Topic 4: Trait Perspective
Key Features
emphasis on individual differences
consistent in actions, thoughts, feelings across time and situations
differences in pattern compositions => individual differences
idea of personality being patterns of trait qualities
History
Hippocrates (400BC)
Galen (150AD)
Carl Jung (1930s)
4 Humours
temperament changes due to excess of humours
Blood
sanguine => optimistic, carefree
Phlegm
phlegmatic => calm, stoic
Black Bile
melancholic =>
depressed
Yellow Bile
choleric => angry, irritable
believed people were of certain types: introvert or extrovert
Introvert
prefers solitude and withdraws when stressed
Extrovert
prefers company of others and seeks out others when stressed
Types vs Traits
Traits
quantitative differences in degree of characteristic exp. in personality
Types
discontinuous and discrete categories
qualitative differences between people
people differ on a continuous dimension
Nomothetic View
traits exist in the same way in everyone
everyone exists on a common trait continuum => allows true comparisons to occur
individuality => unique combinations of levels on trait dimensions common to everyone
derived from Greek word "nomos" meaning law => idea of establishing general laws to study others
Idiographic View
emphasis on individual uniqueness in expressions, thoughts, feelings of traits (eg. extraversion)
Traits are unique and individualised
Unable to make meaningful comparisons
Factor Analysis
aims to find correlations across many variables
correlations in multiple qualities across many people
reflect underlying trait that contributes to them
1⃣ Collecting measurements on many variables from many people
2⃣ Correlational Computation
in the form of self-reports or observer ratings
3⃣ Factor Extraction
calculating correlations between each pair of variables
forming a correlation matrix
reduces correlations to factors (shared dimensions of commonalities)
links between items (eg. 2, 3, 5) considered factors
4⃣ Factor Loading
Loadings
5⃣ Naming Factors
measured by correlations between item and factor (r > 0.40)
extent to which the item reflects underlying dimension
name guides future research and thinking
conveys the essence of underlying quality
Limitations
only guided by items that load onto factor
items can be ambiguous
Uses
Development of assessments
Reduces multiple personality measurements to smaller sets of traits
Provides basis for comparing factor importance to traits
selecting items that load strongly and discarding items that don't
does not tell you what to measure
repeating the process to improve external validity
Starting Points
Empirical approach
endorsed by Raymond Cattell
believed that preconceptions would lead one astray
Language
evolution of languages would include words that describe human qualities
Lexical Criterion of Importance
⬆ number of descriptive words for a quality suggests ⬆ importance of that quality
Cattell factor analysed 171 trait terms
emerging factors were trait dimensions important to personality
resulted in 16 Personality Factor inventory
Theoretical Approach
endorsed by Hans Eysenck
believed in starting with well-developed ideas on personality
Supertraits
began with typology of Hippocrates & Galen and observations of Jung & Wundt
supertraits ➡ traits ➡ habits ➡ specific responses
4 Categories
Phlegmatic
⬇ extraversion & ⬇ neuroticism
careful, calm, controlled
Melancholic
⬇ extraversion & ⬆ neuroticism
anxious, pessimistic
Sanguine
⬆ extraversion & ⬇ neuroticism
carefree, sociable
Choleric
⬆ extraversion & ⬆ neuroticism
excitable, aggressive
Extraversion-Introversion & Neuroticism-Emotional Stability
Similarities to 16PF
supertraits resemble first 2 traits in 16PF
16PF second-order factors
factors (clusters) extracted from factors
resemble extraversion and neuroticism
Hierarchical view of supertraits
component traits resemble 16PF traits
Interpersonal Approach
endorsed by Jerry Wiggins & co
Interpersonal Circle
centered on two core dimensions underlying human relations
Dominance
Unassured-Submissive 🕕
Love (horizontal)
Warm-Agreeable 🕒
core human traits embedded in human relationships
Cold-Hearted 🕘
Assured-Dominant 🕛
total of eight personality patterns
introversion-extraversion not fundamental but result from intersection of dominance and love
5 Factor Model
emerging academic consensus that personality incorporates five superordinate factors
Research evidence
Diverse samples and assessments
Teacher ratings of children, peer ratings, nonverbal assessments
collected across diverse cultures and languages
studied proverbs for evidence of five factors
research literature has impressive fit to five factor model
Disagreements
Naming
Choice of items used for factor analysis
various word connotations
click to edit
Factors
Extraversion
life domain of power
Other Labels / Features
assertiveness, spontaneity
tendency towards happiness
sociability
some argue this is product of extraversion features
general agreement among researchers
Neuroticism
Agreeableness
Conscientiousness
Openness to Experience
life domain of affect
Other Labels
emotional stability / control
high agreement among researchers
refers to subjective experience of anxiety and distress
life domain of love
Features
Other Labels
Conformity
Likeability
Friendly compliance
concern with maintaining social order and relationships
nurturance and emotional supportiveness
inhibition of negative affect
⬇ agreeableness
⬆ frequency of power displays to resolve social conflict
experience ⬆ conflicts
okay agreement among researchers
