chap. 7

Question 1

What is the trait concept? (what is a trait, its connotations…)

Answer 1

• Personality traits refer to consistent patterns in the way individuals behave, feel, and think
• Traits summarize a person’s typical behaviour and thus describe what a person typically is like (what you typically do is what you’re typically like)- Two connotations:
  1) Consistency: trait describes a regularity in behaviour, across time and situations
  2) Distinctiveness: trait theorists typically concerned with ways in which individuals differ from each other

Question 2

What does the decision to build a personality theory on traits imply?

Answer 2

• that individuals are consistent in spite of the changes presented by social life
  → People possess psychological qualities that endure across time and place

Question 3

What are the 3 scientific functions served by trait constructs?

Answer 3

• Description: Needs to describe what a person is typically like
• Prediction: Needs to predict everyday behaviour and aspects of personal environment
• Explanation: Need to explain behaviour

Question 4

What does it mean to be able to describe a personality using trait theory?

Answer 4

• Trait theories could be seen as providing basic descriptive facts that need to be explained by any theory of personality
• Most trait theorists try to establish an overall descriptive scheme within which any and all persons can be described
• They try to establish a personality taxonomy – a scientist’s way of classifying the things being studied; in a taxonomy, ALL of the traits have to be used to describe a person
  → p.ex: 5 traits theory can be taken and used to explain any person’s personality

Question 5

What is a personality taxonomy?

Answer 5

• Used in trait theories
• It is a scientist’s way of classifying the things being studied; in a taxonomy, ALL of the traits have to be used to describe a person

Question 6

What does it mean to be able to predict a personality using trait theory?

Answer 6

• With traits, one should be able to predict things such as everyday behaviour and aspects of personal environments
• With traits, one can often make predictions that have important practical value – for example, predicting which applicants will be most appropriate for a job
  → p.ex: someone high on emotional stability would be good for bomb diffusion

Question 7

What does it mean to be able to explain a personality using trait theory?

Answer 7

• This is the most challenging for a scientific theory
• Some trait theories confine themselves by using traits to describe and predict, without being able to explain, this is a limitation to trait theories
• Some trait theorists suggest that trait constructs can be used to explain a person’s behavior.
  –> p.ex: One might say that a student shows up on time for class and takes good lecture notes because the person is high on the trait of conscientiousness
• Others treat traits as if they can explain by identifying biological factors that underlie traits
• Most trait theorists believe that inherited biological factors are a primary determinant of individual differences in traits

Question 8

Explain the hierarchical organization of personality.

Answer 8

• Eysenck suggests 4 levels:
  1) Specific response level
• These are particular ways you respond to things in your environment
  2) Habitual response level
• However, some of these responses are linked together and form more general habits
  3) Trait level
• Groups of habits that tend to occur
  together form traits
  –> For example, people who prefer meeting people to reading also generally enjoy themselves at a lively party (habitual response); this bit of information suggests that these two habits can be grouped together under the trait of sociability
  4) High order factors (superfactors)
• traits, but at the highest, most abstract level of generalization

Question 9

Explain Gordon Allport’s trait theory and its componenents.

Answer 9

• Allport distinguishes personality traits from temporary states and activities
• He identifies 3 types of traits
  1) Cardinal traits express dispositions that are so pervasive that virtually every act is traceable to its influence
• Every act you engage in can be traced back to this trait
• p.ex: being “machiavellian” is about a man with the name, thus is expressions were all traced back to this one trait that it was named after him
• Not a very supported concept, people don’t typically have these
  2) Central traits express dispositions that cover a more limited range of situations
• p.ex: kindness, sociable, lively
  3) Secondary dispositions are traits that are the least conspicuous, generalized, and consistent
• people possess traits with varying degrees of significance and generality
• These are things that occur in very specific situations, specific traits

Question 10

What were some of Allport’s beliefs about the expression of traits in varying situations that were different from other trait theorists?

Answer 10

• Allport recognized the importance of the situation in explaining why a person does not behave the same way all the time (contrary to other theorists)
  –> He recognized that “traits are often aroused in one situation and not in another”, for example, even the most introverted person may behave in an extraverted fashion in certain situations
• Felt that both trait and situation concepts are necessary to understand behaviour
• Traits are necessary to explain consistency, whereas situations are necessary to explain variability
  → p.ex: someone who is moderate to high on extraversion will have different behaviour when in a social setting rather than when they’re at home doing work
  → in one context, they’ll use the extraversion
• A trait expresses what a person generally does over many situations, not what will be done in any one situation

Question 11

What is idiographic research from Allport’s theory?

Answer 11

• Focus is on the potentially unique individual
• In-depth studies of individual persons are viewed as a path for learning about people generally
• Contrasts with other trait theorists, who generally adopt nomothetic procedures in which large numbers of individuals are described in terms of a common universal set of personality traits

Question 12

What are some critiques of Allport’s theory?

