14,576Total General

THE CASE OF JIM

As we have seen, personality research involves the effort to measure individu- als on a personality characteristic assumed to be of theoretical importance. The term assessment generally is used to refer to efforts to measure personal- ity aspects of individuals in order to make an applied or practical decision: Will this person be a good candidate for this job? Will this person profi t from one or another kind of treatment? Is this person a good candidate for this training program? In addition, the term assessment often is used to refer to the effort to arrive at a comprehensive understanding of individuals by obtaining a wide variety of information about them. In this sense, assessment of a person involves administering a variety of personality tests or measures in the pursuit of a comprehensive understanding of his or her personality. As noted, such an effort also provides for a comparison of results from different sources of infor- mation. This book assumes that each technique of assessment gives a glimpse of human behavior and that no one test gives, or can hope to give, a picture of the total personality of an individual. People are complex, and our efforts to assess personality must refl ect this complexity. In the chapters that follow, we will consider a number of theories of personality and approaches to personal- ity assessment. In addition, we will consider the assessment of an individual, Jim, from the standpoint of each theory and approach to assessment. Through this approach we will be able to see the relation between theory and assess- ment, and also to consider the extent to which different approaches result in similar pictures of the person.

Before we describe Jim, here are some details concerning the assessment project. Jim was a college student when, in the late 1960s, he volunteered to serve as a subject for a project involving the intensive study of college students. He participated in the project mainly because of his interest in psychology but also because he hoped to gain a better understanding of himself. At the time, various tests were administered to him. These tests represented a sampling of the tests then available. Obviously, theories of personality and associated tests that had not been developed at the time could not be administered. However, Jim agreed to report on his life experiences and to take some additional tests 5, 20, and 25 years later. At those times, an effort was made to administer tests developed in association with emerging theories of personality.

Thus, we do not have the opportunity to consider all the tests at the same point in time. However, we are able to consider the personality of an individu- al over an extended period of time and, thereby, examine how the theories— and the tests—relate to what occurred earlier in life and what followed later. Let us begin with a brief sketch derived from Jim’s autobiography and follow him throughout the text as we consider the various approaches to personality.

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AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JIM

In his autobiography Jim reported that he was born in New York City after the end of World War II and received considerable attention and affection as a child. His father is a college graduate who owns an automobile sales business; his mother is a housewife who also does volunteer reading for the blind. Jim de- scribed himself as having a good relationship with his father and described his mother as having “great feelings for other people—she is a totally loving woman.” He is the oldest of four children, with a sister four years younger and two broth- ers, one fi ve years younger and one seven years younger. The main themes in his autobiography concern his inability to become involved with women in a satisfy- ing way, his need for success and his relative failure since high school, and his uncertainty about whether to go on to graduate school in business administra- tion or in clinical psychology. Overall he felt that people had a high estimate of him because they used superfi cial criteria but that inwardly he was troubled.

We have here the bare outline of a person. The details will be fi lled in as he is considered from the standpoint of different personality theories. Hopefully, by the end of the book, a complete picture of Jim will emerge.

MAJOR CONCEPTS

Case studies An approach to research in which one studies an individual person in great detail. This strat- egy commonly is associated with clinical research, that is, research conducted by a therapist in the course of in-depth experiences with a client.

Correlational coeffi cient A numerical index that summarizes the degree to which two variables are re- lated linearly.

Correlational research An approach to research in which existing individual differences are measured and related to one another, rather than being manip- ulated as in experimental research.

Demand characteristics Cues that are implicit (hidden) in the experimental setting and infl uence the subject’s behavior.

Electroencephalography (EEG) A method for re-

cording electrical activity in the brain. The recordings are made through electrodes placed on the scalp.

Experimental research An approach to research in which the experimenter manipulates a variable of in- terest, usually by assigning different research partici- pants, at random, to different experimental conditions.

Experimenter expectancy effects Unintended ex- perimenter effects involving behaviors that lead subjects to respond in accordance with the experi- menter’s hypothesis.

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) A method for depicting brain activity while a person car- ries out different tasks that is based on the fact that blood fl ow to different areas of the brain fl uctuates

as those brain areas become active during task performance.

Idiographic (strategies) Strategies of assessment and research in which the primary goal is to obtain a portrait of the potentially unique, idiosyncratic individual.

L-data Life record data or information concern- ing the person that can be obtained from the person’s life history or life record.

Nomothetic (strategies) Strategies of assessment and research in which the primary goal is to identify a common set of principles or laws that apply to all members of a population of persons.

O-data Observer data or information provided by knowledgeable observers such as parents, friends, or teachers.

Reliability The extent to which observations are stable, dependable, and can be replicated.

Response style The tendency of some subjects to re- spond to test items in a consistent, patterned way that has to do with the form of the questions or answers rather than with their content.

S-data Self-report data or information provided by the subject.

T-data Test data or information obtained from experimental procedures or standardized tests.

Validity The extent to which observations refl ect the phenomena or constructs of interest to us (also “construct validity”).

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REVIEW

REVIEW

1. Research involves the systematic study of rela-

tionships among phenomena or events. Four types of data are obtained in personality research: L-data, O-data, T-data, and S-data (LOTS). Three approaches to personality research are clinical re- search, laboratory experimentation, and correla- tional research using questionnaires.

2. All research shares the goals of reliability and va-

lidity—of obtaining observations that can be rep- licated and for which there is evidence of a rela- tion to the concepts of interest. As a human enterprise, research involves ethical questions concerning the treatment of subjects and the reporting of data.

3. Clinical research involves the intensive study of

individuals. This research method was illustrat- ed by a case study involving the self-concept of an individual as he confronted the different social situations of his life.

4. In correlational research, the investigator mea-

sures two or more variables and determines the degree to which they are associated with each other. Questionnaire measures are particu- larly important in correlational research. This

research method was illustrated with research in which personality factors were found to predict longevity.

5. Experimental research involves the manipula-

tion of one or more variables to determine their causal impact on outcomes of interest. This ap- proach to research was illustrated by the manip- ulation of variables related to the phenomenon of stereotype threat.

6. Each of three approaches to research can be

viewed as having its own set of potential strengths and limitations (Table 2.2). Thus, each research strategy has the potential to produce particular insights as well as its own pitfalls.

7. Theories of personality differ in their preferences

for types of data and approaches to research. In other words, there tend to be linkages among theory, type of data, and method of research. It is important to keep such linkages in mind as the major theories of personality are considered in the chapters that follow. A single case studied from the standpoint of each theoretical perspec- tive also will be presented for illustrative and comparative purposes.

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69 QUESTIONS TO BE ADDRESSED IN

THIS CHAPTER

SIGMUND FREUD (1856–1939): A VIEW OF THE THEORIST

FREUD’S VIEW OF THE PERSON

The Mind as an Energy System The Individual in Society

FREUD’S VIEW OF THE SCIENCE OF PERSONALITY