1. Trait Units

2. 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

3. 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

4. Allport & Interactionism
Personality impacts behavior differently depending on situation
Strong vs weak situations
Extraversion & Talking in museum & park

5. Interactionism

6. Influential Trait Theorists: Hans Eysenck
Emphasized correlational & experimental approaches
Developed theory & measurement of traits
Factor analysis to uncover basic traits

7. 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

8. 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)

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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!

12. Hierarchical Organization
Supertraits or factors (broadest)
Traits (facets)
Habits
Specific Rs (narrowest)

13. Hierarchical Organization
Benefits
Provides structure & organization
Small number of traits conceptually easier
Aids in measurement & theory development
Helps move empirical research forward (Hos)

14. 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

15. Day 2

16. 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)

17. Big-5 Traits
Emerging consensus that personality structure best represented by 5 supertraits/factors (OCEAN)
Neuroticism
Extraversion
Openness (curious, creative, imaginative)
Agreeableness (good natured, trusting, helpful)
Conscientiousness (organized, reliable, disciplined)

18. 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)

19. 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

20. 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 )
Which of these is the most convincing to you?

21. 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)

22. Trait Units Strengths Research Hos Biology Weaknesses FA Conceptual
What are traits?
Explanatory or descriptive?
Process, motives
What else is there?
McAdams