Approaches to the Study of Personality and the Lexical Hypothesis

These flashcards cover key concepts related to the study of personality, focusing on different trait approaches, notable psychologists, and the Lexical Hypothesis.

Single Trait Approach

Study of one specific trait, such as self-monitoring or narcissism.

The lexical hypothesis

 

“Every [person] is in certain respects

 (a) like all other [people],

(sharing universal psychological processes).

 

(b) like some other [people],

(similar to specific groups).

 

 (c) like no other [person]” 

(unique individual experiences)

Many Trait Approach

Examines behavior in terms of a myriad of traits, like the California Q-Sort.

What are personality traits?

 personality trait is something that produces (and is recognised by) consistent behaviour

 

•Relatively enduring characteristic/ over time

 

•A pattern of behaviour, thinking or feeling that is

•Consistent across a range of situations 

•Varies between people

 

Understanding traits is important to us as knowing someone's traits can be used to:

•Predict behaviour Knowing someone's traits aids in predicting their behavioral patterns and outcomes.

 

•Understand behaviour Useful in clinical psychology for dissecting difficulties in individuals' lives.

Essential trait approach

 

The Lexical Hypothesis

•From what can the underlying structure of personality (fundamental traits that are common across humanity) be inferred?

 

•The Lexical hypothesis states that: 

 

The most important features of personality will become encoded within natural languages

 

• The Lexical Hypothesis posits that significant personality features become embedded in natural languages.

 

• The premise suggests that the more important characteristics have numerous descriptors in a language (example: snow terms in cold climates, versus heat terms in warmer regions).

 

Lexicon – A dictionary; vocabulary of a language     A lexicon is defined as the vocabulary of a language, akin to a dictionary.

 

 

Research inspired by this idea has dominated personality research for > 50 years

Essential Trait Approach

Focus on fundamental underlying structures of personality linked to the Lexical Hypothesis.

Gordon Allport (1897-1967)

How many traits are there?

 

Gordon Allport -  Harvard University

 

•explored Webster’s New International Dictionary Unabridged (1925)

 

•extracted 17,953 adjectival descriptions of human action. Form dictionary

 

•Reduced to 4504 (Allport & Odbert, 1936) by eliminating the blatantly evaluative, (e.g., adorable, evil), highly metaphorical or those referring to temporary states (e.g., frantic, abashed)

 

 

Lexical Hypothesis

The theory that important personality features become encoded within natural languages.

Raymond Cartell (1905-1998)

Originally trained as a chemist at Kings College, London

 

•Switched to psychology and obtained his PhD at University College, London

 

•Aimed to study personality traits to determine an underlying taxonomy

 

 

 

PhD supervised by charles Spearman (factor analysis and spearmens roh)

 

•Spearman developed factor analysis

 

•Moved from London to the USA

• Harvard – developed his theory of personality

•Allport also at Harvard, worked together

• moved to University of Illinois

•Greater computing available for factor analysis

 

•Reduced Allport’s trait list to 160 clusters of words

•Sorted terms into semantically similar clusters

•Used personal judgement    

•Then sorted into pairs of semantic opposites

•Selected a representative term from each cluster

 

 

 

 

•Reduced Allport’s trait list to 171 trait terms

 

•Used these trait terms as the basis of a 20 year project to identify the basic personality traits

 

•Worked with large samples of everyday people.(100)

 

•Asked to rate others they knew well on dimensions

 

•Using correlations reduced to 60 clusters, then down to 35

 

•Then used factor analysis on informant ratings

 

•Developed the Cattell 16 PF

 

1. Gordon Allport

• Pioneering trait theorist who identified 4,500 personality trait words from the dictionary in the early 20th century.

• Developed a system of categorizing traits into three types:

  • Cardinal Traits: Dominant traits that define a person's behavior in areas they are passionate about.

  • Example: Punctuality as a cardinal trait influenced by a desire to impress.

  • Central Traits: Traits found in varying degrees across most individuals (e.g., honesty, agreeableness).

  • Secondary Traits: Context-dependent traits that may not be consistent across all situations (e.g., attitudes towards specific individuals).

 

Gordon Allport

Pioneering psychologist who identified 4,500 personality trait words from the dictionary.

Raymond Cattell

Psychologist who used factor analysis to reduce Allport's personality descriptors to 16 factors.

Big Five Model

The most widely used trait model of personality developed from research by Costa and McCrae.

Cardinal Traits

Dominant traits that define a person's behavior in areas they are passionate about.

Central Traits

Traits found in varying degrees across most individuals, such as honesty and agreeableness.

Secondary Traits

Context-dependent traits that may not be consistent across all situations.

Dimensions and Spectrums

Traits are best represented along a continuum, like introverts and extroverts.

Stability and Consistency

Traits remain stable over time and across different situations but may be influenced by context.

Reliance on Language

Traits are identified through specific terminology; without language, traits cannot be recognized.

Objectivity of Traits

Traits should be seen as objective behaviors, not inherently good or bad.

Distinction Between Physical and Personality Traits

Physical characteristics do not qualify as personality traits; personality includes behavior and interaction.

Characteristics of Traits

1. Meaningful Differences

• Traits reflect significant differences among individuals.

• Example: Different eating practices can highlight individual personality traits influenced by cultural background.

2. Stability and Consistency

• Traits remain stable over time and across various situations, yet may be influenced by contextual factors.

• Example: An honest person may struggle with lying due to their inherent trait.

• Importance of social psychology in exploring deviations from typical trait behaviors.

3. Dimensions and Spectrums

• Traits are best represented along a continuum or spectrum, with extremes at both ends.

• Example: Introverts vs. extroverts vs. ambiverts; most individuals fall somewhere in between these extremes.

4. Reliance on Language

• Traits are defined through language; without specific terminology, traits cannot be identified.

  • Lexical Hypothesis Theory: The idea that notable traits lead to the creation of descriptive language; if there's no word for it, it's not common enough to be considered a trait.

5. Objectivity of Traits

• Traits are objective behaviors and should not be labeled as good or bad.

  • The value of a trait is highly context-dependent, influenced by cultural norms and personal goals.

  • Example: Competitive behavior may be advantageous in certain contexts (e.g., business) but detrimental in social relationships.

6. Distinction Between Physical and Personality Traits

• Physical characteristics (e.g., height) do not qualify as personality traits.

• Example: "Being six feet tall" vs. "Being sociable." The latter includes behavior and interpersonal interaction.