Trait Perspective - Allport, Cattell, Eysenck

what is a trait?

a personality characteristic that is consistent, stable, and varies from person to person

How can a trait be thought of?

as a relatively stable characteristic that causes individuals to behave in certain ways

What does the trait approach to personality focus on?

differences between individuals, and identifying and measuring those individual personality characteristics

Who proposed the first trait theory in 1936?

Gordon Allport

How many words did Gordon Allport find in the English-language dictionary that described various personality traits?

4,000

What are the 3 levels of the 4,000 personality traits that Allport created?

cardinal, central, and secondary

What are cardinal traits?

rare and dominating traits that develop later in life. They tend to define a person to such an extent that their names become synonymous with their personality

What are central traits?

general characteristics that form basic personality foundations. They are not as dominating, but they describe the major characteristics you might use to describe another person. These traits can include “intelligent,” “shy,” and “anxious”

What are secondary traits?

they are sometimes related to attitudes or preferences. They often appear only in certain situations or under specific circumstances. This can include anxiety during public speaking or impatience while waiting in line

Who reduced the number of main personality traits from Allport’s initial list of over 4,000?

Raymond Cattell

How many traits did Cattell reduce Allport’s 4,000 to?

171

What technique did Cattell use to reduce his 171 traits to 16 key personality traits?

factor analysis

Who believed that personality has a biological basis?

Hans Eysenck

What are Eysenck’s 3 dimensions of personality?

Introversion/Extroversion

Neuroticism/Stability

Psychoticism

What is introversion/extraversion?

involves direction attention to inner experiences, while extraversion related to focusing attention outward, onto other people and the environment.

How might a person high in introversion be?

quiet and reserved

How might a person high in extraversion be?

sociable and outgoing

What is neuroticism/emotional stability?

related to moodiness versus being even-tempered.

What does the trait of neuroticism refer to?

the tendency to become upset or emotional

What does stability refer to?

the tendency to remain emotionally constant

What is psychoticism?

the tendency to have difficulty dealing with reality and may be antisocial, hostile, non-empathetic, and manipulative

Why did the “Big Five” theory emerge?

Cattell had too many personalities while Eysenck had too few

What are the 5 core traits in the “big 5” theory of personality?

agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, neuroticism, and openness

What is agreeableness?

level of cooperation and caring for others

What is conscientiousness?

level of thoughtfulness and structure

What is extraversion?

level of socialness and emotional expressiveness

What is neuroticism?

level of mood stability and emotional resilience

What is openness?

level of adventure and creativity

What did the rise in the trait perspective lead to?

the development of personality inventories

What are the personality inventories we’re looking at?

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), the 16 Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF), and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

What format is the MMPI in?

True/False

What was the MMPI initially designed to assess?

mental health problems in clinical settings, using 10 clinicl subscales to assess different psychological conditions

Why does the MMPI-3 remain popular in clinical settings to this day?

it enables the accurate capture of aspects of psychopathy and mental health disturbance. It has good reliability but must be administered by a professional

What does the 16PF identify?

psychiatric disorders by measuring “normal” personality traits

What is on the 16PF

185 multiple-choice questions that ask about routine behaviors on a 10-point scale, and takes around 30-50 minutes to complete

What is the administration of the 16PF like?

it is easy to administer and well validated, but must be administered by a professional

What does the MBTI self-report assessment identify?

an individual’s personality type and psychological preferences

How many personality types does the MBTI categorize?

It uses Jung’s theories to categorize people into 16 distinct personality types using 4 cognitive functions

What is the difference between 16PF and MBTI?

16PF focuses on 16 primary personality traits while the MBTI categorizes people into one of 16 personality types based on 4 dichotomies