what is personality and trait theories

Q: What does personality refer to?

A: Personality refers to the enduring patterns of thought, feeling, motivation, and behaviour that are expressed in different circumstances.

Q: What do personality psychologists study?

A: They study the structure of personality and individual differences.

Q: What is meant by the structure of personality?

A: How personality processes are organised.

Q: What are individual differences?

A: The ways people vary in their personality characteristics.

Q: What are traits in personality psychology?

A: Traits are emotional, cognitive, and behavioural tendencies that form underlying personality dimensions on which people differ.

Q: What are Eysenck’s three major personality dimensions?

A: Extroversion, Neuroticism, and Psychoticism.

Q: What does each of Eysenck’s traits represent?

• Extroversion: Sociable, active, risk-taking.

• Neuroticism: Emotional instability or negative affect.

• Psychoticism: Aggressive, egocentric, impulsive, antisocial.

Q: What are the five factors in the Five-Factor Model (FFM)?

A: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism.

Q: What are the six factors in the HEXACO model?

A: Honesty–Humility, Emotionality, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Openness.

Q: What is unique about the HEXACO model compared to the FFM?

A: It adds the Honesty–Humility dimension, which measures sincerity, fairness, greed avoidance, and modesty.

Q: Does personality stay consistent?

A: Yes, personality shows many consistencies across time and situations.

Q: What are situational variables?

A: The circumstances people are in, which can influence their behaviour.

Q: What is the principle of aggregation?

A: It allows researchers to average behaviours across situations to see overall personality patterns.

Q: What is temperament?

A: A basic personality disposition influenced by genes that contributes to personality.

Q: What are person-by-situation interactions?

A: Ways people express personality traits only in certain circumstances.

Q: According to Mischel, how is personality expressed?

A: Through if–then patterns — stable ways certain situations trigger specific thoughts, feelings, and behaviours.