Unit2:IndividualityandPersonality

Part9:TraitTheories

Objec;ves:

1. Explainthemainfeaturesoftraitpersonality.

2. DescribeAllport’s,Ca=ell’s,andEysenck’stheoriesofpersonality.

I.Introduc;on

A.  Howdowedescribepeople?Aretheyfriendly?Kind?Aggressive?Dotheyappearthiswayinnearlyallcircumstancesandsitua;ons?Weashumansgivemanytermstodescribethepeopleweinteractwith,thesetermsarecalledtraits.Atraitisatendencytorespondthesamewayindifferentsitua;ons.Itisawaythatoneindividualdiffersfromanother.

trait:Atendencytoreacttoasitua;oninawaythatremainsstableover;me.

II.WhatistheTraitTheoryofPersonality?

A.Psychologistswhostudytraitsassumetwothings:1.  First,everytraitappliestoallpeople.(Example:

weallhavesomeamountofarroganceorsomeamountoffriendliness)

2.  Second,theamountofatraitsomeonehascan

bemeasured.

II.WhatistheTraitTheoryofPersonality?(con’t)

B.  Psychologistsbelievethatbyiden;fyingpeople’straitswecanbeSerunderstandthemandevenpredicttheirfuturebehavior.

C.  Inaddi;ontotryingtoiden;fytraits,researcherstrytoexplainwhypeopletendtoactthesamewaymostofthe;me.Forexample,peoplemaybeaskedtodescribeanobservedbehaviorandthenlistatraitthatbestdescribesthebehavior.

II.WhatistheTraitTheoryofPersonality?(con’t)

D.  Thechallengesoftraittheoryareindeterminingwhetherabehaviorisanactualtrait.Forinstance,doiden;fiedbehaviorsoccuracrossALLsitua;onsofaperson?IsapersonhappyinALLseWngs?Doobservedbehaviorsindicateanactualtraitoristhebehaviorasignofamorebasictrait?

Example:Iss;nginessreallypossessiveness?

Thechallenge,orques;on,forresearchersisdeterminingwhatbehaviorsgotogether.

III.GordonAllport:Iden;fyingTraits

A.  GordonAllportbelievedthataperson’straitswillbeconsistentindifferentsitua;ons.Bystudyingwordsthatdescribepersonalityinadic;onary,Allportcreatedalistoftraits.Hedefinedcommontraitsasthosethatapplytoeveryone.Healsoiden;fiedindividualtraitsthatapplymoretoapar;cularperson.Theseindividualtraitsdividedintothreetypes:

1.   CardinalTraits2.   SecondaryTraits3.   CentralTraits

III.GordonAllport:Iden;fyingTraits(con’t)

1.  CardinalTraits:Cardinaltraitsarethosethataretherarest.Theytendtodominateanindividual’swholelife,oZentothepointthattheindividualbecomesspecificallyknownforthesetraits.

Example:“Honesty”isacardinaltraitofAbrahamLincoln.

cardinaltrait:Atraitthatissopervasivethatthepersonisalmostiden;fiedwiththetrait

III.GordonAllport:Iden;fyingTraits(con’t)

2.  SecondaryTraits:Secondarytraitsarethosethattendtoappearonlyincertainsitua;onsorundercertaincircumstances.

Example:Apersonwhoisnormallyverycalmmaybecomeanxiouswhenspeakingtoagroupofpeople.

secondarytrait:Atraitthatappearsonlyincertaincircumstancesorsitua;ons

III.GordonAllport:Iden;fyingTraits(con’t)

3.  CentralTraits:Centraltraitsarethosetraitsthatbestdescribeaperson.Centraltraitsarethecoretraitsthattendtoremainrela;velystablethroughoutlife.Manytraittheoriesofpersonalityfocusonthesetraits.Thesetraitsserveasthe"buildingblocks"ofpersonality.

Centraltrait:Atraitthatbestdescribestheessenceofapersonality

Examples:Apersonis…shy,outgoing,reserved,happy,etc.

