Winemaker's Masterclass

 

I've prepared this masterclass to serve as a fast and easy guide into the world of wine. It is by no means holistic or complete, that would require volumes to be written. Moreover there are plenty of books written on different aspects of the subject. I hope this will help you enjoy wine better. Cheers!

History of Wine

Dictionary Definition

wine

/wʌɪn/

noun

an alcoholic drink made from fermented grape juice.

"he opened a bottle of red wine"

synonyms:

vin de table, vin ordinaire, vin du pays;  informalplonk, vino, the grape

Ancient History

·         The earliest wine archaeobotanical evidence was found in Georgia, and date back 8,000 years to approximately 6,000 B.C. 

 

·         The earliest historical evidence of wine dates back 9,000 years to 7,000 B.C. China. Grapes were also wined with rice and other fruits.

 

·         The spread of wine culture westwards is credited to the Phoenicians some 2,750 years in the past. The main vessel of transportation was the clay amphora.

·         The use of wine in religion was significant in ancient mythology and religion. 3100 BC till 30 BC, wine symbolized blood in ancient Egypt.

 

·         Ancient Romans planted vineyards in almost every settlement they’ve established.

 

 ·         Up until the Iron Age 900 B.C. there were no wooden barrels for wine transportation.

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·         77 AD The Roman Pliny the Elder writes “vino veritas” or “In wine there is truth” in Naturalis Historia.

The Romans were also the first to talk about how "terroir", the concept of where and how you plant the vines will affect the wine. They were also among the first to use sulfur as a wine preservative some 2000 years ago. 

·        In 380 AD Rome adopts Christianity; wine symbolized “the Eucharist”.

Medieval History    

* 1000 AD Château de Goulaine is built. Possibly the oldest operating winery.

·       

                      * 1629 AD Spanish missionaries introduced vitis vinifera to America.

              * 1500 AD wines that may have been sealed and stored in stoneware jugs re-fermented causing them to have spritz. These creamy or “Crémant” style led to the creation of French sparkling wine and British cider.

·                         * 1600 AD the most highly desired wines of the day are sweet white wines such as Sauternes of Bordeaux, Riesling of Germany and Tokaji from Hungary.

Enlightenment to Modern History

·                *1600AD glass wine bottles were first popularized in Portugal in an attempt to age Port wines, inspired by records of amphorae. Unfortunately, bottles stood upright and the corks would dry out and lose their seal.

·         1650 AD Somewhere in Bordeaux, Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc naturally cross to create Cabernet Sauvignon.

·         1737 AD the first demarcated wine region of the world is Tokaj in the foothills of the Zemplén Mountains of Hungary.

·         1740 AD bottles were redesigned to be laid on their side, creating the ability to age wines long term.

·         1855 AD the demarcated Bordeaux wine region was established.

·         1862 AD Louis Pasteur discovers oxygen’s harmful effects on wine causing the industry to adapt to wine bottles.

·         1890 AD Zinfandel (Primitivo) is the most planted grape in America.

·         1900 AD 70% of vineyards in France were killed by the Phylloxera, and to a lesser extent in the rest of Europe.

·         * 1950 AD French wines, in particular "Bordeaux" are popularized in the United States.

 ·         1964 AD the first bag-in-a-box wines are introduced.

       ·         1976 AD Steven Spurrier made California wines famous in a blind tasting in Paris. 

            ·         2010 AD Cabernet Sauvignon is the world’s most planted wine grape.

            ·         2013 AD China becomes the world’s largest consumer of dry red wines in the world.

* 

Lebanese Wine History 

·         Wine has been produced in the region since its discovery 6000 BC

·         Jesus turned water into wine in a marriage in Cana, a southern village in Lebanon

 

·         Wine culture survived ottoman occupation in Christian territories

 

·         Pre-French colonization Lebanon had only two types of wine, cooked sweet wine and cooked dry wine (Faqsh)

1839 AD Moussa Riachi founded Riachi Winery & Distillery. 

·         1920’s the French bring with them the Phylloxera to Lebanon, killing off most of the indigenous grape varieties

·         1923 – 1943 the French export French wine culture and French winemaking processes to Lebanon

 

·         1940-2000 Riachi produced wine for several brands, most notably Touma, Kefraya, Asrar, Cave St. Jean, etc.

·         1975 – 2000 most of the old family wineries of Lebanon close down

·         1980 – 2000 wine mass marketing takes off

·         2000 – Present more than 50 new wineries open

·         2005 Michael Karam published his fist book “Wines of Lebanon”

·         2007 The first exhibition dedicated to wine “Vinifest” was launched.

·         2010 – National wine production at 7 million bottles per year

·         2017 – National wine production at 10 million bottles per year

What are the different types of wine? 

er     Wine can be classified according to color, sweetness, and winemaking style (sometimes called regional style). 

     The main wine colors are red, white, and rose.

           

        Red Wines 

•      Red wines are made from red grapes where the juice and skin are fermented together.
•      Red wines that have a lot of tannins are called full bodied and those that don't are light bodied.
•      Full bodied reds are usually darker than light bodied ones.
•      Red wines can be either sweet or dry
•      Red wines can be drank fresh if they are light bodies
•      Dry red wines have a maximum aging potential of 25 years, and that depends on the tannins content. 
•      Their color gets lighter tending to brick red as they age. 
•      Average drinking temperature ranges from 14 C to 21 C. 
•      Red wines can be aged in oak barrels. 

