Transcript General
Objective Personality Tests
Examples of uni-dimensional traits
Surveys
Locus of Control
Type A/B
Tolerance of Ambiguity
Need for Cognition
Bem Sex-Role Inventory
Personal Attributes Questionnaire (PAQ)
Locus of Control
Julian Rotter
1966
Internal vs External
Control of reinforcement
Internal = own action determines rewards
External = rewards determined by luck, fate,
chance
Type A/B
Friedman and Jordan
1950s
Type A = ambitious, rigidly organized,
highly status conscious, sensitive, truthful,
impatient, try to help others, meet deadlines,
multi-task
Type B = apathetic, patient, relaxed, easygoing, no sense of time schedule, poor
organizational skills
Tolerance for Ambiguity
MSTAT - Multiple Stimulus Types
Ambiguity Tolerance
David McLain 1993
“ability to tolerate contradictory and
incalculable information”
Trait or state?
Need for Cognition
Cacioppo and Petty
1982
“tendency for an individual to engage in and
enjoy thinking”
Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI)
Sandra Bem
1974
Masculine and feminine traits
20 m traits, 20 f, 20 “distractors”
Gender roles = how people identify
themselves psychologically
Bem “alternatives”
Gender Traits Test – link
Personal Attributes Questionnaire (PAQ)
Spence, Helmreich and Stapp – 1974
Instrumental and expressive characteristics
Examples of uni-dimensional traits
Behavioral
Impulsive/Reflective (Kagan - Matching
familiar figures)
Field Dependent/Independent (Witkin embedded figures)
Impulsive/Reflective
Matching Familiar Figures – (MFF)
Jerome Kagan – 1965
Based on time to react
Slower, more accurate = reflective
Faster, less accurate = impulsive
Field Dependent/Independent
Embedded Figures Test – (EFT)
Herman Witkin – 1950’s
Field Dependent
– has trouble finding geometric shape
embedded in background = very interpersonal,
reads social cues well, openly convey own
feelings. Women more likely field dependent
Field independent
– readily finds geometric shape regardless of
background = has internal frame of
reference, imposes own sense of order on
situation lacking structure, impersonal and
task oriented, separate own self identity
from field. Men frequently field
independent.