Personality Traits Notes

Personality Traits

Introduction

This lecture covers personality traits, focusing on their definition, historical development, and various models. It also addresses the usefulness and limitations of trait theory.

Liz Peterson (e.peterson@auckland.ac.nz) provides office hours for questions and discussions.

Learning Objectives:

  1. Define what a trait is and trace the development of trait theory.

  2. Distinguish traits from types, states, and activities.

  3. Understand the lexical hypothesis, its rationale, origin, and testing.

  4. Identify major Western essentialist trait models and their interrelation.

  5. Consider the existence of universal traits and methods for testing them (emic vs. etic approaches).

  6. Assess trait stability and its implications.

  7. Evaluate the utility and limitations of traits.

  8. Determine the personal value of trait theory.

  9. Aid in completing the first assignment.

Key Concepts:

Nomothetic vs. Idiographic Approaches

  • Nomothetic: Focuses on shared, measurable aspects applicable to all people, using fixed assessment tools.

  • Idiographic: Focuses on the uniqueness of the individual, using flexible, subjective assessment.

Trait Theories vs Other Personality Theories

  • Trait theories

  • Type theories

  • Psycho-analytic

  • Humanistic

  • Behavioral (& Cognitive)

Contextualizing Theories

To understand a theory, consider:

  • Its origin and evolution.

  • The social, political, and scientific context of its development.

  • The originator(s) of the ideas and their backgrounds.

  • How the ideas have been studied and used over time, and their relevance today.

What is a Trait?

  • Traits are the fundamental building blocks of personality.

  • They are consistent patterns in how individuals think, feel, and behave.

  • Traits exist on a continuum from low to high, generally following a normal distribution.

  • An individual's personality arises from the combination of their traits.

  • Traits differ from fixed-category typologies like the Myers-Briggs.

Key Assumptions: Consistency, distinctiveness, and stability.

Approaches Within the Trait Approach

  • Single-Trait Approach: Focuses on one particular trait (e.g., narcissism, intelligence).

  • Theoretical Approach: Based on a specific theory (e.g., Maslow's focus on self-actualization).

  • Essential-Trait Approach: Aims to identify the traits that are most important for understanding human personality.

Essential-Trait Approach

  • Focuses on identifying the most important traits that constitute human personality, with the aim of finding traits that are real, biologically-based, stable, and universal.

  • Addresses the question: Are there meaningful differences between people, and can we assess them?

Lexical Hypothesis

  • The hypothesis states that all aspects of human personality that are or have been of importance, interest, or utility have already been recorded in the substance of language.

  • Originated by Cattell (1943).

Identifying Important Traits

Key Players in Trait Theory

  • Hans Eysenck (PEN model)

  • Raymond Cattell (16PF)

  • Gordon Allport

  • Paul Costa

  • Robert McCrae

  • Michael Ashton and Kibeon Lee (HEXACO)

Allport and Odbert (1936)

  • Initiated modern trait theory by compiling a list of 17,953 descriptors from the dictionary that could distinguish one person's behavior from another's.

  • Reduced the list to 4,504 traits, which were then grouped into three levels.

Allport and Odbert’s (1936) – 3 levels

  • Traits: Stable dispositions.

  • States: Temporary conditions.

  • Activities: Actions or behaviors.

Methods to Reduce Traits

  1. Theoretical reasoning and rationale: Logical thinking about traits.

  2. Synonym frequency: Identifying traits based on the frequency of similar words in a language.

  3. Cross-cultural universality: Identifying traits that appear across different cultures.

Factor Analysis

  • A statistical procedure used to find order amid chaos and identify underlying dimensions (factors).

Steps

  1. Create a list of items.

  2. Administer the list to a large number of people across cultures and backgrounds.

  3. Compute intercorrelations among the items.

  4. Group items together.

  5. Identify items that are reflective of an underlying dimension.

Cattell's Contribution

  • Cattell constructed over 500 tests to cover the 16 factors of personality he identified.

Trait Theory Hierarchy

Eysenck organized trait theory into a hierarchy:

  1. Dimensions (global traits) (e.g., introversion-extraversion).

  2. Trait facet or level (e.g., shy, rigid).

  3. Habitual response patterns (e.g., tend not to like parties; don’t act on impulse).

  4. Specific responses (individual bits of behavior, going to bed early on Saturday).

Eysenck's 3 Factor Trait Theory (PEN)

Eysenck used secondary factor analysis to deduce super factors from Cattell’s 16 factors.