 Rose Wines 

•      Red wines are made from red grapes where the grapes are pressed or bled and the juice is fermented without the skin.
•      Rose wines that have more of tannins are called full bodied and those that don't are light bodied.
•      Bled or ( Saignée ) rose wines are usually darker and more full bodies since they've had a longer contact time with the skin. 
•      Full bodied rose are usually darker than light bodied ones.
•      Rose wines can be either sweet or dry depending on sugar content. 
•      Rose wines can get darker as they age
•      Dry rose wines have a maximum aging potential of 7 years, and that depends on the tannins content. 
•      Their color gets darker as they age.

 White Wines 

•      White wines are made from white grapes where the grapes are pressed and the juice is  fermented without the skin.
•      White wines are more acidic than red wines, and that's where they get their freshness from. 
•      Some white wines are made from red grapes, where the grapes are pressed using a technique that removes the juice with minimal color effect from the skin.  
•      Full bodied white wines are usually darker and less acidic than light bodied ones.
•      White wines can be either sweet or dry depending on sugar content. 
•      White wines can get darker as they age
•      Dry white wines have a maximum aging potential of 15 years, and that depends on the tannins content. 
•      Some white wines can be aged in oak. 
•      Their color gets darker as they age.

Sweet Wines 

•      Sweet wines are wines that have sugar content after fermentation if done. 
•      There are several techniques used to produce sweet wine. 
•      Sweet wines can be made from white grapes and red grapes. 
•      Late harvest sweet wines are made from grapes that are harvested past their due and have  higher sugar content.
•      Straw wines are made by drying the grapes after their are harvested.
•      Fortified wines have sugar and spirit added to them after fermentation is complete.
•      Cooked sweet wines have the juice cooked pre-fermentation.
•      Sweet wines have the longest aging potential, which can reach up to 100 years, and that depends on the tannins, sweetness, and alcohol content. 
•      Some sweet wines can be aged in oak. 
•      Their color gets darker as they age.

Lebanese Wines 

•      Lebanese wines are wines that are made in Lebanon.
•      Lebanon produces red, white, rose, sweet, and faqsh wine.  
•      Sweet wines are usually cooked wines, where the grape must is boiled pre-fermentation.
•      Faqsh wine is the traditional dry wine of Lebanon. It is cooked pre-fermentation, however when it comes to a simmer, it is removed off the heat and fresh grapes are crushed on their  surface, in order for wild yeast to activate the fermentation. 
•      Red Lebanese wines are known for their intense black fruits flavor due to the warm climate of the Bekaa valley. 
•      Obaidi is the dominant white grape that is used for white wine and also for the production of arak.
•      White wines are fresh and zesty, especially those that are coming from high altitude vineyards. 

      Photo credit: https://winefolly.com/deep-dive/complete-wine-color-chart/

     How wine is made?

The above illustration summarizes how most dry and still white, red, and rose wines are made.

      Both white and rose have the juice fermented without the skin. Both can either have the grapes pressed directly after they are crushed or macerated for a few hours with the skin before they pressed. The juice undergoes alcoholic fermentation at a cool temperature with an average of 17 C. The majority of white and rose wines don't undergo  malolactic fermentation and are usually fined quickly with minimal aging and bottled to preserve freshness and acidity. Sparkling wines have a similar fermentation method, but usually at the end of the alcoholic fermentation a small percentage of sugar is added into the wine and then bottled, the wine referments in the bottle producing a bit more alcohol and CO2 gas, which is where the bubbles come from.

      As for red wines, the grapes are crushed and alcoholic fermentation usually occurs with the grape skin in contact with the juice. Alcoholic fermentation in red wines is called primary fermentation and usually occurs between 21 C and 32 C. After the alcoholic fermentation occurs, red wine usually undergoes a secondary fermentation called malolactic fermentation (MLF) after the wine is pressed, which converts the malic acid into lactic acid. This usually makes red wines more silky and savory. Then full-bodied red wines are usually aged in oak and light bodied wines are fined and bottled. Some wines also undergo bottle aging at the winery (also called cellaring) before they are released into the market. 

Wine Etiquette

In General

·         Always use stemware glassware to drink wine

·         Never put ice in your wine

·         Always hold the glass by the stem or base

·         When opening the bottle, do it quietly

·         When clinking: clink glasses bell to bell (it reduces breakage) and look your clinking-buddy in the eye.

·         When Pouring wine, hold the bottle at the base

·         Always fill your glass less than halfway

·         Pour wine for others before pouring to yourself

·         Avoid Flavor Interference: avoid strong flavors like gum, coffee, smoking, or other strong flavors when tasting wine.

As a guest

·         Everyone’s palette is different. By making negative comments, you might be ruining another groups’ experience at the tasting.

·         Try Everything: Try different varietals. It’s the only way to really get a feel for what you like and don’t like. If you constantly stick with the same few varietals, you will never know what flavors you are missing out on.

