Question

1. Why are psychosocial variables more difficult to consistently and accurately measure?

Answer 1

We cannot accurately assess people’s level of intelligence by looking at them, and we certainly cannot put their self-esteem on a bathroom scale. These kinds of variables are called constructs and include personality traits , emotional states , attitudes, and abilities.

Psychological constructs cannot be observed directly. One reason is that they often represent tendencies to think, feel, or act in certain ways. Another reason psychological constructs cannot be observed directly is that they often involve internal processes. Fear, for example, involves the activation of certain central and peripheral nervous system structures, along with certain kinds of thoughts, feelings, and behaviours—none of which is necessarily obvious to an outside observer. Notice also that neither extraversion nor fear “reduces to” any particular thought, feeling, act, or physiological structure or process. Instead, each is a kind of summary of a complex set of behaviours and internal processes.