Trait Taxonomy

7/29/2019 Trait Taxonomy

1/41

Traits & Trait TaxonomiesMP111471 Zaini Mohd Bakry B. Zulkifli

Lecture : Dr Nora Mislan


2/41

Traits

Words that describe traits, attributes of a

person that are reasonably characteristic of

the person and perhaps enduring over time.


3/41

FriendlyGenerous

HappyCheerful


4/41

Types Of Character Traits

Religious

Honest

Loyal

Devoted

Loving Kind

Sincere

Devoted

Ambitious

Satisfied

Happy

Faithful

Patient

Determined

Persistent

Adventurous

Homebody

Considerate Cooperative

Cheerful

Optimistic

Pessimistic

Funny


5/41

Types Of Character Traits

Dishonest

Disloyal

Unkind

Mean

Rude Disrespectful

Impatient

Greedy

Angry Pessimistic

Repugnant

Cruel

Unmerciful

Wicked

Obnoxious

Malicious Grumpy

Quarrelsome

Caustic

Selfish Unforgiving


6/41

What Is a Trait?: Two Basic Formulations

Traits as Internal Causal Properties

vs.

Traits as Purely Descriptive Summaries


7/41

Traits as Internal Causal Properties

Traits are presumed to be internal in thatindividuals carry their desires, needs, and wantsfrom one situation to next

Desires and needs are presumed to be causal inthat they explain behavior of individuals whopossess them

Traits can lie dormant in that capacities are

present even when behaviors are not expressed Scientific usefulness of viewing traits as causes

of behavior lies in ruling out other causes


8/41

Traits as Purely Descriptive Summaries

Traits as descriptive summaries of attributes

of a person; no assumption about internality,

nor is causality assumed

Argue that we must first identify and

describe important individual differences

and subsequently develop casual theories toexplain them


9/41

The Act Frequency Formulation of Traits:

An Illustration of the Descriptive SummaryFoundation

Starts with the notion that traits arecategories of acts

Trait categories such as dominance or

impulsivity have specific acts asmembers.


10/41

Act Frequency Research Program

Act nominations: Designed to identify which

acts belong in which trait categories.

Aggressive


11/41


Prototypicality judgements: Involves

identifying which acts are most central or

prototypical of each trait category


12/41


Monitoring act performance: Securing

information on actual performance of

individuals in their daily lives.


13/41

Evaluation of Act Frequency Formulation

Helpful in making explicit the behavioral phenomena towhich most trait terms refer

Helpful in identifying behavioral regularities Helpful in exploring the meaning of some traits that

are difficult to study, such as impulsivity and creativity

Does not specify how much context should be included

in the description of the trait-relevant act Seems applicable to overt actions, but what about

failures to act or covert acts not directly observable?


14/41

Identification of the Most Important Traits:

Three Approaches

Lexical Approach

Statistical Approach

Theoretical Approach


15/41

Lexical Approach

Starts with lexical hypothesis: All important

individual differences have becomeencoded within the natural language over

time

Trait terms are important for people incommunicating with others


16/41

Lexical Approach

Two criteria for identifying important

traits

Synonym frequency

Cross-cultural universality


17/41

Lexical Approach

Problems and limitations

Many traits are ambiguous, metaphorical,

obscure, or difficult

Personality is conveyed through different

parts of speech (not just adjectives),

including nouns and adverbs


18/41

Lexical Approach

Lexical approach is a good starting point

for identifying important an individual

difference, but should not be theexclusive approach used


19/41


Starts with a large, diverse pool of personality

items

Most researchers using lexical approach turnto statistical approach to distill ratings of trait

adjectives into basic categories of traits

Goal of statistical approach is to identify majordimensions of personality


20/41


Factor analysis

Identifies groups of items that covary or go

together, but tend not to covary with othergroups of items

Provides means for determining which

personality variables share some property orbelong within the same group


21/41


Factor analysis

Useful in reducing the large array of diverse

traits into smaller, more useful set ofunderlying factors

Factor loading: Index of how much of a

variation in an item is explained by a factor


22/41


Factor analysis

Cautionary note: You only get out of factoranalysis what you put in; thus, researchers

must pay attention to the initial selection

items


23/41

Theoretical Approach

Starts with a theory, which then determines

which variables are important

Example: Sociosexual orientation (Simpson &

Gangestad, 1991)

Strengths coincide with strengths of a theory,

and weaknesses coincide with the weaknesses

of a theory


24/41

Taxonomies of Personality

1. Eysenck's hierarchical model of personality

2. Cattell's Taxonomy : the 16 personality

factor system

3. Circumplex taxonomies of personality

4. Five-Factor model (the big 5)


25/41

Hans J. Eysenck: Personality as

Traits

For Eysenck, personality consists of acts and

dispositions organized in a hierarchical fashion

in terms of their level of generality.


