Ch.8, Applications of Trait Theory Flashcards
Fundamentals Lexical Hypothesis:
the most important of individual differences in human transactions will come to be encoded as single terms in some or all of the world’s languages (AS PEOPLE INTERACT, OBSERVE ONE ANOTHER, AND DISCUSS INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES, THEY WILL DEVELOP TERMS THAT REFERENCE THE DIFFERENCES THAT ARE MOST SIGNIFICANT)
Subjective Well-Being:
extent to which people think their life is going well
NEO-PI-R Hierarchal Structure
Developed by Mccrae and Costa
Divided each OCEAN trait into 6 individual facets that show discriminant and convergent validity from traits. Most widely used personality test in corporate/professional landscape.
Five Factor Theory, Genetics
Individual difference variables identified through factor analysis correspond to psychological structures in every individual
Traits are genetically determined
Independent of environmental influence
Traits are fixed because they are genetically determined
Traits = causal factors of behavior itself
Criticisms of Big Five
Fails to specify the dynamic/fluid nature of personality
Traits are conceived as tendencies; does not specify the biological/ psychological mechanisms associated with them
Personality is NOT static over the life course; argues against a biological determinism argument
Trait theories are not universal like they claim to be: conception of personality differs across cultures; NO EVIDENCE supports that all individuals have these basic five traits
No evidence of psychological structures that correspond to the five traits like the theory says
Translation of trait terms is not direct across all languages and therefore cannot be universal; DOES NOT REPLICATE AT ALL ACROSS CULTURES THAT ARE NOT WESTERNIZED
Ecological Niche Hypothesis of Big Five
To succeed in life, individuals may develop skills and behavioral tendencies that best fit an environmental niche to thrive and survive (just like animals do
Cultural differences in personality can therefore be explained by “niches”
Found that the more complex the social environment is, the more personality traits there are (STILL OPPOSES BIOLOGICAL ARGUMENT)
Not biological and says that the Big Five therefore cannot be universal
HEXACO Model
Honesty/Humiliaty, Extraversion/Intraversion, Agreeableness/Disagreeableness, Conscientiousness, Openess/Closedness
Evidence is strong that a sixth factor is needed
Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory, Jeffery Gray
Specific goal is to identify neural subsystems in the brain that correspond to universal types of motivation and emotion
Top Down Explanation: describes an approach in which one tries to identify a small set of “high level” personality variables—once they are identified it is said to explain a variety of lower level tendencies and behaviors (often high level individual difference variables will not correspond consistently to psychological structures)
RST, BOTTOM UP EXPLANATION
To address the erros of a top down explanation, they moved to a Bottom-Up Explanation: first identify the fundamental properties of the brain-behavioral system and then relate variations in these systems to known measures of personality
RST, Neural Subsystem:
interconnected collection of mechanisms that may be located in different parts of the brain, yet that work together to carry out a particular function
Three RST Systems
hree RST Systems
Behavioral Approach System: biological system that responds to pleasurable, desired stimuli (people with an active BAS would be more impulsive)
Flight/Fight/Freeze System: responds to aversive stimuli (people with an active FFFS would be prone to fear related disorders)
Behavioral Inhibition System: resolves goal conflicts/ risk assessment (people with an active BIS would be prone to experiencing anxiety)
Person-Situation Interaction:
any given personality structure may be activated in one situation but not another, thus psychological structures and situations interact; people’s behavior varies from one situation to another
Criticisms of neural subsystems
Not comprehensive: humans possess so many more psychological systems than the ones mentioned that govern behavior, although it does help to form a genetic argument
Person Situation Controversy
Examines the importance of situational factors in personality functioning and have explained that situational influences may contribute to the relative weakness of global personality traits in predicting behavior
Scientific Evaluation off Trait theories, (database, systematic, testable,comprehensive)
Database: diverse, objective, scientifically based (but rarely employs in depth measures like Freud or Rogers)
Systematic: low on providing systematic account of personality dimensions, does not specify how traits influence experience and behavior which is important
Testable: extremely high on testability and objectivity
Comprehensive: highly comprehensive through extensive lexical research, however it misses many important domains of behavior, too focused on taxonomy of traits, lacks info about personality process, lack of attention to the individual and instead focus on differences
