PSYC 2740 Chapter Notes - Chapter 3: Problem Gambling, 16Pf Questionnaire, Autonomic Nervous System
6 Jul 2018
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PSYC 2470: Personality Psychology
Chapter 3: Traits, and Trait Taxonomies
Traits (also called dispositions)
How should we conceptualize traits?
How can we identify which traits are the most important traits from among the thousands of ways in
which individuals differ?
How can we formulate a comprehensive taxonomy of traits a system that includes within it all of the
major traits of personality?
oTaxonomy: organized scheme
What is a Trait? Two Basic Formulations
Traits as Internal Causal Properties
Internal: sense that individuals carry their desires, needs, and wants from one situation to the next
Causal: explain the behaviour of the individual who possess them
Traits as Purely Descriptive Summaries
Define traits as descriptive summaries of attributes of persons, they make no assumptions about
internality or causality
The Act Frequency Formulation of Traits- An Illustration of the Descriptive Summary Formulation
Traits are categories of acts
Act Frequency Program
Act Nomination
Procedure designed to identify which acts belong in which trait categories
Impulsivity and the acts that accompany it
Prototypically Judgement
Identifying which acts are most central to or prototypical of each trait category
Category- bird
oMost thought of: sparrows and robins, not penguins and turkeys
Recording of Act Performance
Securing information on the actual performance of individuals in their daily lives
Evaluation of the Act Frequency Formulation
Traits as purely descriptive summaries
Doesn’t specify how much context to needed
Seems applicable to overt action but what about failures to act and covert acts that are not observable?
Identification of the Most Important Traits
Lexical approach: all traits listed and defined in the dictionary form the basis of describing differences
among people
oNatural language
Statistical approach: factor analysis or similar statistical procedures to identify major personality traits
Theoretical approach: researchers rely on theories to identify important traits
Lexical Approach
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Lexical hypothesis: all important individual differences have become encoded within the natural
language
Dominant, creative, reliable cooperative, hot-tempered, self-centered
Trait terms codified as objectives: manipulative, arrogant, slothful and warm
Synonym frequency: if an attribute has not one or two traits to describe it but many words, then it is a
more important dimension of individual difference
Cross-cultural universality: if a trait is more important in many cultures that its members have codified
terms to describe the trait, then it must be universally important
Problem: personality is conveyed through different parts of speech (adjectives, nouns)
Statistical Approach
Having a large number of people rate themselves (or others) on the items then using a statistical
procedure to identify groups or clusters of items
oIdentify major dimensions or "coordinates" of personality
Factor analysis: identifies groups of items that covary but tend not to covary with other groups of items
Determines which personality types have some common property
Factor loaders: indexes of how much of the variation in an item is explained by the factor
oDegree to which the item correlates with or loads on the underlying factor
Theoretical Approach
Dictates which variable are important to measure
Sociosexual orientation: men and women will pursue one of two alternative sexual relationship
strategies
oSeeking monogamy
oMore promiscuity, more partner switching and less children investment
Evaluating the Approaches for Identifying Important Traits
Taxonomies of Personality
Eyenck's Hierarchical Model of Personality
Rooted in biology
Developed a model of personality based on traits that he believed were highly heritable and had a likely
psychophysiological foundation
oExtraversion-introversion (E)
oNeuroticism-emotional stability (N)
oPsychoticism (P)
PEN
Description
Extraversion: sociable, active, lively, venturism, dominant
oLike parties
oHave more friends
oWant people to talk to
Introverts
oSpend more time alone
oQuiet time
oSmall number of intimate friends
oOrganize and prefer routine
Neuroticism: anxious, irritable, guilt, lacking self-esteem, tense, shy and moody
oWorrier
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
How can we formulate a comprehensive taxonomy of traits a system that includes within it all of the major traits of personality: taxonomy: organized scheme. Internal: sense that individuals carry their desires, needs, and wants from one situation to the next. Causal: explain the behaviour of the individual who possess them. Define traits as descriptive summaries of attributes of persons, they make no assumptions about internality or causality. The act frequency formulation of traits- an illustration of the descriptive summary formulation. Procedure designed to identify which acts belong in which trait categories. Impulsivity and the acts that accompany it. Identifying which acts are most central to or prototypical of each trait category. Category- bird: most thought of: sparrows and robins, not penguins and turkeys. Securing information on the actual performance of individuals in their daily lives. Doesn"t specify how much context to needed.
