PSYC14H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 4: Personality Psychology, Reference Group, Extraversion And Introversion
Document Summary
Chapter 4- methods for studying culture and psychology. Psychologists patricia greenfield wanted to study zinancantecans, an indigenous people living in mexico. However she found that the surveys used in western didn"t work well with the zinacantecans. A technique used in surveys is to ask participants about the same issue in a number of items that vary slightly. For instance, measuring extraversion typically does not have just one item but a dozen items that all assess the extent to which one acts in extraverted ways. This method of asking people similar questions, reduces concerns of random error and ensures that peoples responses pertain to the underlying construct. Zinacantecans however though that greenfields survey would follow their conversational norms. Therefore they got angry, because they couldn"t understand how she could be so stupid to keep asking the same questions. It is extremely challenging to collect sound and compelling evidence for psychological phenomena even with current technology.