Personality Trait Theory

Question 1

PERSONALITY

Answer 1

• person’s unique/relatively stable beh patterns
• consistency of who you are/have been/will be

Question 2

CHARACTER

Answer 2

• personal characteristics that have been judged/evaluated

Question 3

TEMPERAMENT

Answer 3

• hereditary personality aspects ie. sensitivity/moods/irritability/adaptability

Question 4

PERSONALITY TRAIT

Answer 4

• stable qualities person shows in most situations

Question 5

PERSONALITY TYPE

Answer 5

• people w/several common traits

Question 6

PERSONALITY TYPES

Answer 6

• categorial
• type approach assumes:
  1. each of us fits into 1 personality category
  2. all people in category = alike
  3. each personality type = dif from all others

Question 7

PERSONALITY TRAITS

Answer 7

• continuous
• trait approach categorises people according to degree to which they manifest particular characteristics
• people’s unique personalities explained by having ^/lesser trait amounts consistently found across people

Question 8

THE TRAIT APPROACH

Answer 8

• examines relationship between personality characteristics/thought/beh
• basic views include:
  1. traits = organised
  2. traits = fundamental personality building blocks
  MCCRAE & COSTA (1990)
• traits = dimensions of individual difs in tendencies to show consistent patterns/thoughts/feelings/actions
  ALLPORT (1937)
• generalised/focalised neuropsychic system (peculiar to individual) w/capacity to render stimuli functionally equivalent; to initiate/guide consistent/equivalent forms of adaptive/expressive beh

Question 9

TRAIT APPROACH ASSUMPTION I

Answer 9

1. There are personality difs between people (relative/absolute).
   - we share same traits (ordinal measurement; no true 0) but composition/pattern of traits varies person to person
   - trait approach tries to measure degree to which person = ^/less sociable/introverted compared with others/norms rather than trying to measure traits in absolute/sense

Question 10

TRAIT APPROACH ASSUMPTION II

Answer 10

2. Personality traits = relatively stable across time/situations.
   - trait researchers = not interested in predicting 1 person’s beh in given situation
   - instead want to predict how people who score within certain trait continuum part will typically beh
   - compare beh of people who are relatively high on trait w/those relatively low on trait
   - personality consists of trait patterns which form unique combo in each relatively stable person over time/across situations
   - many argue that too much emphasis is placed on stability

Question 11

THE TRAIT CONTINUUM

Answer 11

• traits = normally distributed
• scores will have normal distribution (fewer people score in extreme on any trait)
• any personality characteristic can be illustrated w/trait continuum
• wide range of behs can be represented on trait continuum (ie. achievement motivation = highly driven/persistent on one end; indifference/no drive at other extremes)
• traits = bipolar; for any trait these is opposite lying on same continuum (ie. high/low optimism)
• each person can be placed somewhere on continuum (ie. ^/less aggressive/friendly)

Question 12

TRAIT CONTINUUM EXAMPLE

Answer 12

EG: CONFIDENCE
- all personality traits can be described on a continuum showing either end of trait
- ie. how confident are you?
apprehensive - cautious - self-assured
- ie. how emotionally stable are you?
emotionally stable - neutral - emotionally labile

Question 13

TRAIT CONTINUUM: CONTINUITY

Answer 13

• traits = continuous; people have ^/less of a trait via demonstrating beh:
  1. more/less frequently
  2. more/less intensely
  3. often/rarely across a wide situation range
• traits can be distinguished from states:
  1. enduring/stable over long periods/situations
  2. brief/situation-specific

Question 14

TRAIT CONTINUUM: INDEPENDENCE

Answer 14

• dif traits generally seen as independent
• person’s position on 1 trait has little/0 to do w/position on another trait
• contrast w/type approach where similar trait clusters used to classify people into particular types
• BUT controversy surrounds idea that dif traits = independent
• highlighted by essential trait approach
• dif approaches to factor analysis

Question 15

TRAIT APPROACHES

Answer 15

TYPOLOGICAL APPROACH
- attempts to classify people into distinct categories using particular trait clusters
SINGLE-TRAIT APPROACH
- focuses on one particular personality trait to explain range of important behs
MANY-TRAIT APPROACH
- focuses on many dimensions of personality; correlates w/beh
ESSENTIAL-TRAIT APPROACH
- attempts to reduce ‘many-traits’ to a few essential traits to understanding personality

Question 16

GORDON ALLPORT (1897-1967)

Answer 16

• 1921; published first work on traits “Personality Traits: Their Classification/Measurement”
• psychologists would do well to give full recognition to manifest motives before probing unconscious
• personality = real entity w/physiological components in nervous system

Question 17

ALLPORT: HIGHLIGHTS

Answer 17

1. Hierarchical organisation of traits; a few traits can explain most beh.
2. Healthy personality = as important to study as neurosis.
3. Conscious values/motives shape personality not just unconscious drives.
4. Personality = dynamic; adult motivation (growth/coherence/creativity) = dif from children’s motivations (tension reduction).
5. Functional autonomy.

