Psychology 3051 Psychology 305A: Theories of Personality Lecture 1 1

Psychology 3052 Scoring your questionnaire: 1. Reverse score items 3, 5, 8, 9, and  1 4  2 3 = 3 2  4 1  5 2. Sum scores across 10 items. 2

3 1.What is personality? 2.What is personality psychology? 3.Why study personality? 4.What is a theory? 5.How is research used to test theories? Introductory Concepts and Research Methods 3

By the end of today’s class, you should be able to: 1. define the term “personality.” 2. identify the goals and functions of personality psychology. 3. distinguish between a theory and a construct. 4. identify the criteria used to evaluate the quality of a theory. 4 4

5. generate examples of operationalizations. 6. describe the goals and procedures associated with experiments and correlational studies. 7. interpret the Pearson product moment correlation coefficient. 5 5

Psychology 3056 Question: What is personality? Answer: Personality is …. Class Exercise: What is Personality? 6

“Personality is a dynamic organization, inside the person, of psychophysical systems that create the person’s characteristic patterns of behavior, thoughts, and feelings” (Carver & Scheier, p. 4). 7 Noteworthy points about this definition: 1.“psychophysical” 2. “dynamic” 3.“organization” 4. “create” 5.“characteristic patterns” 6.“behavior, thoughts, and feelings” 7

What is Personality Psychology? “Every human being is like every other human being, like some other human beings, and like no other human being” (Kluckhohn & Murray, 1953). 8 This quote reflects the three levels of analysis in personality psychology: 1. Human universals (e.g., need to belong) 2. Group differences (e.g., sex differences) 3. Individual differences 8

Why Study Personality? The study of personality serves three functions: 9 1. Descriptive function. 2. Explanatory function. 3. Predictive function, particularly important in applied (e.g., clinical, military, corporate) settings. 9

What is a Theory? Theory: A proposed explanation or interpretation of the relations among constructs. 10 Construct: A conceptual or hypothetical variable that can’t be directly observed. Examples of variables that are constructs: Intelligence, self-esteem, depression, aggression. Examples of variables that are not constructs: Hair colour, eye colour, weight, height, blood pressure. 10

11 Theories serve two functions. 1.Synthesizing function: Explain and organize observations. 2.Heuristic function: Generate predictions or hypotheses. 11

Operationalization: The translation of a conceptual variable or construct into a variable that can be observed and measured. 12 In order to test a theory, researchers must identify observable variables that reflect the conceptual variables or constructs of interest. How is Research Used to Test Theories? 12

Examples of operationalizations: 13 Construct: Physical health. Operationalization: Heart rate, blood pressure. Construct: Aggression. Operationalization: Frequency and intensity of shocks given to a confederate. Construct: Intelligence. Operationalization: Scores on an IQ test. 13

Theories 14 Hypotheses Operationalizations Research Observations Interactive Relationship 14

15 Research methods: 1. Experimental Studies  Designed to examine cause and effect relationships between variables. 15

16  In conducting an experiment, a researcher: (a) randomly assigns participants to groups that will receive different levels of the hypothesized “causal” or independent variable (IV). (b) administers a distinct treatment (i.e., level of the IV) to each group. (c) measures the hypothesized “effect” or dependent variable (DV) for each group.

17 Participants Group A Group B Random Assignment Treatment A Posttest A Simple Experiment Treatment B Posttest

18 2. Correlational studies  Designed to examine the extent to which 2 naturally- occurring variables covary.  Correlations are typically measured by the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient (r): Magnitude of r: strength of linear relationship between variables. Sign of r (+ vs. -): direction of linear relationship between variables.

19 Height Weight r = Positive Linear Relationship 19

20 Criminal Activity Education Level Negative Linear Relationship r =

21 1.What is personality? 2.What is personality psychology? 3.Why study personality? 4.What is a theory? 5.How is research used to test theories? Introductory Concepts and Research Methods 21