Dimension

Constituent Traits (correlated)

Neuroticism

Anxious, depressed, guilty, low self-esteem, moody, etc.

Extraversion

Sociable, lively, assertive, sensation-seeking, etc.

Psychoticism

Aggressive, cold, egocentric, impersonal, impulsive, anti-social, creative, etc.

Eysenck’s Biological Basis for Traits

  • Introversion/Extroversion

    • Extraverts have lower baseline cortical arousal and may need stronger reinforcement, associating with impulsivity.

    • Introverts have higher base cortical arousal and are more responsive to conditioning, making them more likely to develop phobias and anxiety.

    • Higher base cortical arousal leads introverts to prefer less stimulating environments.

  • Neuroticism

    • Some individuals are more sensitive to stress and tend to experience fear and anxiety, while others are less sensitive.

    • Related to a more reactive autonomic nervous system that is slow to recover from stress.

  • Psychoticism

    • High-P individuals struggle with impulse control.

    • Potentially linked to higher testosterone levels in males, associating with aggression, which may explain why there are more male criminals.

Eysenck's Contributions

Eysenck emphasized the role of biological factors, personality traits, and conditioning in the development of mental disorders. He proposed two primary dimensions: extraversion/introversion and neuroticism/stability.

Goals for the Personality Theorist

  1. Observation that is Scientific

  2. Theory that is Systematic

  3. Theory that is Testable

  4. Theory that is Comprehensive

  5. Applications: From Theory to Practice

Personality Traits

This lecture provides an overview of personality traits, covering their definition, historical development, and various models, while also considering the usefulness and limitations of trait theory. Key concepts include the distinction between nomothetic and idiographic approaches, where nomothetic approaches focus on shared, measurable aspects applicable to all people, using fixed assessment tools, and idiographic approaches focus on the uniqueness of the individual, using flexible, subjective assessment. Trait theories are also contextualized against other personality theories such as type theories, psycho-analytic, humanistic, and behavioral (& Cognitive) theories.

Defining and Understanding Traits

A trait is defined as a fundamental building block of personality characterized by consistent patterns in how individuals think, feel, and behave. Traits exist on a continuum, typically following a normal distribution, and an individual's personality arises from the combination of their traits. The trait approach includes single-trait, theoretical, and essential-trait approaches and differs from fixed-category typologies. Essential-trait approach focuses on identifying the most important traits that constitute human personality, with the aim of finding traits that are real, biologically-based, stable, and universal. The lexical hypothesis, originated by Cattell (1943), posits that all aspects of human personality that are or have been of importance, interest, or utility have already been recorded in the substance of language.

Identifying and Reducing Traits

Key players in trait theory include Hans Eysenck, Raymond Cattell, Gordon Allport, Paul Costa, Robert McCrae, and Michael Ashton and Kibeon Lee. Allport and Odbert (1936) initiated modern trait theory by compiling a list of 17,953 descriptors from the dictionary that could distinguish one person's behavior from another's and reduced the list to 4,504 traits, which were then grouped into traits, states, and activities. Methods to reduce traits include theoretical reasoning and rationale, synonym frequency, and cross-cultural universality. Factor analysis, a statistical procedure, is used to find order amid chaos and identify underlying dimensions (factors) by creating a list of items, administering the list to a large number of people, computing intercorrelations among the items, grouping items together, and identifying items that are reflective of an underlying dimension. Cattell constructed over 500 tests to cover the 16 factors of personality he identified. The trait theory hierarchy, according to Eysenck, includes dimensions (global traits), trait facet or level, habitual response patterns, and specific responses.

Eysenck's Trait Theory (PEN)

Eysenck used secondary factor analysis to deduce super factors from Cattell’s 16 factors, resulting in the PEN model: Psychoticism, Extraversion, Neuroticism. Eysenck also proposed biological basis for traits with introversion/extroversion determining different levels of cortical arousal, neuroticism pertaining to how sensitive one is to stress, and psychoticism relating to impulse control; potentially linked to higher testosterone levels in males. Eysenck emphasized the role of biological factors, personality traits, and conditioning in the development of mental disorders.

Goals for Theorists

Goals for the personality theorist include observation that is scientific, theory that is systematic, theory that is testable

Essential-trait approach focuses on identifying the most important traits that constitute human personality, with the aim of finding traits that are real, biologically-based, stable, and universal. The lexical hypothesis, originated by Cattell (19