ATP, PAID 1, Studying Personality Tom Farsides Studying Personality

ATP, PAID 1, Studying Personality Tom Farsides Lecture contents Methods used to study personality Characteristics of each Relative strengths and weaknesses Examples and demonstrations of each

ATP, PAID 1, Studying Personality Tom Farsides Concerns of personality researchers Human nature Individual differences The organisation of bits of people (e.g., goals, moods, actions, thoughts) that gives direction and pattern (coherence) to those peoples (common and unique) existences (Pervin, 2002, p. 447) Psychology (I.e., anything to do with individuals psyches)

ATP, PAID 1, Studying Personality Tom Farsides 3 approaches to studying personality Clinical Correlational Experimental

ATP, PAID 1, Studying Personality Tom Farsides Whats the story?

ATP, PAID 1, Studying Personality Tom Farsides The clinical approach Essential feature: Ideographic Understanding individuals uniquely and holistically. Key question: What is this person like? Individual differences: To what extent are other people like this? Human nature: Does this person have any characteristics in common with all humans?

ATP, PAID 1, Studying Personality Tom Farsides The clinical approach Common characteristics Secondary to a non-research purpose (e.g., therapy, selection) Conducted by researchers aligned with therapeutic schools Small sample Socially interactive Open-ended (verbal) data Multivariate Negotiated focus Non-consensual conventions of analysis

ATP, PAID 1, Studying Personality Tom Farsides The clinical approach + Breadth and depth of data + Naturalistic + Structure and process + Discovery + Justice to concept of person - Idiosyncratic situation and social effects - Researcher errors and biases - Evaluation by others

ATP, PAID 1, Studying Personality Tom Farsides The correlational approach

ATP, PAID 1, Studying Personality Tom Farsides The correlational approach Essential feature: Attribute covariance (i) Finding within-sample patterns of similarities and differences among lots of personality variables, and then (ii) seeing how reliably these patterns are obtained across samples, and (iii) seeing how individuals vary within samples in the extent to which they manifest each pattern Key question: On what personality dimensions may all individuals be compared? Individual differences: Does this individual have more or less of this personality attribute than other people? Human nature: Have we parsimoniously identified each set of attributes that all people have?

ATP, PAID 1, Studying Personality Tom Farsides The correlational approach Common characteristics Normative Large samples Questionnaire measures Self-completion Fixed-response alternatives Highly intelligent and educated participants Factor analytic methods Established items from previous research Reliability focus

ATP, PAID 1, Studying Personality Tom Farsides Factor Analysis Principle statistical method of correlation approach. It clusters lower-level items according to redundancy. Two crucial skills: Factor labeling Input variable selection

ATP, PAID 1, Studying Personality Tom Farsides Steps in developing a correlational personality measure 1.Develop a pool of face-valid items 2.Factor analyse 3.Pick or develop questions that have high and unique loadings on the factor of interest 4.Establish scale reliability 5.Establish scale validity 6.Establish scale utility

ATP, PAID 1, Studying Personality Tom Farsides SWLS: How are you doing? A. ___ In most ways my life is close to my ideal. B. ___ The conditions of my life are excellent. C. ___ I am satisfied with my life. D. ___ So far I have gotten the important things I want in life. E. ___ If I could live my life over, I would change almost nothing. ********************************************** 1 - Strongly disgree2 - Disgree3 - Slightly disagree 4 - Neither agree nor disgree 5 - Slightly agree6 - Agree 7 - Strongly agree

ATP, PAID 1, Studying Personality Tom Farsides The correlational approach + Large samples + Considerable replication + Semi-complex - Largely self-report - Descriptive - Procrustean - Risk of triviality

ATP, PAID 1, Studying Personality Tom Farsides The experimental approach

ATP, PAID 1, Studying Personality Tom Farsides The experimental approach Essential feature: Identifying causes Experimental demonstration of a causal relationship between a personality variable and another variable. Key questions: What causes personality and what does personality cause? Individual differences: Can stable dispositional differences be predicted/controlled? Human nature: Are any aspects of personality unresponsive to situational changes?

ATP, PAID 1, Studying Personality Tom Farsides The experimental approach Common characteristics Normative Large samples Objective measures Few variables

ATP, PAID 1, Studying Personality Tom Farsides Non-emotional writing is bad for you?

ATP, PAID 1, Studying Personality Tom Farsides The experimental approach + Causal identification + Low interpretation - Restricted to observable phenomena - Artificiality - Focus on testing rather than discovering or importance - Relevance to personality - Risk of triviality

ATP, PAID 1, Studying Personality Tom Farsides