Personality
Personality is an individual’s characteristic style of:
= Behaviour
= Thought
= Feeling
The study of personality is the study of both individuals (idiographic approach) and common trends in the population (nomothetic approach)
The study of personality has two main components:
= Measuring personality
What are the characteristics of an individual’s personality?
= Personality inventories
= Projective techniques
= Explaining personality
= Why does an individual have the personality that they do?
= How does an individual’s personality affect their behaviour?
Personality theories
How to measure personality
What techniques can you think of to measure an individual’s personality?
We could observe the individual’s behaviour
= What are the drawbacks of observation?
Instead, personality measurements usually take one of two forms:
= Personality inventories
Also called personality tests/scales
= Projective techniques
We’ll get to these when we discuss psychodynamic theory
Personality inventories
One of the simplest ways to assess personality is via personality inventories (personality tests or scales)
These inventories rely on self-report
= Subjective answers about one’s own behaviours, thoughts, and feelings
= Usually administered in an interview or written questionnaire
There are thousands of personality inventories online
Most online personality tests have very low validity and reliability
= Validity: a test measures what it says it measures
= Reliability: a test produces the same results each time
Some personality inventories, however, have high validity and high reliability
For example, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) is a widely reliable, clinically valid personality test
True/false/can’t answer questions
= Why?
A lot of questions
= Many versions of the same question
MMPI
MMPI example questions (true/false/can’t answer)
= Most any time I would rather sit and daydream than to do anything else
= I prefer to pass by school friends, or people I know but have not seen for a long time, unless they speak to me first
= I wish I could be as happy as others seem to be
Criticisms of personality inventories
What are the possible problems with personality inventories?
= Test taker can be biased
Test takers may report socially desirable traits
= Tests have ‘validity scale’ questions to ensure validity
= For example, questions that all people should answer “yes” to
Test taker may not know everything about themselves
What are the possible problems with personality inventories?
= Test taker can be biased (discussed last lecture)
= Test itself may be culturally invalid
There are culturally validated scales
Test interpreter may be biased
= Validity scales and strict scoring paradigms help
