Unit 7: Self-Reports in Psychology, Universidad Europea

Characteristics Of Self-Reports

• Verbal information that a subject gives about themselves (in the first person)

"If you want to know the inner experience of a person, it is best to ask him/her" (Kleinmutz, 1967). . It provides information about the subjective and objective experience . It is the most diverse and rich methodical category · Not without criticism! It is the oldest assessment procedure but also the most criticized (from behaviorism) for not presenting the proper scientific guarantees

Why Self-Reports Are Widely Used

• It is cost-effective in terms of time, specialized staff and money
• High cost-effectiveness ratio: a large amount of information is obtained with a minimal investment of time from both the patient and the therapist
• Increase in the value of cognitive factors in the explanation of psychological functioning and therapeutic intervention
• The subject's report (of information) may not be objective (i.e. verifiable by other means), but it is useful because it reflects the subject's vision of their own behavior or environment

Components of Verbal Information About Oneself

Any Verbal Information About Oneself Involves:

• Memory
• Thoughts
• Language

Things We Think ... Things We Say ...

Parameters To Consider For Information Processing And Self-report

1. Time
2. Refutability
3. Event Type
4. Accessibility
5. Direct Vs. Indirect Self-reports

How Information Is Processed And Recalled

Maintenance rehearsal Attention Encoding Sensory input Sensory memory Short-term memory Long-term memory Retrieval Unattended information is lost. Unrehearsed information is lost. Some information may be lost over time.

Considerations for Memory and Self-Reporting

• Short-Term Memory (STM) only holds information available in the present moment
• Long-Term Memory (LTM) stores past events, but they must be retrieved into STM to be reported
• The ability to self-report depends on:
  • Time/moment the event occurred
  • The type of event (some are easier to store and recall than others)

Parameters For Information Processing And Self-report

1. Time
2. Refutability
3. Event Type
4. Accessibility
5. Direct Vs. Indirect Self-reports

First Parameter: Time and Event Type

Time to Which Information Refers

The reliability of a self-report will depend on:

• Time to which the information refers: Past Current/ Present Concurrent (occurring at the same time the subject is reporting) Potentially more accurate

First Parameter: Time and Event Type Reliability

Type of Event Impact on Reliability

The reliability of a self-report will depend on:

• Type of event:
  • The degree of transformation that the event undergoes, that is, the differences between how it is asked and how it was stored
  • The type of information you are asking for: Values, attributions, expectations, intentions, ... How did you feel at school? Biographical information What school did you go to? Potentially more accurate

Type Of Event: Information Gathering

What Can We Gather Information About?

• Motor behavior Number of cigarettes smoked a day
• Physiological behavior Tachycardia
• Thoughts or cognitions Suicidal ideas
• Emotions
• Subjective experience in relation to certain acts or behaviors Do you think that you smoke too much?

Additional Information Subjects Can Provide

Subjects Can Also Give Us Information About ...

• Their attributions of causality To what they attribute a behavior, their ideas about the cause of their disorder ...
• Their expectations, plans and future projects
• How they perceive a specific situation
• Descriptions, classifications, evaluations or constructions about themselves
• The strategies or sequences of events that they follow to solve a problem However, we cannot ascribe the same accuracy to all types of information given in this way by the subject

Parameters For Information Processing And Self-report

1. Time
2. Refutability
3. Event Type
4. Accessibility
5. Direct Vs. Indirect Self-reports

Second Parameter: Refutability and Accessibility

Possibility To Contrast (Refutation)

A) POSSIBILITY TO CONTRAST (REFUTATION) Depends on the type of behavior:

• Motor & physiological (external manifestation) -> YES
• They can and should be contrasted using other assessment instruments (observation, psychophysiological records ... )
• Cognitive (internal manifestations) -> NO
• They cannot be verified with almost any other assessment instrument

