THEORIES OF PERSONALITY Psychology

Objective

Explain the history, main features, and limitations of the trait theory of personality

Trait Approach

Trait? Aspect of personality that is considered to be

reasonably stable. A person has certain traits based on how the

person behaves. A “shy” person? How do they behave? An “outgoing” person? How do they behave? Trait theorists, believe traits generally are

somehow fixed or unchanging. Try to answer the ? Where do traits come

from?

Hippocrates

Greeks: Body contains fluids called Humors. Traits are a result of different combinations of these bodily fluids. Believed 4 basic fluids

Yellow Bile Quick-tempered disposition

Blood Warm and cheerful temperament

Phlegm Sluggish and cool disposition

Black Bile Melancholic, thoughtful temperament

Gordon Allport

1930s Catalogued 18,000 different traits Traits can be inherited and they are

fixed in the nervous system. People’s behavior is a product of their particular combinations of traits. “short” and “brunette” – Physical “Shy” and “emotional”– behavioral “Honest” – Moral

Raymond Cattell

Determine the number of basic traits human personality can be boiled down to. Studied groups rather than individuals Identified obvious personality traits

(surface traits) Integrity Friendliness Tidiness

Raymond Cattell

Clusters of surface traits seemed to occur together.

If a person showed 1 trait in cluster, they usually showed the others in the cluster.

A single underlying trait (source traits) gives rise to all the traits in each cluster.

16 source traits Cattell’s Sixteen Personality Factor

Questionnaire

Cattell’s Sixteen Personality Factor Questionaire

Hans Eysenck

Focused on the relationships between two personality dimension

Introversion-Extroversion Emotional stability-instability Introverts: imaginative and look inward rather

than to other people for their ideas and energy Extroverts: tend to be active and self-

expressive and gain energy from interaction with other people

Stable: usually reliable, composed, and rational Unstable: agitated and unpredictable Eysenck

Eysenk’s personality dimensions

The Big Five

5 basic personality dimensions Introversion-Extroversion Emotional Stability-Instability Conscientiousness-carelessness Agreeableness-disagreeableness Openness to new experience– closed-

mindedness Established at a young age and

remains stable.

Evaluation of the Trait Approach Where do traits come from? Most trait-theorists describe traits Matching people to educational

programs and jobs on the basis of personality traits.

Take Personality Quizzes

Cattell’s Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire

http://personality-testing.info/tests/16PF.php

The Big 5 Test http://www.outofservice.com/bigfive/

Meyer Brigg Test http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/jtypes2.asp