PSYC 2740 Chapter Notes - Chapter 4: Civil Rights Act Of 1964, Psychological Types, Duke Energy
6 Jul 2018
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PSYC 2470: Personality Psychology
Chapter 4: Theoretical and Measurement Issues in Trait Psychology
Theoretical Issues
Trait theories share three important assumptions about personality traits
1. Meaningful individual differences
2. Stability or consistency over time
3. Consistency across situations
Meaningful Differences Among Individuals
Psychologists are interested in the ways people are different from each other
Differential psychology: study of other forms of individual differences in addition to personality traits
(abilities, aptitudes, and intelligence)
Trait perspective is mainly quantitative (how much one differs on average)
Consistency Over Time
Consistency: stability of traits over time
Intelligence, emotional reactivity, impulsiveness, shyness, and aggression are high in test-retest
reliability
Extraversion, sensation seeking, activity level, and shyness are thought to be a biological basis and are
consistent over time
Although consistent over time, the way traits manifest to behaviours may change
Rank order: maintaining one's relative position within a group over time
Consistency Across Situations
Trait consistency from situation to situation
Mischel thought personality psychologists should shift focus from personality traits to situations
Situationism: if behaviour differs from situation to situation then it must be situational differences,
rather than underlying personality traits to determine behaviour
Person-Situation Interaction
Two explanations for behaviour or why people do what they do in situations
1. Behaviour is a function of personality traits B=f(P)
2. Behaviour is a function of situational forces B=f(S)
B=f(P X S)
Behaviour is a function of the interaction between personality traits and situational forces
Situational specificity: certain very specific situations can provoke behaviour that is otherwise out of
character for the individual. Act a certain way under particular circumstances
1. Some are rare because the provoking situation is rare
Personality traits interact with situational forces to produce behaviour
Moskowitz (1993)
1. Women are friendlier than men
2. Women are not friendlier than men when interacting with other women
Strong situation: situations in which nearly all people react in similar ways (funeral, religious services,
crowded elevator)
Situational Selection
Three other ways personality traits interact with situations
Situational selection: choose situations they get themselves in
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Chapter 4: theoretical and measurement issues in trait psychology. Trait theories share three important assumptions about personality traits: meaningful individual differences, stability or consistency over time, consistency across situations. Psychologists are interested in the ways people are different from each other. Differential psychology: study of other forms of individual differences in addition to personality traits (abilities, aptitudes, and intelligence) Trait perspective is mainly quantitative (how much one differs on average) Intelligence, emotional reactivity, impulsiveness, shyness, and aggression are high in test-retest reliability. Extraversion, sensation seeking, activity level, and shyness are thought to be a biological basis and are consistent over time. Although consistent over time, the way traits manifest to behaviours may change. Rank order: maintaining one"s relative position within a group over time. Mischel thought personality psychologists should shift focus from personality traits to situations. Situationism: if behaviour differs from situation to situation then it must be situational differences, rather than underlying personality traits to determine behaviour.