26/41

Eysenck's hierarchical model of

personality

Most strongly rooted in biology.

Model of personality based on traits that he

believed were highly heritable and had a

likely psychophysiological foundation.

3 main traits are :

extraversion - introversion (E), neuroticism-

emotional stability (N), and psychoticism (P)

PEN


27/41

Eysenck's Three Personality Factors:

P

E

N

extraversion - introversion

neuroticism-emotional stability

psychoticism


28/41


Extraversion - Introversion: Introversion: tendermindedness;

introspectiveness; seriousness; performanceinterfered with by excitement; easily aroused

but restrained, inhibited; preference forsolitary vocations; sensitivity to pain.

Extraversion: toughmindedness;

impulsiveness; tendency to be outgoing;desire for novelty; performance enhanced byexcitement; preference for vocationsinvolving contact with other people; tolerance

for pain.


29/41



30/41


Neuroticism: Below-average emotional control,

will-power, and capacity to exert self; slowness

in thought and action; suggestibility; lack of

persistence; tendency to repress unpleasant

facts; lack of sociability; below-average sensory

acuity but high level of activation.


31/41


Psychoticism:

Poor concentration, poor memory; insensitivity;

lack of caring for others; cruelty; disregard for

danger and convention; occasionally originality

and/or creativity; liking for unusual things;

considered peculiar by others.


32/41


Four personality types

can be derived

from the traits associated

with Eysencks

two major personality

dimensions ofextraversion and

neuroticism.


33/41

Hierarchical Structure ofEysencks System

Super traits (P, E, N) at the top

Narrower traits at the second level

Subsumed by each narrower trait is the third level

Habitual acts : At the lowest level of the four-tieredhierarchy are specific acts

Hierarchy has the advantage of locating eachspecific, personality-relevant act within increasinglyprecise nested system


34/41


35/41

Cattells Taxonomy: The 16 Personality

Factor System

Cattells goal was to identify and measure the

basic units of personality

Believed that the true factors of personality

should be found across different types of data,

such as self-reports and laboratory tests.

Factor Descriptors


36/41

Factor Descriptors

A Warmth Reserved Outgoing

B Reasoning Less Intelligent More Intelligent

C Emotional Stability Affected by feelings Emotionally stable

E Dominance Humble Assertive

F Liveliness Sober Happy-go-lucky

G Rule Consciousness Expedient Conscientious

H Social Boldness Shy Venturesome

I Sensitivity Tough-minded Tender-minded

L Vigilance Trusting Suspicious

M Abstractedness Practical Imaginative

N Privateness Straightforward Shrewd

O Apprehension Self-Assured Apprehensive

Q1 Openness to Change Conservative Experimenting

Q2 Self-Reliance Group-dependent Self-sufficient

Q3 Perfectionism Self-conflict Self-control

Q4 Tension Relaxed Tense


37/41

The Wiggins Circumplex

Wiggins (1979) developed measurement

scales to assess traits

Started with the lexical assumption Argued that trait terms specify different kinds

of ways in which individuals differ:

Interpersonal, temperament, character, material,

attitude, mental, and physical


38/41


Wiggins was concerned with interpersonal

traits and carefully separated these out

Defined interpersonal as interactionsbetween people involving exchanges

Two resources that define social exchange are

love and status

Dimensions of status and love define axes of

Wiggins circumplex


39/41


Wiggins circumplex has three key

advantages

Provides an explicit definition of what constitutesinterpersonal behavior

Specifies relationships between each trait and

every other trait in the model (adjacency,

bipolarity, orthogonality)

Alerts investigators to gaps in work on

interpersonal behavior


40/41

Five-Factor Model

The field of psychologys Big Five model uses five words thatdescribe personality traits.

The personality traits can be grouped into these categories:

Openness

ConscientiousnessExtroversion

Agreeableness

Neuroticism

The model is a comprehensive data-driven finding on the

most basic personality traits in people. It is a very broad

model with several subgroups to describe more specific

traits.


41/41

Documents

Trait Taxonomy