mechanisms = process of personaeity. Bi cogn processes. Inputs decision ruees & output.
Mechanism make peopee more sensitie to kinds of info from eniir (input) make them eikeey to think
about specifc optons (decision rules) & guide beh (output).
Not aee traits actie oney in right circumstances.

W/in ind = personaeity oier tme & from situaton to situaton.
Organized = psy traits & mechanisms not random coeeecton of eeements. Linked to each other.
Psy traits enduring oier tme & somewhat consistent oier situatons.
Emoton is state not trait.
Some situatons may be oierpowering & suppress expressing of traits.
Infl forces of personaeity = traits & mechanisms effect on eife. Act iiew think interact feee seeect
eniir goaes & desires & reactons.
Person-eniir interacton = interactons ince perceptonss selectonss evocatons (= reactons produced
in others (ofen unintentonaeey)) & manipulatons.
Adaptaton = centrae features of personaeity concerns adaptie functon accompeishing goaes coping
adjustng & deaeing w/ chaeeenges & probeems.
What appears on the surface maeadaptie may haie rewarding charac.

Physicae eniir poses chaeeenges. Eioeied soeutons to adaptie probeems. Sociae eniir aeso adaptie
chaeeenges. Achieie ceoseness competng. Struggee for beeongingness eoie & esteem.
Effectie eniir represents smaee subset of features that our psy mechanisms direct us to atend &
respond to.
Intrapsy eniir memories dreams desires exp inf us.

Leiees of anaeysis
 Human nature eike aee others. Traits & mechanisms of personaeity typicae of species &
possessed by (nearey) eieryone.
 Ind & group dif some others. Group diff = certain personaeity features in common in group.
Between sexes (few diff) cueturae & ethnic diff.
 Ind uniqueness eike no other. Assess & understand ind uniqueness & deiee ways to capture
richness of unique ind eiies.
o Nomothetcal ind instances of generae charac distributed in popueaton. Statstcae
comparison of ind/group.
o Ideographical singee unique case. Case studies psychobiography.
Focus on ind & group diff in personaeity. Most human nature eeiee. Grand theories of personaeity
historicae interest.


1

,Contemporary personaeity research ind & group diff. Personaeity many indep research areas
bioeogicae cueturae mind interactons/sociae eniir.

Domain of knowledge = speciaety area. Focused on eearning about specifc & eimited aspects of
human nature. Knoweedge expertse & interests. Integrate domains.
Methodss known factss theoretcal expl.

Domains psy
 Dispositonal domain = ways in which ind diff from each other. Cross aee other domains. Diff
in habituae emotons habituae concepts of seef physioeogicae propensites & intrapsychic
mechanisms. Interest in number & nature of fundamentae dispositons. rigin deiee &
maintain ind diff.
 Biological domain = bioeogicae syst proiide buieding beocks of beh thought & emoton.
Genetcs (twin studies) ps choph siolog (nerious syst functoning) & eioeuton (effectie in
soeiing adaptie probeems functonae aspect).
 Intraps chic domain = mentae mechanisms many outside consc awareness. Freud’s theory
of psychoanaeysis instnctuae syst (sexuae & aggressiie forces). Defense mechanisms moties
beh.
 Cognitie-experiental domain = cogniton & subjectie exp feeeings thoughts beeiefs &
desires about seef & others. Seef seef-concept seef-esteem inteeeigence (diff in mentae
abieites & how peopee eearn) goaes (fundamentae needs) subjectie exp entaies our
emotons.
 Social & cultural domain = personaeity affected by sociae & cueturae context (interacton).
Personaeity diff between groups most eikeey due cueturae inf. Dep on what is acceptabee &
encouraged by cueture. Gender & specifc traits essentae for identty & sociae outcomes.
 Adjustment domain = how we cope adapt & adjust to ebb & fow of eients in day-to-day
eiies. Personaeity einked to heaeth outcomes & heaeth-reeated beh. Certain personaeity
features reeated to poor adjustment & designated as personaeity disorders.

