An Introduction to Applied Individual Differences

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An Introduction to Applied Individual Differences

• Chapter 16

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Key Themes in today's lecture

• Ideas and approaches in individual differences
• Structural models
• Process models
• Clinical theories and armchair speculation
• Comparing and combining theories
• Rationale of the Course
• Course Content

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Learning Outcomes of the module

• General ideas and approaches used in individual
  differences inform modern day individual
  differences theory, methods and research
• Individual differences can be applied to improve
  our understanding of psychological concepts
• Individual differences can be applied to improve
  our understanding of competing or overlapping
  psychological concepts
• Individual differences can be applied to much of
  the human experience.

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Diagram Showing Three Different Individual
Differences Approaches
Figure 16.1 Three different individual
differences approaches
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Individual differences can be applied to improve
our understanding of psychological concepts

• A common view of individual differences is that
  the approach considers an area, or perspective,
  in psychology, and then incorporates the idea of
  individual differences within it. In other
  words, any psychological perspective, such as
  cognitive psychology, creates a theory of
  behaviour that describes how everyone acts.
  Individual difference approaches were then used
  to explain why an individual may not necessarily
  fit this theory exactly.

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Individual differences can be applied to improve
our understanding of psychological concepts

• Cooper argues that all other major perspectives
  and theories of psychology are not only based on
  generalisations about how people behave, but that
  they also assume that people are all much the
  same.
• However, these assumptions do not take into
  account our everyday experiences that people are
  essentially different, or at least vary from one
  another.
• After all, most of us are very proud of our
  individual idiosyncrasies, and we would not like
  to be thought of as exact replications of each
  other.
• However, within many psychology perspectives,
  individual theories are often generated to apply
  to everyone within a particular population.

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Individual differences can be applied to improve
our understanding of psychological concepts

• Developmental psychology in which theory
  describes how people are expected to develop and
  go through certain stages in their life in
  similar ways. However, in reality, some people
  never go through certain stages, or, if they do,
  they may go through them in different orders.
  For instance, some of us take longer to grow
  up, or mature, than others. Some of us choose
  not to settle down and get married till later in
  life, if at all, and indeed, some of us choose
  not to have children.
• Researchers show how the physiological aspects of
  the body and brain function in the same way,
  however, some people react very differently to
  substances such as caffeine, nicotine or alcohol.
  

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Individual Differences can beApplied to Improve
Our Understandingof Psychological Concepts

• The nature of individual differences
• Structural models
• Process models

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Process models

• The first set of issues is what Cooper calls the
  structural model, and considers the nature of
  individual differences. In other words, we need
  to ask ourselves how individuals differ.
• The answer to this could be due to a range of
  answers, such as our personality through our
  experiences and societal constructs or through
  our cognitive processes.
• For example, within the chapter on positive
  thinking (optimism), we need to ask ourselves
  such questions as how do individuals differ in
  their positive thinking? Is it a learned trait,
  or are some people born to think positively?

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Structural models

• The second set of issues is what Cooper calls
  process models, and considers the questions of
  why, where, and when do people differ, and
  gives depth to understanding the how. In other
  words, researchers, here, are interested in in
  what ways do people differ? What causes these
  differences? What are the consequences of these
  differences?
• Process models of individual differences might
  address questions such as why do some people do
  better in relationships than others? Where do
  some people suffer from shyness? When do some
  people find it easier to forgive?

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Individual Differences can beApplied to Improve
Our Understandingof Psychological Concepts

• How are individual differences identified and
  measured?
• Cooper suggests 3 areas
• Clinical
• Armchair speculation
• Scientific assessment.

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Clinical ideas and approaches

• These are best understood as theories that have
  grown from therapists actual experiences,
  through observing differences amongst their
  patients, or clients.
• In other words, within the therapy setting, the
  therapist is allowed access into the individual
  nature of their client, and can see at first hand
  how that client deviates, or conforms, to the
  generalisations of psychological theory.
• These observations, then, enable an enrichment
  of data for Individual Differences. However, due
  to the small samples involved here, theories
  based on this technique can be flawed.

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Armchair speculation

• refers to individuals, including psychologists,
  theorists and researchers, making unbiased
  observations of how people behave in certain
  situations, and then generating and testing
  hypotheses about these behaviours.
• For example, you may notice that certain people
  tend to forgive more easily than others. These
  observed differences, then, are worthy of
  investigation. This type of data is valuable in
  the same ways that clinical ideas and approaches
  are valuable, but they also allow even deeper
  knowledge due to observations in different
  situations in life, as opposed to only within
  clinical settings
• Of course, like clinical theories, there are
  problems associated with this type of
  speculation these observations may be wrong, or
  fail to take full account of the situation.
  However, Cooper suggests they are still worthy of
  investigation, especially if formulated into good
  reliable and valid psychological measures.

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Armchair speculation

• The third main methodology described by Cooper is
  the scientific assessment of individuals using
  psychological and experimental tests.
• Scientific assessment to the individual
  difference researcher seems is seen as the
  problematic and most used, particularly when
  reliable and valid measures of behaviour,
  thinking and feelings are used.
• Because of this, most individual difference
  psychologists most use this approach to study
  individual differences.
• Very measurement based

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How Individual Differences can be Appliedto
Improve Our Understanding of Competingor
Overlapping Concepts or Topics Areas

• Comparing theories
• Combining theories.

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Example of Belief in Good Luck and Other
Variables for Comparing Theories
Figure 16.2 Example of belief in good luck and
other variables for comparing theories
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Example of Mental Health and Personality and
Coping Variables for Combining Theories
Figure 16.3 Example of mental health and
personality and coping variables for combining
theories
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Aims How Individual Differences Theory
isApplied to Demonstrate its Usefulnesswithin
the Psychology of Human Experience

• Real applied purpose
• Core concepts have been used to explain a range
  of positive and negative human experiences.

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Aims Additional aims of the course

• Your own experiences
• Measurement Issues
• Arguments
• Difficult topics
• Bring together the skills you learnt in
  theoretical courses and the library modules

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Course Content?

• Irrational Beliefs (a lot)
• Embarrassment (a lot as well)
• Optimism (a little less than a lot but still a
  lot)
• Social Relationships (yep)
• Evolutionary Psychology (half ish)
• Sex differences in intelligence (half but less)

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What do you want from the course?
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Course Organisation

• Buy the Maltby book (have you not done so
  already?)
• Blackboard
• Find a recent theoretical/research paper each
  week
• Cite it on Blackboard If its already there, then
  add a comment saying you identified this one

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Key Themes

• Ideas and approaches in individual differences
• Structural models
• Process models
• Clinical theories and armchair speculation
• Comparing and combining theories
• Rationale of the Course
• Course Content