PSYC 2130 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Nomothetic, Test Anxiety, Human Nature

• School: York University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 2130
• Professor: Frank Marchese

Document Summary

Unique, dynamic organization of characteristics of a specific person. It influences behavior and responses to social and environmental situations. Scientific study of personality attempts to predict, control and explain individual differences. A paradigm is a theoretical framework which most practitioners accept and rely on (psychology has not reached this stage yet) A scientific theory is an explanation that has 2 components: theoretical constructs: basic terms and building blocks of a theory. Ex. natural selection is a theoretical construct in evolutionary biology. In psychology, many are used such as extraversion, anxiety. Intended to explain observations (abstract- cannot be seen): constructs of scientific theories are related to one another by statements called laws or (cid:862)rational dispositions(cid:863). Personality theories contain many but they rarely quantify. Functions of a theory: organize and clarify observations, explain causes so that predictions may occur, provide a sense of understanding, guide future research.