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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

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