Personality Psychology = the scientific study of the whole person in terms of species-typical characteristics and individual differences
The Role of Science
epistemology - the study of knowledge
rationalism = knowledge by exercising the mind
empiricism = one gains knowledge by sensory experience
Science?
Induction – “bottom up”
Deduction – “top down”
Science
1) Observation2) Theory3) Testing
Science
1859 – Darwin 1880s – Galton 1900 – Freud 1906 – Pavlov 1917 – First self-report measure
A Brief History of Personality
1919 – John B. Watson 1910 to 1930s – Jung, Adler, Horney 1920s – Kurt Lewin 1930s – Henry Murray 1930s – B. F. Skinner 1930s – Margaret Mead
A Brief History of Personality
1930s – Allport 1940s – R. B. Cattell 1940s – Existential Psychology in US 1950s – Humanistic, Cognitive, Biological 1960s – Interactionist 1970s – Study of Gender Differences
A Brief History of Personality
1970s – Behaviorism begins to fade 1980s – Modern Interactionism 1980s – Evolutionary and Cultural
Psychology 1990s – The Big Five 1990s – Theories become narrower 2000s – Neuroscience, Cognitive, Biological
A Brief History of Personality
anyone’s guess
Ideas move in a dialectical fashion
Current: empiricalFuture: the opposite of empirical
What is Next?
Collecting Personality Data
Self-report: S DataPeer-report: I DataLife outcomes: L DataWatch the person: B Data
Collecting Data
Self-report
“S Data”
What person says about themselvesQuestionnairesVery common
Data Collection
Big Five
Data Collection
“S Data”
Advantage◦Best Expert◦Cause of what you do◦Simple and easy
Data Collection
“S Data”
Disadvantage◦4 Sources of Distortion
Data Collection
Peer report
I Data - “Informant”
Data Collection
2) Peer report
Advantage◦Objectivity
Data Collection
Peer report
Disadvantages
Problem with closeness
leniency or harshness effect
Data Collection
Life Outcomes
L Data
How much money? Arrested? Graduate?
Data Collection
Life Outcomes
Advantage◦Objective◦Exactly what we study◦Link to psych variables