Research Proposal on "Personality and Prejudice"

Research Proposal 4 pages (1384 words) Sources: 5 Style: APA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Personality & Prejudice

Theories of Personality in Empirical Research: "The Relation between Personality and Prejudice: A Variable- and a Person-Centered Approach" by Ekehammar & Akrami

Ekehammar & Akrami's (2003) empirical study, as the title already suggests, mainly deals with the examination of the relationship between personality, the Big Five Personality to be more specific (i.e. Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness to Experience, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness) and prejudice using to approaches, the variable-centered approach and person-centered approach. I shall explain this is more detail when we get to the discussion of methods.

The article did not make any specific, clearly-stated hypothesis. Extracting from the discussion and review of literature, we can say that the study hypothesizes that there indeed is a significant relationship between personality and prejudice based on the results that previous works have already published.

On to the methodology, this study was designed to give quantitative results that are appropriate project objectives. The subject population of this study consists of 156 non-psychology students of Uppsala University and local-authority-administered adult education, 77 of which are women and 79 are men. Their ages are between 18 and 57 years old. The students came from different disciplines: social science, behavioral science, medicine, economics, technology, and dentistry. Sampling procedure was not specified in the article however. The study utilized an official Swedish translated NEO-PI as personality instrument. For measuring prejudice, the study used the Modern and Classica

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l Racial Prejudice Scales, the Swedish Modern and Classical Sexism Scales, the Modern and Classical Attitudes toward Intellectually Disabled Individuals Scales, the Attitude to Homosexuality Scales. The study is a computer-aided interview/survey. There are two ways by which this study is actually framed; one is the variable-centered approach which used linear regression to individually-treated five personality traits while person-centered approach used cluster analysis. By cluster analysis, Big Five Personality profiles were clustered and formed three types: the Resilient, Overcontrolled, and Undercontrolled.

Results of the study showed that: in variable-centered approach, only two of the Big Five Personality factors were statistically significant to prejudice -- Openness to Experience and Agreeableness. These two factors have a negative relationship with prejudice. On the other hand, the person-centered approach showed that the relationship of the three clusters to prejudice was not strong -- it reflect on marginally significant results with Overcontrolled as the most prejudiced personality type while Undercontrolled is on the other end of the scale. Resilients, on the other hand, fall in between. When it comes to pitting the person- and variable-centered approaches against each other, results show that the variable-centered approach has more superior predictive qualities than person-centered approach when relating with prejudice.

II. Critique

Given the objective of understanding the relationship between personality and prejudice using the two approaches (variable and centered), I believe that the quantitative methodology was the appropriate research design as quantitative techniques emphasize precise measurements, numbers, statistics in order to determine and predict variable relationships (Henslin, 1993).

I also would want to note that the numerous survey instruments used in the study are already established ones that have been tested for validity and reliability. They were also constructed in the Scandinavian context hence giving us confidence that any error that may have been committed in the study is not due to the instruments used.

However, one problematic area for me is the sampling method. Firstly, the study did not clearly state how sampling was done. As such, we are not able to identify how the study came up with its sample size, what method for determining sample size was used. The importance of understanding how a study arrives at a particular sample size is central to determining the standard error or the sampling error (Nachmias & Nachmias, 1996; ). Hence the study's failure to demonstrate its sampling procedure prevents us from noting any probable errors brought about by sampling. When it comes to the subject population, I believe that the study is somewhat lacking in terms of its justification of why it chose these subjects or respondents. The paper should have strengthened its position by providing ample discussion of why these subjects or respondents are instrumental in achieving the research objectives.

When it comes to analysis, I… READ MORE

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Quoted Instructions for "Personality and Prejudice" Assignment:

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In order to help you relate theories of personality to current research in the field, you will complete a research reaction paper. For this reaction paper, you will select an empirical research article from the empirical articles found in "Doc Sharing" in the empirical articles folder (once you click on the doc sharing file, you will need to use the drop-down menu to select the empirical articles folder).

Your research reaction paper should include a summary and discussion of the research article including the following areas: 1) topic area; 2) hypotheses; 3) method; and 4) major results and findings. Finally, reaction papers should include a thoughtful commentary by the student. Specifically, not only should you provide a general summary, but you should include a critique of the research question and design, as well as a discussion of how the research relates to other theories of personality. In addition, you should include a commentary about the relationship of the research findings to your own life and personality development. Your comments, critique, and discussion should form the majority of the paper.

Use the following guidelines and section headers to organize your paper:

1)Summary (the entire summary section as described below should only take two to three pages):

* Topic area: In one or two sentences, identify the general topic area of your paper.

* Hypothesis: You may use the verbatim hypothesis directly from the study you are critiquing. The hypothesis is generally only a couple of sentences long

* Method: Provide a summary of the research method utilized in your study; this summary should be several sentences in length. Identify the type of research, the subject population, number of subjects, methods or tests used and other relevant information.

*Results and Discussion: Summarize (in less than 10 sentences) the findings of the research study. You do not have to go into great detail, just report the conclusions drawn by the study.

2)Critique (should take approximately two to three pages):

* This is your opportunity to critically evaluate the research study. You will want to discuss the appropriateness of the research methods utilized, the applicability of the subject population, the utility of the assessment measures, conclusions drawn, etc.

*Basically, you are evaluating the quality of the research design and the conclusions. Your task it to demonstrate that you are a critical consumer of psychological information.

3)Relationship of the study to personality theory (approximately two to three pages):

*Discuss the relationship of this study to theories identified in class. Often, the research study will not directly address its relationship to theory; it is your task to draw these types of conclusions.

*Critically evaluate what the results of this study contribute to the field of personality theory. *****

How to Reference "Personality and Prejudice" Research Proposal in a Bibliography

“Personality and Prejudice.” A1-TermPaper.com, 2009, https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/personality-prejudice-theories/3567. Accessed 5 Oct 2024.

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A1-TermPaper.com. (2009). Personality and Prejudice. [online] Available at: https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/personality-prejudice-theories/3567 [Accessed 5 Oct, 2024].

”Personality and Prejudice” 2009. A1-TermPaper.com. https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/personality-prejudice-theories/3567.

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[1] ”Personality and Prejudice”, A1-TermPaper.com, 2009. [Online]. Available: https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/personality-prejudice-theories/3567. [Accessed: 5-Oct-2024].

1. Personality and Prejudice [Internet]. A1-TermPaper.com. 2009 [cited 5 October 2024]. Available from: https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/personality-prejudice-theories/3567

1. Personality and Prejudice. A1-TermPaper.com. https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/personality-prejudice-theories/3567. Published 2009. Accessed October 5, 2024.

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