Answer 12

• Clarified the trait concept but did little research to establish the utility of specific trait concepts because it can’t be applied to other people
• Believed that many traits were hereditary, but did no research to substantiate this
• Documented that people display unique and consistent patterns of trait-related behaviour, but provided no detailed processing model to explain that behaviour

Question 13

What statistical tool is used by trait theorists for summarizing the ways in which a large number of variables are correlated?

Answer 13

Factor analysis

Question 14

How is factor analysis used in trait theory? Give an example

Answer 14

• In a typical factor-analytic study, a large number of test items are administered to many subjects
• Some items will be positively correlated with one another, others will be negatively correlated
• These correlations might reflect the influence of an underlying “factor”
  → the correlations explain why some of the traits are related
• For example, we might find correlated statements which reflect the influence of an underlying factor or trait, such as neuroticism

Question 15

Of the big 5, what do these statements relate to?
→ I find that I often worry about the future
→ I tend to not adjust well to new routines
→ If something upsets me, I do my best to try not to think about it

Answer 15

Neuroticism

Question 16

Of the big 5, what do these statements relate to?
→ I find that I’m happiest when I’m with other people
→ I like to be in the midst of a lot of activity
→ I have no trouble showing affection for people

Answer 16

Extraversion

Question 17

Of the big 5, what do these statements relate to?
→ People can count on me to get a job done well
→ It is important that my work area be very organized
→ I believe that punctuality is a sign of good character

Answer 17

Conscientiousness

Question 18

Of the big 5, what do these statements relate to?
→ I get along with many people
→ I like to pitch in and help whenever possible
→ I find I am able to forgive others rather easily

Answer 18

Agreeableness

Question 19

Of the big 5, what do these statements relate to?
→ I enjoy learning about philosophy
→ I enjoy abstract art
→ I like to try ethnic restaurants I’ve never been to before

Answer 19

Openness

Question 20

Explain Raymond Cattell’s factor analytical trait theory.

Answer 20

• Divides traits into 2
  1) Surface traits
• Represent behavioural tendencies that exist on the surface and can be observed
  2) Source traits
• The internal psychological structures that were the underlying cause of observed intercorrelations among surface traits
• Source traits cause surface traits

Question 21

Cattell identified 16 source traits which were then grouped into 3 categories, name and explain them.

Answer 21

1) Ability traits: skills that allow the individual to function effectively
→ intellect, intelligence, creativity
2) Temperament traits: traits involved in emotional life
→ p.ex: how calm or impulsive you are
3) Dynamic traits: traits involved in motivational life

Question 22

What were Cattell’s sources of evidence for his theory?

Answer 22

• Derived from factor analyses of Q-data
• Cattell was concerned with problems of self- deception in questionnaire ratings and with the utility of mental patients’ self-ratings on questionnaires
• Later relied on OT-data (objective testing data) for personality research
  → Involves behaviour in situations in which the participant is unaware of the relationship between the response and the characteristic being measured
  → Assertiveness could be expressed in behaviours such as fast tempo in arm-shoulder movement, and fast speed of letter comparisons
  → Though some relations were found across all three data sources, no direct one-to-one mapping of factors was possible (correlating the Q-data and OT-data)

Question 23

True or false: Cattell viewed persons as static entities who behaved the same way in all situations.

Answer 23

False

Question 24

Cattell highlighted 2 determinants of social action, what were they?

Answer 24

1) States refer to emotions and mood that are partly determined by the immediate situation
2) Social roles determine certain behaviours more so than traits
→ p.ex: when you’re adopting the role of a student, you display a lot of conscientiousness but at home, that does not come out

Question 25

In this example, states, social roles and traits are displayed, which statement is related to which one of Cattell’s determinants?
“How vigorously Smith attacks his meal depends not only on how hungry he happens to be (___) but also on his temperament (___) and whether he is having dinner with his employer or is eating alone at home (___)”

Answer 25

State; personality trait; social role

Question 26

What did Eysenck believe of Cattell’s theory?

Answer 26

• He believed Cattell had too many factors, he wanted to reduce them and make sure none of them were correlated
  –> He thus conducted factors analyses and “secondary” factor analyses
• The first analysis might indicate
  the existence of a moderately large number of factors (16 in Cattell’s case)
  –> But these factors are not statistically independant
• This secondary analysis is used to identify a simple set of factors that are independant, which he called superfactors

Question 27

What are superfactors?

Answer 27

• superfactors are continuous dimensions, with a high and a low end and with most people falling in the middle
• found using secondary factor analysis

Question 28

What 2 superfactors did Eysenck find?

Answer 28

1) Introversion-Extraversion: Organizes lower-level traits such as sociability, activity, liveliness and excitability
2) Neuroticism-Stability: Organizes traits such as anxious, depressed, shy, and moody

Question 29

Eysenck added a third factor to his superfactors, creating the PEN model; what was the third?

Answer 29

• He added psychoticism: “abnormal” qualities, including aggressiveness, a lack of empathy, interpersonal coldness, and antisocial behavioural tendencies (against societal norms, violent, aggressive behaviour)
  → he added this one because he believed the first 2 weren’t enough
  → he associated a high level of all 3 factors with criminal behaviour

Question 30

How would we measure Eysenck’s PEN factors?

