Chapter 4

1. Chapter 4 Theoretical and Measurement Issues in Trait Psychology

2. Theoretical Issues • Meaningful Differences Between Individuals • Consistency Over Time • Consistency Across Situations • Person-Situation Interaction • Aggregation

3. Meaningful Differences Between Individuals • There are meaningful differences between individuals (traits psychology is also called differential psychology) • __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ • Emphasizes how much a given individual differs from average • According to trait psychologists, every personality is the product of a combination of a few basic, primary traits • By combining a few primary traits in various amounts, it is possible to distill the unique qualities of every individual

4. Consistency Over Time • Research indicates consistency over time for broad traits • e.g., intelligence, emotional reactivity, impulsiveness, shyness, and aggression show high test-rest correlations, even across years or decades between measurements • (attitudes, interests, and opinions are less consistent over time) • People can still change in important behavioral ways throughout adulthood, especially after encountering some important ______________________ • _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

5. Consistency Over Time • __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ • Example: Disagreeableness • As a child, a highly disagreeable person might be prone to temper tantrums, etc. As an adult, a disagreeable person might be difficult to get along with and hence might have trouble sustaining personal relationships and holding down a job • -0.45 correlation between throwing temper tantrums in childhood and being able to hold a job as an adult 20 years later

6. Consistency Over Time • How can there be consistency in a trait if it is known to change with age? • e.g., activity level, impulsiveness, sociopathy • May be explained by the concept of ____________________ • If all people show a decrease in a particular trait at the same rate over time, they might still maintain the rank order relative to each other

7. Consistency Across Situations • Trait psychologists traditionally assumed cross-situation consistency • Although the evidence for consistency in traits over time is substantial, ________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ • Example: “friendliness” • Even very friendly people are not friendly in every situation (at least not to the same degree) • It may be that a particular situation exerts an influence on how friendly most people will likely be (e.g., party vs. library) • If situations mainly control how people behave, then the existence or relevance of traits is questionable

8. Consistency Across Situations • Research supports low cross-situation consistency across multiple traits (e.g., honesty, helpfulness, self-control) • ___________________ published a groundbreaking book titled Personality and Assessment • Suggested that personality psychologists should abandon their efforts to explain behavior with traits, focusing instead on situations • ________________________ – If behavior varies across situations then situational differences, and not personality traits, determine behavior

9. Consistency Across Situations • Mischel’s (1968) critique encouraged debate in personality psychology about the importance of traits compared to situations in causing behavior • Both sides tempered views: • Trait psychologists acknowledged the importance of situations • Situationists acknowledged the importance of traits • Debate led to two lasting changes: • Person-Situation Interaction • Aggregation

10. Person-Situation Interaction • Two possible explanations for behavior: • Behavior is a function of personality traits • Behavior is a function of situation • Integration  Person-Situation Interaction • __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ • Example: A person with the trait “hot temper” • Acquaintances of this person may not be aware of this trait if they never encountered the person dealing with a frustrating situation • e.g., vending machine = person-situation interaction between a particular personality trait (e.g., hot temper) and situation (e.g., frustration) • _____________________________________________________ • e.g., if the situation is frustrating, and if the person has a hot temper, then aggression will be the result

11. Person-Situation Interaction • Differences between people make a difference only under certain circumstances • Situational Specificity – ___________________________ ____________________________________________________ • e.g., test anxiety trait • Certain situations can provoke behavior that is out of character for an individual • Some trait-situation interactions are rare because of the kinds of situations that elicit behavior related to those traits are themselves rare • *Personality psychologists no longer try to predict “all of the people all of the time.” _______________________ ____________________________________________________

12. Person-Situation Interaction • Strong situation – _____________________________ ________________________________________________ • e.g., grief following loss of loved one • When situations are weak or ambiguous, _________ ________________________________________________ • Perhaps because it requires us to interpret the actions, motives, and intentions of others (or events)

13. Person-Situation Interaction • Three additional ways in which personality and situation interact to produce behavior • Selection • ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ • *Situations can also influence persons just as much as persons can influence situations • Evocation • The reactions we produce in others, often quite unintentionally; _________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ • Manipulation • Various means by which people influence the behavior of others; tactics of manipulation vary with personality • *entails altering those environments already inhabited (selection is choosing existing environments)

14. Aggregation • ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ • Longer tests are more reliable than shorter ones and are better measures of traits • __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

15. Aggregation • ____________________________________________________________________________________________ • i.e., at any given time, for any given behavior, many factors influence why a person does one thing and not another • ____________________________________________________________________________________________ • i.e., a person’s traits can “fluctuate” over time • e.g., even a friendly person may occasionally appear distant, irritable, etc. (may be feeling sick; received bad news) • Thus, personality psychologists will never be good at predicting single acts on single occasions

16. Measurement Issues • Trait approach relies on ________________________ to measure personality • Personality psychologists assume that people differ in the _____________ of various traits, and so a key measurement issue is determining _______________ of a trait person has • Traits are often represented as dimensions along which people differ • Trait psychologists are aware of and address circumstances that affect accuracy, reliability, validity, and utility of self-report trait measures

17. Measurement Issues • Carelessness • Faking On Questionnaires • Response Sets • *Barnum Statements

18. Measurement Issues • Carelessness • Method for detecting such problems is an _______________________________ embedded in test • Infrequency scale contains items that most people answer in a particular way • If a participant answers differently than most, this suggests carelessness • Another method for detecting carelessness is to include _________________________ spaced far apart in the survey—if the person answers the same item differently, this suggests carelessness

19. Measurement Issues • Faking On Questionnaires • “Fake good” • Attempt to appear better off or better adjusted than one is • “Fake bad” • 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

20. Measurement Issues • Response Sets • ___________________________ • 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

21. Measurement Issues • ________________________ • These are statements that could apply to anyone (generality statements) • e.g., astrology predictions, “personality” websites • Examples: • “You sometimes have doubts about whether you have done the right thing.” • “You have a need for others to like or admire you.” • “Although you are able to deal with confrontation in a pinch, you typically like to avoid it if you can.”

22. Summary and Evaluation • Hallmark of trait perspective is the emphasis on the differences between people • Traits psychologists assume that people will be relatively constant over time and across situations in behaviors, because of their differences in various traits • Traits are more likely to influence a person’s behavior when the situation is weak and ambiguous and doesn’t push for conformity from all people • Personality traits refer to the average tendencies in behavior • Trait psychologists are interested in the accuracy of measurement