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Trait Units
Trait Units
• Trait: Consistent ways of behaving, feeling and thinking over time & situations– Summarize, predict, explain– Internal causes of behavior (traits)
• Assumptions:– Continuous dimensions from low to high– People have broad predispositions to respond
Influential Trait Theorists: Gordon Allport
• Traits in nervous system– Frequency, intensity, range of situations
• Cardinal, central & secondary traits– Organization differs, unique traits
• Dictionary study (Allport & Odbert, 1936)– 18,000 terms describing people
• Traits: Consistent, stable modes of adjustment
– Provided basis for later discovery of factors
Allport & Interactionism
• Personality impacts behavior differently depending on situation– Strong vs weak situations
• Extraversion & Talking in museum & park
Interactionism7
6.5
6
5.5
5
4.5
4
3.5
3
2.5
2
Talking
Museum Park
Low E
High E
Influential Trait Theorists: Hans Eysenck
• Emphasized correlational & experimental approaches
• Developed theory & measurement of traits
• Factor analysis to uncover basic traits
Factor Analysis
• Statistical technique that identifies groups of related items– I like people, I enjoy going to parties, I have
fun when I am with other people• Responses should covary and form a factor
• Label (Gregariousness) and quantify
• Structure
Hans Eysenck
• 3 traits (superfactors) discovered w/ FA– Neuroticism (negative affect, insecure, stressed)– Extraversion (positive affect, sociable, impulsive)– Psychoticism (aggressive, cold, antisocial)
• Biological basis (brain arousal)
Influential Trait Theorists: Raymond Cattell
• Types of Traits (major stable elements)– Function (ability - intelligence)– Emotion (temperament - N)– Motivation (dynamic - E)
• Multivariate data– L, Q, OT– 16 traits– Convergence
Raymond Cattell
• Motivation– Ergs: Innate motivations (sex, food)– Sentiments: Environmentally caused motivations
(money, love)– States - moods (anger, fatigue)
• Roles - environmentally determined guidelines for appropriate action (teacher v. student)
• Behavior due to traits, motives, states & roles
Reaction Paper 6: Trait Theorists
• Describe at least 1 similarity & 1 difference among these 3 theorists approach. Which approach seems the most parsimonious? Explain.
• PLEASE TURN THIS IN AT THE END OF CLASS!
Hierarchical Organization
• Supertraits or factors (broadest)• Traits (facets)
– Habits
• Specific Rs (narrowest)
Hierarchical Organization
• Benefits– Provides structure & organization– Small number of traits conceptually easier – Aids in measurement & theory development– Helps move empirical research forward (Hos)
Hierarchical Organization
• Problems – Gulf between factors & behavior
• IV - superfactor level
• DV - specific R level
– Error in predicting behavior • Prediction better w/ traits than superfactors
• Superfactors have high breadth, low precision
• Levels of analysis should be similar
Day 2
Emergence of the Big-5 Traits
• Earlier work showing varying number of traits– Eysenck found 3– Cattell found 16
• Allport’s dictionary terms FAd & found 5– Replicated by numerous others (1950s-present)
Big-5 Traits
• Emerging consensus that personality structurebest represented by 5 supertraits/factors (OCEAN)– Neuroticism– Extraversion– Openness (curious, creative, imaginative) – Agreeableness (good natured, trusting, helpful)– Conscientiousness (organized, reliable, disciplined)
Big-5 Traits
• Continuous dimensions along which individuals vary (high/low)– Hierarchical structure (each trait has 6 facets)
• E: gregariousness, activity, excitement seeking, PA, warmth
– NOT function – Assessed w/ self-report measures (NEO-PI-R)
Big-5: Evidence
• Language & cross-cultural (universality)– Lexical Hypothesis: Meaningful individual
differences represented in language– FA large # of person descriptors = Trait units– 5 factor structure in many languages & cultures
• Openness, cultural-specific traits?
• Qaires correlate highly w/ Eysenck & Cattell measures
Activity 7A: Evidence of Big-5• In groups of 3-4
– Describe at least 3 additional sources of evidence for the Big-5 (Pervin controversies p. 30-32)
– Which of these is the most convincing to you?
Big-5 Critiques• FA - poor methodology to uncover units
• Heritability - 60% environment
• What are these 5 traits?– Theoretical diversity/emphasis
• E and sociable v. sensitive to rewards
• Numerical dissention– Big 7 & Big 2
• Higher-order FA shows 2 Super-Super Factors– Socialization (A C N) & Growth (E O)
Trait Units
• Strengths• Research• Hos• Biology
• Weaknesses• FA• Conceptual
– What are traits?
– Explanatory or descriptive?
• Process, motives• What else is there?
– McAdams