What are the main ways to measure personality
Rating scale Interviews Self report Observation Questionnaires
What does the Thematic Apperception Test aim to uncover
Repressed aspects of personality Intimacy Motives and needs for achievement Power Problem solving abilities
What is important in the story’s brought up in the Thematic Apperception Test
what led up the event
what is happening at the moment
what characters are feeling and thinking
the outcome of the story
What is the Thematic Apperception test
Henry Murray (1930’s)
picture interpretation technique
shown ambiguous pictures and asked to create a story for the picture
is scored on the basis of the content of the story, and the way it is told
psychologists assume story will reveal conflicts/themes important to them, underlie the persons personality
What do the inkblot test measure
Aggressive and sexual impulses
If you see a lot of mirrors, may indicate that you are self centred
VERY SUBJECTIVE INTERPRETATIONS OF ANSWERS
How is the inkblot test conducted
person is shown card with inkblot and asked what they think of it
response to cards are interpreted by:
- Location (what part of the blot determined the response)
- Influences (whether the client is responding to shape, colour, texture etc)
- Content (what the client sees in the blot)
Who made the inkblot test
Swiss psychiatrist Hermann Rorschach (1921)
What is a projective test
Have no clearly defined answers
Open-ended format
Present ambiguous stimuli, ask test taker to interpret it (description or story about it)
eg inkblot test
What was the work of Cattell 1946
Added source traits
Used factor analysis
Developed the 16 personality factors scale
What are the tiers of traits and responses
Supertrait –> Trait –> Habitual response –> Specific responses
What is the idiographic approach
No general traits are possible because of chance, freewill and uniqueness
Gordan Allport - personal characteristics
What is the Nomothetic Approach
Study of personality in terms of traits or dimensions common to everyone
(Eysenck, Cattell)
What are the 16 personality factors (Cattell)
Abstractedness, Apprehension, Dominance, Emotional Stability, Liveliness, Openness to change, Perfectionism, Privateness, Reasoning, Rule-consciousness, Self-reliance, Sensitivity, Social boldness, Tension, Vigilance, Warmth
SHOULD REMEMBER ATLEAST 3
What are the big five
Lewis Goldberg whittled down the 16 factors to 5, which was then expanded on by McCrae and Costa 1987: - extroversion - agreeableness - conscientiousness - neuroticism - openness (OCEAN)
What are some tests to measure personality traits
Eysenck personality questionnaire
Sixteen personality factors
McCrae and Costa (1992) five factor model
Describe Psychoticism and Impulse control
Psychoticism - aggressive, egocentric, impulsive and antisocial
Impulse control - empathetic, control of impulses
Describe Neuroticism and Emotional stability
Neuroticism - emotional instability, low self-esteem, guilty, tense, moody,
Emotional stability - confident, high self esteem, emotionally stable
Describe Extraversion and Introversion
Extraversion - tendency to be social, active and willing to take risks
Introversion - social inhibition, seriousness and caution
What are supertraits
Eyseneck - The three main traits that exist on a continuum:
Extroversion-Introversion, Neuroticism-Emotional stability, Psychoticism-Impulse control
What were Eysencks 3 main personality dimensions
Extraversion-introversion
emotional stability-neuroticism
psychoticism-impulse control (added later)
How did Eysenck (1953) believe traits were formed
Formed from genetic inheritance
Define source traits
Allport - Our underlying personality traits
What is proprium
Allport - Behaviours and characteristics that people regard as central in their lives, who we are and how we identify as ourself
Essential, nature of ourselves
Define personality
The characteristic ways of thinking, feeling and acting that make a person an individual and are relatively stable over time