Question 18

FUNCTIONAL AUTONOMY

Answer 18

• out motives become independent of their childhood origins (ie. a child might clean room to please parent BUT values tidiness as adult)
• a likely reaction to Freud; Allport didn’t agree that childhood experiences continue to influence us strongly as adults

Question 19

IDIOGRAPHIC VS NOMOTHETIC APPROACHES

Answer 19

IDIOGRAPHIC APPROACH
- emphasises uniqueness of individuals; aims to identify unique combination of traits that best account for single individual’s personality
NOMOTHETIC APPROACH
- emphasises comparability among individuals; compares many people along same personality dimensions/traits
MORPHOGENIC APPROACH
- attempt to blend nomothetic/idiographic perspectives

Question 20

IDIOGRAPHIC METHODS

Answer 20

• take into account each person’s uniqueness
• behavioural observations
• flexible self-reports
• interviews
• Q-sorts
• takes into account each person’s personal dispositions; people have dif traits

Question 21

NOMOTHETIC METHODS

Answer 21

• argues that people have dif amounts of a trait BUT they all have same finite set of traits (ie. Big Five)

Question 22

ALLPORT: THE LEXICAL APPROACH

Answer 22

• all important traits = captured by language
• identified 17,953 in English language each describing a personality trait
• traits occur in dif combos; make each of us unique; influence our beh
• each person has various types of traits organised hierarchically according to how they influence beh

Question 23

ALLPORT: STRUCTURE OF PERSONALITY

Answer 23

• traits = building blocks
• occur in combos; each person’s combo makes them unique
• organised hierarchically based on how much they influence beh
• common traits

Question 24

ALLPORT: HIERARCHICAL ORGANISATION

Answer 24

• most people can identify 5-10 traits describing themselves best
• these traits make us dif from others
  CENTRAL TRAITS
  CARDINAL TRAITS
  SECONDARY TRAITS

Question 25

CENTRAL TRAITS

Answer 25

- personality building blocks - central traits best describe individual's personality - traits in combo organise most of person's beh

Question 26

CARDINAL TRAITS

Answer 26

- occasional person can be best described by single/overriding dominant trait that influences beh/defines life (ie. Mother Teresa = kindness)

Question 27

SECONDARY TRAITS

Answer 27

- many consistent traits which aren't often exhibited/are of limited value in understanding individuals but may influence some beh

Question 28

COMMON TRAITS

Answer 28

- within any particular culture there are common traits that are a part of it - everyone in that culture recognises/identifies them - traits that we share via common bio/cultural heritages - roughly comparable among people - make us the same

Question 29

PROPRIUM & THE SELF

Answer 29

- proprium = organising structure of personality/the self/the core - responsible for self-esteem - self-identity - self-image - begins developing in infancy; continues throughout adolescence

Question 30

THE CALIFORNIA Q-SET

Answer 30

BLOCK (1978) - California Q-set; 100 phrases each describing a personality trait: - shy/reserved - verbally fluent - facially/gesturally expressive - genuinely dependable/responsible person - traits measured via Q-set at young ages can predict complex behs later (ie. drug abuse/political orientation/depression) BLOCK ET AL (1991) - depression in women aged 18 predicted by specific Q-sort items at age 7: - shy/reserved/over-socialised/self-punishing/overcontrolled

Question 31

ESSENTIAL TRAIT APPROACH: EXTENDED

Answer 31

- tried to synthesise/formalise many traits but important qs remain - debate continues; further complicated by traits labelled as subjective; similar traits given dif labels by dif theorists (ie. neuroticisim/emotional stability usually refer to same trait) - look for meaning that underlies trait > name

Question 32

ESSENTIAL TRAIT APPROACH: RESEARCHERS

Answer 32

- psychologists developed statistical approaches to simplify/objectify personality structure; applied tools of scientific enquiry/scientific theory to human personality (aka. Psychometrics Theory) EYSENCK (1947) - short listed 3 essential traits: extraversion/neuroticism/psychoticism CATTELL (1961) - 16 essential traits: IQ/stability/friendliness

Question 33

THE BIG 5

Answer 33

MCCRAE & COSTA (1987) - aka. OCEAN: - Openness - Conscientiousness - Extraversion - Agreeableness - Neuroticism/Negative Emotionality