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TRAIT THEORY OF PERSONALITY

GORDON ALLPORT'S TRAIT THEORY

HANS EYSENCK

RAYMOND CATTELL'S TRAIT THEORY

THE BIG FIVE FACTORS THEORY OF PERSONALITY

IMPORTANT NOTES

Traits can be defined as a stable characteristic that causes a person to depict a response to any situations in certain ways.

Trait refer to the ways in which we generally describe a person

The theory designated to identify and measure individual personality characteristics can be defined as trait theory

The descriptive terms such as out-going, short tempered, generous are all traits.

Trait approach is one of the most vital areas of study in psychology that helps identify a person’s personality.

These trait forms are unique from one individual to another.

An individual, as a whole, doesn’t just have a single trait, but the variety of trait forms of personality.

Trait theories indicate that the traits are always constant regardless of the situations.

Gordon Allport was among the firsts psychologist to come up with a personality trait theory.

“Building block of personality”

He came about with an astounding (amazing) discovery in 1936, which showed that more than 4000 words in an English language dictionary described personality traits.

He came about with an astounding (amazing) discovery in 1936, which showed that more than 4000 words in an English language dictionary described personality traits.

Three classes of traits

“Genotypes & Phenotypes”

Cardinal Traits

Central Traits

Secondary Traits

-Dominate and shape an individual’s behavior.

-They stand at the top of the hierarchy

Collectively known as the individual’s master control.

They are considered to be an individual’s ruling passions.

Example: Ebenezer Scrooge’s greed

The traits around which a person organizes his whole life.

These traits are developed later in life, and are in fact quite rare.

But, these traits play such an important role in a person’s life that they often become synonymous with the names of the person.

Meaning, a person might be specifically known for these traits.

E.g.: greed, lust, kindness, narcissism.

It come next in the hierarchy.

These are general characteristics found in varying degrees in every person.

Example: loyalty, kindness, agreeableness, friendliness wildness.

They are the basic building blocks that shape most of our behavior.

Traits representing major characteristics of a person.

These can also be considered as the characteristics that lead to the foundation of an individual’s personality.

Example of central traits: shy, anxious, intelligent, dishonest.

It exist at the bottom of the hierarchy and are not quite as obvious or consistent as central traits.

These secondary traits explain why a person may at times exhibit behaviors that seem incongruent with their usual behaviors.

For example: a friendly person gets angry when people try to tickle him

The general behavior patterns that only appear under certain circumstances.

An example would be getting nervous to speak in public.

Is not an anxious person but always feels nervous speaking publicly.

Allport hypothesized that internal and external forces influence an individual’s behavior and personality

Genotypes: are internal forces that relate to how a person retains information and uses it to interact with the world.

Phenotypes: are external forces that relate to the way an individual accepts his or her surroundings and how others influence his or her behavior.

Eysenck is the most famous British psychologist.

He considered that there are two major dimensions of personality which account for the many different types of person we encounter.

He proposed a model of personality based on these two universal traits, and the third dimension later added by the psychologist himself.

Hans Eysenck was a personality theorist who focused on temperament—innate, genetically based personality differences.

He believed personality is largely governed by biology, and he viewed people as having two specific personality dimensions: extroversion vs. introversion and neuroticism vs. stability.

Criticisms of Eysenck’s Theory

They are: 1) Extroversion 2) Introversion

Introversion/ Extroversion

Neuroticism/ Emotional Stability

Psychoticism/ Socialization

People high on the trait of extroversion are sociable and out going and readily connect with others.

Whereas people high on the trait of introversion have a higher need to be alone, engage in solitary behaviors, and limit their interactions with others.

This dimension encompasses shyness to sociability.

Introversion involves focusing energy on inner experiences

Extroversion refers to focusing energy on environment and people.

To put it bluntly, introverts are shy and extroverts are sociable.

extrovert <—-> introvert

People high on neuroticism tend to be anxious

They tend to have an overactive sympathetic nervous system and even with low stress, their bodies and emotional state tend to go into a flight-or-fight reaction.

Contrast, people high on stability tend to need more stimulation to activate their flight-or-fight reaction and are therefore considered more emotionally stable.

The dimension encompasses moodiness to even temperedness

Emotional stability refers to the literal meaning of the term, the state of being emotionally stable or constant.

Neuroticism refers to instability of emotions, causing a person to become upset or emotional.

neurotic <—-> normal (or stable)

People who are high on psychoticism tend to be independent thinkers, cold, nonconformist, impulsive, antisocial, and hostile.

People who are high on socialization tend to have high impulse control.

They are more altruistic, empathetic, cooperative, and conventional.

This dimension was included in Eysenck’s earlier model.

