Short-term goals/objectives:
To develop students’ understanding of construct validity
To develop students’ understanding of the logic behind the evaluation of construct validity
As a result of the lesson students should be able to explain several ways to assess whether a measure has acceptable construct validity, and demonstrate knowledge of the logic behind these methods.
Long-term goals:
To develop students’ ability to analyze and evaluate instruments that measure psychological characteristics.
To develop “informed skepticism” toward popular claims about human characteristics depicted in the media, in work settings and everyday life.
To appreciate the differences between popular conceptions of human qualities and those based on careful measurement.
Parent Image Theory is a psychodynamic theory supported by Sigmund Freud. He called it the Oedipus or Electra complex — when a person married someone like his or her mother or father. Mothers and fathers are generally our first love objects, and this theory suggests that sons and daughters model after the parents of the same sex by selecting partners similar to the one the parent selected (i.e. mother/father).