·         Spitting is okay when wine tasting. When you taste multiple bottles, you have a choice to overindulge and get overwhelmed by the flavors or to use a spittoon or cup.

·         Ask your host questions about the wine he or she is offering you

As a host

·         Uncork quietly

·         Equal Portions: Try to keep the keep the portioning equivalent among all guests, unless instructed otherwise by the guest

·         Pouring Technique: Hold the bottle by the base

·         The person who checks/tastes the bottle first, has his glass poured last

·         Offer Seconds: Always offer seconds to your guests before you pour for yourself. If you are serving a few different varietals, be sure you are pacing the serving so that everyone gets to try everything.

·         Know Your Varieties: Although you may not be an expert, you can share how you came to serve this particular bottle. You may even want to have a list of what you’re serving, in case a guest wants to find it for themselves.

      Wine Etiquette

Photo credit: Winefolly: Wine Tasting 

      Wine tasting involves most of your 5 senses, it's an immersive experience that helps you drown out the noise from the world around you and lets you focus on the wine that's in your hands. The steps are as follows:

     Step 1: Look

      In this step you look down at the wine to identify the color, which can indicate the age and body. Then you swirl and look at the legs which indicated the alcohol content, it's scientific name is called the Gibbs-Marangoni effect, simply put, its when alcohol evaporates from the wine. So when more legs/tears form faster, it means that the wine has higher alcohol content. 

     Step 2: Sniff

     This step helps you identify the aromas that are present in the wine. In general wine aromas are classified into primary, secondary, and tertiary aromas. The primary aromas are usually fruit aromas and reflect the varietal/grape expression. The secondary aromas reflect the terroir and winemaking process, and the tertiary aromas are aging aromas that develop as the wine matures. Even though most tertiary aromas are desirable, like wood notes, earthiness, etc. also some of them are wine defects, like acetic, moldy, chemically, etc. 

      Step 3: Taste 

      Tasting involves both the tongue and the nose, since the majority of taste is also smell. In other words, you can only taste salt, sweet, bitter, sour, and savory/umami without getting your nose involved. That's why you might have noticed a lot of wine geeks doing all sorts of weird things with their mouth as they taste the wine. However, to keep it simple, take a sip, swirl it in your mouth, then inhale from your mouth and exhale from your nose after you swallow, and marvel at what you've just tasted. 

The role of air and smell

Decanting or aeration is a controversial subject among wine enthusiasts; however air does play a role when it comes to sensing the wine’s aroma and taste.

Flavor is experienced though both smell and taste receptors in the nose and mouth. The organic compounds that contribute to the olfactory sensation are esters (aldehydes and ketones) and terpenes. Those compounds are usually soluble in lipids/oil. Lipids are soluble in alcohol. What happens when you swirl the cup and aerate the wine, is that the esters and terpenes rise to the top of the liquid, making it easier to smell and taste.

Moreover, it can also be aerated in the mouth, which boosts the dispersion of the wine on the tongue and release the odor while inhaling. For an optimal sensory experience, inhalation should be done with both the mouth and the nose at the same time. 

Pairing Tips

·       Body or heaviness. If the food is rich and heavy, choose a full-bodied wine that won't be overwhelmed. If the food is light and delicate, go with a light, delicate wine.

·         Acidity. If you have an acidic food, maybe with a lemon sauce, choose an acidic wine.

·         A light-bodied wine like a fruity white wine may taste like water when paired with a steak or roast.

·         The iodine in fish and the strong tannin in some red wines can combine to produce an unpleasant metallic taste.

·         Light acidic white wines including champagne with varying degrees of dryness are generally good aperitifs that go well with appetizers.

·         The goal of pairing wine with food is to have the two reach a pleasing balance, without one overwhelming or clashing with the other.

·         Contrast is usually good, especially when it’s a balancing act. Sweet red wine goes perfectly well with blue cheese and chocolate truffles.

Wine Defects

Wine Aromas

Wine aromas are the odors expressed by the wine.

Aromas fall into 12 odor groups which are:

1.      Animal

·         Even though most animal notes are negative or reducing, there are some that are positive.

·         Negative – defect  : horse sweat – wet dog – fish – sweat

·         Positive: Leather – tender meat

·         However, if positive notes are over powering, they can be indicative of wine defect.

2.      Aromatic Herbs

·         Most herbal notes are positive, however there are some that are negative

·         Negative – defect: Turpentine – camphor (waxy)

·         Positive: Thyme – mint – rosemary – basil

3.      Ethereal

·         Ethereal odors are odors similar to chemicals, and usually are negative and reducing.

·         Negative – defect  : paint – soap – iodine – ethanol – acetone – solvent – wax – Acetic – iron – sulfur

4.      Floral

·         Floral notes are odors that resemble flowers and are almost always positive.

·         Positive: Rose – lily – iris – violet – elder – citrus blossom – Melissa – peach flowers – dill

5.      Dried Fruit – Jam

·         Dried fruit notes are aromas that are also found in jam and cooked fruits.

