WHAT IS ONE

PERSONALITY TRAIT

THAT YOU HAVE

INHERITED FROM EACH

OF YOUR PARENTS?

Intro to Trait Theory

• Traits: relatively stable, habitual patterns of behavior, thought, and emotion that make up an individual’s personality

– Examples of traits would include impulsivity, perfectionism, obsessionality, excitability, etc.

– These are contrary to states, which are temporary

• I.E., a trait of excitable is not the same thing as a state of excitedness

– Traits exist along a spectrum where an individual may rank low, moderate, or high in comparison to the average person

Low Moderate High

Intro to Trait Theory • Gordon Allport is one of the earliest known ―trait‖

psychologists. He went through the entire dictionary to search out single word trait descriptors and organized 4500 of them into three levels:

– Cardinal Traits: the most dominant traits/passions/ obsessions/drives that shape a person’s personality

• i.e., a need for money/fame, a yearning for knowledge, a life filled with lust, a life of public service to others, etc.

– Central Traits: general characteristics that serve as the building blocks of a person’s personality

• i.e., honesty, shyness, anxiousness, kindness, etc.

– Secondary Traits: variable traits that exhibit only in certain circumstances

• i.e., a side of yourself you only reveal to your best friend or a different way you act in the privacy of your own room

• Allport’s theory isn’t relevant today, but it’s important because it was the first of its kind

• Sims character creator is based on this theory!

Intro to Trait Theory • Modern trait theory constructs typically use personality

inventories— questionnaires in which users are asked to rate themselves on a series of Likert Scales or true/false statements to determine a numerical scoring of their personality traits – Examples of

Likert Scale questions:

• The most widely researched and clinically used personality trait inventory is the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) due to its high validity and reliability – Measures personality but also used to detect mental health issues

– 567 true/false questions in about 60-90 minutes

– Uses standardization; user’s score is compared to ―average‖ for analysis

The “Big Five”

• The MMPI and most other inventories categorize personality into five major traits known as the ―Big Five‖ factors of personality:

Conscientiousness Agreeableness Neuroticism

Openness to

Experience Extraversion

CANOE -or- OCEAN

(Helpful Acronyms)

Conscientiousness

• Conscientiousness: the personality trait of being careful and vigilant with a desire to perform tasks well – It is NOT ―consciousness‖ – that is a state of awareness

– It is NOT ―conscience‖ – that is an intuition for distinguishing right from wrong

Low Moderate High

• Efficient

• Organized

• Disciplined

• Disorderly

• Non goal-oriented

• Spontaneous

Fun facts - conscientious people:

– Are less likely to read tabloid papers

– Spend less time daydreaming

– Tend to be more successful in the workplace (no other trait predicts this)

– Are better at saving money

– Tend to live longer than average

– Are less likely to get divorced

– Tend to be Republican

– Tend to be less innovative

Agreeableness

• Agreeableness: the personality trait of being kind, sympathetic, cooperative, warm, and considerate – Those who score low on agreeableness are considered to have the

―dark triad‖ traits of narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy

Low Moderate High

• Empathetic

• Altruistic

• Trustworthy

• Selfish

• Manipulative

• Malevolent

Fun facts – agreeable people:

– View others in a more positive light

– Are better behaved as children

– Are better able to control negative emotions like anger in conflict situations

– Are more willing to lose arguments in order to maintain a relationship

– Tend to make LESS money than non-agreeable people

– Tend to live in the West/Midwest (Wisconsin is #5 most “agreeable” state)

Neuroticism

• Neuroticism: the personality trait of being anxious, fearful, and emotionally unstable – This is considered to be more of a NEGATIVE trait than the other five;

scoring ―high‖ in this is considered ―bad‖ typically • To fix this, some models call it ―emotional stability‖ instead and reverse the

spectrum

Low Moderate High

• Nervous

• Moody

• Self-conscious

• Calm

• Even-tempered

• Emotionally secure

Fun facts - neurotic people: – Tend to interpret ordinary

situations as threatening and minor frustrations as hopelessly difficult

– Have higher rates of mental disorders

– Have sympathetic nervous systems that are more sensitive to environmental stimulation

– Are more likely to be women than men

– Are more at risk for heart disease and have lower life expectancies

Openness to Experience

• Openness to Experience: the personality trait of having a preference for novelty and variety – This trait tends to be normally distributed (meaning most people score

―average‖ and relatively few score ―high‖ or ―low‖

Low Moderate High

• Thrill-seeking

• Imaginative

• Independent

• Conventional

• Traditional

• Prefer routine

Fun facts – “open” people: – Are less likely to be religious

– Tend to have eclectic tastes in music

– Tend to be more creative than usual

– Are moderately more crystallized intelligent and slightly more fluid intelligent than average

– Are more likely to be politically liberal and tolerant of diversity

– More often remember their dreams

– Have higher sex drives & sexual experience

extraversion • Extraversion: the personality trait of being focused on

social stimulation – The opposite of ―extraverted‖ is being ―introverted‖

– Recent research has focused on ―mental energy‖ differences; extraverts ―absorb‖ energy from others while introverts ―disperse‖ energy to others

Low Moderate High

• Sociable

• Affectionate

• Outgoing

• Reserved

• Solitary

• Observational

Fun facts - extraverted people:

– Make up 50-66% of the US population

– Have greater blood flow to the parts of the brain involved in sensory and emotional experience

– Place greater emphasis on “decorative” clothing than “comfortable” clothing

– Report higher levels of happiness than introverted people

– Are less successful in academics

– Are more likely to have diseases

Trait Theory Criticism • The biggest criticism of trait theory is that it does not take into

account the importance of the situation – If an observer were to walk into the room right now, he/she would think

that all of you are very introverted because none of you are talking, but that’s only happening because you’re currently in the role of a student

– When you’re at home after school eating dinner with your family, you’re probably more extraverted

– And at a party on the weekend, you’re probably even more extraverted