1. Personality
An individual’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting

2. Trait
A characteristic pattern of behavior or a disposition to feel and act, as assessed by self-report inventories and peer reports

3. The Trait Perspective: The “Big Five” Traits
Module 26: Trait and Social-Cognitive Perspectives on Personality

4. The “Big Five” Traits Openness Extraversion Agreeableness
Emotional Stability
Conscientiousness

6. Type 1 – Emotional Stability
Traits:
Calm vs. Anxious
Secure vs. Insecure
Self-Satisfied vs. Self-Pitying

7. Type 2 – Extraversion Traits: Sociable vs. Retiring
Fun-Loving vs. Sober
Affectionate vs. Reserved

8. Type 3 – Openness Traits: Imaginative vs. Practical
Variety vs. Routine
Independent vs. Conforming

9. Type 4 – Agreeableness Traits: Soft-hearted vs. Ruthless
Trusting vs. Suspicious
Helpful vs. Uncooperative

10. Type 5 – Conscientiousness
Traits:
Organized vs. Disorganized
Careful vs. Careless
Disciplined vs. Impulsive

11. The Trait Perspective: Testing for Traits
Module 26: Trait and Social-Cognitive Perspectives on Personality

12. Personality Inventories
Questionnaires on which people respond to items designed to gauge a wide range of feelings and behaviors
Used to assess selected personality traits
Often true-false, agree-disagree, etc. types of questions

13. Validity
The extent to which a test measures or predicts what it is suppose to test
Personality inventories offer greater validity than do projective tests (e.g. Rorschach; used by proponents of the humanistic perspective).

14. Reliability
The extent to which a test yields consistent results, regardless of who gives the test or when or where it is given
Personality inventories are more reliable than projective tests.

15. The Trait Perspective: Evaluating the Trait Perspective
Module 26: Trait and Social-Cognitive Perspectives on Personality

16. Evaluating the Trait Perspective
Does not take into account how the situation influences a person’s behavior
Doesn’t explain why the person behaves as they do--just how they behave

17. The End