·         Positive: dates – blackberry jam – strawberry jam – dried figs – peanuts – almonds

6.      Fruity

·         Such notes are almost always positive, pleasant aromas and flavors that are sometimes mistaken for sweetness in dry wines

·         Positive: plum – wild berries – strawberry – peach – apple – banana – melon – coconut – guava – passion fruit – cherry – mandarin – papaya – grapefruit

7.      Wood

·         Such notes are also desirable in wines, they add complexity and character. The main flavoring agent is the wood barrel that is used in the aging process.

·         Positive Notes: oak – cedar – sandal wood – bark – chestnut – walnut

8.      Mineral

·         Mineral or earthy notes are desirable when they are faint, however they can become reductive odors when they become too strong and mask other aromas in the wine.

·         Negative – defect  : chalk – iodine – silica – pencil

·         Positive: amber – river stone – mineral – wet clay – wet forest

9.      Spice

·         Such notes usually accompany wood notes; however some grape varieties that aren’t aged in oak can have some spice expressions, such as Syrah and Malbec.  They are generally positive, but can become negative if they mask the other wine aromas.

·         Negative – defect  : graphite – garlic – cumin – onion – green pepper – bell pepper

·         Positive: nutmeg – ginger – cardamom – tea – tobacco leaf – licorice root – cinnamon

10.  Toasted – Empyreumatic

·         Such notes also usually accompany wood notes.  They are generallym positive, but can become negative if they mask the other wine aromas.

·         Negative – defect  : gun powder – burning rubber – cigarette smoke – tar – rubber – burnt plastic

·         Positive: roasting – coffee – chocolate – caramel – toast – frankincense – wood smoke – cocoa – toasted almonds 

11.  Vegetal – Herbal

·         Notes resembling vegetables and legumes, sometimes unripe fruits and zest. When subtle, they are generally desired in white and rose wines; they can complement some fruity reds, but will become a defect when they mask other aromas.

·         Negative – defect  : raddish – geranium – cooked asparagus – cooked cabbage - artichoke

·         Positive: cut grass – celery – green coffee – fern – cucumber – hummus

12.  Wide – Different – Miscellaneous

·         Since smell is a subjective olfactory perception, people might pick up much more aromas that are not encompassed by the categories below, which can lie on either end of the sensation spectrum.

·         Negative – defect: celluloid – oxidized notes – ink – oyster – gasoline – ash – medicine – plastic – etc.

·         Positive: candy – ginger bread – honey – cookie – croissant – praline – beeswax – yeast – brown sugar – gum – macaroon – volcanic soil – etc. 

     Now that you have a decent idea about wine, I am confident that you will enjoy wine more. Also, the only way to become better at wine tasting it to enjoy more wines, more often. Also if you'd like to book a  live masterclass with me, with food and wine pairing, you can reach out to me on info@riachi.me 

 

Discussion: The Shortcoming of Modern Personality Research

 

           

The aim of this study which was conducted in the Inuit culture in northern Canada was to test the validity of the Five Factor personality model of the Big Five. The Inuit culture was chosen to test the cross-cultural validity of the Big-Five due to several reasons.

The first is that this was the first application of the Big Five model in Inuit culture, the second is that even though Inuit are located in Canada; their culture is not considered as a western culture (ITK, 2018), which is a major premise to tackle if the universality of the model was to be validated, since the Big Five was initially developed in the United States, a predominantly western culture (SD, 2019). The third is that the local Inuit language Inuktitut is exclusive to the local culture, which implies that it’s lexicon should give an accurate reflection of the local culture, therefore translating the personality items which were chosen from the International Personality Item Pool (IPIP) (IPIP, 2018), and conducting a survey in the local culture, should either reinforce or refute the validity of the Big Five model, especially since it was developed based on the lexical hypothesis, which succinctly states that the traits which are important to the local culture will eventually become part of its language (Hutson, 2013).

That said, did the results verify the universality and multicultural validity of the Big Five?

Theoretical Implications

Was the hypothesis accepted, how was it accepted, what does that mean?

In the review of the literature and when designing this research, it was hypothesized that “A five factor structure congruent to the big five will appear in Inuit culture”. Despite some limitations, which were restricted to two items in this study, items 9 which should have correlated to openness and did not, and item 16 which should have correlated to agreeableness but instead also correlated to neuroticism, were the only two items that did not meet the expectation of the literature of the research. In conclusion 23 out of the 25 items of the survey of this research loaded onto their components as expected.

Moreover the principal component analysis revealed by compressing 25 variables into representative variables associated with each trait required the researchers to run principal component analysis, which tests the assumptions to ensure reliability. All correlations and covariance were greater than 0.62 as revealed by the Anti-image Matrices except for item 9 which wasn’t accepted with a score of 0.412

The factor analysis of the other hand also revealed that as expected, the variables which the research predicted would load onto their components do so, with the exception of item 9, which did not load onto any component and item 16, which should have loaded onto one component which what agreeableness, instead loaded also on another component, which was neuroticism.

