Trait Theory of Personality

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Trait theory 1

Trait Theory and Empirical Assessment of Personality

Overview: Looking at traits or characteristics that capture what a person is really like

A. History1. Gordon Allport looked at adjectives used to describe people to come up with ausable classification system2. Looked at physique among other things (endomorph, ectomorph, mesomorph) to

classify personality typesa. too difficult to hold a strict type approach, must fall into category X or category

Y, not I between3. Now use Trait Theory (TT)

B. Trait definitions1. dimension of personality used to categorize people by degree that they display

some characteristic

a. examples: aggression, friendliness, achievement motivation, introversion, self-esteem, etc.C. Assumptions of TT

1. Stability over _______________________a. some flexibility, but mostly stabilityb. Used to predict behavior as long as the trait is stable this is possible

2. Stability across _______________________a. some flexibility, but mostly stabilityb. see relatively stable amount of trait in any situation (average amount)

3. traits are quantifiable and measurable4. Normal distribution of traits

a. On continuum from low in trait to high in trait where number of people withaverage amount of trait cluster in the center

5. Not concerned with_____________________traits (______________approach)


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a. want to know how members with average amount of trait behave (e.g.,achievement motivation)

b. want to predict how group of people will likely behave, NOT how oneindividual will behave (cf. Freud, post-Freudians)

6. Trait theorists are not interested in underlying mechanisms (cf. Freud, et al.)7.

TT does not lead to treatment, goals are prediction not therapy

D. Gordon Allport1. first trait theorist2. believed that motivation is more than what is in the unconscious3. also recognized limitations of TT in that other environmental influences are

important4. believed we would find source of traits in nervous system (CNS as conceptual

nervous system versus Central Nervous System prelude to Cognitive theorists)5. _______________________Approach looking at groups of people and average

traits as expressed by group

6.Idiographic Approach looking at how the traits come together to bestunderstand the individuala. More detailed in examining the personb. central traits of individual best describe him or herc. secondary traits are important but less sod. cardinal trait is one trait that describes all of behavior of an individual this is

rare

7. current behaviors are not necessarily rooted in childhooda._______________________- behaviors that were established under one set of

conditions are not always maintained by those same conditions (cf. Behavioranalysis) sometimes they are rooted in childhood, but not necessarily (e.g.,

studying initial reward from parents, teacher; now, what?)8. interested in concept of self and how this develops

a. believed individuals grew and changed over time (cf. Erikson, Adler)b. proprium all aspects of the self under one single concept

E. Henry Murray1. Personology study of traits influenced by psychoanalytic tradition, particularly

by Jung

2. believed that personality is organized around needsa. not physiological orviscerogenic needs (food, water), but psychological needs

(psychogenic needs)3. psychogenic needs are unconscious4. came up with 27 basic needs (table 7.1, p. 189 in Burger)5. developed TAT6. Press _______________________(specified this construct, Allport did not)

F. Factor Structure of Personality1. Cattel first to do this (was trained in physical sciences)


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a. Did not believe we should search for traits we know to exist but look forstructure of personality as it is in nature

2. Used Factor Analysis (FA) (adapted from description provided by SPSS, v. 8.0)a. Examine how multiple variables correlate (go together)

a. can do this with Exploratory FA or Confirmatory FA studiesb. Look at correlation coefficients to identify underlying variables, or factors,that explain the pattern of correlations within a set of observed variables

c. _______________________(1)identify a small number of factors which explain most of the variance

observed in a much larger number of manifest variables

d. FA can also be used to generate hypotheses regarding causal mechanisms(exploratory FA)

e. Example: What underlying traits lead people to respond as they do to thequestions on a personality survey looking at the Academic Personality?

(1)Examining the correlations among the survey items reveals that there issignificant overlap among various subgroups of items--questions aboutachievement tend to correlate with each other, questions about criticalthinking correlate with each other, and so on

(2)you can investigate the number of underlying factors, and, in many cases,you can identify what the factors represent conceptually

f. Example with intelligence:(1)many ways to test this trait or construct(2)look at skills in abstract reasoning (assembling puzzles, noticing what is

required to make a picture complete)

(3)look at verbal skill(4)look at general knowledge of the culture(5)FA studies show IQ tests produce one common general factor (G) and

several sub-factors (crystallized Vs, fluid; verbal Vs abstract reasoning,

etc.)g. Example with Psychopathology Symptom Checklist = SCL-90-R

(1)many diagnostic categories, patterns of pathological behavior (OCD,Depression, Schizophrenia, etc)

(2)can examine test to determine whether or not questions that are supposedto assess (e.g.,) depression actually do so If they do, then should have

certain number of factors equivalent to number of phenomena trying toassess

(3)interestingly, SCL-90 shows one stable factor only, have to make sense ofthis

3. Cattel examined many sources of data and came up with 16 Source Traits orfactors (Table 7.2; p. 193 in Burger)

4. The Big Five factors (OCEAN) consistent number of factors in personality research, even when not looking

for this number (exploratory FA) numerous studies have shown these factorsa. _______________________(Intellect, NOT intelligence)


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(1)High scores on this trait :(a)active imagination(b)willingness to consider new ideas(c)openness to experience, not interpersonally(d)divergent thinking(e)

intellectual curiosity

(2)Low scores on this trait(a)conventional(b)prefer routine and familiar

b. Conscientiousness (AKA Will to Achieve; Work)(1)High scores on this trait :

