Revision: PS416, personality and individual differences, Lecture 4

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What are the two main assumptions of the train approach?
1) That traits are relatively stable over time 2) Traits are relatively stable across situations
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What do traits refer to?
Consistent patterns in the way individuals behave, feel and think
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What is Child's (1968) definition of personality?
The more or less stable, internal factors that make one person's behaviour consistent from one time to another, and different from the behaviour other people would manifest in comparable situations"
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Who did the written description of dispositions and when?
Aristotle (384-322 BC)
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Who did the written description of humours and when?
Galen (130-200 AD)
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Who did the written description of personality types based on the strength of feelings and when?
Kant (1724-1804)
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Who changed the categorical types of personality into trait dimensions?
William Wundt
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What are William Wundt's two trait dimensions?
The emotional dimension and the Changeability dimension
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What is the emotional trait dimension according to William Wundt?
A trait can be anywhere on a scale from emotional to unemotional
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What is the changeable trait dimension according to William Wundt?
A trait can be anywhere on a scale from changeable to unchangeable
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Who came up with the theory of physique and temperament?
Sheldon
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What is Sheldon's theory of physique and temperament?
The idea that peoples body types are linked to different personality types
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What are the three types of physique in Sheldon's theory of physique and temperament?
Ectomorph, Mesomorph, Endomorph
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What does part of the body does an Ectomorph physique focus on according to Sheldon's theory of physique and temperament?
The nervous system and the brain
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What does part of the body does an Mesomorph physique focus on according to Sheldon's theory of physique and temperament?
The musculature and the circulatory system
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What does part of the body does an Endomorph physique focus on according to Sheldon's theory of physique and temperament?
The digestive system, particularly the stomach
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What physique does an Ectomorph physique have according to Sheldon's theory of physique and temperament?
Light-boned with a slight musculature
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What physique does an Mesomorph physique have according to Sheldon's theory of physique and temperament?
Large, bony with well-defined muscles
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What physique does an Endomorph physique have according to Sheldon's theory of physique and temperament?
Rounded body tending towards fatness
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What temperament type does an Endomorph physique have according to Sheldon's theory of physique and temperament?
Cerebrotonia
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What are the three temperament's types according to Sheldon's theory of physique and temperament?
Cerebrotonia, Somatotonia, Visceratonia
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What temperament type does an Mesomorph physique have according to Sheldon's theory of physique and temperament?
Somatotonia
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What temperament type does an Endomorph physique have according to Sheldon's theory of physique and temperament?
Visceratonia
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What does it mean if a person has a Cerebrotonia temperament in Sheldon's theory of physique and temperament?
They have a need for privacy, are restrained and inhibited
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What does it mean if a person has a Somatotonia temperament in Sheldon's theory of physique and temperament?
They are physically assertive, competitive and keen on physical activity
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What does it mean if a person has a Visceratonia temperament in Sheldon's theory of physique and temperament?
They are associated with a love of relaxation and comfort, like food and are sociable
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Who came up with the Lexical Hypothesis?
Galton
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What is the lexical hypothesis?
That if individual differences between people are important then there will be words to describe them
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How many Synonyms (a word with the same meaning) are there for the word honest?
31
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How many Synonyms (a word with the same meaning) are there for the word warm?
13
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How many Synonyms (a word with the same meaning) are there for the word pedantic?
9
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How many Synonyms (a word with the same meaning) are there for the word aberrant?
0
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According to the Lexical Hypothesis what does it mean that the word honest has 31 synonyms and the word aberrant has 0?
That the word honest is an important personality descriptor, meaning that the individual difference of a person being honest or not is important, whereas aberrant is not an important personality descriptor/ individual difference
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What are the two things the trait theories of personality can be divided into?
High factor theories and low factor theories
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What are high-factor theories?