Even though it is possible that a research design error could have resulted in skewed results (Andrade, 2018), however it is unlikely. A more likely explanation for erroneous results of those two items could have been either issues on translation or unaccounted for confounding variables which influence has influenced the results. In the case of translation, item 9 and item 16 could have been mistranslated or translation and phrasing were mismatched, and item 9 is more likely to have had a translation issue since it did not load onto any of the five factors. To further demonstrate the idea, suppose the word “space” which in English can be defined as an area or a position but you intend to mean area and then translate into Arabic where the appropriate word should be “masaha / مساحة” but instead it was translated into another word which also means space “masafa / مسافة” which actually means distance would completely put the phrase out of context or render it even as a meaningless phrase. Moreover the likelihood of translation errors especially in abstract concepts, which is what the traits and facets of the big five deal with and are, occur with a higher frequency that descriptive terms of daily objects (Zhao, Solano-Flores, & Qian, 2018).

Error in the results arising from unaccounted for confounding variables is also likely, especially for item 16 which loaded onto two components of agreeableness and neuroticism. In order to further expand of the idea, the facets of those two traits were stated then compared to identify possible confounds exclusive to the local culture. Agreeableness is comprised of facets of trust, earnestness, altruism, cooperation, compliance, modestly, sympathy, and compassion. Neuroticism on the other hand is comprised of anxiety, irritability, immoderation, self-consciousness, and depression (Cooper, 2010).  There is a decent body of literature which links the neuroticism facet of self-consciousness with the agreeableness facet of modesty (Jourdy & Petot, 2017), this correlation of narrow traits could have accounted for the loading of item 16 onto both factors of agreeableness and neuroticism, and however, further research into the matter is required.

Aside from the above stated limitations, this study has demonstrated the cross-cultural validity of the Big-Five as a universal measure of personality and the international personality item pool as a universal personality item pool which has been and can be translated into most languages.

Strengths, Limitations and Future Directions

This survey was conducted on a sample size that is comprised of 1006 participants from the Inuit culture of Canada from an age group that ranges from 9 to 12 years of age. The first strength was that the sample size was large enough to produce reliable and valid results since the KMO was > 0.5 (Statistics Solutions , 2019)

Another strength was that the results were statistically significant at P = 0.00 which well above the required level of P < 0.05. The rationale behind setting the level of statistical significance at P<0.5 has to do with what the scientific community perceives as acceptable level of error occurrence (Dancey & Reidy, 2017).  There are two types of error that can occur when taking statistical significance into account. The fist is called a type 1 error, which is when the research rejects the null hypothesis when it’s true. The second is called type 2 error, which is when the researcher accepts the null hypothesis when it is wrong. When P<0.5 the probability of type 1 error is less than 5%, and when P>0.5, the probability of type 2 error is less than 5%. Therefore, 5% is chosen as a balanced probability that tolerates the occurrence of both errors (Minitab, 2017). However, in the medical field, the tolerance for the occurrence of type 1 error is 1% (p<0.01). The tolerance for type 1 error is low because human life is at stake (Dahiru, 2008). Therefore this research is in adherence with the strictest requirements of statistical significance.

            However there were some issues that may compromise some of the validity of the results, the first is that not all factors loaded onto their components, where 2 factors out of the 25 which in percentage terms accounts for 8% of the factors did not load onto the expected components. As stated prior, this error in loading could have been a result of translation error or unaccounted for confounding variables specific to the local culture.

            Another limitation is the age group of the sample size which was children between the ages of 9 and 12. Even though all the legal and ethical requirements for conducting the research was accounted for, it does not negate the fact that this age group which is comprised of minors might not be able to evaluate abstract concepts appropriately, which is what comprises the Big Five personality traits. Moreover, children do not have a fully developed personality, some psychologists prefer to address personality in childhood through temperaments, which is biologically based with some overlap with the Big Five (Twenge & Campbell, 2017).

In order to account for the limitations of this research, further personality research should be conducted in the Inuit culture regarding the local adaptation of the Big Five personality traits. Since the current research was conducted on children aged 9 to 12, some highly recommended research which should follow the current research into the adaptation of Big Five personality traits in the Inuit culture are either a longitudinal or a cross-sectional study. Those types of research are designed to study personality across the lifespan as people age and personality develops (IWH, 2015). Other research can examine the adaptation of the Big Five personality factors in an adult sample of the Inuit culture. Lastly This research was conducted using the international personality item pool, it would be ideal to compare the results with research that uses  NEO personality inventory 3, which was developed by the psychologists Paul Costa and Robert McRae , who are the psychologists who developed the Big Five personality from Eysenck’s earlier PEN model (Costa & McRae, 1995).

Conclusion

The research that was conducted on a sample of 1006 Inuit children aged 9 to 12 has validated the universality and cross-cultural applicability of the Big Five personality theory, by translating items from the international personality item pool into Inuktitut, which generated statistically significant results that accepted the presented hypothesis “A five factor structure congruent to the big five will appear in Inuit culture”. However there were some limitations to the research which could have risen from a failure in translation or confounding variables, were manifested by a failure to load 2 out of the 25 factors onto their respective components while conducting a factor analysis. This research’s limitation can be accounted for my conducting more personality research in Inuit culture by either using a different research design such as a longitudinal or cross-sectional study, or by using a different item pool such as the NEO personality inventory 3.

 

References

Andrade, C. (2018). Internal, external, and ecological validity in research design, conduct, and evaluation. Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine , 498-499.

