psy 239 401 chapter 2 slides

© 2013 W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.

The Personality PuzzleSixth Edition

by David C. Funder

Chapter 2: Clues to Personality:

The Basic Sources of Data

Slides created byTera D. LetzringIdaho State University 1

Objectives

• Discuss four ways to “look at” personality (BLIS—behavior, life, informants, self)

• Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each type of data

• Discuss why it is important to collect as many types of data as possible

2© 2013 W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.

Think About It

• If you wanted to know all about the personality of the person sitting next to you, what would you do?


Clues to Personality

• All parts of the psychological triad (thoughts, feelings, behaviors)

• “There are no perfect indicators of personality; there are only clues, and clues are always ambiguous” (p. 21)– Funder’s Second Law– Psychologist’s job

• “Something beats nothing” (p. 23)– Funder’s Third Law


S Data: Self-Judgments or Self-Reports

• Definition: a person’s evaluation of his or her own personality

• Usually questionnaires or surveys• Most frequent data source• High face validity (the degree to which an

assessment instrument appears to measure what it is intended to measure)


Advantages of S Data

• Based on a large amount of information– You are always with yourself.– People are usually their own best expert.

• Access to thoughts, feelings, and intentions• Definitional truth


copy editor

Comp.: Please align bullets.

• Causal force– Efficacy expectations (what you think you are

capable of and the kind of person you think you are)

– Self-verification

• Simple and easy data


Advantages of S Data

Disadvantages of S Data• Maybe people won’t tell you• Maybe people can’t tell you

– Memory is limited and not perfect– Fish-and-water effect– Active distortion of memory– Lack of self-insight

• Too simple and too easy


Informant Report (I) Data

• Definition: judgments by knowledgeable informants about general attributes of the individual’s personality

• Acquaintances, coworkers, clinical psychologists, etc.

• Based on observing people in whatever context they know them from

• Used frequently in daily life


Advantages of I Data• Based on a large amount of information

– Many behaviors in many situations– Judgments from multiple informants are possible

• Based on observation of behavior in the real world– Not from contrived tests or constructed situations– More likely to be relevant to important outcomes


Advantages of I Data• Based on common sense about what

behaviors mean– Takes context into account

• Definitional truth• Causal force

– Reputation affects opportunities and expectancies– Expectancy effects/behavioral confirmation


Disadvantages of I Data

• Limited behavioral information• Lack of access to private experience• Error: more likely to remember behaviors that

are extreme, unusual, or emotionally arousing• Bias: due to personal issues or prejudices


Life Outcomes (L) Data

• Definition• Obtained from archival records or self-report

– Advantages and disadvantages of archival records

• The results or “residue” of personality


Advantages and Disadvantages of L Data

• Advantages– Objective and verifiable– Intrinsic importance– Psychological relevance

• Disadvantage– Multidetermination


Behavioral (B) Data

• “The most visible indication of an individual’s personality is what she does” (p. 44).

• Definition


Natural B Data• Based on real life• Diary and experience-sampling methods • Reports by acquaintances• Naturalistic observation• Advantage: realistic• Disadvantages: difficult and expensive; desired

contexts may seldomly occur


Laboratory B Data

• Experiments– Make a situation happen and record behavior– Examine reactions to subtle aspects of situations– Represent real-life context that are difficult to

observe directly


Laboratory B Data

• (Certain) personality tests– To see how a person responds– Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory

(MMPI), Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), Rorschach Inkblot test

• Physiological measures: biological “behavior”


Advantages and Disadvantages of B Data

• Advantages– Range of contexts in the lab– Appearance of objectivity

• But subjective judgments must still be made

• Disadvantage– Uncertain interpretation


Mixed Types of Data

• Data do not always fit into only one category• There is a wide range of possible types of data• Each type has advantages and disadvantages


No Infallible Indicators of Personality

• “There are only clues, and clues are always ambiguous” (p. 55).

• It is important to collect more than one type.• Consistent findings increase confidence.• Discrepancies can be interesting and informative.• There are only two kinds of data: terrible data

and no data.– Funder’s Fourth Law


Identify Each Type of Data

1. How much money a person spends on groceries in a month based on receipts

2. What type of food a student purchases from dining areas and vending machines on campus

3. Reports from parents about what kind of food people ate as children

4. Answers to a “Healthy Foods, Healthy People" survey about one’s self


Think About the Sources of Influence on Data

• What are some aspects of personality that people are likely and unlikely to accurately and honestly report about themselves?

• What influences your best friend’s, coworkers’, and mother’s impressions of you?


Think About the Sources of Influence on Data

• What influences whether you will apply to graduate school? get a traffic ticket?

• What influences how long a child will wait to receive a better food?


Clicker Question #1

Data area) clues to personality.b) always ambiguous.c) how researchers can “see” personality.d) all of the above.


Clicker Question #2

If you are interested in what a person does, rather than what a person says about himself, then you are collectinga) S data.b) L data.c) B data.d) I data.


Clicker Question #3What does it mean to say that S data have causal force?a) S data cause personality.b)What people think about themselves influences how they behave.c)How people behave is caused by what others think of them.d)People’s environments cause their self-perceptions.


psy 239 401 chapter 2 slides

Technology

norton company

data definition

type of data

easy data

mixed types of data

disadvantages of s data

data advantages objective

behavioral b data