Theories of Personality: Chapter 4 Trait Theories and ...

Theories of Personality: Chapter 4 Trait Theories and Evolutionary Psychology

Allport, Eysenk, Cattell, Costa & McCrae, Buss ALLPORT, EYSENK, CATTELL, COSTA & MCCRAE, BUSS Person as predisposition  Traits: inner predispositions to think and act in characteristic ways  “biological” bricks of personality  trait theorists use traits to predict future behaviors Correlation is the co-relation of two things that vary, NOT ALWAYS CAUSATION  Ex: cold correlates to snow  causation, however, January correlates to snow  just correlation Factor analysis: a mathematical procedure for reducing a large collection of correlations to a small number of core factors (WORDLE.COM) ALLPORT (Humanistic)  Personality to Allport – the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine his unique adjustments to the environment Values  Financial stability (1)  Honesty  Trust  Helping others (3)  Forgiveness (2) Allport Definitions  Habit – specific, low level behaviors that form the foundation for higher level traits o Cardinal trait – few activities that cannot be traced to its influence (one word that describes a person completely)  Character or behavior cannot escape that cardinal trait o Central trait – characteristics by which a person is known o Secondary traits – describes the person that is less present o Common traits – a trait common to a group (correlational not causational)

Stage theory – propium  Bodily-self  birth  Self-identity  around 18 months of life  Self-esteem  2-3 years of life  Self-extension  4-6  Self-image  also 4-6  Self-as-rational-coper  6-12  Propriate strivings  13 Self-as-knower  adulthood EYSENCK Personality – comprised of specific responses, habitual responses and traits – all blended Psychoticism – aggressive, cold, egocentric, impersonal, impulsive, anti-social Extraversion – active, assertive, carefree, dominant, lively, sociable Neuroticism - anxious, depressed, irrational, moody, emotional, shy, tense Body and personality become closely related  Activating the body motivates the personality  Uniqueness depends on person’s balance of biological

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components

correlation between body type and personality

Testable – Eysenck would reject his own hypotheses if they could not be experimentally verified (yes) Useful – heuristic of trait theories, top down reduction of higher level abstractions to biologically based factors CATTELL Surface traits – clusters of observable behaviors that usually occur together in an individual Source traits – underlying factors that shape and determine surface traits  16 traits – these factors determined personality Testable – used mathematical formulas but also used subjective judgments reducing variables Useful – can use Cattell’s personality factor questionnaire to describe a personality of 16 source traits MCCRAE & COSTA  Ocean (129) o Openness to experience o Conscientiousness o Extraversion o Agreeableness o Neuroticism Testable – yes Useful – yes Helps us classify and recognize different personalities, which can help us understand disorders