Theories which are controversial and difficult to replicate
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What are high-factor and low-factor theories at the mercy of?
Questionnaires
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Where can we see the difference between high-factor and low-factor theories?
At the level of detail not at the qualitative differences between them
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Who distinguished between nomothetic and idiographic approaches?
Gordon Allport
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What approach did Allport favour?
The idiographic approach
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What did Allport acknowledge?
The limitations of the trait approach - unified approach to personality
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What did Allport do?
Identified 18,000 words of which 4,500 described personality traits and published the first text on personality traits.
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What do the personal dispositions consist of in Allport's approach?
Cardinal traits, central traits, secondary traits and the proprium
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What are Cardinal Traits in Allport's Approach?
"ruling passions" which dominate personality
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What are Central Traits in Allport's Approach?
A few consistencies in behaviour
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What are Secondary Traits in Allport's Approach?
Preferences and habits
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What is the Proprium in Allport's Approach?
The self which develops over time
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How is Allport's approach comprehensive?
It's broad and borrows terms from learning theory, existentialism and psychoanalysis. It also Acknowledges the effect of the situation.
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How is Allport's approach not comprehensive?
It is largely limited to healthy development, the proprium is described only in general terms, it doesn't say in great detail how social environment affects the development of personality.
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How does Allport's approach struggle with testable concepts?
The theory has vague and ill-defined concepts/definitions. Terms are hard to operationalise. Doesn't state explicit relationships between trait concepts and the theory of development of the proprium so can't adequately test the theory
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How does Allport's approach struggle with parsimony?
There are too few concepts to account for phenomena, there are limited aspects of development described for the self
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How does Allport's Approach have good empirical validity?
Intrinsic/extrinsic religiosity has generated considerable research with finding generally consistent with theory
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How does Allport's Approach have bad empirical validity?
Few attempts have been made to determine the validity as it is difficult to derive testable hypotheses from the descriptions, overall the theory has weak empirical support
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How does Allport's Approach have high heuristic value?
It highlighted the role of individual traits and limitations with trait theory, it advocated the idiographic approach and the uniqueness of individuals.
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How does Allport's Approach have a bad heuristic value?
It did not generate much research in general
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How does Allport's approach have a good Applied Value?
The theory of self-development is useful to clinical psychologists in treating patients
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How does Allport's approach have a bad Applied Value?
The theory has not had much impact outside psychology
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Who uses factor analysis in their approach?
Raymond Cattell
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Why does Cattell use factor analysis?
In order to determine the structure of personality, and it provided precise measurements and prediction
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What test did Cattell create?
The 16 Personality Factors Test (16 PF)
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What were the two traits Cattell made the distinction between?
Surface and Source traits
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What are surface traits? (Cattell's Approach)
Collections of trait descriptors that cluster together in many individuals and situations (46 traits)
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What are source traits? (Cattell's Approach)
The causes of behaviour, underlying traits which are revealed using factor analysis, these are the basic elements of personality
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What were the 3 types of data Cattell collected for his approach?
L-data (life record data) , Q-data (self-report questionnaire) , T-data (objective-test data)
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What did Cattell identify from his data collection?
16 source traits
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What did Cattell say the basic structure of personality was?
Ability, Temperament and Dynamic traits
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What letter's represent Cattell's 16 source factors? (1-16)
A-C E-I L-O then Q1-Q4
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What is the name of Factor A of Cattell's 16 source factors?
Outgoing (affectothymia) -Reserved (schizothymia)
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What is the name of Factor B of Cattell's 16 source factors?
Intelligence (High '8' - Low '8)
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What is the name of Factor C of Cattell's 16 source factors?
Stable (high ego strength) - Emotional (low ego strength)
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What is the name of Factor E of Cattell's 16 source factors?
Assertive (dominance) - Humble (submissiveness)
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What is the name of Factor F of Cattell's 16 source factors?
Happy-go-lucky (surgency) - Sober (desurgency)
