PSYC 287 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Impulsivity

33 views6 pages

OC1973813

12 Oct 2017

School

Department

Course

Professor

1. Inordertosaythatonevariablecausedanother,aresearchermust:

a. conductanexperiment

2. Inorderfordatatohaveahighdegreeofvalidity:

a. theymustmustalsohaveahighdegreeofreliability

3.Thecasemethodshouldbeusedwhen

a. thereisanindividualthattheresearcherwantstounderstandasfullyas

possible



PersonalityTraits,Situations,andBehavior

● ThemeasurementofIndividualDifferences

○ “Everymanisincertainrespects(a)likeallothermen(b)likesomeothermen,©

likenootherman.”(p.108)

○ Traitsarethebuildingblocksofpersonality

● StrengthsandCriticismsofTraitApproach

○ Strengths

■ assessesandattemptstounderstandhowpeoplediffer

■ numerouspracticalapplications

● educationalpsychologistsandemployersusetraitmeasuresin

theirwork

● singletraitcanpredictaperson’sbehaviorifthattraitisimportant,

orcentral,fortheperson

■ generatedalargeamountofresearch

○ Criticisms

■ noexplanationonhowtraitsdeveloporhowtohelppeoplewhosuffer

fromextremescores

■ lackofanagreeduponframework

● howmanytraitsarethere?18,000?27?5?

■ thereislittleevidenceforcrosssituationalconsistency

■ traitmeasuresdonotalwayspredictbehaviorwellbecauseboththe

personandthesituationarerelatedtobehavior

● personbysituationapproach:individualtraitsaswellas

situationsdeterminebehavior

● PeopleAreInconsistent

○ personalitytraitsarenottheonlyfactorsthatcontrolbehavior

○ thestabilityofpersonalitymaydependonyourage

● ConsistencyAcrossTime

○ researchindicatesconsistencyovertimeforbroadtraits

○ althoughconsistentovertime,howatraitismanifestedinbehaviormightchange

overtime

○ howcantherebeconsistencyinatraitifitisknowntochangewithage(e.g.,

impulsivity)?

Unlock document

This preview shows pages 1-2 of the document.
Unlock all 6 pages and 3 million more documents.

Already have an account? Log in

■ focusontherankorderdifferencesbetweenpeople

● ConsistencyAcrossSituations

○ traitpsychologiststraditionallyassumedcrosssituationconsistency

○ ifsituationsmainlycontrolhowpeoplebehave,thentheexistenceorrelevanceof

traitsisquestionable

○ Mischel(1968):personalitypsychologistsshouldabandontheireffortstoexplain

behaviorwithtraits,focusinginsteadonsituations

● ThePersonSituationDebate

○ Mischel(1968):behavioristooconsistentacrosssituationsforindividual

differencetobecharacterizedbytraits

○ whyisthisimportant?

■ StanfordPrisonExperiment

● TheFirstSituationistArgument:Predictability

○ thereisanupperlimittohowwellonecanpredictwhatapersonwilldobasedon

anymeasurementofthatperson’spersonality,andthisupperlimitislow

■ MischellookedatrelationshipsofS,I,andBdatawithbehavior

■ correlationsrarelyexceed.30(maybe.40)

■ predictivecapacityisextremelylimited

● ResponsetotheFirstSituationalArgument:Predictability

○ Mischeldidanunfair,selectiveliteraturereview

■ afairreviewoftheliteraturerevealspredictivecapacityoftraitsisbetter

thanissometimesacknowledged

○ somepeoplearemoreconsistentthanothers,andsomebehaviorsaremore

consistentthanothers

■ getbetterpredictivecapacityiffocusonbehavioraltrends

○ theupperlimitforpredictability(r=.40)yieldsbetteroutcomesthanissometimes

recognized

○ (aspirincorrelatedtoheartattacks)

● TheSecondSituationistArgument:Situationism

○ littleevidenceforcrosssituationalconsistency(HartshorneandMay):honesty,

helpfulness,selfcontrol

Unlock document

This preview shows pages 1-2 of the document.
Unlock all 6 pages and 3 million more documents.

Already have an account? Log in

PSYC 287 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Impulsivity

Get OneClass Notes+

YearlyBest Value

Monthly