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PS
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Trait Aspects of Personality
Friedman, H. S., & Schustack, M. W. (2014). Personality: Classic theories and modern research (5th ed.). Essex: Pearson Education Limited.
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History of Trait Approaches
Sanguine (blood) Hopeful and cheerful
Melancholic (black bile) Sad and depressive
Choleric (yellow bile) Angry and irascible
Phlegmatic (phlegm) Slow and apathetic
Hippocrates' bodily humors
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History of Trait Approaches
Character descriptions
◦ Theophrastus’ “Penurious Man” (over 2000 years ago)
Charles Darwin
◦ Individual differences are a topic for scientific study
◦ Individual differences can arise through evolutionary
processes
Francis Galton
◦ Measurement of human abilities-Intelligence testing
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Beginnings of the Modern Trait
Approach - Carl Jung
Typology
Small number of “types”
Each person fits one “type” best
8 Types (4 functions x 2 attitudes)
Functions: Sensing, Thinking, Feeling, Intuiting
Attitudes: Extroversion, Introversion
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
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Raymond B. Cattell
Used (and refined) factor analysis
◦ data-driven, not theory-driven
◦ reduced many different traits to sixteen trait clusters
Sixteen Personality Factors Questionnaire (16PF)
Collected many different types of data
◦ Q-data
◦ T-data
◦ L-data
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Gordon Allport
Personality:
◦ “The dynamic organization within the
individual of those psychophysical systems
that determine his characteristic behavior and
thought”
Each person has unique qualities
Philosophical, humanistic, scholarly
approach
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Gordon Allport
Regularities in behavior arise because
◦ The individual views many situations and
stimuli in the same way
◦ Many of the individual’s behaviors are similar
in their meaning
Functionally equivalent
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Gordon Allport
Common Traits
◦ Due to biological heritage and shared culture, there
are some common traits
◦ e.g., dominance in American culture
Proprium
◦ The core of personality
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Gordon Allport
Idiographic methods
◦ Take into account each person’s uniqueness
Dairies, interviews, Q-sorts, etc.
◦ Compensate for the limitations of nomothetic
methods
Personal dispositions
◦ Goals, motives, or styles
◦ Cardinal dispositions (ruling passions)
◦ Central dispositions (fundamental qualities)
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The Big Five
Extroversion (Surgency)
◦ Sociability, warmth, assertiveness
Agreeableness
◦ Straightforwardness, trust, altruism, modesty
Conscientiousness (Lack of Impulsivity)
◦ Competence, persistence, prudence
Neuroticism (Emotional Instability)
◦ Anxiety, hostility, depression, vulnerability
Openness (Openness to Experience, Culture, Intellect)
◦ Imagination, aesthetic sense, curiosity
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Assessing the Big Five
Extroversion items:
◦ 1. I talk a lot.
◦ 2. I am quiet around strangers (reverse coded item).
◦ 3. I am the life of the party.
Not true of me Very true of me
1 2 3 4 5
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Assessing the Big Five
Agreeableness items:
◦ 4. I make others feel at ease.
◦ 5. I tend to forgive others.
◦ 6. I am not much interested in other people's
problems (reverse coded).
Not true of me Very true of me
1 2 3 4 5
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Assessing the Big Five
Conscientiousness items:
◦ 7. I am always well-prepared.
◦ 8. I persevere with my tasks.
◦ 9. I may shirk my duties (reverse coded).
Not true of me Very true of me
1 2 3 4 5
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Assessing the Big Five
Neuroticism items:
◦ 10. I get irritated easily.
◦ 11. I am calm most of the time (reverse coded)
◦ 12. I worry a lot.
Not true of me Very true of me
1 2 3 4 5
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Assessing the Big Five
Openness items:
◦ 13. I have many ideas.
◦ 14. I prefer concrete to abstract ideas (reverse coded).
◦ 15. I don't spend much time reflecting about things
(reverse coded).