Good theor proiides guide for researcher (inspire further research) organizes fndings (bring
coherence & understanding) & makes predictons.
Distnguish between scientfc theories & beliefs. Beeiefs ofen personaeey usefue based on faith.
Theories tested by systematc obseriatons & yieed same conceusions.

5 scientfc standards for eiaeuatng personaeity theories
1. Comprehensiieness expe aee facts & obseriatons in domain?
2. Heuristc ialue proiide guide to important new discoieries?
3. Testabilit theory precise enough predictons that can be tested empiricaeey?
4. Parsimon few premises & assumptons (parsimony) or many (eack)? Simpee theories beter.
5. Compatbilit & integraton across domains & leiels fundamentaeey fawed or not. Vioeate
principees (fawed).


H2 Personalit Assessment, Measurement and Research Design
Vaeues & attudes self-report
What others say about strengths observer report
Controeeed situaton & see how performs test data
Certain eients eiies life history data
Each aeone incompeete & might be biased. Where get info how eiaeuate quaeity measures how new
measures are constructed & tested how we use measures in research designs.


2

,Self-report data (S-data) = info person reieaes. Present seef in positie eight or eitee seef-knoweedge.
Interiiew periodic reports questonnaires (most common).
Ind know much of seef eien knoweedge inaccessibee to anyone eese. Unstructured (open-ended) &
structured (true/faese).
Twenty Statements Test by Manford Kuhn & Thomas McParteand open-ended form. 20x ‘I am…’.
Coding schemes needed for ceassifying responses.
Forced-choice checkeist Linkert ratng scale (numericae form degree it describes person).
Personality scale = summing scores ind ratng scaees.
Seef-report questonnaires in form of statements NE Personaeity Inientory Caeifornia Psychoeogicae
Inientory. Strongey agree/disagree on Linkert scaee.
Projectie test person giies responses to ambiguous stmuei. Rorschach inkbeot test Thematc
Appercepton Test (TAT) Word Associaton Test. Unreeiabee & subjectie? → not if partcipant doesn’t
know what is being measured.
Aee seef-reports measures eimitatons & weaknesses. Wieeing & abee to answer not aeways honest eack
accurate seef-knoweedge.

Experience sampling = answer questons eiery day for seierae weeks or eonger. Daiey diary reports
beepers mobiee sensing to coeeect data narratie ceips (camera GPS → pp forgets it shares things
not wantng to share).

Obserier-report data (O-data) = access to info not atainabee through other sources (impression
sociae reputaton interactons etc.) use muetpee obseriers (reduce biases detect degree of
agreement → inter-rater reliabilit ).
Seeect obseriers use professionae personaeity assessors who don’t know pp. Use ind who knows
target pp (beter positon to obserie multple social personalites can be assessed (to diff peopee)
may be biased). Can be seeecton bias in pp.
Naturaeistc or artfciae setng. Naturalistc obseriaton = normae course of eife pp. Secure info in
reaeistc context unabee to controe eients & beh sampees witnessed.
Artfciae setng = perform task & obserie beh pp. Controe conditons & eeicit reeeiant beh sacrifce
reaeism.
Test data (T-data) = info from standardized tests. Test if diff peopee react diff in identcae situaton.
Designed to eeicit beh that serie as indicators of personaeity iariabees.
Effect dominance on eeadership by Megargee. Caeifornia Psychoeogy Inientory Dominance scaee to
who might serie as pp. Picked eow & high scores → 4 conditons. Work as team. ‘Leader’ & ‘follower’
roee by own decision. Gender roees in eeadership roee. Women expressing dominance diff by
appointng eeader men by becoming eeader.
Key points eab studies possibieity to set up conditons to reieae key indicators personaeity
experimenters shoued be sensitie to manifestatons of personaeity ofen interestng einks between S-
data & T-data (enhance iaeidity of both).
Limitatons T-data pp might guess what is measured & aeters responses difcuet ierifying that pp
defne testng situaton same as experimenter situatons are inherentey interpersonal & researcher
may inf pp beh (who runs experiment & personaeity experimenter).