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What is the name of Factor G of Cattell's 16 source factors?
Conscientious (high superego) - Expedient (low superego)
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What is the name of Factor H of Cattell's 16 source factors?
Venturesome (parmia) - Shy (threctia)
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What is the name of Factor I of Cattell's 16 source factors?
Tender-minded (presia) - Tough-minded (harria)
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What is the name of Factor L of Cattell's 16 source factors?
Suspicious (protension) - Trusting (alaxia)
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What is the name of Factor M of Cattell's 16 source factors?
Imaginative (autia) - Pratical (praxernia)
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What is the name of Factor N of Cattell's 16 source factors?
Shrewd
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What is the name of Factor O of Cattell's 16 source factors?
Apprehensive (guilt - proneness) - Placid (assurance)
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What is the name of Factor Q1 of Cattell's 16 source factors?
Experimenting (radicalism) - Conservative (conservatism)
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What is the name of Factor Q2 of Cattell's 16 source factors?
Self-sufficiency (Self-sufficiency) - Group-tied (group adherence)
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What is the name of Factor Q3 of Cattell's 16 source factors?
Controlled (high self-concept) - Casual (low integration)
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What is the name of Factor Q4 of Cattell's 16 source factors?
Tense (high ergic tension) - Relaxed (low ergic tension)
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In what order are Cattell's 16 personality factors?
In order of their importance in explaining individual differences in behaviour (A is most important, Q4 is least important)
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If people score high in a factor when looking at the factor name (A-B) does this mean they are A or B? (for example, if they scored high in factor Q4 (Tense (high ergic tension) - Relaxed (low ergic tension) ) would they be tense or relaxed? )
A
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How is Cattell's approach comprehensive?
Wide range of diverse phenomena (normal and abnormal), recognised the complexity of personality, accounts for biological and sociocultural influences, utilises measurement procedures commensurate with the task of assessing complex behaviour
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How did Cattell's approach have testable concepts?
They took great concern when it came to precise measurement's and prediction. They refined their concepts through sophisticated and elaborate factor analysis procedures
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How did Cattell's approach not have testable concepts?
His data was criticised for ambiguities and subjectivity (critique of factor analysis)
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How did Cattell's approach have parsimony?
It seems fairly economical without being overly simplistic, it defines the role of normal and abnormal behaviour as well as a person's abilities and mood fluctuations
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How did Cattell's approach not have parsimony?
The data was difficult to replicate
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How did Cattell's approach have empirical validity?
There was considerable reliability and validity evidence of his trait concepts
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How did Cattell's approach not have empirical validity?
There was only some support for various hypotheses based on his basic concepts
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How did Cattell's approach have heuristic value?
Cattell recognised was recognised as a first-rate scholar with wide-ranging interests and expertise in many areas. Pioneering ideas have stimulated new thinking and research in contemporary personality psychology
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How did Cattell's approach not have heuristic value?
There was difficult technical language and there was no acknowledgement of the subjectivity of factor analysis
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How did Cattell's approach have applied value?
He had considerable influence on occupational psychology, influenced clinical diagnosis of psychopathology and assessment of therapy
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What did Hans Eysenck define the personality as?
The organisation of character, temperament, intelligence, physique and nervous system
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What did Eysenck see traits as?
Relatively stable, long-lasting characteristics of the individual
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What type of analysis did Eysenck use?
Secondary factor analysis
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What was Eysenck mindful of when using secondary factor analysis?
The potential limitations of the technique
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What was Eysenck's hierarchical model of personality types?
Supertraits of Extraversion, Neuroticism, Psychoticism
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What are Extraversion traits in Eysenck's Hierarchical model of personality?
Sensation-seeking, Sociable, Carefree, Lively, Dominant, Active, Surgent, Assertive and Venturesome
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What are Neuroticism traits in Eysenck's Hierarchical model of personality?
Tense, Anxious, Irrational, Depressed, Shy, guilt feelings, moody, low self-esteem, emotional
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What are Psychoticism traits in Eysenck's Hierarchical model of personality?
Impulsive, aggressive, unempathic, cold, creative, egocentric, tough-minded, impersonal, antisocial
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What is Eysenck's Approach to personality?
That three supertraits of extraversion, neuroticism and psychoticism make up the basic structure of personality
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What questionnaire did Eysenck develop to measure the three types of supertraits and their supporting traits?
