Personality: dispositional theories

Question 1

What is a disposition?

Answer 1

a latent tendency to exhibit a coherent class of behaviours

Does it cause a behaviour, or summarise why it occurred?

Question 2

Categorising people by disposition (types)

Answer 2

exclusions categories or type-based classification

Question 3

exclusive categories

Answer 3

you belong to one or the other

Nominal or ordinal variables (introverts or extroverts)

Qualitative difference

Question 4

Type-based classification

Answer 4

typology

Question 5

categorising people by disposition (traits)

Answer 5

• continuous dimensions or trait-based classification

Question 6

continuous dimensions (traits)

Answer 6

be higher or lower among an entire dimensions, an internal variable levels of extraversion, a quantitative difference

Question 7

trait-based classification

Answer 7

“traitology”

Question 8

categorising people by dispositions - trends

Answer 8

Tend to be normally distributed

Question 9

categorising people by disposition - types

Answer 9

tend to be bimodally distributed

Question 10

Traits vs types

Answer 10

you can convert a trait to a type - eg splitting a distribution down the middle and saying one side is marmite lovers the other side is marmite haters

You can’t convert a type to a trait

Question 11

popular typologies

Answer 11

Enneagram, Jung/Myers-Briggs/Kiersky

Question 12

Some scientific models

Answer 12

Eysenck’s 2 and 3 factor model
Cattell’s 16 factor model
Wiggins’s circumples model
The big five model

Question 13

Enneagram

Answer 13

…

Question 14

Jung / Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

Answer 14

ESTJ vs INFP

Extroverted, sensing, thinking, judging

Vs

Introverted, intuitive, Felling, Perceiving.

Question 15

Eysenck’s 2 and 3 Factor Models

Answer 15

2 Factor Model:
Introversion - Extraversion
- sociable, dominant, active, sensation-seeking.

Emotionality-Stability (neuroticism)
- anxious, depressed, moody, easily upset.

Extraversion and neuroticism combine to yield a classical Greek typology (from Galen)

3 Factor Model:
- introversion-extraversion
-emotionality-stability (neuroticism)
- Psychoticism (added) - impulsive, cold, antisocial, egocentric, aggressive

Rooted in biology

• extroverts need more stimulation to achieve optimal cortical arousal
• neurotics possess a more unstable autonomic nervous system
• psychotics have more testosterone and less MAO (neurotransmitter)
• E,N,P = heritable - partly coded for by genes.

Question 16

Factor analysis

Answer 16

A set of statistical procedures designed to uncover the nature and number of latent factors that underlie a given set of items.

FA allows clusters of correlating items (factors) to be identified and interpreted

Some subjectively is involved here.

Question 17

Purpose of a factor analysis

Answer 17

Reduce many specific traits to fewer general (more fundamental?) traits.

Decide which general traits matter, which matter more

Indicate how the general traits correlate themselves

Show that a set of items is coherent

Question 18

Factor analysis - Eysenck

Answer 18

Eysenck showed that E, N and P were more general traitors that could be derived from more specific traits. The structure was thus hierarchical. Extraversion subsumed: dominance, sociability, activity

Question 19

Cattell’s 16 factor model

Answer 19

Consists of primary factors, a left and a right meaning.

The lexical hypothesis (Galton), all important traits have been encoded in natural language, the more important a trait is, the more frequently it is referred to.

So a dictionary - abstract all the trait adjunctive, reduced to a manageable number, use as a basis for self-ratings. After a factor analysis - corresponds to personality traits, hope is that procedure is non-arbitrary, comprehensive key traits, bring order to chaos of personality theories

Selected 16 factors that tapped interesting dimensions, top-down and bottom-up

16 factors were factored - E and N number were among the higher-order factors obtained

Question 20

The Big Five - Goldberg, Costa & McCrae

Answer 20

five identifiable dimensions regularly emerge from the FA’s, dimensions are found across different: types of item, types of assessments, types of people, types of species (not all 5)

Five Factors
1. Neuroticism (emotionality)
2. Extraversion (dominance)
3. Openness (sophistication)
4. Agreeableness (Likeability)
5. Conscientiousness (repsonsibility)

OCEAN acronym

Question 21

Neuroticism

Answer 21

anxiety, angry hostility, depression, self-consciousness, impulsiveness, vulnerability

A disposition for unpleasant emotions, anger, anxiety, depression or vulnerability - emotional instability

Question 22

Extraversion

Answer 22

warmth, gregariousness, assertiveness, activity, excitement-seeking, positive emotions

Showing energy, positive emotions - stimulation for seeking company of others

Question 23

Openness

Answer 23

fantasy, aesthetics, feelings, actions, ideas and values.

