Chapter 7 part 2 Flashcards
What is Trait theory?
model of personality that seeks to identify the basic traits necessary to describe personality
What are Traits?
Traits are consistent personality characteristics and behaviours displayed in different situations
What do trait theorists assume?
Trait theorists do not assume that some people have a trait and others do not.
*Rather, they propose that all people possess certain traits, but that the degree to which a given trait applies to a specific person varies and can be quantified
Allport’s Trait Theory: three basic categories of traits:
cardinal,
central,
and secondary.
*Cardinal trait is a single characteristic that directs most of a person’s activities.
*Ex. a totally selfless woman might direct all her energy toward humanitarian activities
*Central traits are the major characteristics of an individual (usually number around 5-10 for an individual).
*Ex. honesty and sociability, are the major characteristics of an individual
*Secondary traits are characteristics that affect behaviour in fewer situations and are less influential than central or cardinal traits
*Ex. a reluctance to eat meat or a love of modern art
What is Factor analysis? Limitations?
Technique employed by Raymond Cattell to determine the structure of human personality
Procedure is confined by the type of data chosen for analysis
What are Source traits?
Basic traits that make up the human personality
Used in Factor Analysis
What did Raymond Cattel do? (Factor analysis)
– suggested that sixteen pairs of source traits represented the basic dimensions of personality
– developed the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16 PF) a measure that provides scores for each of the source traits
What did Hans Eysenck create with factor analysis?
personality could best be described in terms of just three major dimensions: extraversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism.
*The extraversion dimension relates to the degree of sociability.
*The neurotic dimension encompasses emotional stability.
*The psychoticism dimension refers to the degree to which reality is distorted.
*By evaluating people along these three dimensions, Eysenck has been able to predict behaviour accurately in a variety of types of situation
Who was Henry Murray? (What did he study)
*Personology
*Combination of psychoanalytic and trait concepts
*Needs - Basic elements of personality
*Viscerogenic needs
*Food, water, etc…
*Focused on psychogenic needs
*Readiness to respond in a certain way under certain given conditions
*Can be activated by cues in the environment
What are Murray’s two principles?
- Personality is rooted in the brain: The individual’s cerebral physiology guides and governs every aspect of the personality
- Tension reduction: People act to reduce physiological and psychological tension, but this does not mean we strive for a tension-free state
- If no tension we are bored to death, so we create tension to decrease it
What does Murray think about personality over time?
Individual’s personality continues to develop over time: It is constructed of all the events that occur during the course of that person’s life.
*Therefore, the study of a person’s past is of great importance.
*Personality changes and progresses. it is not fixed or static
What does Murray think about people being similar?
Each person is unique: However, there are similarities among all people.
*An individual human being is like no other person, like some other people, and like every other person.
How does Henry Murray describe people?
People can be described in terms of a personal hierarchy of need
What is a Press (Henry Murray)
Situation that influences the activation of a need
Pressure to bring out need
Press: Storm
Triggers a persons epistemic need (why this is happening)
- Therefore they jump to conspiracy theory about how Hawaii is being wiped from map for real estate.
What was Murray’s big contribution to psychology?
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
*Stimulated extensive research on psychogenic needs