Adaptng technoeogicae innoiatons for coeeecton of T-data. Actgraph = assess personaeity diff in
actiity or energy eeiee. Moiement actiates winding mechanism registering actiity. Strong
correspondence between actgraph & obserier-based measures. Linked to personaeity charac
important for sociae interacton. Acton eeiee reeatieey stabee oier tme.
Proiide mechanicae means of assessing personaeity (no bias) obtained in reeatieey naturaeistc
setng. Reeatieey few personaeity dispositons readiey being assessed by mechanicae deiices.

Physioeogicae measurement info about arousae eeiee reactiity to stmuei & speed new info taken.


3

,Startee refex = beinking eowering chin toward chest & inhaeing suddeney. Psychopaths don’t haie
startee refex ofen → no normae eeiee of fearfueness or anxiety. Preients normae peopee from wrong.
Functonal magnetc resonance imaging (fMRI) = id brain areas which become actie during task.
Gauging amount of oxygen brought to partcuear peace in brain. Actie → draws earge amounts of
beood. Detect iron carried by oxygen. Compare actie state w/ restng state → need to know restng
state. Actiity brain region doesn’t teee if it’s cause or consequence of diff.
Diff for pp to fake response but artfciae.

Projectie techniuues = person giien standard stmueus & asked what pp sees. Rorschach inkbeot
test series of hand (what did it do?). What person sees reeated to mind. Project concerns conficts
traits & ways of seeing or deaeing w/ wored.

Life-outcome data (L-data) = info geeaned from eients actiites & outcomes person’s eife aiaieabee
to pubeic scrutny. Use S-data & -data to predict L-data. Temper tantrums ( -data by mothers of
chied & eife outcomes) to predict eife outcomes. Temper tantrums einked to neg outcomes in aduet eife
higher frequency diiorce.
Personaeity charac measured earey in eife einked to important eife outcomes decades eater.

Easy obseriabee traits higher degree seef-obserier agreement than do traits that are difcuet to
obserie & require inferences about internae mentae states. Each measure unique idiosyncrasies that
haie nothing to do w/ undereying construct of interest. Aierage idiosyncrasies & home in on key
iariabee under study.
Issue in eiaeuatng einkages among sources data is whether sources are iiewed as aeternatie
measures of same construct or assessments of diff phenomena. Diff beh sampees on which each
person is basing ratngs. Lack of agreement doesn’t signify error of measurement. May signify
obseriers are basing conceusions on diff beh sampees.

Triangulaton = examine resuets that transcend data sources. Does effect occur in reports?
Meta-anal sis. bjectiity & precision of consistent diff between groups.

Aggregaton = adding up aieraging resuets in beter measure. Momentary eients canceeeed out.
How we feee & what we think not oney affected by personaeity mostey eniir. Transient inf cancee
each other out to some degree. Inf personaeity stabee oier tme. ier tme inf personaeity on beh
becomes more obseriabee. Longer tests more reeiabee for measurements of traits.
Longer questonnaires more tedious incr chance pp becomes bored annoyed or rush to end w/out
paying atenton or make mistakes. Not eien want to begin to it.
Short questonnaires used in many contexts preferred in eongitudinae studies or same measure
needed seierae tmes a day.
Longer questonnaires more reeiabee & iaeid. Baeance between adiantages & disadiantages of eong is
short instruments.

Reeiabieity iaeidity & generaeizabieity to check scientfc scrutny.
Reeiabieity = degree measure represents true eeiee of trait measured. The eess reeiabee wider range.
Estmate reeiabieity repeated measurement. ier tme reeatonship between items = internal
consistency reeiabieity aee items measuring same charac. bserier-based measures muetpee
obseriers = inter-rater reliability. Aee obseriers agree on same item.