Not true of me Very true of me
1 2 3 4 5
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The Big Five
Created through factor analysis
Emerged from data, not theory
Behavior genetics and cross-cultural research
suggest these traits are “real”
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The Big Five
The Big Five predicts useful and important life
outcomes
This does not mean there are only five traits
◦ These traits are extremely broad and contain
narrower traits within them
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Eysenck’s Big Three
Traits are derived from three underlying biological
systems
Extroversion—outgoingness and assertiveness
Neuroticism—instability and apprehensiveness
Psychoticism—tendency toward psychopathology
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Consensus in Personality Judgments
The importance of consensus in determining
the reality of personality traits
Friends’ judgments vs. strangers’ judgments
(zero acquaintance)
Highest agreement for extroversion and
conscientiousness
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Motives
Internal psychobiological forces that help induce
particular behavior patterns
Needs
Life-Tasks
Personal Strivings
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Motivation: Henry Murray
Murray’s Needs
Need for Achievement: n Ach
◦ The need to succeed on tasks that are set out by
society
Need for Affiliation: N Aff
◦ The need to draw near and win the affection of
others
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Motivation: Henry Murray
Need for Power: n Power
◦ The need to seek positions and offices in which one
can exert control over others
Need for Exhibition n Exh
◦ The need to show one’s self before others and to
entertain, amuse, shock, and excite others
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Motivation changes how we see
the world
Differing motivations can
change our perceptions,
even when judging
completely objective
characteristics such as
distance.
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Expressive Style
Vocal characteristics, facial expressions, body
movements, etc.
Emotional Expressiveness
◦ People differ in their overall expressiveness
◦ Expressive people tend to be seen as charismatic and
attractive
◦ Extroversion and dominance are related to
expressiveness
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Skills
Intelligence
◦ Measures vocabulary use, mathematical skills, spatial
reasoning, etc.
Social-Emotional Intelligence
◦ Specific social and emotional abilities in dealing with
other people
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Timeline:
Trait and Skill Approach
Developments in Trait Aspects
Societal and Scientific Context
In ancient Greece, the ideas of character and temperament develop, as caused by the so-called bodily humors
Ancient times
Nature is thought to be composed of air, earth, fire, and water
Religious interpretations view persons as divine creations possessed by good or evil
Middle Ages
Humans are seen as agents in a struggle between good and evil
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Timeline:
Trait and Skill Approach
Developments in Trait Aspects
Societal and Scientific Context
Search for basic traits of individual differences begins, unsuccessfully
1800s Following the Enlightenment, philosophers search for the core of human nature
Carl Jung and colleagues search for deep-rooted individual differences in orientation toward the world
1920s-1940s
Experimental Psychology is dominated by behaviorism and clinical psychology is dominated by psychoanalysis
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Timeline:
Trait and Skill Approach
Developments in Trait Aspects
Societal and Scientific Context
Gordon Allport proposes trait theory of personality
1930s Rise of fascism stimulates interest in propaganda and authoritarianism
Statistics (especially factor analysis) are developed and applied by Cattell and others …
1930s-1950s
Testing becomes the norm for college admission and psychological screening…
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Timeline:
Trait and Skill Approach
Developments in Trait Aspects
Societal and Scientific Context
…Henry Murray develops a motive-based approach to individual differences, termed personology
1930s-1950s
…Clinical psychology becomes more science-based, and experimental psychology considers clinical applications
"Crisis" in personality as traits fail to fully predict behavior across situations
1960s-1970s
Time of social change, as Americans open new roles in civil rights and women's rights
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Timeline:
Trait and Skill Approach
Developments in Trait Aspects
Societal and Scientific Context
The Big Five approach to traits takes hold
1990s Increased use of longitudinal approaches reveals long-term stability of certain individual differences
Traits, motives, goals, and expressive styles are studied in more sophisticated ways
2000s Personality psychology is re-established as a major subfield
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Trait and Skill Approach
Analogy
◦ Humans are clusters of temperaments, traits, and
skills
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Trait and Skill Approach
Advantages
◦ Simplifies personality to a small number of basic
dimensions
◦ Looks for a deeper consistency underlying behaviors
◦ Good assessment techniques
◦ Allows for comparisons between individuals
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Trait and Skill Approach
Limits
◦ May reach too far trying to capture the individual in a
few ways--oversimplification
◦ May label people on the basis of test scores
◦ Sometimes underestimates variability across
situations
◦ May underestimate the influence of unconscious
motives and early experience
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Trait and Skill Approach
View of free will
◦ Allows for free will at the margins, after
predispositions and motives exert their influence
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Trait and Skill Approach
Common assessment techniques
◦ Factor analysis
◦ Self-report
◦ Testing of styles and skills
◦ Document analysis
◦ Behavioral observation
◦ Interviews
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Trait and Skill Approach
Implications for therapy
◦ If much of personality is structured around a small
number of key dispositions then we can change our
goals and orientations but probably not our basic
dispositional “natures”
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