Traits and Traits Taxonomies

These flashcards cover the key concepts of Chapter 3: Traits and Traits Taxonomies, including formulations of traits, lexical and statistical approaches, Eysenck's model, Wiggins' circumplex, the Big Five, and the HEXACO/Dark Tetrad models.

Internal Causal Properties

A formulation of traits where traits are internal to the individual and cause outward behaviors, such as neuroticism causing specific thoughts and emotions.

Purely Descriptive Summaries

A trait formulation that describes how a person behaves (e.g., extraversion as social behavior) without necessarily implying internal feelings or causal drives.

Act Frequency Approach

A trait perspective where traits are viewed as categories of specific acts performed by an individual.

Act Nomination

The process of identifying which specific behaviors or acts belong in which trait categories, such as accepting a dangerous dare for impulsivity.

Prototypicality Judgment

The identification of which acts are most central or exemplary of a trait, such as 'controlled outcome of meeting' being a central act for dominance.

Lexical Approach

An approach to personality that assumes all important individual differences have been encoded into natural language.

Lexical Hypothesis

The theory that the most important personality traits will be described by a large number of words in a language.

Synonym Frequency

A lexical criterion stating that if a trait is important, there should be many words describing it (e.g., bossy, assertive, and powerful for dominance).

Cross-cultural Universality

A lexical criterion suggesting that people everywhere will have words for the most important personality traits.

Statistical Approach

A method using personality items to organize and categorize traits based on covariance and statistical groupings.

Factor Analysis

The most common statistical procedure used to identify groups of items that correlate with each other but not with other groups.

Factor Loadings

Numerical values that indicate how much of the variation in an item is explained by a specific factor.

Theoretical Approach

An approach where a specific theory determines which variables are important, such as Maslow's theory identifying traits of self-actualizers.

Eysenck's Broad Traits (P-E-N)

The three major dimensions of personality identified by Eysenck: Psychoticism, Extraversion, and Neuroticism.

Extraversion (Eysenck)

A trait characterized by sociability and tied to central nervous system arousal; extraverts seek stimulation while introverts avoid overstimulation.

Neuroticism (Eysenck)

A trait associated with emotional instability and high physiological reactivity to stress, including increased heart rates and cortisol release.

Psychoticism (Eysenck)

A trait associated with high testosterone and low monoamine oxidase ($\text{MAO}$), characterized by impulsivity, lack of empathy, and antisocial behavior.

Wiggins' Interpersonal Circumplex

A model of interpersonal traits focusing on social exchange through the primary dimensions of Agency (status) and Communion (love).

Agency

Also known as social status or 'getting ahead,' involve traits like competence and assertiveness associated with the individual as an organism.

Communion

Also known as emotional love or 'getting along,' involve traits like warmth and morality associated with the organism as a social entity.

Adjacency

A relationship in the interpersonal circumplex where traits located next to each other are positively correlated.

Bipolarity

A relationship in the interpersonal circumplex where traits located on opposite sides are negatively correlated (e.g., dominant and submissive).

Orthogonality

A relationship in the interpersonal circumplex where traits are separated by $90^\circ$ and have zero correlation, making them entirely unrelated.

Five-Factor Model (Big Five)

The most widely replicated trait taxonomy consisting of Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, and Openness to Experience.

Social Attention

The core feature of Extraversion (Surgency) defined as seeking social engagement and visibility.

Conscientiousness

A trait where high scorers perform well in school/work and avoid rules, while low scorers exhibit risky sexual behavior and frequent arrests.

Openness to Experience

Also called intellect-openness, this trait is linked to remembering dreams, waking dreams, and a willingness to try new foods.

NEO-PI-R

Neuroticism-Extraversion-Openness Personality Inventory Revised, which measures the five-factor model using a sentence-length item format.

HEXACO Model

A six-factor personality taxonomy that adds Honesty-humility ($H$) to the original five factors.

Honesty-humility ($H$)

A trait where high levels predict pro-environmental attitudes and sincere apologies, while low levels predict egotism and antisocial activity.

Dark Triad

A group of socially harmful traits characterized by low honesty-humility: Machiavellianism, Narcissism, and Subclinical Psychopathy.

Machiavellianism

A trait characterized by being cunning, deceptive, exploitative, and manipulative, often overrepresented in business environments.

Narcissism

A trait involving entitlement, superiority, and persistent attention-seeking behavior.

Subclinical Psychopathy

A trait involving high impulsivity, thrill-seeking, and low empathy or anxiety.

Dispositional Sadism

The fourth trait in the Dark Tetrad, characterized by gaining enjoyment from hurting others, found in behaviors like internet trolling.