Year One

Professor Bates' 6-Lectures for Differential Psychology: Personality and Intelligence

Some study notes

We covered a lot in 6 lectures: from the origins of personality and ability testing, to how they impact in real life, how they change across time, and some of the genetics and measurement that you will cover in more depth in year 2 and 3.

Important things to know

In personality
The origins of theory: Greek typology
The main measures/questionnaires and some names attached: Cattell, Costa, Eysenck.
The names of the Big Five.
The names of Eysenck’s big 3.
The gist of "self-actualisation" and the other humanistic theories mentioned.
Name-check their creators: like "self-efficacy and ………."

For IQ
Binet, The mental age/chronological age idea.
IQ with a mean of 100 and SD of 15
The major competing models, each with a key name attached: from Spearman/g to multiple intelligences.
The modern model: all cognitive tests correlate, a few group factors within this.

Measurement
The "gist" of variance (differences), covariation/correlation, and factor analysis to explore patterns of covariation.
The problems of confounding in simple correlations
What bias is and what it is not.
What items measure.
Situations, the name Mischel and the coexistence of traits, reactions to situations, and long term stability (marshmallow task)

Biology and Development
The gist of genetic models: Additive genetic effects, shared environment, unique environment.
Development: the maturity principle and some examples
The last couple of slides in week 5, we looked at some work in agricultural genetics about the impact of selection.

Recent developments in Molecular genetics:
We talked about a molecular-genetic study of Educational attainment (called "EA3") run by the SSGAC (Social Science Genetic Association Consortium). This used a GWAS (Genome-wide association Study) and we talked about using this as a prediction score to understand parenting (around slide 38 onward in lecture4 (updated now - so these acronyms are in the slide).

Applications
Do differences predict outcomes in employment, relationships, and health? Name-check a reference.
Relative status of IQ, personality, and SES as predictors.
Name-check Sackett; Schmidt and Hunter

Best wishes for you all!