Cooper, C. (2010). Narrow personality traits. In Individual Differences and Personality (pp. 78-95). London: Hodder.

Costa, P., & McRae, R. (1995). Primary traits of eysenck's p-e-n system: three- and five-factor solutions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 308.

Dahiru, T. (2008). P – value, a true test of statistical significance? A cautionary note. Ann Ib Postgraduate Med, 21-26.

Dancey, C., & Reidy, J. (2017). Hypothesis testing and statistical significance . In Statistics Without Maths for Psychology (7th ed.) (pp. 134-173). Harlow, UK: Pearson.

Hutson, J. (2013). Exploring the nature of lexical selection in spoken word production : competition and the response exclusion hypothesis. England : university of Bristol .

IPIP. (2018). History of the internatinal personality item pool. Retrieved from International Personality Item Pool : https://ipip.ori.org/HistoryOfTheIPIP.htm

ITK. (2018). About canadian inuit . Retrieved from Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami: https://www.itk.ca/about-canadian-inuit/

IWH. (2015). Cross-sectional vs longitudinal research . Retrieved from Institute for Work and Health Canada : https://www.iwh.on.ca/what-researchers-mean-by/cross-sectional-vs-longitudinal-studies

Jourdy, R., & Petot, J.-M. (2017). Relationships between personality traits and depression in the light of the “Big Five” and their different facets. Elsevier Masson SAS, 27 - 37 .

Minitab. (2017). What are type I and type II errors? . Retrieved from Minitab: https://support.minitab.com/en-us/minitab-express/1/help-and-how-to/basic-statistics/inference/supporting-topics/basics/type-i-and-type-ii-error/

SD. (2019). Western culture . Retrieved from Science Daily : https://www.sciencedaily.com/terms/western_culture.htm

Statistics Solutions . (2019). Conduct and interpret factor analysis . Retrieved from Statistics Solutions : https://www.statisticssolutions.com/factor-analysis-2/

Twenge, J., & Campbell, K. (2017). Personality accross the lifespan . In Personality Psychology . New York : Pearson .

Zhao, X., Solano-Flores, G., & Qian, M. (2018). International test comparisons: reviewing translation error in different source language-target language combinations. nternational Multilingual Research Journal, 17-27.

 

Psychological Tests and their Relationship to Behavior

 

Introduction to the Concept of Psychological Testing

The aim of the field of psychology is to understand, predict and influence behavior (Chung & Hyland, 2012). One way of doing so is by categorizing behavior and individual differences into measurable conceptual clusters, which can be related to specific behavior or psychological traits. In lay terms, this is the fundamental mission of psychological testing, which also relies heavily on statistical tools that attempt to generate correlational and causal links among variables (Cooper, 2010).

History of Psychological Testing

The fist quantitative attempt at psychological testing began with the French psychologist Alfred Binet, who devised the first IQ test in 1908 in an attempt to find out which students lacked in intellectual ability in order to help them develop their skills (Wolf, 1973). Even though Binet had good intentions, the first half of the 20^th century witnessed horrific misuse of psychological testing, which resulted in mass sterilization of what was called at the time “feeble minded” individuals in the United States (Zussman, 2013).

Approaches to Psychological Testing

Intellectual intelligence was not the only ability psychologists attempt to measure. Emotional intelligence (EI), which according to Daniel Goleman, is a combination of abilities such as self-management, self-awareness, having social skills and the ability to empathize with others, is as important as intellectual ability in attempting to explain, influence, and predict behavior (Goleman, 1995). Other than the measures of abilities, psychologists also attempted to also categorize individual differences in personality, the most scientific and updated attempt in the Big Five personality test which was developed by psychologists Paul Costa and Robert McRae (Costa & McRae, 1995).

Differentiation between Correlations and Causal Links

            In order to link psychological tests with real life, it is also important to differentiate some fundamental statistical concepts. Correlation does not mean causation, if a variable is correlated with another, it means that there is high chance that they can co-occur simultaneously (SEP, 2016), however causation means that one variable causes the other. Also the approaches of measuring correlational and causal links are very different, correlations are usually derived from statistical analyses of surveys whereas causal links are derived from experiments with randomized samples (Srinagesh, 2006).

Linking Psychological Tests with Real Life Behavior

High scores on intelligence tests is a correlated with intellectual ability, however, having a high intellectual capacity does not necessarily mean that for example a student that has an above average score of 120 on an IQ test will necessarily be a high academic achiever. Some confounding variables such as family income, parenting style, quality of education can all influence the outcome (Baumiester & Tierney, 2012). On the other hand, personality traits of the Big Five have narrower traits called facets, which have been correlated with a range of abilities (Cooper , 2010). For example individuals that have high scores on facets of the trait conscientiousness such as orderliness, dutifulness, achievement striving, self-discipline, and prudence are better predictors of academic achievement (Kertchian, 2018). As for EI and achievement, a meta-analysis that compares the results of school children that had EI training and those that didn’t indicates that improvement in EI resulted in a 10% increase pro-social behavior and 11% increase in academic achievement (Wilkens & Wilmore, 2015).

