PPE 3003 Final Exam Study Guide
Chapter 1- Introduction to Personality
What is Personality?
Personality is the set of psychological traits and mechanisms within the individual that
are relatively enduring and that influence his or her interactions with and adaptions to the
physical and social environments
Personality is something a person carries with him/her (an internal trait)
Persists across time and situation and is also relatively consistent
However when an external situation is particularly strong, we can tell less about a
person’s internal trait
Our personalities affect: Which features of the environment are salient and how
we respond to those for both the physical environment and social environment
Psychological Traits
The WHAT of personality
Habitual patterns of thoughts, behaviors, emotions
Average tendencies
Characteristics that make people different from one another
Anxious, outgoing, etc
Psychological Mechanisms
The HOW of personality
How someone processes information
Made up of:
Input- How sensitive you are to the information from the environment
Decision Rules- How likely you are to think about specific options
Output- How behavior is guided
Person-Environment Interactions
Selection
Our personalities affect which situations we enter
o Have you ever been skydiving? Why are you in class right now?
Evocations
Our personalities affect how others respond to us
We evoke their reactions
o What would happen if someone started screaming? If I’m always negative
how will others respond to me?
Manipulation
Our personalities affect how we intentionally manipulate others
o If I am adventurous, I might suggest a rafting trip
,Levels of Differences/Similarities
Human Nature
Similar to all others, these traits are common to the human species
We are biological creatures
o We have a need to belong because we are social creatures
o Rejection/exclusion is painful
o We have a need for control and like to know how things work, able to
predict what will happen, know certainty and have consistency
Group Differences
Groups may differ on average but it is important to remember that these are just
AVERAGE differences (aka there is a lot of variation)
Individual Differences
We are all unique mixtures of traits, even identical twins differ slightly
Why is Personality interesting?
It allows us to describe ourselves to others
Allows us to make comparisons
Allows us to understand behavior
Allows us to predict future behavior
Allows us to choose social partners
Chapter 2- Measuring Personality
Ways to Measure Personality
Self Report
Person provides information about his/her own traits, feelings or behaviors
o Most common method in personality psychology
o Ex: Questionnaires, interviews
Better Than Average Effect: People evaluate themselves more positively than they
evaluate other people
o We want to feel good about ourselves and it’s easy to think of times we
were good vs hard to think of times we were bad
Pros:
o People know their private experiences
o Easy and convenient
Cons:
o People don’t always have accurate self-knowledge
o People may lie (especially relevant when test has important consequences)
o Reference group varies
Observer Report
Observers provide impressions of the person (friends, family, professionals,
strangers, etc)
, o Best friends take surveys on each other
Study was done on the quality of romantic relationship and asked how long their
relationship would last
o Asked the couple, roommates, and parents
o Roommates were most accurate when it came to guessing how long they
would stay together (shortest amount of time)
Pros:
o People may have access to information about us that we do not (fewer
biases)
Cons:
o Observers may be more biases
o May lack knowledge (can only see behaviors not feelings)
Test Data
A person is placed in a controlled situation and responses are measured
Pros:
o Not limited by self-biases
o Controlled (we know the context of the situation)
Cons:
o Participants might guess what is being studied
o Researches might influence responses
o People might interpret the situation differently
Life Outcome Data
Information that can be extracted from person’s life events (marriages/divorces,
school, income, death, etc)
Usually personality psychologists use other sources of data to predict these
Pros:
o Objective & Important
Cons:
o Can be affected by many things
How do you know what is a good measure?
Validity: Does it measure what it claims to measure?
Face: On the surface, does it appear to measure what it’s supposed to measure?
Predictive: Does your measure predict what it should predict?
Convergent: Does the measure correlate with other measures it should correlate
with?
Reliability: The consistency of a measure
If you took the measure again, would you get a similar result?
Can test this though:
o Re-testing- give someone that measure then give it to them again at a later
time
o Have multiple observers: Have multiple people rate someone’s behavior
and compare their ratings
Generalizability: Is the measure valid across people and situation?
