1 / 8

Trait Theories

Trait Theories. Focus on the here and now How do our personalities differ along certain qualities/traits?. Personality Traits. Traits are relatively stable and consistent personal characteristics Honest, dependable, moody, impulsive

eara
Télécharger la présentation

Trait Theories

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Trait Theories Focus on the here and now How do our personalities differ along certain qualities/traits?

  2. Personality Traits • Traitsare relatively stable and consistent personal characteristics • Honest, dependable, moody, impulsive • Trait personality theories suggest that a person can be described on the basis of some number of personality traits • Allport identified some 4,500 traits • Cattel used factor analysis to identify 30-35 basic traits • Statistical analysis that identifies groups of related objects • Eysenck argued there are 3 distinct traits in personality • Extraversion/introversion • Neuroticism • Psychotocism

  3. Gordon Allport (1897-1967) • Founder of the trait theory of personality • As a 22 year old psychology student, interviewed Sigmund Freud • Thought he was way to preoccupied with hidden motives! • Concerned less with explaining individual traits and more with describing them

  4. Can Biology Affect Personality? • Brain-imaging procedures show that extraverts seek stimulation because their normal brain arousal is relatively low • Genes also influence our temperament and behavioral style • Differences in children’s shyness and inhibition may be attributed to autonomic nervous system reactivity

  5. The Big Five • Places people on a continuum of five trait dimensions • Have found these traits to be common across cultures • How stable are these traits? • Quite stable in adulthood, although can vary over entire course of development • How heritable are they? • Individual differences in personality can be attributed to genes 50% of the time • Do they predict other personal attributes? • Yes • Highly conscientious people earn better grades (hs and college); More likely to be morning types • If one partner scores lower than the other on agreeableness, stability, and openness, marital and sexual satisfaction may suffer

  6. The Big Five

  7. Evaluating Trait Perspective • Traits are not good predictors of behavior • Traits may be enduring, but behavior varies according to situation • However, average behavior remains the same • Traits matter! • Personality differences among dogs are as evident as personality differences among humans! • Trait theory does not provide an explanation as to why traits develop

  8. How Do We Assess Personality? • Personality Inventories • Questionnaires covering a wide range of feelings and behaviors • Often True/False • Big Five: NEO-PI-R • Most famous: Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) • Assesses “abnormal” personality tendencies rather than normal personality traits • Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) • Used mainly for counseling, leadership training, work-team development • Not as popular in other realms (like research)

More Related