Lesson by Ryan Benson, M.A. Ib psychology Lesson 1-9: Direct and Indirect Constructs Lesson by Ryan Benson, M.A.

How do you measure psychological traits How do you measure psychological traits? In this lesson, we'll look at how psychologists measure traits, including direct and indirect observation. We will also explore why psychological traits are so difficult to measure.

There's an old stereotype that people with red hair have short tempers There's an old stereotype that people with red hair have short tempers. They are often said to be fiery or spirited because they are perceived to be quicker to get angry than people with blonde or brunette hair.

But, is this stereotype true But, is this stereotype true? Imagine that you are a psychologist, and you decide to do a study to see if people with red hair are more temperamental than those with brown or blonde hair.

But, how will you know if your subjects are temperamental But, how will you know if your subjects are temperamental? For that matter, how will you know if they have red hair? Psychological measurement is the process of assessing psychological traits, like temperament,

perceptions, feelings, and thoughts perceptions, feelings, and thoughts. In our example, whether a person has a short temper or not is a psychological trait that we want to measure so that we will know which of our subjects is quick to anger and which have a slow fuse.

Of course, sometimes in psychology we have to measure non-psychological traits as well.

Remember that we want to know about the difference between redheads and brunettes and blondes. Technically, hair color isn't a psychological trait. But, we want to measure it, just like we want to measure temperament, so that we will know which of our subjects have red hair.

Let's look at several types of measurement, including direct observation, indirect observation, and constructs. Okay, so we want to know if redheads are more likely to lose their tempers.

The first thing we have to do is to figure out which of our subjects have red hair. This might seem pretty straight-forward: many people would say, 'Just look at them!'

Observing someone's hair color is an example of direct observation, whereby a researcher can look at a person and see the trait they are measuring. Physical characteristics, like hair color, eye color, and body type, are all able to be directly observed.

But, what about temperament. Can we directly observe that But, what about temperament? Can we directly observe that? Well, sort of. We can watch subjects interact with somebody and see who loses their temper and who keeps calm.

This might give us a clue about what their temperament is like This might give us a clue about what their temperament is like. Notice, though, that when we observe someone's reaction to others, we are observing their reaction and nothing else. We are not actually observing their temperament;

we are seeing their behavior in a situation and making inferences about their temperament. This is why direct observation can sometimes be tricky in psychological measurement:

how do you directly observe things like depression, eating disorders, or schizophrenia? The answer is that you can't. You always have to observe behavior and make inferences based on your observations.

Direct observation is a good start when it comes to psychological measurement. We can look at our subjects and see which ones are redheads and which aren't. But, what if we see someone with reddish-brown hair? Is he a brunette or a redhead?

What if we asked him if he considers himself a redhead or a brunette What if we asked him if he considers himself a redhead or a brunette? That would be an example of indirect observation, which is when a psychologist makes an observation based on the observation of another person. If we ask our subjects to take a survey and check off if they have red hair, brown hair, or blonde hair, we can observe their checkmarks.

We are not directly observing their hair color but are making assumptions based on the subjects' own observations. How do you know what happened during a board meeting of a company?

You could look up the minutes of the meeting, which are recorded by someone in the room during the meeting. You aren't in the meeting yourself and therefore aren't directly observing events, but you can take someone else's observations about what happened, which is indirect observation.

Of course, there's a problem with indirect observation, too: how do you know if someone's being honest? What if we ask our subjects to tell us whether they have a short temper or not? That's seen as a negative trait, so some people might not want to answer yes. As a result, they might not be completely honest.

Remember how we tried to directly observe temperament Remember how we tried to directly observe temperament? We watched our subjects' interactions with others to see who lost their tempers. But, remember that we said we weren't actually observing temperament; we were making an inference about temperament based on the behavior we saw.

The reason we can't directly observe temperament is that it is a construct, or an abstract or theoretical idea that cannot be observed.

The human brain likes things to be quick and easy The human brain likes things to be quick and easy. We want to be able to find patterns and communicate them to other human beings. So, someone who acts angry and aggressive on a regular basis is said to be short-tempered. This allows us to communicate with others.

I can warn my sister that her new boyfriend is 'short-tempered,' and she'll know what I mean by that. Constructs are constructed through direct or indirect observation.

If I see my sister's boyfriend getting into fights or yelling at other people, I have directly observed him and might construct the idea that he has a short fuse. If my friend tells me that she has seen him do those things, I have indirectly observed that he is short-tempered.

Many of the traits psychologists are interested in studying are constructs. Whether it's depression or intelligence or prejudice, psychological traits are almost always constructs. Of course, there's no real way to measure a construct, so we rely on both direct and indirect observation to try to measure them.

Let’s Review Psychological measurement is the process of measuring psychological traits. There are several ways to measure those traits: direct observation involves watching and taking note of a person's behaviors or physical traits, while indirect observation relies on the reporting of others. Finally, many psychological traits are abstract ideas called constructs, which cannot be measured. Instead, psychologists try to understand constructs through observation of related behaviors.