life domain of work
Other Labels
Responsibility
Will to achieve
low agreement among researchers
conscientious loads on itself and agreeableness
examinations of qualities of conscientiousness concluded that no single measure encompasses all
suggests that better name may exist
does not fully reflect qualities of persistence, planning, purposive pursuit of goals
lowest agreement among researchers
life domain of intellect
⬆ openness
⬆ favourable interracial attitudes and ⬇ stigmatisation
Disagreements
Differences in measurements
does not measure logical aspect of intelligence
❌ evidence that openness and intellect qualities rely on different brain areas
argue that measures of imaginative and logical aspects of IQ merge => imply intellect is better name
Features
having social impact
⬆ agreeableness
⬆ social support from family members
⬇ poaching of romantic partners and ⬇ responsive to poaching attempts by others
⬆ responsiveness in parenting
value benevolence and tradition
value achievement and stimulation
⬆ extraversion
⬆ interactions with women
firm handshake that signals confidence
Features of ⬆ conscientiousness
⬆ health-linked behaviours and ⬆ lifespan
⬆ job success & more affected by job loss
⬆ sexual satisfaction in marriages
click to edit
⬆ neuroticism
⬆ difficult interactions bet. married partners and ⬆ likelihood of distancing from partner after negative event
⬇ relationship satisfaction
predicts earlier death partly because smoke more
NEO-PI-R
five factors are superordinate traits with six narrow traits per domain
Variations
Expanding
Honesty-Humility
may be absorbed by agreeableness in some measures
⬆ predictive validity of 5 factor model
Condensing
6th supertrait that is added to the five-factor model
higher-order analysis of 5 factors yields 2
Socialisation
Personal Growth
⬇ neuroticism, agreeableness, conscientiousness
influence whether people have good social relations
extraversion and openness
influences whether people expose themselves to new things and ⬆ growth
aka stability
aka plasticity
Supertraits or facet traits
facet traits are better predictors of behaviour
supertraits allow for intuitive understanding of personality causes
Trait influence on behaviour
Assumptions
traits being stable aspects of personality that influence behaviour in wide range of settings
trait differences should predict behavioural differences
Studies
Walter Mischel
poor correlations between trait self-reports and behaviours (r = 0.30)
finding suggests traits only account for 9% of behaviour r2=0.09
Limitations
faulty self-report measures
faulty behavioural measurements
Situationism
extreme view that situational factors exclusively define behaviour
promoted by social psychologists
Evidence
situations and traits reported with different statistics so difficult to make comparisons
Converted statistics reported in famous studies on situations to correlations
Found situations had same correlation (r = 0.3)
Interactionism
view that traits and situations interact to influence behaviour
Situations
Situation Strength
Strong Situations
force behaviour into channels and restrict personality expression
Eg. army setting
Weak Situations
Eg. lawn of college campus
allow easy expressions of personality
Eg. stressful situation causes extroverts to seek others and introverts to withdraw
cause one behaviour in one person and another behaviour in others
Personality
influences choice on situations that people enter
different responses elicited from others due to personality differences
change the situation
Later studies found stronger correlations
reflects influence of multiple traits on behaviour
Intuitively understood
Context-Specific Expressions
Verbal Hedges
Eg. shy with strangers
implies understanding that trait-based behaviour only occurs in certain situations
word or phrase that limits trait applicability
understanding of traits as patterns of linkages that link situations to actions
action should not be expected to occur always because situation does not always occur
Behavioural Signature
unique patterns of situation-action links established over time and experience
idiographic traits
traits as situation-linked frequency distributions of states
Assessments
represents important focus of the trait perspective
extensively uses self-report measures
used to construct personality profiles
reflects nomothetic assumption that everyone can be placed on the trait dimension
identify trait interactions
eg. Boldness expressed differently based on levels of sociability
Personality Disorders
represented as extreme manifestations of big five traits
represented well in big five model and facet scales are even more accurate
Context of Problems
traits as vulnerabilities or susceptibilities to problematic behaviour
emerge in certain situations
Diathesis-Stress Model
diathesis refers to susceptibility
interaction between diathesis and stress for problematic behaviour to emerge
Limitations
no explanation of how and why people behave a certain way
Circular Explanations
behaviour is used to infer existence of traits
traits are used to explain behaviour
can be broken if traits are used to predict novel behaviours
only claims to present a single angle
more links developed with other perspectives that provide underlying mechanisms for trait operations
Similarities with supertraits
extroversion and neuroticism relate to Eysenck's extroversion and emotional stability
five factors are superordinate traits each composed of facet traits similar to hierarchy of traits suggested by Eysenck