The Eysenck Personality questionnaire (EPQ)
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What are the biological basis of personality traits? (Eysneck's Approach)
About two-third of the variance in personality development can be attributed to biological factors. The environment plays a part in influencing how traits are expressed, but biology imposed limits on how much an individual personality can change
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Who came up with a theory for the underlying biology of extraversion?
Hans Eysenck
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What is extraversion?
The balance between or the sum of the two Central Nervous System Forces (Excitation and Inhibition)
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What is excitation in relation to extraversion?
The degree to which activity in the Central Nervous System is stimulated
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What is Inhibition in relation to extraversion?
The degree to which activity in the Central Nervous System is prevented
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According to Eysenck what is the relationship between extroverts and extraversion?
For extraverts, excitation is weak and builds up slowly, inhibition is strong, fast to build up and dissipates slowly.
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According to Eysenck what is the relationship between introverts and extraversion?
For introverts, they have a higher level of Central Nervous System arousal and find incoming stimuli more arousing compared to extraverts
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What does Eysenck's theory of Extraversion mean for Extraverts if they have an under-aroused Central Nervous System and stimulus hunger?
That they constantly seek more and more varied stimuli, they become bored more easily and poor at repetitive tasks
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Who provided supporting evidence for Eysenck's theory of extraversion?
Revelle, Amaral and Turriff (1976) and Furnham and Bradley (1997)
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What are the limitations of Eysenck's theory of extraversion?
There are no alternative explanations, it does not map onto present day brain structure and it does not entirely make evolutionary sense
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How is Eysenck's theory comprehensive?
Addresses broad range of normal and abnormal phenomena, includes broad range of behaviours, relates biology to personality, acknowledges the role of the environmental context (even if it's less developed than his biological theories)
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How does Eysenck's theory provided testable concepts?
There are precise measures of theoretical concepts so they can be tested, he refined concepts through sophisitcated and elaborate factor analysis procedures in addition to acknowledging the drawbacks of the technique.
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How does Eysenck's theory not provided testable concepts?
The data has been criticised for subjectivity, there are measurement problems with arousal
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How does Eysenck's theory good at parismony?
It is a low-factor theory so is easier to replicate than Cattell's high-factor theory
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How is Eysenck's theory bad at parismony?
There are too few concepts to fully describe personality functioning (he acknowledges this though), it does not fully address the differential impact of various situations on people
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How does Eysenck's theory have empirical validity?
There is cross-cultural, developmental and longitudinal support for extravert and neurotic types. There is considerable empirical support for Eysneck's arousal theory
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How does Eysenck's theory not have empirical validity?
There is less support for the psychotic type and less support for the bioloigcal theories of neuroticism and psychoticism.
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How does Eysenck's theory have heuristic value?
He is a good scholar, he went beyond simply describing personality, he uses good language in his theory, work has stimulated a lot of research, he provided a robust measure of personality
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How does Eysenck's theory have applied value?
He is a pioneer in linking biology to personality traits, created the behaviour therapy movement
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What is the five factor model?
The growing consensus that five supertraits make up the basic structure of personality
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What are the five factors (names chosen by Costa and McCrae)?
Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism
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What are the three things which support the five factor model?
The lexical approach, factor analysis evidence and the bottom-up approach
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How does the lexical approach support the five factor model?
As there are single terms for important differences in personality
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How does factor analysis evidence support the five factor model?
Evidence which comes from things like Allport's list of 4,500 traits and five factor-solutions
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How does the bottom-up approach support the five factor model?
The idea that it is not the theory to define the number of traits but rather originates from the data
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What is the Openness factor from the five factor model?
This factor refers to the individual having an openness to new experiences
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What is the Conscientiousness factor from the five factor model?
This factor describes our degree of self-discipline and control
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What is the Extraversion factor from the five factor model?
This factor is a measure of the individual's sociability
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What is the Agreeableness factor from the five factor model?