Conclusion

Reducing individuals into the sum of their traits and abilities is not the aim of modern psychological testing. However, such tests are used to analyze behavior and individual differences in order to categorize and develop psychological tools to improve the life and abilities of individuals.

References

Baumiester, R., & Tierney, J. (2012). Chapter 9: Raising strong children: self-esteem versus self-control. In Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest human Strength. New York: Penguin Group.

Chung, M., & Hyland, M. (2012). Further early beginning of psychology. In History and Philosophy of Psychology (pp. 119-120). John Wiley & Sons.

Cooper, C. (2010). Introduction to individual differences. In Individual Differences and Personality (pp. 1-6). London: Hodder.

Cooper, C. (2010). Narrow personality traits. In Individual Differences and Personality (pp. 78-95). London: Hodder.

Costa, P., & McRae, R. (1995). Primary traits of eysenck's p-e-n system: three- and five-factor solutions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 308.

Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional intelligence. New York : Bantam Books .

Kertchian, S. (2018). Conscientiousness as a key to success for academic achievement among French university students enrolled in management studies. IJME, 154-165.

SEP. (2016). Correlational research. Salem Encyclopedia Press, Retrieved from https://liverpool.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ers&AN=119214045&site=eds-live&scope=site.

Srinagesh, K. (2006). Planning the experiments in statistical terms. In The Principles of Experimental Research (pp. 333-372). Amsterdam : Butterworth Heinmann.

Wilkens, C. L., & Wilmore, E. (2015). Does implementation of emotional intelligence program guarantee student achievement ? Education Leadership Review of Doctorate Research , 13.

Wolf, T. (1973). Alfred binet . Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Zussman, R. (2013). The girls and boys of belchertown: a social history of the belchertown state school for the feeble-minded. American Sociological Association, 572.

 

 

Freud versus Eysenck Theories of Personality

 

 

            Theories of personality that were developed throughout the 20^th century were varied in approach and substance. There were four major schools the psychodynamic, humanistic, trait theorists, and the social cognitive perspective (Gedney-Rubel, 2014). This paper will compare and contrast two perspectives, the psychodynamic and the work of Sigmund Freud (1856 – 1939) with trait theory and the work of Hans Eysenck (1916 – 1997).

As its name suggests, psychodynamic theory is centered on the idea that there’s a continuous dynamic conflict between the conscious and the unconscious mind (Deal, 2007). This perspective was pioneered by Freud, who relied heavily on his clinical observations with his patients in order to develop his theories (Ciabattari, 2014). Freud also proposed two personality models, the topographic and the structural models. The first is composed of the mental layers, the conscious, pre-conscious, and the unconscious. The structural model includes the id, ego, and superego. Both models overlap, where the id and the superego are unconscious drives, and the ego is the conscious mind that mitigates between the unconscious desires of the id, and the unconscious moral compass of the super-ego. When the dynamic conflicts of the unconscious can’t be resolved, a state of neurosis presents itself.

Freud’s theory relied heavily on the influence of the unconscious, but because he relied heavily of self-report, introspection, and other subjective techniques to form his theories, they were deemed unscientific due to the difficulty of testing them empirically.  (Twenge & Campbell, 2017).

Trait theory on the other hand was propelled forward by Gordon Allport, who defined personality through conscious motivations and behavior patterns, also by using traits as descriptive measures of personality rather than attempting to explain it (Rosenzweig & Fisher, 1997). Hans Eysenck was a trait theorist whose work revolved around the notion that people’s traits are inborn and is rooted in biology, he designated those traits as temperaments (Eysenck, 1967) Eysenck was also the first trait theorist to use the statistical tool of factor analysis to determine personality traits, he developed what is known as the Eysenck 3 factor model . In it, people’s personalities are measured on a sliding scale between two opposite traits. The three main factors are neuroticism vs calm, introversion vs extroversion, and psychotic vs impulse control (Costa & McRae, 1995). Eysenck theorized that high scores on the neuroticism scale meant that people will be more likely to suffer from neurotic problems, and not neurotic themselves. As for introversion and extraversion, he hypothesized that extraverted brains required more external stimulation than introverted brains, which are more sensitive to external stimuli. As for high scores on the psychoticism scale, they indicate that in certain environments, the individual will have very low impulse control and a tendency to be out of touch with reality (Cooper, 2010).

Eysenck’s 3 factor model was later developed by Paul Costa and Robert McRae into what is now known as the 5 factor model, which is the revised and updated scientific approach to measuring personality (Costa & McRae, 1995). However, Freud, even though was unscientific in his approach, he was the first to emphasize unconscious drives, which shape personality (Deal, 2007).

 

References

Ciabattari, J. (2014, April 22). Does Sigmund Freud still matter ? Retrieved July 31, 2018, from BBC: http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20140421-does-freud-still-matter

Cooper, C. (2010). Biological, Cognitive and Social Bases of Personality. In Individual differences and personality (pp. 96–117). London: Hodder.

Costa, P., & McRae, R. (1995). Primary traits of eysenck's p-e-n system: three- and five-factor solutions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 308.

Deal, K. H. (2007). Psychodynamic theory . Advances in Social Work.

Eysenck, H. J. (1967). The biological basis of personality. Springfield: Thomas Publishing.

