PSYC 332 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Agreeableness, Extraversion And Introversion, Factor Analysis

• School: McGill University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 332
• Professor: Richard Koestner

Document Summary

There are three distinctive levels of personality. The big 5 traits are the 1st level, and you first thing you notice about people, very important, useful and predicts a lot of behavior. 2 other levels are less commonly discussed and studied. Some of the traits cannot describe personality from limited time. Pam: soft-spoken, optimistic, gentle, likeable, shy, calm, good-natured. We can quickly make some personality judgment well. 18,000 traits in english dictionary, only 4,000-5,000 describes stable personality. Factor analysis allows you identify clusters of traits that seem to go together but they cohere. Group the traits that are similar or opposite. You can boil down 180 adjectives into smaller limited number of clusters, 5 clusters. However, clusters must be relatively independent from each other. These 5 are the things that capture variability of differences in the group. Dimensions of individual differences in tendencies to show consistent patterns of thoughts, feelings, and actions.