HO

PSY2042_Week_2_2024__4_

PSY2042 - Personality and Social Psychology Notes

Week 2: Trait Theory

  • Continuing Personality Theories

  • Readings: Textbook Custom edition pages: 570-599

  • Lecturer: Nathan Ogilvie

  • Email: nathan.ogilvie@monash.edu

  • Monash School of Psychological Sciences

Learning Objectives

  • Understand the basic premise of Trait Theory.

  • Examine the various Trait theorists.

  • Understand the concepts involved in the Big Five approach.

  • Examine the relationships and practical uses of the Big Five approach.

  • Briefly examine the existence of different personality theories.

Historical Basis of Trait Theory

  • Ancient Notion: People differ in fundamental ways.

  • Hippocrates (400 BC): Introduced the concept of bodily humors and temperaments.

  • Galen (AD 150): Expanded on this with four temperaments:

    • Black Bile (Melancholic): Despondent, poor sleep.

    • Yellow Bile (Choleric): Bad tempered, easily angered.

    • Phlegm (Phlegmatic): Calm, unemotional.

    • Blood (Sanguine): Courageous, amorous.

  • An excess in any humor corresponds with the associated temperament.

Trait Theory’s View of the Person

  • Behavior Patterns: Reduced to observable traits.

    • A trait is fundamental in personality description.

    • Represents enduring characteristics of a person.

    • Traits vary across individuals and suggest a disposition to act in certain ways.

  • Concepts:

    • Consistency: Traits indicate regular behavior patterns.

    • Distinctiveness: Traits manifest how individuals differ across various situations.

  • Implication: Individuals maintain consistency despite varying social changes.

Types vs Traits

  • Types: Categorized dichotomously (Extravert vs Introvert).

  • Traits: Positioned on a continuous spectrum.

Science of Personality

  • Scientific Functions:

    • Summarizes typical behavior and provides basic descriptive facts necessary for personality theories.

    • Establishes personality taxonomy for classification purposes.

Allport’s Trait Theory (1897-1967)

  • Emphasized the healthy, organized aspects of human behavior.

  • Psychoanalysis may go too deep; recognition of manifest motives before probing unconscious.

  • Traits are basic units of personality rooted in nervous system activity.

    • Defined through frequency, intensity, and situational range.

Allport’s Personality Structure

  • Three Trait Types:

    • Cardinal Traits: Dominant, pervasive traits influencing most actions.

    • Central Traits: Dispositions covering limited situations.

    • Secondary Dispositions: Least observable, generalized traits.

Cattell’s 16 Personality Factors

  • Using factor analysis to group descriptive terms into 16 factors.

  • Traits include warmth, emotional stability, aggressiveness, liveliness, etc.

  • Surface vs Source Traits:

    • Surface traits are observable; source traits are internal, underlying causes.

Hans Eysenck's Theory

  • Developed from historical observations, introduced three primary factors: Extraversion, Neuroticism, and Psychoticism (PEN model).

  • Eysenck's work explored neurophysiological functions linked to psychological traits.

The Five-Factor Model of Personality (Big Five)

  • Dimensions: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism.

    • Supported by extensive evidence and factor analyses.

  • McCrae and Costa's View: Traits reflect biological bases influencing development.

  • Cultural Considerations: The universality of the Big Five dimensions is debated across languages.

Applications of the Big Five Model

  • Useful in predicting job performance; conscientiousness correlated with various job roles.

  • Links found to health and longevity (e.g., conscientious individuals tend to live longer).

  • Implications for clinical diagnosis in understanding personality types.

Critical Evaluation of Trait Theory

  • Objective data supports reliable trait assessments.

  • Overall, trait theory lacks therapy approaches.

  • Different theorists approach integration and explanations of personality change differently.

Proposed Integration

  • Mischel & Shoda (2008) proposed a unified theory incorporating various psychological perspectives for a comprehensive understanding.

  • Theories are seen as tools for personality assessment and psychological change.