Appreciating art, emotion, adventure, unusual ideas, imagination, curiosity and variety of experience.

Question 24

Agreeableness

Answer 24

Trust, straightforwardness, altruism, compliance, modesty, tender-mindedness

Behaving compassionately and cooperatively rather than suspiciously and antagonistically towards others.

Question 25

Conscientiousness

Answer 25

competence, order, dutifulness, achievement striving, self-discipline, deliberation Aiming for achieving, planned behaviour rather than spontaneous behaviour

Question 26

Signs of personality: book preferences

Answer 26

extraversion- relationships, celebrity romance Introversion- horror, sci-fi, manga Agreeable- relationships, religion, family drama Disagreeable- psychological-drama, scary, cult-classics Openness- philosophical novels, plays and musicals, university readings Traditional - light fantasy, Indian books, Christian classics Neurotic- mental issues, sad endings, dark and dangerous Levelheaded- politics, philosophy, leadership business, science and technology. Conscientious- grown-up-stuff, brain foods, history, professional reading Tardy- modern fantasy,k humour comedy, teenage books

Question 27

signs of personality: word preferences (E)

Answer 27

High extraversion - tonight, party, love, night Low extraversion-computer, internet, probably, don’t, anime

Question 28

signs of personality: word preferences (N)

Answer 28

more neurotic - sick, lonely, swear words, depression Less neurotic - success, workout, basketball,

Question 29

signs of personality: word preferences (C)

Answer 29

more conscientious- thankful, great, blessed, Less conscientious- swear words, YouTub, Pokémon

Question 30

signs of personality: word preferences (A)

Answer 30

More agreeable- excited, wonderful, blessed, Less agreeable- swear words, hell

Question 31

Signs of personality: word preferences (O)

Answer 31

more open - universe, writing, music Less open- abbreviations e.g u, ur, wat, gud

Question 32

Extraversion: mechanism and function

Answer 32

mechanism - response to reward (mid-brain dopamine reward system) + increased reward pursuit and capture - physical dangers, family instability

Question 33

neuroticism: mechanism and function

Answer 33

mechanism- response to threat (amygdala and limbic system, serotonin) + vigilance, striving - anxiety, depression

Question 34

conscientiousness: mechanism and function

Answer 34

response inhibition (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) + planning, self control - rigidity, lack of spontaneous response

Question 35

agreeableness: mechanism and function

Answer 35

mechanism- regard for others (theory of mind - empathy component) + harmonious social relationships - not putting self first, lofty status

Question 36

openness: mechanism and function

Answer 36

breadth of mental associations + artistic sensibility, divergent thought - unusual beliefs, proneness to psychosis

Question 37

further detail: the big five

Answer 37

each factor has a number of different facets, allowing for greater subtlety of characterisation Known to be stable after the age of 30 and heritable too The factors often neatly map onto traits described in other theories, simply or as a combination

Question 38

misgivings: the big five

Answer 38

precise components of each factor are disputed (especially openness/intellect) A 6 factor solution has emerged adding honesty-humility but also a one-factor solution Factor analysis leaves room for biasing one’s findings Why should personality encoded in language be basis of scientific model Atheoretical - smart theorising may suggest other traits of greater significance Dynamics and complexities of personality are not addressed

Question 39

types after all:

Answer 39

average, reserved, role models and self-centered

Question 40

evaluation of the big five

Answer 40

are the big 5 traits fundamental and invariant of personality Organisational tools, stimulated research Reflect interesting underlying order in personality Criticism: situational influence, variability of behaviour, predictive power of traits: have been addressed, and conceptual, measurement and statistical issues

Question 41

Personality: factor analysis

Answer 41

each item loads on (correlated with) a factor to some degree. The pattern of loadings (made more coherent by factor rotation) serves as the basis for interpretation Conclusions as to the factor structure are then reached by considering the size and composition of the clusters