PSYC 2530 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Hans Eysenck, Nomothetic, Trait Theory

• School: University of Manitoba
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 2530
• Professor: Jocelyn B.Proulx

Document Summary

Des(cid:272)(cid:396)i(cid:271)es a pe(cid:396)so(cid:374)"s typi(cid:272)al style of thi(cid:374)ki(cid:374)g, feeli(cid:374)g, a(cid:374)d a(cid:272)ti(cid:374)g i(cid:374) diffe(cid:396)e(cid:374)t ki(cid:374)ds of situatio(cid:374)s at different times. Psychologists assume that traits exist even though we cant see them. Two main ways that psychologists have approached the study of traits: Idiographic - through the detailed study of a single individual: nomothetic - through the combined study of numerous people. Goal is to understand the personality of a single individual with the characteristics that make them unique: nomothetic approach. Goal is to discover universals concepts that can apply to everyone by identifying the traits that can describe people or that can be applied to any person. Hypothesized that the human personality is organized into a hierarchy that we can look at as a pyramid. This pyramid categorizes human personality from most general level at the top to the most specific label at the bottom. General means that the trait is universal whereas specific is more unique to a single individual.