He added this dimension after conducting a study on mentally ill individuals.

People high on this trait suggests that the individual might not be normal and might have trouble dealing with reality.

General characteristics shown: being hostile, non-empathetic, manipulative and antisocial.

The model was initially developed from a very small sample, which has led to oversimplification.

The testing is entirely based on self-reports, and therefore, it is likely to be heavily influenced by the respondent’s mood at the time.

Unlike Eysenck, Cattell based his theory on various sources rather than just self reporting.

Cattell’s trait theory has been built around the use of factor analysis, a mathematical technique created by Charles Spearman.

With the use of factor analysis, Cattell reviewed and categorized a large number of traits, seeking the most basic and useful ones, and developed a scheme for classifying them.

This brought down the Allport’s initial list of over 4000 words to 171 different traits.

He further identified the closely related terms and the final list was prepared of 16 basic source traits.

According to him, these are the base of all human personality.

surface traits

source traits

Sixteen dimension of Personality

Sixteen factors of Personality

easily visible to any observer.

clusters of related behaviors observed in a given situation.

the underlying structures responsible for the surface traits.

Sixteen basic dimensions of personality which are the roots of all behavior.

Abstractedness

Warmth

Apprehension

Emotional stability

Liveliness

Openness to change

Perfectionism

Privateness

Intelligence

Rule consciousness

Tension

Sensitivity

Social boldness

Self-reliance

Vigilance

Dominance.

reserved vs. outgoing

less intelligent vs. more intelligent

affected by feelings vs. emotionally stable

submissive vs. dominant

serious vs. happy-go-lucky

expedient vs. conscentious(diligent)

timid(nervous/shy/fearful) vs. venturesome

though-minded vs. sensitive

trusting vs. suspicious

practical vs. imaginative

forthroght(frank) vs. shrewd

self-assured vs. apprehensive

conservative vs. experimenting

group dependent vs. self-sufficient

uncontrolled vs. controlled

relaxed vs. tense

The labels of “The Big Five Factors” developed by Costa and McCrae in 1985 are still in use today.

Lots of researchers and psychologists believed that Eysenck’s theory focused on too few traits while Cattell’s theory focused on too many traits.

As a result, a new theory was established, namely “The Big Five Factor Theory of Personality”.

1. Openness to experience (inventive/curious vs. consistent/cautious)

2. Conscientiousness (efficient/organized vs. easy-going/careless)

3. Extraversion (outgoing/energetic vs. solitary/reserved)

4. Agreeableness (friendly/compassionate vs. cold/unkind)

5. Neuroticism (sensitive/nervous vs. secure/confident)

This trait includes appreciation for art, emotion, adventure, unusual ideas, curiosity, and variety of experience

Openness reflects a person’s degree of intellectual curiosity, creativity, and preference for novelty and variety.

Those who score high in openness to experience prefer novelty, while those who score low prefer routine.

This trait refers to one’s tendency toward self-discipline, dutifulness, competence, thoughtfulness, and achievement-striving = goal-directed behavior

Individuals high in conscientiousness prefer planned rather than spontaneous behavior and are often organized, hardworking, and dependable.

Individuals who score low in conscientiousness take a more relaxed approach, are spontaneous, and may be disorganized.

An individual who scores high on extraversion is characterized by high energy, positive emotions, talkativeness, assertiveness, sociability, and the tendency to seek stimulation in the company of others.

Those who score low on extraversion prefer solitude and/or smaller groups, enjoy quiet, prefer activities alone, and avoid large social situations.

This trait measures one’s tendency to be compassionate and cooperative rather than suspicious and antagonistic towards others

It is also a measure of a person’s trusting and helpful nature and whether that person is generally well-tempered or not.

People who score low on agreeableness tend to be described as rude and uncooperative.

High neuroticism is characterized by the tendency to experience unpleasant emotions, such as anger, anxiety, depression, or vulnerability.

Neuroticism also refers to an individual’s degree of emotional stability and impulse control.

People high in neuroticism tend to experience emotional instability and are characterized as angry, impulsive, and hostile.

People who score low in neuroticism tend to be calm and even-tempered.

Each of the five factors represents a range of possible personality types.

For example = an individual is typically somewhere in between the two extremes of “extraverted” and “introverted”, and not necessarily completely defined as one or the other.

It’s also important to note that the Big Five traits are relatively stable over our lifespan, but there is \some tendency for the traits to increase or decrease slightly.

Researchers have found that conscientiousness increases through young adulthood into middle age, as we become better able to manage our personal relationships and careers

Agreeableness also increases with age, peaking between 50 to 70 years

Neuroticism and extroversion tend to decline slightly with age.