TRAIT PERSPECTIVE

What is the trait perspective?  We can define personality by people’s stable characteristics (traits.)  Trait – a characteristic pattern of behavior  Trait theorists believe that these traits remain the same even with a change of environment or situation.  Q What would be a main criticism of this perspective?

Nomothetic Approach  Nomothetic Approach – the same set of traits can be used to describe all people  Ex. 16 PF, Myers Briggs, Eyesenck, OCEAN

Hans Eyesenck  There are two sets of traits that describe personality:  Introversion/Extroversion  Stable/Unstable

Raymond Cattell  16 PF (Personality Factor) test  Warmth  Reasoning  Emotional Stability  Dominance  Liveliness  Rule-Consciousness  Social Boldness  Sensitivity You do not have to remember all of these  Vigilance  Abstractedness  Privateness  Apprehensiveness  Openness to Change  Self-Reliance  Perfectionism  Tension

OCEAN  OCEAN – The Big Five Personality Traits  Openness to experience – curious, artistic, intellectual, imaginative  Conscientiousness – reliable, dependable, organized, productive  Extraversion – assertive, outgoing, expressive, energetic  Agreeableness – kind, considerate, generous, forgiving  Neuroticism (instability) – anxious, impulsive, tense, unstable  Q Think of 2 people that you can very opposite in personality and you probably can fit them in these categories  VIDEO-The Big 5 Personality TraitsThe Big 5 Personality Traits

Myers-Briggs Taken from Carl Jung’s ideas, Isabel Briggs Myers and Kathleen Briggs developed a 126 question personality inventory to reveal 16 personality types.

Myers - Briggs  Favorite world: Do you prefer to focus on the outer world or on your own inner world?  This is called Extraversion (E) or Introversion (I).Extraversion (E) or Introversion (I)  Information: Do you prefer to focus on the basic information you take in or do you prefer to interpret and add meaning?  This is called Sensing (S) or Intuition (N).Sensing (S) or Intuition (N)  Decisions: When making decisions, do you prefer to first look at logic and consistency or first look at the people and special circumstances?  This is called Thinking (T) or Feeling (F).Thinking (T) or Feeling (F)  Structure: In dealing with the outside world, do you prefer to get things decided or do you prefer to stay open to new information and options?  This is called Judging (J) or Perceiving (P)Judging (J) or Perceiving (P)

What type are you? According to Myers and Briggs one type is not better than another type – the goal of the test is to simply recognize our differences. Discover Your Personality Type | Myers Briggs

MMPI  MMPI – Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory  Developed by Starke Hathaway  Most widely research and clinically used personality test  Originally developed to detect emotional disorders  The MMPI is not a projective test (subjective and depends on interpretation) rather it has test items that have been empirically derived.  Self-tests are the most used personality tests

Remember factor analysis?  Factor analysis has allowed theorists to groups the traits together.  (Remember “s” and “g” factors?)

Idiographic Approach  Idiographic Approach – you cannot describe all personalities from a set of traits.

An idiographic approach to personality …  Gordon Allport – we need to examine each individual and consider their personal traits.  There are three types of personal traits  Cardinal dispositions – traits that have a critical role in your personality  Central dispositions – easily detected personality traits that have a greater impact on your personality than secondary traits  Secondary dispositions – traits that have a small impact on your personality

Criticism of the trait perspective  Trait theorists believe that your personality traits always describe you. The situation would not affect your personality, according to trait theorists  Review of Trait Perspective Human Experience video. Disc 2 number 29