Chapter 1- Introduction to Personality
What is Personality?
Personality is the set of psychological traits and mechanisms within the individual that
are relatively enduring and that influence his or her interactions with and adaptions to the
physical and social environments
Personality is something a person carries with him/her (an internal trait)
Persists across time and situation and is also relatively consistent
However when an external situation is particularly strong, we can tell less about a
person’s internal trait
Our personalities affect: Which features of the environment are salient and how
we respond to those for both the physical environment and social environment
Psychological Traits
The WHAT of personality
Habitual patterns of thoughts, behaviors, emotions
Average tendencies
Characteristics that make people different from one another
Anxious, outgoing, etc
Psychological Mechanisms
The HOW of personality
How someone processes information
Made up of:
Input- How sensitive you are to the information from the environment
Decision Rules- How likely you are to think about specific options
Output- How behavior is guided
Person-Environment Interactions
Selection
Our personalities affect which situations we enter
o Have you ever been skydiving? Why are you in class right now?
Evocations
Our personalities affect how others respond to us
We evoke their reactions
o What would happen if someone started screaming? If I’m always negative
how will others respond to me?
Manipulation
Our personalities affect how we intentionally manipulate others
o If I am adventurous, I might suggest a rafting trip
,Levels of Differences/Similarities
Human Nature
Similar to all others, these traits are common to the human species
We are biological creatures
o We have a need to belong because we are social creatures
o Rejection/exclusion is painful
o We have a need for control and like to know how things work, able to
predict what will happen, know certainty and have consistency
Group Differences
Groups may differ on average but it is important to remember that these are just
AVERAGE differences (aka there is a lot of variation)
Individual Differences
We are all unique mixtures of traits, even identical twins differ slightly
Why is Personality interesting?
It allows us to describe ourselves to others
Allows us to make comparisons
Allows us to understand behavior
Allows us to predict future behavior
Allows us to choose social partners
Chapter 2- Measuring Personality
Ways to Measure Personality
Self Report
Person provides information about his/her own traits, feelings or behaviors
o Most common method in personality psychology
o Ex: Questionnaires, interviews
Better Than Average Effect: People evaluate themselves more positively than they
evaluate other people
o We want to feel good about ourselves and it’s easy to think of times we
were good vs hard to think of times we were bad
Pros:
o People know their private experiences
o Easy and convenient
Cons:
o People don’t always have accurate self-knowledge
o People may lie (especially relevant when test has important consequences)
o Reference group varies
Observer Report
Observers provide impressions of the person (friends, family, professionals,
strangers, etc)
, o Best friends take surveys on each other
Study was done on the quality of romantic relationship and asked how long their
relationship would last
o Asked the couple, roommates, and parents
o Roommates were most accurate when it came to guessing how long they
would stay together (shortest amount of time)
Pros:
o People may have access to information about us that we do not (fewer
biases)
Cons:
o Observers may be more biases
o May lack knowledge (can only see behaviors not feelings)
Test Data
A person is placed in a controlled situation and responses are measured
Pros:
o Not limited by self-biases
o Controlled (we know the context of the situation)
Cons:
o Participants might guess what is being studied
o Researches might influence responses
o People might interpret the situation differently
Life Outcome Data
Information that can be extracted from person’s life events (marriages/divorces,
school, income, death, etc)
Usually personality psychologists use other sources of data to predict these
Pros:
o Objective & Important
Cons:
o Can be affected by many things
How do you know what is a good measure?
Validity: Does it measure what it claims to measure?
Face: On the surface, does it appear to measure what it’s supposed to measure?
Predictive: Does your measure predict what it should predict?
Convergent: Does the measure correlate with other measures it should correlate
with?
Reliability: The consistency of a measure
If you took the measure again, would you get a similar result?
Can test this though:
o Re-testing- give someone that measure then give it to them again at a later
time
o Have multiple observers: Have multiple people rate someone’s behavior
and compare their ratings
Generalizability: Is the measure valid across people and situation?