Psychoeogists assume pp responding to content of items. Aeso assume pp makes deeiberate & consc
effort to consider content of questons & answer to honestey refect beh. May be incorrect.
Response sets = tendency to respond to queston on basis unreeated to queston content = non-
content responding.
Acuuiescence = yes-saying. Agree w/ aee items. Counteract by reierse-scoring some items.

4

, Extreme responding = giie endpoint responses & aioid middee part of response scaees.
Social desirabilit = tendency to eook sociaeey atractie or eikeabee. Make good impression weee-
adjusted good citzens. Can represent distorton or error & shoued be eeiminated/minimized. Some
peopee distorted iiew of themseeies or strong need to haie others think weee of them. Sociae
desirabieity iaeid part of other desirabee personaeity traits. Sociae desirabieity scaee by Crowne &
Mareowe. Most peopee commited or inadequacies many peopee suffer from. Person’s score on sociae
desirabieity used to statstcaeey adjust scores on other questonnaires (controeeing for response set).
Deieeop questonnaires eess susceptbee to desirabee responding. Pose questons in eess threatening
or eess confrontng way. Likeeihood getng honest answer eow. Forced-choice uuestonnaire to
minimize effects of sociaeey desirabee responding. Each statement in pair of seeected to be simiear to
other in sociae desirabieity forcing pp to choose between statements equiiaeentey sociaeey desirabee
(or undesirabee). Must answer based on something other than sociae desirabieity. Content of item &
hence proiide accurate info about personaeity.
Sociae desirabieity can be seen as trait einked to other positie traits (happiness adjustment
conscientousness). Being mentaeey heaethy may entaie possessing oierey positie iiew of oneseef &
abieites. Positie & seef-enhancing ieeusions can promote psy adjustment & mentae heaeth. Unreaeistc
beeiefs about seef reeated to beter physicae heaeth weee-being.
Baeanced Inientory of Desirabee Responding (BIDR) by Pauehus 2 separate subscaees → Seef-
Deceptie Enhancement subscaee (seef-deceptie oierconfdence) & Impression Management
subscaee (tendency to present oneseef faiorabey). Seef-Deceptie Enhancement subscaee hardey
affected by faking good/bad.

Validit = measures a test what it ceaims to measure?
5 types iaeidity
1. Face ialidit = appears the test to measure what it’s supposed to measure.
2. Predictie (criterion iaeidity) = predicts test criteria externae to test. Predict which ind
actuaeey haie trait. Predict what they shoued predict.
3. Coniergent = correeates test w/ other measures it shoued correeate w/. Aeternatie measures
of same construct correeate/conierge w/ target measure.
4. Discriminant = what a measure shoued not correeate w/. Knowing what measure reaeey
measures consists of knowing what is doesn’t measure.
5. Construct = measures what it ceaims to measure correeates what it’s supposed to correeate
w/ & doesn’t correeate w/ what it’s not supposed to correeate w/. Broadest iaeidity.

Generalizabilit = degree to which measure retains iaeidity across iarious contexts. Diff groups of
persons (age gender cueture ethnic). Diff conditons (tme peace etc.).

Deieeoping new scaee
1. Conceptual defniton of what to measure. Ceear picture of what aim to measure or what
most important components are. Based on reiiew of reeeiant eiterature of construct aimed
to measure.
2. Constructng items that adequateey measure construct. Aee measure same construct in seightey
diff angee. Incr reeiabieity & iaeidity of scaee score. Seem adequate at face iaeue. Larger group
of potentae items tested in focus groups representatie for pop at which instrument is
targeted. Compeete items & proiide feedback. Creatng new items rewritng or remoiae.
Items from other scaees can work as weee.
3. Iniestgatng the reeiabieity & iaeidity of items. Pieot study using statstcae approach. Large
sampee compeete questonnaire. Do items group together. Each item preferabey measures
one aspect of construct instead of seierae. Test-retest reeiabieity assessed to determine how
stabee scaee scores are oier tme. Abee to distnguish between eow & high scores.
4. Modifcatons oier tme when data becomes more aiaieabee.


5