IV.RaymondCaSell:Sixteen-TraitTheory

A.  RaymondCaSelltookAllport’sideasastepfurther.He,andotherresearcherswantedtoseehowstronglydifferenttraitsrelatetooneanother.Usingamathema;calprocedurecalledfactoranalysis,CaSelliden;fied46surfacetraits,ortraitsthatonecanobserve.

Surfacetrait:Acharacteris;cthatcanbeobservedincertainsitua;ons

Factoranalysis:Acomplexsta;s;caltechniqueusedtoiden;fytheunderlyingreasonswhyvariablearecorrelated

IV.RaymondCaSell:SixteenTraitTheory(con’t)

B.  Fromthe46surfacetraitsiden;fiedbyCaSell,hefoundthatsomeoccurinclusters.Fromtheseheiden;fied16sourcetraitsthathebelievedwerethecoreofpersonality.Hebelievedthatbymeasuringsourcetraits,psychologistscouldpredictpeople’sbehaviorincertainsitua;ons.

Sourcetrait:Acharacteris;cthatcanbeconsideredtobeatthecoreofpersonality

IV.RaymondCaSell:SixteenTraitTheory(con’t)

C.  CaSellusedhis16sourcetraitstodevelopapersonalityques;onnairetomeasurethetraitsofanindividual.Eachtraitispairedwithanoppositeonacon;nuum.

V.HansEysenck:DimensionsofPersonality

A.  HansEysenck,anEnglishpsychologist,usedfactoranalysisofdataanddeterminedtherearetwobasicdimensionsofpersonalitywhichare(1)stabilityversusinstabilityand(2)extroversionversusintroversion.

V.HansEysenck:DimensionsofPersonality(con’t)

B.  Thefirstdimension,stabilityversusinstability,referstothedegreetowhichpeoplehavecontrolovertheirfeelings.

C.  Theseconddimensionwasactuallyiden;fiedyearsearlierbyCarlJungasextroversionversusintroversion.

V.HansEysenck:DimensionsofPersonality(con’t)

1.  OneonesideofEysenck’sdimensionsareextroverts,lively,sociable,outgoing,ac;vepeople.Extrovertsenjoypar;es,people,andseekexcitement.

2.  Ontheotherendofthedimensionareintroverts,thosepeoplewhoaremorethoughgul,reserved,passive,unsociable,andquiet.

V.HansEysenck:DimensionsofPersonality(con’t)

D.  YearsaZerheiden;fiedthefirsttwodimensions,Eysenckaddedathird,psycho;cism.

1.  Atoneendofthisdimensionareself-centered,hos;le,

andaggressivepeoplewhoactwithoutmuchthought.2.  Theotherendtendstobesociallysensi;ve,highoncaring

andempathy,andeasypeoplewithwhomtowork(Eysenck,1970,1990).

VI.TheRobustFive

A.  Overtheyears,psychologistshaveshownthatfivetraitsappearoverandoverindifferentstudies.Thesetraitshavebecomeknownasthe“fiverobustfactors”or“thebigfive”ofpersonality.

VI.TheRobustFive(con’t)

1.  Extroversion,whichisassociatedwithwarmth,talka;veness,andbeingenerge;c.

2.  Agreeableness,whichinvolvesbeingsympathe;ctoothers,kind,andtrus;ng.

3.  ConscienCousness,whichiden;fiesindividualswhoaredu;ful,organized,andresponsible.

4.  Opennesstoexperience,whichdescribespeoplewhoareopen-mindedandwillingtotryintellectualexperiences,ornewideas.

5.  EmoConalstability,whichiden;fiesindividualswhoexperiencethingsrela;velyeasilyandwithoutgeWngupset.

B.  TheFiveRobustFactorsAre:

VI.TheRobustFive(con’t)D.  Think of each big-five trait as a continuum; each

trait has many related traits.

E.  Trait theorists assume that traits are relatively fixed, or unchanging.

F.  The advantage of trait theories is that by identifying a person’s personality traits, that person’s behavior can be predicted.

G.  However, critics argue that trait theories describe personality rather than explain it. Trait theories do not explain or predict behaviors across different situations.