Possibility Of Refuting Cognitive Self-reports

Contrasting at Different Times and Situations

CONTRASTING AT DIFFERENT TIMES, DIFFERENT SITUATIONS, DIFFERENT TYPES OF SELF-REPORT

• The process involves contrasting the information obtained in several of these self-reports that refer to the same area (self-monitoring records, questionnaires ... ) or, even, interviews.
• It requires a greater behavioral and situational specificity
• The self-report is taken as an example of the subject's behavior
• The data of a subject has meaning, intra-subject comparisons are made ADADC: www.animyhc.pam My Fear Thermometer J. Wolpe P. d. Lang FSS-III Cuestionario de Temores (Fear Survey Schedule) Example: Fear of blood (FSS III of Wolpe) - Expose to blood and assess its fear by "fear thermometer" 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Possibility Of Refuting Cognitive Self-reports

Contrasting Cognitive Information with Physiological and Motor/Behavioral Correlates

CONTRASTING THE SELF-REPORT (COGNITIVE) INFORMATION WITH PHYSIOLOGICAL AND MOTOR /BEHAVIORAL CORRELATES (THEORETICALLY RELATED) STAI Cuestionario de ANSIEDAD Estado-Rasgo e 132 08 #8 69= Example: if a subject reports that they feel anxiety, it can be corroborated by measuring the increase in heart rate, the variation in electrodermal activity or observing their motor behavior MANUAL tea It is difficult, but possible, although there is some independence between different response modalities: TRIANGULATION OF INFORMATION However, there isn't always a clear relationship between the three components of behavior (motor- physiological- cognitive) and it is not advisable to predict one modality based on the other two, unless there is previous evidence of such relationship in the subject.

Triple Response System of Behavior

Motor Giving a presentation Physiological/ Emotional Cognitive I shake, I sweat "I'm bad at presenting" Response independence may be the problem itself

Triangulation Of Information Methods

So, For The Triangulation Of Information We Can Use ...

• Different tests that measure the same variable (for example, two questionnaires that share the construct to be measured)
• Correlates between the different types of responses (for example, a stress questionnaire and a physiological measure of activation)

Second Parameter: Refutability and Accessibility

Degree of Accessibility of Internal/Cognitive Manifestations

DEGREE OF ACCESSIBILITY OF INTERNAL/COGNITIVE MANIFESTATIONS

• If I ask in the first moments after receiving a stimulus, the subject is not conscious (stimuli in sensory memory) > inaccessible events
• Automatic activities -> If there is a self-observation, then the stimuli are accessible TAXI 2 B A

Components of Cognitive Accessibility

The Cognitive Has Three Components: Are They Accessible?

• Contents: what the individual is aware of and can verbalize (THOUGHTS): ACCESSIBLE
• Processes: operations necessary to reach a mental product (i.e. to solve a situation or reach a content): NOT VERY ACCESSIBLE: the subject can report some (those of voluntary control) but not all (the automatic ones)
• Structures: stable organizations underlying cognitive phenomena (schemas): NOT ACCESSIBLE

Parameters For Information Processing And Self-report

1. Time
2. Refutability
3. Event Type
4. Accessibility
5. Direct Vs. Indirect Self-reports

Third Parameter: Direct Vs. Indirect Self-reports

Levels Of Inference in Self-Reports

Levels Of Inference

• Direct or isomorphic: expression that the reported event has occurred or is occurring
• "I find it hard to start conversations", "I'm angry", "I have nightmares"
• Indirect or inferential: external (verbal) manifestation as a sign of a certain psychological construction (factor, variable, construct ... )
• "Do you often need to be understood and cared for?"

Summarizing Self-Report Characteristics

Characteristic Type Time Past, present, concurrent, future Type of information Motor, physiological, cognitive, subjective experience about such behaviors or global constructs about oneself and the world Accessibility Accessible Potentially accessible Not accessible but "inventable" Contrastability Contrastable by external criteria Intrasubjective contrast Direct vs Indirect Direct or isomorphic Indirect or inferential

Classes of Variables to Assess

Classes of Variables

Classes Of Variables To Assess

1. Traits, dimensions or factors (e.g. personality traits)
2. States (e.g. anxiety)
3. Behavioral repertoires (e.g. manifestation phobias)
4. Cognitive repertoires (e.g. coping strategies)
5. Ideographic constructions (e.g. autobiography, meaning)