chapter 8: traitaspects of personality

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Trait Aspects of Personality

Friedman, H. S., & Schustack, M. W. (2014). Personality: Classic theories and modern research (5th ed.). Essex: Pearson Education Limited.

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History of Trait Approaches

Sanguine (blood) Hopeful and cheerful

Melancholic (black bile) Sad and depressive

Choleric (yellow bile) Angry and irascible

Phlegmatic (phlegm) Slow and apathetic

Hippocrates' bodily humors

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History of Trait Approaches

Character descriptions

◦ Theophrastus’ “Penurious Man” (over 2000 years ago)

Charles Darwin

◦ Individual differences are a topic for scientific study

◦ Individual differences can arise through evolutionary

processes

Francis Galton

◦ Measurement of human abilities-Intelligence testing

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Beginnings of the Modern Trait

Approach - Carl Jung

Typology

Small number of “types”

Each person fits one “type” best

8 Types (4 functions x 2 attitudes)

Functions: Sensing, Thinking, Feeling, Intuiting

Attitudes: Extroversion, Introversion

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

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Raymond B. Cattell

Used (and refined) factor analysis

◦ data-driven, not theory-driven

◦ reduced many different traits to sixteen trait clusters

Sixteen Personality Factors Questionnaire (16PF)

Collected many different types of data

◦ Q-data

◦ T-data

◦ L-data

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Gordon Allport

Personality:

◦ “The dynamic organization within the

individual of those psychophysical systems

that determine his characteristic behavior and

thought”

Each person has unique qualities

Philosophical, humanistic, scholarly

approach

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Gordon Allport

Regularities in behavior arise because

◦ The individual views many situations and

stimuli in the same way

◦ Many of the individual’s behaviors are similar

in their meaning

Functionally equivalent

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Gordon Allport

Common Traits

◦ Due to biological heritage and shared culture, there

are some common traits

◦ e.g., dominance in American culture

Proprium

◦ The core of personality

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Gordon Allport

Idiographic methods

◦ Take into account each person’s uniqueness

Dairies, interviews, Q-sorts, etc.

◦ Compensate for the limitations of nomothetic

methods

Personal dispositions

◦ Goals, motives, or styles

◦ Cardinal dispositions (ruling passions)

◦ Central dispositions (fundamental qualities)

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The Big Five

Extroversion (Surgency)

◦ Sociability, warmth, assertiveness

Agreeableness

◦ Straightforwardness, trust, altruism, modesty

Conscientiousness (Lack of Impulsivity)

◦ Competence, persistence, prudence

Neuroticism (Emotional Instability)

◦ Anxiety, hostility, depression, vulnerability

Openness (Openness to Experience, Culture, Intellect)

◦ Imagination, aesthetic sense, curiosity

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Assessing the Big Five

Extroversion items:

◦ 1. I talk a lot.

◦ 2. I am quiet around strangers (reverse coded item).

◦ 3. I am the life of the party.

Not true of me Very true of me

1 2 3 4 5

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Agreeableness items:

◦ 4. I make others feel at ease.

◦ 5. I tend to forgive others.

◦ 6. I am not much interested in other people's

problems (reverse coded).


1 2 3 4 5

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Conscientiousness items:

◦ 7. I am always well-prepared.

◦ 8. I persevere with my tasks.

◦ 9. I may shirk my duties (reverse coded).


1 2 3 4 5

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Neuroticism items:

◦ 10. I get irritated easily.

◦ 11. I am calm most of the time (reverse coded)

◦ 12. I worry a lot.


1 2 3 4 5

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Openness items:

◦ 13. I have many ideas.

◦ 14. I prefer concrete to abstract ideas (reverse coded).

◦ 15. I don't spend much time reflecting about things

(reverse coded).


