PSYA02H3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Tl;Dr, Personality Test, Nomothetic
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PSYA02H3 Full Course Notes
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Document Summary
Study of both individual differences (idiographic approach) and common trends in the population (nomothetic approach) Personality measurements take in one of two forms. In form of interview or written questionnaire. Unanswered questions, why it leads to it. Test taker may not know everything about themselves. Test admins and test takers can be biased. Test taker may not be sure about themselves. Sets of questions that attempt to mitigate bias. F-scale: high rates of (cid:494)true(cid:495) responses indicate severe psychopathology or over-reporting. Lie-scale: high rates of (cid:494)false(cid:495) responses may indicate lying. ?-scale: high rates of (cid:494)i-don(cid:495)t-know(cid:495) indicate an invalid test. Personality psychologists also attempt to describe and explain personality (not only measuring) Attempts to describe personalities as a series of traits. Use factor analysis to reduce the list to the lowest possible traits: individuals rate themselves on hundreds of traits, traits that highly correlate are combined into factors, traits that don(cid:495)t correlate are parts of separate factors.