This factor relates emotional characteristics of the individual that are relevant for social interaction
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What is the Neuroticism factor from the five factor model?
This factor measures an individual's emotional stability and personal adjustment
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Who are the most influential researchers in the area of the five factor model and who came up with the Big Five model?
Costa + McCrae
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What was the name of the questionnaire Costa + McCrae developed to assess the five factors?
The NEO-Personality Inventory Revised (NEO-PI-R) to assess these five factors
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Is the Five Factor Model based on data or theory?
Data, it is a data-derived hypothesis
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Who came up with the five-factor theory to explain the five factors?
McCrae & Costa
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What are the key features of the Opnenness factor from the five-factor model?
Fantasy, Aethetics, Feelings, Actions, Ideas, Values
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What are the key features of the Conscientiousness factor from the five-factor model?
Competence, order, dutifulness, achievement striving, self-discipline
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What are the key features of the Extraversion factor from the five-factor model?
Warmth, Gregariousness, Assertiveness, Activity, excitement seeking, positive emotions
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What are the key features of the Agreeableness factor from the five-factor model?
Trust, Straightforwardness, Alturism, Compliance, Modesty, Tender-mindedness
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What are the key features of the Neuroticism factor from the five-factor model?
Anxiety, Angry hostility, Depressions, Self-consciousness, Impulsiveness, Vulnerability
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Are the five factors found in different language, ages and races?
Yes
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Can individual differences identified in biological research on temperament be described within the Big Five system?
Yes
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Is Eysneck's extraversion and neuroticisim identical to the same-named dimensions in the Big FIve?
They are almost identical
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Can Eysneck's Psychoticism be related to the Big Five Factors?
Yes, It is related to Agreeableness and Conscientiousness
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Does Cattell's 16 Personality Factors Map onto the Big five?
Yes, Cattell's scales outgoing, assertive and venturesome link with NEO-PI-R Extraversion)
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Does the latest version of the 16 personality factors allow scoring on the Big 5?
Yes
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Does the Big Five provide a framework within which Eysenckian and Cattellian constructs can be integrated?
Yes, however, this is debated even by Eysenck himself
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What is a positive evaluation of the Big Five?
There is lots of supporting evidence and increasing agreement that there are five factors
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What is a negative evaluation of the Big Five?
There is a debate over the labelling of the factors
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Are people in agreement about the number of traits in relation to the Big Five?
No
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What is an issue with the Big Five Model?
We don't know if the factors are linguistic categories that do not represent the underlying structure of personality
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Is it a negative or a positive that the Big Five model is data driven and was not derived from a theoretical basis?
Negative
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Does the Big Five model offer specific recommendations concerning personality change and is this a bad/good thing?
No, and this is a bad thing
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Is there a lack of precise agreement on the number of personality traits in regards to trait theories?
Yes
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Is more theoretical support (e.g. biological/genetic) required for the trait approach?
Yes
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Compared to intelligence, do personality traits predict behaviour well?
No
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What are the main strengths of current trait theories?
They have strengths in research, formulation of hypotheses and the potential for ties to biology
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What are structural models?
They consider the nature of individual differences, asking questions such as "how" do individuals differ?
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What are process models?
They consider the question of "why", "where" and "when" do people differ and give depth to understanding the "how"
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What is the idiographic approach to studying personality?
It adopts case study types of methodology, studying individuals and stressing the uniqueness of each individual
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What is the nomothetic approach to studying personality?
It studies groups of individuals aiming to identify similarities.
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Card 2

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What do traits refer to?

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Consistent patterns in the way individuals behave, feel and think

Card 3

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What is Child's (1968) definition of personality?

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Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

Who did the written description of dispositions and when?

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Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

Who did the written description of humours and when?

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