Week 2 Flashcards
(13 cards)
Traits
-A pattern of thought, emotion and behaviour that is relatively consistent over time and across situations
Goals of Trait Theorists
- To define the basic classes of behaviour that determines personality i.e. what traits are important
- To devise ways of measuring individual differences in personality traits
- To use these measures to understand and predict a person’s behaviour
Factor Analysis
A method for identifying clusters of behaviour that are correlated with one another so highly that they can be viewed as reflecting a basic trait/ dimension that varies across people
Eysenck
- Very famous 20th century trait theorist
- First empirical trait theorist
- Also known for measuring IQ and writing popular books
Eysenck’s Theory
- He described personality in terms of a hierarchy of constructs
- Acts are organised into habits
- Habits are organised into traits i.e. regularly going to parties can = sociability
- Traits are organised into factors i.e. extraversion
Eysenck’s 3 factors of personality
- Extraversion
- Neuroticism
- Psychoticism
Biological Basis to Extraversion
- Based on cortical arousal
- Arousal related to the activity level of Reticular Activation System
- Extraversion occurs when RAS is not active enough in arousing the cortex; leading to the person seeking extra stimulation to raise levels
Biological Basis to Introversion
- In introverts, cortical arousal is higher than optimal since the introvert RAS is more active than it should be in arousing the cortex
- The introvert tries to reduce cortical arousal by reducing the number/ intensity of external stimuli in the immediate environment
Biological Basis to Neuroticism
- Attributes the differences in the N-S dimension to differences in the threshold of arousal of the autonomic nervous system, based on structures in the hypothalamus
- People with high levels of neuroticism have an ANS with a low threshold
- The ANS is easily activated by external events so they experience emotions more strongly and more often
Biological Basis to emotional stability
- Highly stable individuals have an ANS with a high threshold
- Thus, it takes a very intense experience to generate the physiological correlates of emotion
Personality
A person’s characteristic thoughts, behaviours and emotional responses
Whole Persons
Rather than understanding how situations influence people in general, they ask about how much we can understand about one individual person
Trait Approaches
Approaches to studying personality that focus on how people differ in personality dispositions
