Term
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Definition
- The trait approach begins with the assumption that personality consists of stable inner qualities, which are reflected in behaviour.
- Traits are continuous dimensions of variability, along which any person can be placed. Most trait approaches are nomothetic, emphasising how people differ but assuming that the trait dimensions are the same for everyone. An idiographic approach emphasises uniqueness and treats some dimensions as unique to specific persons. |
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Term
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Definition
| Personality is a dynamic organization, inside the person, of psychophysical systems that create the person’s characteristic patterns of behavior, thoughts, and feelings |
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Term
| Two themes stand out in thinking about personality. |
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Definition
One is the existence of individual differences.
The other theme concerns what we’ll call intrapersonal functioning. By this phrase, we mean the processes within the person that Allport (1961) called a “dynamic organization” of systems. This view of personality treats the motives as key variables.The processes by which motives vary in strength are some of the processes of intrapersonal func- tioning, in this view |
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Term
| More recently, Jung (1933) argued that people are either introverts or extraverts. |
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Definition
| More recently, Jung (1933) argued that people are either introverts or extraverts. An introvert tends to prefer solitary activities.When facing stress, introverts tend to withdraw into themselves. An extravert prefers to spend time with others. When facing stress, extraverts tend to seek out other people. |
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Term
| Types and Trait Personalities |
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Definition
In a true typology, the types are seen as distinct and discontinuous categories (
In contrast to typologies, trait theories assume that people occupy different points on continuously varying dimensions |
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Term
| Nomothetic and Idiographic |
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Definition
| The belief that traits exist in the same way in every person is called a nomothetic view (Allport, 1961).The term nomothetic derives from the Greek word meaning“law.”This view holds that everyone stands somewhere on each trait that exists.This allows comparisons among people. In contrast is the idiographic view (Allport, 1961), which emphasizes each person’s uniqueness. We use this term to refer to an approach to research that focuses on how one person’s experience varies across situations. In this context, the term implies that traits are individualized |
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Term
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Definition
| Once the factors have been extracted, each can be described by a set of factor loadings.Think of these as correlations between the factor and each item (rating) that contributes to its existence. Items that correlate strongly with the factor (usually higher than 0.40 or so) are said to “load on” that factor |
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Term
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Definition
| A language that’s evolved over thousands of years has words to describe many human qualities. Presumably, any trait that matters has words that describe it. In fact, the more words for a quality of personality, the more it probably matters.This is called the lexical criterion of importance. Following this idea, Cattell (1947, 1965) took a set of trait terms, collected ratings on them, and factor analyzed the ratings.The emerging factors were the traits he believed mattered. |
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Term
| Cattel 16 Personality Factor |
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Definition
| Cattell thought that personality is captured in a set of 16 dimensions.The dimen- sions reemerged in analyses across various types of data, and he saw them as the primary traits in personality.These 16 primary factors provided a name for his personality inven- tory: the 16 Personality Factor inventory, or 16PF |
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Term
| Eysneck - Extroversion vs Introversion |
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Definition
| The two supertraits Eysenck posed as the key dimensions of personality are extra- version (vs. introversion) and neuroticism (also called emotional stability). |
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Term
| Wiggins - Interpersonal Circle |
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Definition
| Wiggins proposed a set of eight patterns, which he called the interpersonal circle, arrayed around two dimensions underlying human relations (see Figure 3). The core dimensions are dominance (or status) and love. |
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Term
| Social Traits: Extraversion and Agreeableness |
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Definition
Extraversion seems to relate to having social impact; agreeableness seems to relate to maintaining positive relations with others
extraversion and agreeableness both related to peer acceptance, but agreeableness also protected against being victimized by peers.Adults high in agreeableness also report greater social sup- port from family members ( |
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Term
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Definition
| Paul Costa and Robert McCrae (1985, 1992) developed a measure called the NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R; NEO stands for neuroticism, extraversion, and openness; agreeableness and conscientiousness were added after the name was coined; the R stands for revised.) |
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Term
| Tellegen (Other theories) |
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Definition
| One is Tellegen’s (1985) model. It greatly resembles Eysenck’s (1975, 1986) in having three supertraits,though with somewhat different origins and overtones.Tellegen (1985) recast neuroticism slightly as a tendency to experience negative emotions, and he recast extraversion as a tendency to experience positive emotions. Positive emotion- ality (like extraversion) has been tied to social success, and negative emotionality (like neuroticism) has been tied to indices of poor adjustment (Shiner, Masten, & Tellegen, 2002).Tellegen’s third factor, constraint, resembles psychoticism in Eysenck’s model but viewed from the opposite direction. |
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Term
| situationism (Not Personality Traits) |
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Definition
| situationism: the idea that situational forces determine behavior, not personality.This view was promoted by some social psychologists, who traditionally emphasize the role of the environment, rather than personality, as causing people’s actions. |
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Term
| Interactionism (Not just Personality Traits) |
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Definition
Another approach to understanding weak links between traits and actions is interac- tionism (). Interactionism is the idea that traits and situations interact to influence behavior. Neither the setting alone nor the person alone provides a complete account.
