Scientific Study of Personality

Introduction

Personality psychology is one of the many branches in the field of psychology that analyzes personality variations among individuals. It is, therefore, a scientific study whose objective is to d denote how human beings are different due to forces known as psychological forces (Baumert, Schmitt & Perugini, 2019). Personality psychology is critical as it helps psychologists to determine as well as treating those with specific illnesses and helping them in the end to overcome such problems. The goal of this essay is to provide an overview of the definition of psychology, the different methods used to study personality and their advantages and disadvantages.

An Overview Definition of Personality

Generally, personality is defined as the long-standing traits and patterns that tend to propel a persons’ consistency in thinking, feelings as well as their behavioural features. Therefore, it is a set of behaviours emotional patterns and cognitions which have evolved from environmental or biological patterns (Uher, 2017). In Psychology, however, in as much as the terms are almost the same, personality according to psychologists are divided into four which include sanguine, phlegmatic, choleric and melancholic. It focuses on determining the construction of pictures of an individual in a psychological process, investigating individual psychological differences and the human nature similarities among individuals.

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Different Methods used to Study Personalities

There are three standard methods used in studying psychology which include Case Studies, Correlational Designs and Experimental designs at times known as true experiments. In case studies method relied on the primary detailed information analysis of the unique or interesting individuals (George, 2019). And since the individuals investigated are unique, in such a case, the assumption made is that the results may fail to generalize the rest of the people. It is a descriptive research strategy that incorporates empirical inquiry to investigate the phenomenon in a real-life situation.

On the other hand, Correlational Designs method of studying personality allows research psychologists to analyze the relationship existing between variables and the measurement used is often the correlation coefficient. Lastly, experimental designs method of studying personality in psychology ensures every element in of the personality experiment is manipulated into a single variable (Kite & Whitley, 2018). Hence it allows people available to attribute on the result to that of a single manipulation.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Correlational Designs, Experimental designs and case studies methods of studying personality

Method of Study	Advantages	Disadvantages
Experimental Designs Method	The researcher is provided with a room to control all the experimental variables. The human working with psychologists at that particular time tend to perform all the experiments, thus enabling groups to save on time. Experimental research generates the highest control levels as procedures incorporated during the research fit the isolated (specific) variables of any topic. The outcomes can be determined if perhaps they are viable. Experimental research is useful in every subject or industry as it offers the highest level of control. It tends to replicate natural settings to significant speed benefits from its ability to conjoin environmental settings to that of the laboratory.	At times the results produced might be artificial. The provided results might capture only one scenario, which in the end might be difficult to replicate for other activities. Often, the provided results are subjective as there are high chances of human error while experimenting. At times, experimented research might generate unrealistic situations. Conducting a descriptive, experimental design method to study personality may come in with ethical or practical obstacles with the variable control.
Correlational Designs Method	It allows room for conclusion drawings on the variable casual connection. The researcher is permitted to analyze a single study in several variables. It also provides a measure of a degree to a direct relationship It also allows researchers to gather more information as opposed to experiments. As the scene take place outside the laboratory, correlation can highly be applicable in a real-life situation and therefore, open rooms for scholars to conduct further research.	It only generates a specific relationship as it can’t create conclusive reason as to why there is a relationship. Even though it describes how there exists a relationship between variables, it can’t prove how a single variable would cause a change in other variables. Generally, it doesn’t equal causation. Generally, unknown correlation might result in the other two variables, for instance; a state of living of a people could result in education and wealth.
Case Studies Method	The client’s observation is often turned into useable data as verifiable information is received from direct client observation. Direct observation generates information concerning the input processes, and therefore, it can show the routes followed, leading to result which turns opinions into fact. The method is relevant for the parties to present as they all participate. Different research methodologies are incorporated ones. It can be done remotely as it is inexpensive.	Influencing factors such as individual having their own unconscious bias might influence the data collected, leading to errors. It takes time to analyze the data collected as enormous information must be sifted all along. For it to be effective, it requires a sample size.

In summary, personality psychology is essential through the various study method elaborated above in the table. Personality psychology has since time immemorial allowed psychologists to predict the way someone might respond in a given situation. That also adds to their preferred values that help them develop impressive trends in personality that help groups understand themselves.

References

Baumert, A., Schmitt, M., & Perugini, M. (2019). Towards an explanatory personality psychology: Integrating personality structure, personality process, and personality development. Personality and Individual Differences, 147, 18-27.

George, A. L. (2019). Case studies and theory development: The method of structured, focused comparison. In Alexander L. George: A pioneer in political and social sciences (pp. 191-214). Springer, Cham.

Kite, M. E., & Whitley, B. E. (2018). True Experiments. In Principles of Research in Behavioral Science (pp. 351-394). Routledge.

Krause, M. S. (2018). Associational versus correlational research study design and data analysis. Quality & Quantity, 52(6), 2691-2707.

Uher, J. (2017). Basic definitions in personality psychology: Challenges for conceptual integrations. European Journal of Personality, 31(5), 572-573.

Scientific Study of Personality

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