Factor analysis

Examples of Factor analysis in the following topics:

• The Five-Factor Model

  • The five-factor model organizes all personality traits along a continuum of five factors: openness, extraversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and neuroticism.
  • Fiske was unable to find support for Cattell's expansive 16 factors of personality, but instead found support for only five factors.
  • Factor analysis, the statistical method used to identify the dimensional structure of observed variables, lacks a universally recognized basis for choosing among solutions with different numbers of factors.
  • A larger number of factors may, in fact, underlie these five factors; this has led to disputes about the "true" number of factors.
  • Another frequent criticism is that the five-factor model is not based on any underlying theory; it is merely an empirical finding that certain descriptors cluster together under factor analysis.

• General Strengths and Limitations of Trait Perspectives

  • One possible proof of this is that several trait theories were developed independently of each other when factor analysis was used to conclude a specific set of traits.
  • Some psychologists argue that the situational variables (i.e., environmental factors) are more influential in determining behavior than traits are; other psychologists argue that a combination of traits and situational variables influences behavior.

• Prejudice

  • In a meta-analysis of 515 studies on prejudice, three important mediating factors were found to reduce prejudice.
  • All factors rely on intergroup contact, or the intermingling of two groups.

• Autism Spectrum Disorder

  • These risk factors include genetics, prenatal and perinatal factors, neuroanatomical abnormalities, and environmental factors.
  • It is possible to identify general risk factors, but much more difficult to pinpoint specific factors.
  • A number of prenatal and perinatal complications have been reported as possible risk factors for ASD.
  • While research is not conclusive on the relation of these factors to ASD, each of these factors has been identified more frequently in children with ASD than in developing youth without ASD.
  • The most widely used therapy is applied behavior analysis (ABA); other available approaches include developmental models, structured teaching, speech and language therapy, social skills therapy, and occupational therapy.

• Group Differences in Intelligence

  • Second, these differences in average cognitive ability between groups such as races are caused almost entirely by social and environmental factors.
  • Recent meta-analysis has concluded that the Flynn effect and the closing gap in group differences in intelligence have different origins.
  • Scientists argue that the environmental factors which are thought to have caused the Flynn effect are unlikely to be the same factors at work in group discrepancies.
  • These factors are not mutually exclusive and often work together to influence a group's intelligence.
  • Once again, none of these factors determines intelligence alone.

• Standardized Tests

  • According to test developers, both the ACT and SAT assess general educational development and reasoning, analysis and problem solving, as well as predicting success in college.
  • Norm-referenced standardized tests are also one of the factors in deciding if students are eligible for special-education or gifted-and-talented programs.
  • The Stanford-Binet test aims to measure g-factor, or "general intelligence."
  • David Wechsler, the creator of the Wechsler intelligence scales, thought intelligence measurements needed to address more than just one factor and also that they needed to take into account "non-intellective factors" such as fear of failure or lack of confidence.
  • However, while SAT scores and g-factor are related, the SAT is in fact designed to measure literacy, writing, and problem-solving skills needed to succeed in college and is not necessarily a reflection of intelligence.

• Research Methods for Evaluating Treatment Efficacy

  • The differences in scores can then be examined to determine if the quality of life has improved, if the distressing symptoms have decreased, and other factors that indicate the effectiveness of the therapeutic approach.
  • A meta-analysis comprises statistical methods for contrasting and combining results from different treatment-focused studies in the hope of identifying patterns among study results, sources of disagreement among those results, or other interesting relationships that may come to light in the context of multiple studies.
  • Meta-analysis can be thought of as "conducting research about previous research" in order to gain a better understanding of the effectiveness of different therapeutic approaches.
  • Another meta-analysis found that psychodynamic therapy was also as effective at treating these types of psychological issues as CBT (Shedler, 2010).

• Stages of Changing Unhealthy Behaviors

  • People must build up the motivation to change and this motivation is dependent on a number of personal and environmental factors.
  • Change is a difficult process that requires close analysis of the benefits and costs of the behavior.
  • For instance, a smoker must come to the conclusion that the health risks associated with their smoking are more important to them than the benefits, which may include taste, stress relief, social aspects, or other factors.

• Biases in Experimental Design: Validity, Reliability, and Other Issues

  • A study's external validity can be threatened by such factors as small sample sizes, high variability, and sampling bias.
  • This could be caused by a multitude of factors, including cost and time put into the research.
  • In many cases these outliers, which increase the variability of the data set, are removed when conducting statistical analysis of the data.
  • This may be the result of purposeful selection of participants by the researcher, but there are many other factors that can create sampling bias.
  • Explain the factors that can threaten the external validity of a study

• Current Issues and Debates in Psychology

  • "[We recommend] a revision of the way mental distress is thought about, starting with recognition of the overwhelming evidence that it is on a spectrum with 'normal' experience, and that psychosocial factors such as poverty, unemployment and trauma are the most strongly-evidenced causal factors."
  • Is behavior caused by biological factors present in the human body (nature), or is it caused by interactions between the individual and his or her environment (nurture)?
  • Psychologists today generally believe that human behavior is affected by a combination of both biological and environmental factors.
  • While the general treatment for autism is applied behavior analysis (ABA), or other behavioral therapies, many people look for alternative treatments such as diet or supplements.