Other situations force behavior into channels, thus prevent- ing expression of personality (Monson, Hesley, & Chernick, 1982; Schutte, Kenrick, & Sadalla, 1985).The first set are called weak situations, the second set are called strong situations (Mischel, 1977). As an example, the lawn of a college campus on a Sunday afternoon is a weak situation. Individual differences can be expressed easily; in fact, the situation seems to invite it. An army boot camp is a strong situation. It dampens any expression of individual differences. |
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Term
| behavioral signature. (Not just Personality Traits) |
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Definition
| Another key point in this theory is that the pattern of linkage between situation and behavior differs from one person to another.This is a source of individuality, uniqueness: the pattern of situation–behavior links the person has established over time and experience.This pattern is referred to as the person’s behavioral signature. |
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Term
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Definition
| (Diathesis means “susceptibility.”) In this model, an interaction is required between the diathesis and a stress for the problem to develop |
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Term
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Definition
- Behavioral signature The pattern of situation–behavior links the person has established over experiences in some specific domain.
- Diathesis-stress model A theory holding that a vulner- ability plus stress creates problems in behavior.
- Extravert A person who’s outgoing and prefers social and exciting activities.
- Factor A dimension that underlies a set of interrelated measures, such as items on a self-report inventory.
- Factor analysis A statistical procedure used to find basic dimensions underlying a set of measures.
- Factor loading A correlation between a single measure and the factor to which it’s being related.
- Idiographic Pertaining to an approach that focuses on an individual person’s uniqueness.
- Interactionism The idea that situations and personality interact to determine behavior. |
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Term
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Definition
- Interpersonal circle Personality patterns deriving from varying levels of dominance and love.
- Introvert A person who prefers solitary activities. Lexical criterion An index of the importance of a trait based on the number of words that refer to it.
- Nomothetic Pertaining to an approach that focuses on norms and on variations among persons.
- Second-order factor A factor that emerges from a factor analysis performed on a set of previously found factors. Situationism The idea that situations are the primary determinants of behavior.
- Traits Continuous dimensions of personality on which people vary.
- Types Distinct and discontinuous categories of persons. |
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Term
| Reasons to use the word personality |
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Definition
- One reason people use the word personality is to convey a sense of consistency or continuity about a person.T
- A second reason people use the word personality is to convey the sense that whatever the person is doing (or thinking or feeling) originates from within.T
- The term personality is also used for another reason. It often conveys the sense that a few qualities can summarize what a person is like, because they’re so prominent in that person’s be- havior. Saying that Karen has a sociable personality implies that sociability stands out in her action |
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Term
| Intrapersonal Functioning |
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Definition
| A person may work in isolation for four hours, then spend a couple of hours social- izing, then go eat dinner, and then do some reading.The behaviors differ, but they all stem from motives within the person that vary in strength over the course of the day.This view of personality treats the motives as key variables.The processes by which motives vary in strength are some of the processes of intrapersonal func- tioning, in this view. |
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Term
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Definition
A theory is a summary statement, a general principle or set of principles about a class of events. Put differently, a theory is a set of ideas about how to think about that class of events.