(a)organized(b)planning is important(c)determined(d)

self-disciplined

(2)Low scores:(a)Careless(b)Easily distracted(c)undependable

c. _______________________(on other end of this is Introversion)(1)High scores on this trait:

(a)very social people(b)energetic(c)optimistic(d)friendly(e)assertive

(2)Low scores:(a)NOT asocial or without energy(b)Reserved(c) Independent(d)Retiring(e)Even-paced

d. Agreeableness(1)High scores on this trait :

(a)Helpful(b)trusting(c)sympathetic

(2)Low scores:(a)Ruthless


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(b)Suspicious(c)uncooperative(d)fight for interests and beliefs

e. Neuroticism (Emotional Stability)(1)

High scores on this trait :(a)Frequent distress(b)Emotional lability (Swings)(c)Prone to negative emotional states (anger, sadness, anxiety, guilt)(d)Insecure(e)Self pitying

(2)Low scores:(a)Calm(b)Well-adjusted(c)Not prone to extreme fluctuations of mood

f. These show up in a variety of contexts (rate own traits, students, children,adults)

g. Criticisms of the Big 5(1)five factors may not be sufficient to capture all of human behavior(2)may be cultural specific tied to descriptions available in English

language

(3)not always supported with additional research (five plus or minus two)(4)____________________________________________________________

________________________________(5)Model is purportedly atheoretical why is this a problem?(6)Terms are too global e.g., what kind of emotional instability is

represented by Neuroticism? Depression? Anxiety? Both???

(7)Stability of traits (see controversy below)G. The Person-Situation Debate (Situation vs. Trait Controversy)

1. came from criticisms of over-interpreted scores on personality or trait tests(Mischel)

2. strongly question ability to predict distal (or long-range) outcomes based on thesetests (AKA predictive validity)

3. Mischel argued that you cannot predict behavior from one situation to another,that the situation will bring about some behaviors/traits but another situation willnot bring out the same behavior =_______________________(context

dependence)4. Early research showed that both information about the person and about the

situation predict behavior5. Lead to a perspective called the person-by-situation approach to looking at the

relationship between traits, situations, and behaviorsa. cons: trait scores rarely account for more than 10% of behavior (of the

variance) in studies


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(1)some critics argue not a problem relative to psychology research or evenmedical research (aspirin studies)

b. what does this mean about traits???6. Argue that there is not much evidence for cross-situational consistency

a.

state that you do not see the same behaviors in different situationsb. measured honesty in children and found intercorrelations to be .23 (less than10% of behavior can be explained by these traits)

c. example in book: professor in one situation may be a certain way; in anothersituation may be totally different kind of person

7. other researchers state that there must be cross-situational consistency becausethis helps us predict behavior and make decisions that involve other people (e.g.,

chose a partner, vote for a president, take a class, etc.)a. Epstein argues that behaviors are not correlated because people are measuring

the wrong behaviors and/or are measuring them incorrectly

b.

Need to have test that has many different itemsc. Need high internal consistency value for test8. Need to use aggregate data (produce aggregate score)

a. e.g., test examining studiousness as trait need to look at many differentopportunities to study, attend class, etc. to come up with one score for the traitmeasure

9. Need to assess and examine relevant traits10.Need to specify whether all people have the trait or just some of the people

H. Personality Trait tests in decision making1. tests are used to help make decisions, they should not be used by themselves2. Ask: does the test yield information (summary information) that is useful in

answering a question3. Employment setting vs. clinical setting (interview information, history of working

with person)4. Need to know reliability and validity indices5. Need to know how researchers have discussed these measures and how the

constructs are interpreted

I. Self-report measures1. Objective measures of personality2. Often higher in reliability and validity

a. highly constructedb. validity is usually higher (face validity)

3. The MMPI-2a. MMPI (1) developed in 1940b. MMPI-2 published in 1989 renormedc. Given in clinical settings also in school and personnel settingsd. 568 items


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e. _______________________f. empirically derived testg. gave the test to find out what responses match personality stylesh. the purpose is to look at the pattern of respondingi. Yields scores on two scales

(1)validity scales - tell whether the profile is an accurate measure of thesubject & whether the subject answered honestly

(2)Clinical scales what the test tells about how the subject is clinicallyj. thepattern is interpreted not one scale (1-0)

(1) e.g., profile

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L F K 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0

j. look at how large groups of people respond and what outcomes they have hadk. e.g., case example from MMPI-2 in clinical setting (partial write up)l. this test has scale to detectfaking, when the test-taker tries to manipulate his

or her image or results

4. Problems with objective personality testsa. Faking (faking good, faking bad, frequency of answering true vs. falseb. Social Desirability (Marlowe-Crowne vs. Edwards) manipulation of image

to appear more socially acceptable

(1)this is not the same as faking, this may be a less conscious process(2)look at correlation of Social Desirability scale and the test of interest, does

it correlate negatively or positively or not at all(3)Marlowe-Crowne is blatant image manipulation(4)Edwards is constructed like MMPI, so it is impossible to guess how to

manipulate image

c. interpreting values on test can be difficult even though it yields numbersd. length of test can lead to test-taker losing interest while taking the teste. Some have said that MMPI and MMPI-2 are just negative social desirability

measures

Trait Theory of Personality

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