PS100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: Naturalistic Observation, Theophrastus, Agreeableness
Document Summary
Throughout time people have been intuitively aware of individual differences. That they like some people and not others. Theophrastus wrote about different character to try to describe individual differences. Personality-distinctive and relatively enduring ways of thinking, feeling, and acting that characterize a person"s response to situations: a collection of stable traits and her characteristics, varies from one individual to another. Ask them?- ask others? (objective)- results of a test?- observe them? (naturalistic observation) If you ask someone to take a test, you wont answer as honestly because of social bias. No single method, assessment test and naturalistic observation. Interviews: structured set of standardized questions, note other behaviours- appearance, speech, patterns, etc. Drawbacks: characteristics of interviewer can affect answers, dependence on co-operation, honestly of interviewee. Behavioural assessment (never use just one observer, and observation codes are tallied because of bias: need explicit coding system, aim is not solely to "describe" behaviour (specific behaviour, frequency, specific situation, under what conditions.