1 2 3 4 5

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The Big Five

Created through factor analysis

Emerged from data, not theory

Behavior genetics and cross-cultural research

suggest these traits are “real”

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The Big Five

The Big Five predicts useful and important life

outcomes

This does not mean there are only five traits

◦ These traits are extremely broad and contain

narrower traits within them

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Eysenck’s Big Three

Traits are derived from three underlying biological

systems

Extroversion—outgoingness and assertiveness

Neuroticism—instability and apprehensiveness

Psychoticism—tendency toward psychopathology

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Consensus in Personality Judgments

The importance of consensus in determining

the reality of personality traits

Friends’ judgments vs. strangers’ judgments

(zero acquaintance)

Highest agreement for extroversion and

conscientiousness

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Motives

Internal psychobiological forces that help induce

particular behavior patterns

Needs

Life-Tasks

Personal Strivings

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Motivation: Henry Murray

Murray’s Needs

Need for Achievement: n Ach

◦ The need to succeed on tasks that are set out by

society

Need for Affiliation: N Aff

◦ The need to draw near and win the affection of

others

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Motivation: Henry Murray

Need for Power: n Power

◦ The need to seek positions and offices in which one

can exert control over others

Need for Exhibition n Exh

◦ The need to show one’s self before others and to

entertain, amuse, shock, and excite others

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Motivation changes how we see

the world

Differing motivations can

change our perceptions,

even when judging

completely objective

characteristics such as

distance.

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Expressive Style

Vocal characteristics, facial expressions, body

movements, etc.

Emotional Expressiveness

◦ People differ in their overall expressiveness

◦ Expressive people tend to be seen as charismatic and

attractive

◦ Extroversion and dominance are related to

expressiveness

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Skills

Intelligence

◦ Measures vocabulary use, mathematical skills, spatial

reasoning, etc.

Social-Emotional Intelligence

◦ Specific social and emotional abilities in dealing with

other people

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Timeline:

Trait and Skill Approach

Developments in Trait Aspects

Societal and Scientific Context

In ancient Greece, the ideas of character and temperament develop, as caused by the so-called bodily humors

Ancient times

Nature is thought to be composed of air, earth, fire, and water

Religious interpretations view persons as divine creations possessed by good or evil

Middle Ages

Humans are seen as agents in a struggle between good and evil

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Timeline:




Search for basic traits of individual differences begins, unsuccessfully

1800s Following the Enlightenment, philosophers search for the core of human nature

Carl Jung and colleagues search for deep-rooted individual differences in orientation toward the world

1920s-1940s

Experimental Psychology is dominated by behaviorism and clinical psychology is dominated by psychoanalysis

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Timeline:




Gordon Allport proposes trait theory of personality

1930s Rise of fascism stimulates interest in propaganda and authoritarianism

Statistics (especially factor analysis) are developed and applied by Cattell and others …

1930s-1950s

Testing becomes the norm for college admission and psychological screening…

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Timeline:




…Henry Murray develops a motive-based approach to individual differences, termed personology

1930s-1950s

…Clinical psychology becomes more science-based, and experimental psychology considers clinical applications

"Crisis" in personality as traits fail to fully predict behavior across situations

1960s-1970s

Time of social change, as Americans open new roles in civil rights and women's rights

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Timeline:




The Big Five approach to traits takes hold

1990s Increased use of longitudinal approaches reveals long-term stability of certain individual differences

Traits, motives, goals, and expressive styles are studied in more sophisticated ways

2000s Personality psychology is re-established as a major subfield

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Analogy

◦ Humans are clusters of temperaments, traits, and

skills

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Advantages

◦ Simplifies personality to a small number of basic

dimensions

◦ Looks for a deeper consistency underlying behaviors

◦ Good assessment techniques

◦ Allows for comparisons between individuals

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Limits

◦ May reach too far trying to capture the individual in a

few ways--oversimplification

◦ May label people on the basis of test scores

◦ Sometimes underestimates variability across

situations

◦ May underestimate the influence of unconscious

motives and early experience

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View of free will

◦ Allows for free will at the margins, after

predispositions and motives exert their influence

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Common assessment techniques

◦ Factor analysis

◦ Self-report

◦ Testing of styles and skills

◦ Document analysis

◦ Behavioral observation

◦ Interviews

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Implications for therapy

◦ If much of personality is structured around a small

number of key dispositions then we can change our

goals and orientations but probably not our basic

dispositional “natures”

chapter 8: traitaspects of personality

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