Trait Units

Trait Units

• Trait: Consistent ways of behaving, feeling and thinking over time & situations– Summarize, predict, explain– Internal causes of behavior (traits)

• Assumptions:– Continuous dimensions from low to high– People have broad predispositions to respond

Influential Trait Theorists: Gordon Allport

• Traits in nervous system– Frequency, intensity, range of situations

• Cardinal, central & secondary traits– Organization differs, unique traits

• Dictionary study (Allport & Odbert, 1936)– 18,000 terms describing people

• Traits: Consistent, stable modes of adjustment

– Provided basis for later discovery of factors

Allport & Interactionism

• Personality impacts behavior differently depending on situation– Strong vs weak situations

• Extraversion & Talking in museum & park

Interactionism7

6.5

6

5.5

5

4.5

4

3.5

3

2.5

2

Talking

Museum Park

Low E

High E

Influential Trait Theorists: Hans Eysenck

• Emphasized correlational & experimental approaches

• Developed theory & measurement of traits

• Factor analysis to uncover basic traits

Factor Analysis

• Statistical technique that identifies groups of related items– I like people, I enjoy going to parties, I have

fun when I am with other people• Responses should covary and form a factor

• Label (Gregariousness) and quantify

• Structure

Hans Eysenck

• 3 traits (superfactors) discovered w/ FA– Neuroticism (negative affect, insecure, stressed)– Extraversion (positive affect, sociable, impulsive)– Psychoticism (aggressive, cold, antisocial)

• Biological basis (brain arousal)

Influential Trait Theorists: Raymond Cattell

• Types of Traits (major stable elements)– Function (ability - intelligence)– Emotion (temperament - N)– Motivation (dynamic - E)

• Multivariate data– L, Q, OT– 16 traits– Convergence

Raymond Cattell

• Motivation– Ergs: Innate motivations (sex, food)– Sentiments: Environmentally caused motivations

(money, love)– States - moods (anger, fatigue)

• Roles - environmentally determined guidelines for appropriate action (teacher v. student)

• Behavior due to traits, motives, states & roles

Reaction Paper 6: Trait Theorists

• Describe at least 1 similarity & 1 difference among these 3 theorists approach. Which approach seems the most parsimonious? Explain.

• PLEASE TURN THIS IN AT THE END OF CLASS!

Hierarchical Organization

• Supertraits or factors (broadest)• Traits (facets)

– Habits

• Specific Rs (narrowest)

Hierarchical Organization

• Benefits– Provides structure & organization– Small number of traits conceptually easier – Aids in measurement & theory development– Helps move empirical research forward (Hos)

Hierarchical Organization

• Problems – Gulf between factors & behavior

• IV - superfactor level

• DV - specific R level

– Error in predicting behavior • Prediction better w/ traits than superfactors

• Superfactors have high breadth, low precision

• Levels of analysis should be similar

Day 2

Emergence of the Big-5 Traits

• Earlier work showing varying number of traits– Eysenck found 3– Cattell found 16

• Allport’s dictionary terms FAd & found 5– Replicated by numerous others (1950s-present)

Big-5 Traits

• Emerging consensus that personality structurebest represented by 5 supertraits/factors (OCEAN)– Neuroticism– Extraversion– Openness (curious, creative, imaginative) – Agreeableness (good natured, trusting, helpful)– Conscientiousness (organized, reliable, disciplined)

Big-5 Traits

• Continuous dimensions along which individuals vary (high/low)– Hierarchical structure (each trait has 6 facets)

• E: gregariousness, activity, excitement seeking, PA, warmth

– NOT function – Assessed w/ self-report measures (NEO-PI-R)

Big-5: Evidence

• Language & cross-cultural (universality)– Lexical Hypothesis: Meaningful individual

differences represented in language– FA large # of person descriptors = Trait units– 5 factor structure in many languages & cultures

• Openness, cultural-specific traits?

• Qaires correlate highly w/ Eysenck & Cattell measures

Activity 7A: Evidence of Big-5• In groups of 3-4

– Describe at least 3 additional sources of evidence for the Big-5 (Pervin controversies p. 30-32)

– Which of these is the most convincing to you?

Big-5 Critiques• FA - poor methodology to uncover units

• Heritability - 60% environment

• What are these 5 traits?– Theoretical diversity/emphasis

• E and sociable v. sensitive to rewards

• Numerical dissention– Big 7 & Big 2

• Higher-order FA shows 2 Super-Super Factors– Socialization (A C N) & Growth (E O)

Trait Units

• Strengths• Research• Hos• Biology

• Weaknesses• FA• Conceptual

– What are traits?

– Explanatory or descriptive?

• Process, motives• What else is there?

– McAdams