Gedney-Rubel, S. (2014). Exploring personality theory: past, present, and future considerations. New Hampshire: Southern New Hampshire University.

Rosenzweig, S., & Fisher, S. L. (1997). "Idiographic" vis-a-vis "idiodynamic" in the historical perspective of personality theory: Remembering Gordon Allport, 1897-1997. Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences , 405-419.

Twenge, J. M., & Campbell, W. K. (2017). Psychodynamic approaches. In Personality Psychology: Understanding Yourself and Others (pp. 142-176). New York: Pearson.

 

Introduction to Personality Theory

 

The goals of psychology as a discipline are concerned with describing, explaining and predicting people’s behavior, with the aim of supporting and helping people with their lives (Poznań , 2014). One way of approaching those goals is by studying individual differences, which are split into two categories, traits and states. Traits are concerned with personality and ability whereas states are concerned with mood and motivation (Cooper, 2010).

Personality is comprised on an individual’s usual pattern of feelings, thoughts and behavior (Cooper, 2010). Prior to the emergence of personality theory however, psychologists in the 20^th century had what was called the person-situation debate, where they debated whether the person’s distinct characteristics determined behavior or the specific environment the person is in, or situation is a better determinant of behavior (Epstein, 1985). Modern psychology places somewhat equal weight on both the person and the situation (Judge & Zappata, 2015).

Also throughout the 20^th century, there were several approaches that dealt with personality theory, from both the quantitative and the clinical or therapeutic schools of psychology. Since psychology as a science was not well developed in the beginnings of the 20^th century (Chung & Hyland, 2012), personality was first approached by schools that belonged to the therapeutic tradition. Some of the most notable schools were the psychodynamic and the humanistic schools of psychology (Laureate online education, 2016).

The psychodynamic school of thought was founded by the famous Austrian psychologist, Sigmund Freud. Freud’s theory focuses on the dichotomy between the conscious and unconscious mind and their respective dynamic conflicts (Deal, 2007). Freud also proposed two personality models, the topographic and the structural models. The first is composed of the mental layers, the conscious, pre-conscious, and the unconscious. The structural model includes the id, ego, and superego. Both models overlap, where the id and the superego are unconscious drives, and the ego is the conscious mind that mitigates between the unconscious desires of the id, and the unconscious moral compass of the super-ego. When the dynamic conflicts of the unconscious can’t be resolved, a state of neurosis presents itself. Freud also developed the concept of defense mechanisms, and the role of defense mechanisms is to prohibit undesirable unconscious thoughts from entering the conscious mind. Most Freudian theories do not meet the scientific standards of modern psychology because they have been very difficult if not near impossible to test. However, some defense mechanisms, such as denial and reaction formation have substantial scientific literature to back them up (Twenge & Campbell, 2017).

As for the humanistic schools of thought, it was founded by Abraham Maslow and expanded by Carl Rogers, it was formed to some extent as a rebuttal to psychodynamic theory and the early 20^th century behaviorism. Humanism focused on the idea that humans are conscious beings whereas the others focused more on unconscious drives (Twenge & Campbell, Self-actualization and humanistic psychology, 2017). Carl Rogers developed the Self-Theory, which is split into two modes, the congruence and the incongruence modes. In the first the ideal self is equal to the true self. In the later there are the ideal self, self-image, and true-self. Most people are incongruent and aim to be congruent (JP, 2018).

Even though both humanistic and psychodynamic schools are unscientific by modern standards, they have certainly contributed greatly to the advancement of personality psychology.

 

 

References

Chung, M. C., & Hyland, M. E. (2012). Evaluation of the idea that psychology is a science: what is science ? In M. C. Chung, & M. E. Hyland, History and Philosophy of Psychology (pp. 76 - 79). West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons Incorporated.

Cooper, C. (2010). Introduction to individual differences. In Individual Differences and Personality (pp. 1-6). London: Hodder.

Deal, K. H. (2007). Psychodynamic theory . Advances in Social Work.

Epstein, S. (1985). The person-situation debate in historical and current perspective.  Psychological Bulletin , 98(3):513-37.

JP. (2018). Revisiting carl rogers theory of personality. Retrieved from Journal Psyche: http://journalpsyche.org/revisiting-carl-rogers-theory-of-personality/

Judge, & Zappata. (2015). The person-situation debate revisited: effect of situation strength and trait activation on the validity of the big five personality traits in predicting job performance. Academy of Management Journal, 1149–1179.

Laureate online education. (2016, November 10). Week 5: conceptual and historical paradigms in psychology: a critical analysis. part 1. gestalt psychology. Mind, Brain and Behavior. Netherlands: Laureate Online Education B.V.

Poznań . (2014). On the method of psychology. an introduction to the comparative methodology of scientific research. Poznań studies in the philosophy of the sciences and the humanities, p. 61.

Twenge, J. M., & Campbell, W. K. (2017). Psychodynamic approaches. In Personality Psychology: Understanding Yourself and Others (pp. 142-176). New York: Pearson.

Twenge, J. M., & Campbell, W. K. (2017). Self-actualization and humanistic psychology. In Personality Psychology (pp. 189-191). New York: Pearson.