Answer 30

• Self-report “yes or no” items
• Also includes “lie scale” items, which are things that most people should be able to admit doing once or twice

Question 31

What objective measures were used to measure Eysenck’s factors?

Answer 31

• Lemon drop test
  → Introverts and extraverts differ in the amount of saliva they produce in response
  → introverts with a higher cortical arousal make them salivate more, with the lemon drop, they would thus react more
  → May be a biological basis to individual differences; Reticular Activating System (RAS)

Question 32

Why did Eysenck look into biological reasoning of personality traits?

Answer 32

• we fall into a cycle when trying to explain why a person is extroverted
  → a person is extroverted because they are sociable and lively, but they’re sociable and lively because they are extroverted and so on

Question 33

What are some of the biological differences between introverts and extraverts according to Eysenck?

Answer 33

1) They differ in the neurophysiological functioning of the brain’s cortex
- Introverts experience more cortical arousal from events than do extraverts; intense social stimuli make them over-aroused and are therefore more socially inhibited
→ overstimulation is an aversive feeling, introverts thus try to avoid anything that will further this feeling
- Extraverts experience less cortical arousal than introverts from a given stimulus; they seek out more intense social experiences
2) It is also partly hereditary
- In comparing twins, we can see this

Question 34

True or false: There is cross-cultural evidence consistent with Eysenck’s biological theorizing of introverts and extraverts.

Answer 34

True: Individual differences are stable over time and across cultures

Question 35

According to Eysenck, what are the 2 key neural systems underlying differences in neuroticism?

Answer 35

1) limbic system (emotional arousal)
2) the autonomic nervous system (ANS) (bodily arousal)
→ Eysenck’s prediction: Among individuals high on neuroticism, the ANS would respond particularly quickly to stress and would be slow to decrease its activity once danger disappears
→ Research has not consistently supported this theory

Question 36

Selected evidence indicates that introverts, compared to extraverts are…

Answer 36

• Are more sensitive to pain than extraverts (because of the overarousal)
• Become fatigued more easily than extraverts
• Experience decrements in performance when excited (due to the approach-avoidance aspect, people who are introverted don’t thrive in excitement because of the high level of arousal)
• Tend to be more careful
  → extroverts tend to be more sensation seeking

Question 37

True or false: Extraverts do better in school than introverts.

Answer 37

False: It is the other way around
→ extroverts might be more interested in the social aspect of school, introverts are more careful thus pay more attention, and focus better
→ in relation to SDT, extroverts may not be able to satisfy their ABC needs in the academic setting (sitting and listening without interaction), leading to a lack of motivation and interest in their studies

Question 38

Students withdrawing from college for ___ reasons tend to be extraverts, whereas those who withdraw for ___ reasons tend to be introverts

Answer 38

Academic; psychiatric

Question 39

What are some differences between extroverted and introverted people?

Answer 39

→ Extraverts prefer vocations involving interactions with other people; introverts tend to prefer more solitary vocations
→ Extraverts seek diversion from job routine; introverts have less need for novelty
→ Extraverts enjoy explicit sexual and aggressive humor; introverts prefer more intellectual forms of humor such as puns and subtle jokes
→ Extraverts are more active sexually, in terms of frequency and different partners, than introverts
→ Extraverts are more suggestible than introverts

Question 40

What did Campbell and Hawley’s research indicate about study habits among introverts and extraverts?

Answer 40

• Indicates that extraverts:
  → More often chose to study in library locations that provided external stimulation than did introverts (extroverts are more likely to study in public, introverts more at home)
  → Took more study breaks than did introverts
  → Reported a preference for a higher level of noise and for more socializing opportunities while studying than did introverts

Question 41

What did Gheewalla’s research indicate about effects of background noise and extraversion on reading comprehension performance?

Answer 41

• Based on Eysenck’s theory - Sirens would act as a stimulating distractor and result in introverts taking a greater amount of time to complete a reading comprehension task in noise conditions compared to extraverts
• Examined whether white noise and the sound of sirens affected reading comprehension between introverts and extroverts (measured as time taken to complete task)
• Results found that on average, participants completed the comprehension task most rapidly in silence, followed by white noise and then sirens
  → There were no introvert-extravert effects

Question 42

True or false: Most people would rate extraversion as more desirable than introversion.

Answer 42

True: Extraversion is associated with leadership and business success

Question 43

What did Suliman & Einat’s study indicate on whether work stress can change personalities (correctional officers)?

Answer 43

• People who are higher in neuroticism seem to be choosing this job from the get-go
• There is an increase in neuroticism in correctional officers

Question 44

In accordance with the PEN model, the majority of neurotic patients tend to have…

Answer 44

High N
Low E

Question 45

In accordance with the PEN model, criminals and antisocial persons tend to have…

Answer 45

High N
High E
High P

Question 46

True or false: People inherent genetic predispositions, but it is possible for them to change.

Answer 46

True: it’s possible for a person to…
→ Avoid traumatic situations
→ Unlearn fear responses
→ Learn appropriate social conduct