Chapter 6 - Using Personality Traits to Understand Behaviour

Question 1

What do research methods do to help us understand behaviour?

Answer 1

Research methods connects traits to behaviour

Question 2

What is the single trait approach?

Answer 2

It examines correlations between one trait and many behaviours

Question 3

What are the types of single trait approaches?

Answer 3

1. self-monitoring: the degree to which inner and outer selves and behaviours are the same or different across situations (high self-monitoring = less consistency; low self-monitoring = more consistent)
2. narcissism: many negative behaviours and attributes

Question 4

What is the many traits approach?

Answer 4

correlation between many traits and one behaviour

Question 5

What is an example of the many trait approach?

Answer 5

the California Q-Set

• 100 personality descriptions
• I or S data
• compare characteristic with individual

Question 6

What is the essential trait approach?

Answer 6

Theoretical approaches to reducing the many to the few (i.e. which traits are most important?)

Question 7

How can we figure out which traits are the most important?

Answer 7

• using the theoretical approach

- using the factor analytic approach (narrowing down based on correlations with other traits using statistical analysis

Question 8

How was “The Big Five” discovered?

Answer 8

Looked for traits with the most words in a language and are most universal (theoretical), then did a factor analysis of those (statistical)
- other personality tests tend to fit the Big Five groups

Question 9

What are the implications of the Big Five?

Answer 9

• should be orthogonal (unrelated)
• can bring order to research findings
• more complex than they seem at first but have limitations

Question 10

What are the limitations of the Big Five?

Answer 10

• they are not entirely orthogonal
  
  • higher order factors: stability (agreeableness, conscienciousness and neuroticism) and plasticity (openness and extraversion)
  • lower order factors
• labels are oversimplified

Question 11

Describe extraversion

Answer 11

• assertive, active, excitement seeking, dominant, optimistic, ambitious
• react less to sensory stimuli
• advantages: rated as more popular and attractive
• disadvantages: need for control, argumentative

Question 12

Describe neuroticism

Answer 12

• emotional instability, negative emotionality
• hostile, self-conscious, impulsive
• ineffective problem solving
• sensitive to social threats
• correlation with psychopathology and mental illness
• problems in family

Question 13

Describe conscientiousness

Answer 13

• competent, dutiful, achievement striving, self-discipline
• used to select employees (70% accuracy)
• predicts absenteeism (-0.33)
• better than SAT at predicting success
• more likely to feel guilty, are seen as less popular and less creative

Question 14

Describe agreeableness

Answer 14

• friendly, compliant, likeable, warm
• less vulnerability of being bullied
• involved in religious activities

Question 15

Describe openness to experience/intellect

Answer 15

• most controversial
• viewed by some as creative, imaginative, artistic and clever, but others see it as intellect
• less replicable across cultures and samples

Question 16

What is the universality of the Big Five?

Answer 16

4 out of the 5 are universal traits (openness to experience is not universal)

Question 17

What are the criticisms of the Big Five?

Answer 17

• there’s more to personality

- it’s too broad for conceptual understanding