Theories of Personality: Hans Eysenck & Raymond Cattell

Hans Eysenck

Background

• 1916-1998
• Eysenck focused on normal and pathological populations
• He felt that many traits are biologically based and were shaped by evolutionary forces (e.g., extraversion, neuroticism)
• He used factor analysis to identify traits

Concept of Humanity

• Eysenck is not concerned with concepts of determinism vs free choice, optimism vs pessimism, and causality vs teleology
• Biology over social influence
• Conscious over unconscious
• Uniqueness over similarity

Eysenck’s 3 Personality Factors

• Extraversion - Introversion
  • Introversion: tendermindedness; introspectiveness; seriousness; performance interfered with by excitement; easily aroused but restrained; inhibited; preference for solitary vocations’ sensitivity to pain
  • Extraversion: toughmindedness; impulsiveness; tendency to be outgoing; desire for novelty; performance enhanced by excitement; preference for vocations involving contact with other people; tolerance for pain
  • Research indicates that introverts and extroverts are not different at resting levels, but introverts are more reactive to moderate levels of simulation than extraverts
  • This work led by Eysenck to revise his theory – the difference between introverts and extroverts lies in arousability, not in baseline arousal
• Neuroticism - Stability
• Psychoticism - Superego Function

Eysenck’s Theory

• Eysenck views personality as a “hierarchy of traits.” He placed special emphasis on biological differences that occur along the extraversion-introversion dimension
  • Introverts have higher levels of physiological arousal causing them to avoid overly stimulating social situations
  • Extraverts have lower baseline levels of arousal and, thus, seek stimulation from social situations

Trait Theories

• Trait theorists aim to describe personality with a small number of traits or factors
• Personality trait - stable quality a person shows across most situations

Raymond Cattell

Traits

• Surface Traits: features that make up the visible areas of personality
• Source Traits: underlying traits of a personality; each reflected in a number of surface traits
• Cattell also created 16PF, personality test
  • Gives a picture of an individual’s personality
• Factor Analysis: technique employed by Raymond Cattell to determine the structure of human personality

Factor Analysis and the Search for the Structure of Personality

• Factor Analysis: technique employed by Raymond Cattell to determine the structure of human personality
  • Source Traits: basic traits that make up the human personality
  • Limitation: procedure is confined by the type of data chosen for analysis

5-Factor Model of Personality

• The 5-factor model of personality is a hierarchical organization of personality traits in terms of 5 basic dimensions
  • Conscientiousness
  • Agreeable
  • Neuroticism
  • Openness
  • Extraversion-introversion

Big-Five

• Personality traits or personality dimensions
• An integration of personality research that represents the various personality descriptions in one common framework
• Individual differences in social and emotional life organized into a 5-factor model of personality
• Found across a variety of cultures and using a number of languages
• Permanence with Age: adults tend to maintain a consistent personality structure as they grow older
• Personality relevant terms from dictionary
• Lexical hypothesis: most of the socially relevant and salient personality characteristics have become encoded in the natural language
• Allport and Odbert (1936): 18, 000 terms, identified 4 categories
• Cattell (1943): broke 18, 000 down to subset of 4, 500 trait terms, then down to 35
• Tupes and Christal (1961): through analysis found 5 factors

Neuroticism 

• Places people according to their emotional stability and personal judgment
• People with high scores are more vulnerable to anxiety and depression
• Individuals with low scores tend to be calm and well adjusted

Extraversion

• Places extreme extroverts at one end and extreme introverts at the other
• Extroverts are very sociable
• Introverts are reserved and independent people

Openness

• Involves active imagination, divergent thinking, and intellectual curiosity
• People on the high end are unconventional and independent thinkers
• Individuals on the low end prefer the familiar rather than the imaginative

Agreeableness

• People with high scores are helpful, trusting, and sympathetic
• Individuals with low scores tend to be antagonistic and skeptical

Ongoing Questions Related to the Big Five Model

• Debate about what the 5 factors mean
• Disagreement about the structure of the 5 factor model
• Researchers have looked into the stability of the 5 factors over time
• When to use scores from Big Five measures vs scores from specific trait scales

Strengths and Criticisms of the Trait Approach

• Strengths:
  • Usage of objective measures to examine the constructs
  • Reduced level of the bias and subjectivity
  • Numerous practical applications
  • Educational psychologists and employers use trait measures in their work
  • Generated a large amount of research
• Criticisms:
  • No explanations on how traits develop or how to help people who suffer from extreme scores
  • No schools of of psychotherapy have originated from the trait approach
  • Lack of an agreed-upon framework

Assessment: Self-Report Inventories

• Self Report Inventories
  • Asks people to respond to a series of questions about themselves
  • Widely used form of personality assessment
  • Have greater face validity
  • Used by researchers, personal managers, and clinical psychologists

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