The Trait Approach

IntroductionIntroduction

•List the three best things about:–Best friend–Yourself

Typology- classifications to describe the

distinctions between people.

Four Types:

(Ancient Greek)

Sanguine (Happy) Melancholic (unhappy) Choleric

(temperamental) Phlegmatic (apathetic)

Three basic personality types

(General Physique)

Endomorphic (obese) Mesomorphic

(muscular) Ectomorphic (fragile)

• Personality Psychologists use conceptions of personality that can apply to everyone. Personality research has led to the development of a number of theories that help explain how and why certain personality traits develop.

What is Trait?What is Trait?

• It is a dimension of personality used to categorize people according to the degree to which they manifest a particular characteristics.

Trait Approach to PersonalityTrait Approach to Personality

• Identifies where a person might lie along a continuum of various personality characteristics.

• Basic views shared by trait theorists:– Traits are fundamental building blocks of

personality– Can be organized

Trait ContinuumTrait Continuum• Wide range of behaviors can be represented on trait

continuum– E.g. achievement motivation: highly driven and persistent on

one end, indifference and no drive at all on the other extreme

• Each person can be placed somewhere on continuum– More or less aggressive, more or less friendly, etc.

• Scores will have a normal distribution (fewer people score in the extreme on any trait)

The trait approach to personality is built on two important assumptions:

1. Stability •Over time•Across situations

2. Individual Differences•Strength of traits•amount of trait•number of traits that stand out

Trait TheoristsTrait Theorists• Gordon Allport’s Trait Theory

- Cardinal Traits- Central Traits- Secondary Traits

• Raymond Cattell’s Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire

• Eysenck’s Three Dimensions of Personality-Introversion/Extraversion- Neuroticism/Emotional Stability- Psychoticism

• The Five-Factor Theory of Personality- Extraversion- Agreeableness- Conscientiousness

- Neuroticism- Openness

Difference of Trait Approach from the Difference of Trait Approach from the other approachesother approaches

• Trait researches are usually not interested in predicting one person’s behavior in a given situation. Instead they want to predict how people who score within a certain segment of the trait continuum typically behave.

• Trait theorists often places less emphasis on identifying the mechanisms underlying behavior. Rather than explaining why people behave the way they do, many trait researchers focus on describing personality and predicting behavior.

• Unlike many other theories of personality, such as psychoanalytic or humanistic theories, the trait approach to personality is focused on differences between individuals. The combination and interaction of various traits forms a personality that is unique to each individual. Trait theory is focused on identifying and measuring these individual personality characteristics.

Assessing the Trait Approach to Assessing the Trait Approach to PersonalityPersonality

• While most agree that people can be described based upon their personality traits, theorists continue to debate the number of basic traits that make up human personality. While trait theory has objectivity that some personality theories lack. Some of the most common criticisms of trait theory center on the fact that traits are often poor predictors of behavior.

Assessing the Trait Approach to Assessing the Trait Approach to PersonalityPersonality

• While an individual may score high on assessments of a specific trait, he or she may not always behave that way in every situation. Another problem is that trait theories do not address how or why individual differences in personality develop or emerge.

References:References:• http://psychology.about.com/od/theoriesofpersonality/a/trait-theory.htm

Allport, G.W. & Odbert, H.S. (1936). Trait-names: A psycho-lexical study. Psychological Monographs, 47(211).

Boeree, C.G. (2006). Gordon Allport. Personality Theories. Found online at http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/allport.html

Cattell, R.B. (1965). The scientific analysis of personality. Baltimore: Penguin Books.

Eysenck, H.J. (1992). Four ways five factors are not basic. Personality and Individual Differences, 13, 667-673.

McCrae, R.R., & Costa, P.T. (1997) Personality trait structure as a human universal. American Psychologist, 52, 509-516.

• http://psychology.about.com/od/overviewofpersonality/a/persondef.htm• http://en.wikipedia.org• www.uky.edu/Classes/PSY/313-001/trait%20approaches%20part1.ppt

SITUATION SITUATION VERSUSVERSUS

TRAIT CONTROVERSYTRAIT CONTROVERSY

•Walter Mischel (1930- )- The overreliance on test scores

- In 1968, he published a book called Personality and Assessment claiming that behavior is too cross-situationally inconsistent to be classified with personality traits.

- More recently, Mischel has retracted some of his original claims, protesting that some psychologists misinterpreted his argument to mean he believes personality does not exist.

Criticism of the Trait ApproachCriticism of the Trait Approach

• Trait Measures Do not Predict Behavior Well• Person-by-Situation Approach is the relationship among

traits, situations, and behaviors.

• There is Little Evidence for Cross-Situational Consistency

ReferencesReferences

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Person%E2%80%93situation_debate

• Google.com/image/WalterMischel