- Theories are used for two purposes (no matter what they are about).The first pur- pose is to explain the phenomena it addresses.A theory always provides a way to explain some things that are known to be true. For example, some biological personality theo- ries hold that heredity influences personality. Put differently, a theory should allow you to predict new information.
When theories are used to generate predictions for research, a continu- ous interplay arises (see Figure 1) |
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Term
| Whats makes a good theory? (Parsimony = good) |
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Definition
A theory should also have the quality of parsimony.That is, it should include as few assumptions (or con- cepts) as possible. Put differently, it should be as simple as possible.
A theory that looks parsimonious today may not be able to account for something that will be discovered tomorrow.A theory that looks too complex today may be the only one that can handle tomorrow’s discovery.Nevertheless,excess theoreti- cal “baggage” is a cause for concern. |
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Term
| Why Theories are critised |
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Definition
| One criterion is the breadth of the information behind the theory. Some theories are criticized because they’re based heavily on the theo- rists’ experience conducting therapy. Other theories are criticized because they’re based on studies of laboratory animals in highly artificial situations. Others are criticized because they rest largely on information from long sets of rating scales. None of these sources of information is bad in itself. But to base a theory on just one source of information weakens the theory. |
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Term
| Personality Perspectives (apparently dont need to learn as per syllabus of week 1) |
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Definition
- The trait perspective begins with the intuitive idea that people have fairly stable qualities (traits) that are displayed across many settings but are deeply embedded in the person.
- The motive perspective begins with the idea that the key element in human expe- rience is the motive forces that underlie behavior. Theorists have posited many different motives and have examined how some of them wax and wane under different circumstances.
Another biological view, the biological process perspective, stems from the idea that personality reflects the workings of the body we inhabit and the brain that runs the body.This biological perspective focuses on how the nervous system and hormones influence people’s behavior and how differences in those functions influence the kind of person you are. |
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Term
| Discontinuos vs Continuous Personality Traits |
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Definition
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Term
| idiographic vs nomothetic[image] |
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Definition
| Some people like the idiographic view, because they think the nomothetic view provides no place for uniqueness. In reply, those who favor the nomothetic view say that uniqueness arises from unique combinations of levels on many trait dimensions, though the dimensions themselves are the same for everyone.As Eysenck put it,“the unique individ- ual is simply the point of intersection of a number of quantitative variables” (1 |
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Term
Extraversion + conscientiousness.
(Big 5) |
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Definition
The first factor is usually called extraversion, but there’s a good deal of variation in what it includes.This helps account for the different labels. Sometimes it seems based in assertiveness, sometimes in spontaneity and energy. Sometimes it’s based in domi- nance and confidence, sometimes in a tendency toward happiness.
- conscientiousness. However, this label doesn’t fully reflect the qualities of planning, persistence, and purposeful striving toward goals (Digman & Inouye, 1986). Indeed, because the word conscientious itself has two shades of meaning, that word loads both on this factor and on agreeableness.That hints that conscien- tiousness may not be a perfect name for this factor. Digman (1990) suggested that it be thought of as the will to achieve or simply will. Other suggested names include constraint and responsibility. |
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Term
Neurotiscm, Agreeableness
(Big 5) |
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Definition
Neuroticism, or emotional stability, is regarded by most people as being what Eysenck referred to with those labels.Though there are other overtones, what’s at the heart of this factor is the subjective experience of anxiety and general distress.
