Unit 2: Individuality and Personalitymysocialclass.com/psych-145-u2p9-trait-theori.pdf · E. Trait...
Transcript of Unit 2: Individuality and Personalitymysocialclass.com/psych-145-u2p9-trait-theori.pdf · E. Trait...
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.