PSYC 321 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Gordon Allport, Raymond Cattell, Factor Analysis

• School: Concordia University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 321
• Professor: Samuel Clement

Document Summary

There is little common agreement among personality theorists on the appropriate use of the term. Theory: a set of abstract concepts developed about a group of facts or events in order to explain them. A theory of personality is an organized system of beliefs that helps us to understand human nature: the study of personality is heir to two different approaches. Freedom versus determinism: heredity versus environment, uniqueness versus universality. Scientific statements are revised based on empirical evidence. Philosophical assumptions cannot be proven or disproven, and are not revisable based on evidence. Statements about the world based on empirical observations arising from currently accepted paradigms: empirical observations based on objective or subjective data, when observations coincide, a scientist may make a generalization. Determine which assertions function as philosophical assumptions and which function as scientific statements: ask how well the philosophical assumptions fulfill the criteria of philosophy.