- agreeableness. This trait is often characterized as reflecting a concern with maintaining relationships. It can also imply nurturance and emotional supportiveness, which requires inhibition of negative affect |
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Term
Openness to experience
(Big 5) |
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Definition
| The largest disagreement may concern the last factor.The disagreement stems at least partly from differences in measures. Early on, Cattell measured aspects of intel- ligence.Then he stopped doing so and started using the term culture to refer to the qualities that remained. The label stuck. Peabody and Goldberg (1989) pointed out, though, that when intelligence-related measures are reintroduced, they join with culture.These researchers suggest the factor should more properly be labeled intellect. Costa and McCrae (1985) favored yet another label: openness to experience. |
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Term
| Eysenck’s theory (extraversion, emotional stability and psychoticism) |
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Definition
| supertraits: extraversion and emotional stability. It’s been suggested that Eysenck’s third dimension, psychoticism (blend of agreeableness and conscientiousness) |
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Term
| NEO-PI-R; NEO superordinate traits same as five-factor model. |
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Definition
| NEO-PI-R includes measures of six narrow traits for each domain of the five-factor model.The six narrow traits combine into a score for that supertrait.Thus, many people who use the five-factor model share with Eysenck the idea that the core traits are supertraits, which are, in turn, composed of more specific facet traits |
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Term
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Definition
| The basic dimensions of the circle are dominance and love. Love may be equivalent to agreeableness. If dominance were seen as roughly equivalent to extra- version, the interpersonal circle would comprise two factors of the five-factor mode |
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Term
| stability and plasticity (higher-order factors) |
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Definition
| DeYoung (2006) found the same two higher-order factors and called them stability and plasticity. He argued that they reflect, respectively, an organismic need to maintain a stable organization of psychological functioning and a need to explore and grow. |
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Term
| The Five-Factor Model and Personality Disorders |
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Definition
Personality disorders are stable, enduring patterns of behavior that deviate from normal cultural expectations and interfere with the person’s life or the lives of others. Many theorists suspect that personality disorders are essentially extreme manifestations of several of the “big five” traits
For example, O’Connor and Dyce (2001) found that all personality disorders are represented within the five- factor model. |
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Term
Interactionism in Behavior Problems
(e.g. diathesis-stress model) |
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Definition
evidence suggesting a poor relationship between traits and actions led to development of interactionism.
Think of a trait as a vulnerability or susceptibility to a problem. Saying a person is susceptible to a problem doesn’t mean that he or she has the problem. Rather, it means the problem will emerge more easily for this person than for someone else.
e.g. The susceptibility usually matters in situations involving a lot of stress.Therefore, this approach to problems is called a diathesis-stress model |
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Term
Trait Psychology: Problems and Prospects
(One response is that trait psychology doesn’t claim to present a complete picture of the person but rather one angle of view) |
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Definition
| ask yourself two questions and think about your natural responses. Question 1: Why does she behave that way? (Answer: Because she’s dominant.) Question 2: How do you know she’s dominant? (Answer: Because she behaves that way.) The problem here is that the information about the behavior is being used to infer the existence of a trait, which is being used, in turn, to explain the behavior.This is called circular reasoning, because it can go around and around in an endless circle.The circu- larity can be broken if the trait is used to predict something new, and sometimes, trait theorists do that. However, this view on personality is more vulnerable than most to the criticism of circularity. |
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Term
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Definition
Types are discontinuous categories of per- sonalities, with each person falling into one category or another.This concept is no longer prominent in personality psychology, however.
- Traits are continuous dimen- sions of variability, along which any person can be placed. Most trait approaches are nomothetic, emphasizing how people differ but assuming that the trait dimensions are the same for everyone.
- An idiographic approach emphasizes uniqueness and treats some dimensions as unique to specific persons. |
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Term
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Definition
Many now favor the idea that there are five major factors in personality.(extraversion, agreeableness,conscientiousness, emotionality, and openness.
- people’s behavior often wasn’t well predicted from self-reports of traits.This led some to doubt whether traits actually influence behavior. Situationism—the idea that behavior is controlled primarily by situational influences—proved wrong. Interactionism holds that personality and situations interact in several ways to determine behavior. |
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