PSYB30H3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Raymond Cattell, Trait Theory, Mother Teresa
Document Summary
Trait = a consistent pattern of behaviour, emotion, and thought, way of relating to environment: stability over time and situations, distinctiveness between people. Trait theories provide descriptions that must be explained by other theories: but they don"t explain how someone came to be that way like developmental aspect or underlying subconscious factors. Theorists try to establish: framework within which all and any people an be described taxonomy of traits ( system of classification ) ie the big 5 personality traits. Lexical approach takes words as a starting point that describe personality traits, figure out most common, capture the variability b/w people , get it down to a manageable number of words that describe traits. Statistical (empirical) approach collected from data as a starting point to figure of key personality traits for example. Theoretical approach starts with theory in order to build from. In-depth study of individuals, like a case study.
