Chapter 7 Trait theories: Allport, Eysenck and Cattell Flashcards
Ability, temperament, and dynamic traits
p212
Cattell identified 16 source traits. He grouped the 16 source traits into three categories: ability traits, temperament traits, and dynamic traits. Ability, temperament, and dynamic traits are seen as capturing the major stable elements of personality.
Cardinal trait
p207
Having distinguished traits from states and activities, the next question is whether there might exist different kinds of traits. Allport addressed this question by distinguishing among cardinal traits, central traits, and secondary dis- positions. A cardinal trait expresses a disposition that is so pervasive and outstanding in a person’s life that virtually every act is traceable to its influ- ence. For example, we speak of the Machiavellian person, named after Niccolò Machiavelli’s portrayal of the successful Renaissance ruler; of the sadistic per- son, named after the Marquis de Sade; and of the authoritarian personality who sees virtually everything in black‐and‐white, stereotyped ways. Generally, people have few, if any, such cardinal traits
Central trait
p207
Central traits (e.g., honesty, kindness, assertiveness) express dispositions that cover a more limited range of situations than is true for cardinal traits.
Extraversion
p218
Eysenck at first identified two such superfactors, which he labeled (1) introversion–extraversion and (2) neuroticism (alternatively called emotional stability vs. instability). The superordinate concept of extraversion organizes lower‐level traits such as sociability, activity, liveliness, and excitability.
Factor analysis
p209
The tool that trait theorists have relied on is a statistical technique. The technique is called factor analysis. Factor analysis is a statistical tool for summarizing the ways in which a large number of variables go together, or co‐occur.
Functional autonomy
p207
Allport analyzed not only stable traits but also motivational processes. He emphasized the functional autonomy of human motives. This means that although the motives of an adult may have their roots in the tension‐reducing motives of the child, as Freud suggested, the adult grows out of the early motives. In adult life, motives become independent of, or autonomous from, earlier tension‐reducing drives
Introversion
p218
Eysenck at first identified two such superfactors, which he labeled (1) introversion–extraversion and (2) neuroticism (alternatively called emotional stability vs. instability). The superordinate concept of extraversion organizes lower‐level traits such as sociability, activity, liveliness, and excitability.
L-data
p212
Cattell distinguished among (1) life record data (L‐data), (2) self‐report questionnaire data (Q‐data), and (3) objective‐test data (OT‐data). L‐data, relates to behavior in actual, everyday situations such as school performance or interactions with peers. These may be actual counts of behaviors or ratings made on the basis of such observations.
Neuroticism
p218
Eysenck at first identified two such superfactors, which he labeled (1) introversion–extraversion and (2) neuroticism (alternatively called emotional stability vs. instability). Neuroticism organizes traits such as anxious, depressed, shy, and moody.
OT-data
p212
Cattell distinguished among (1) life record data (L‐data), (2) self‐report questionnaire data (Q‐data), and (3) objective‐test data (OT‐data). OT‐data, involves behavioral miniature situations in which the subject is unaware of the relationship between the response and the personality characteristic being measured.
Psychoticism
p218
It organizes personality traits that, in the extreme, we might label as “abnormal”: aggressiveness, a lack of empathy, interpersonal coldness, and antisocial behavioral tendencies. This superfactor is called psychoticism. These resulting three factors—psychoticism, extraversion, and neuroticism— comprise Eysenck’s complete model of personality structure.
Role
p215
Cattell noted that certain behaviors are more closely linked to social roles one must play than to personality traits one possesses. Social roles, not personality traits, explain why people shout at football games and not in churches.
Source trait
p211
Cattell sought to identify source traits, that is, internal psychological structures that were the source, or underlying cause, of observed intercorrelations among surface traits.
State
p214
Cattell did not view persons as static entities who behaved the same way in all situations. Social action depends not only on traits but other factors as well. Cattell highlighted two other determinants: states and roles. State refers to emotion and mood at a particular, delimited point in time. One’s psychological state is partly determined by one’s immediate situation. Illustrative states are anxiety, depression, fatigue, arousal, and curiosity.
Superfactor
p218
Superfactors are continuous dimensions, with a high and a low end and with most people falling in the middle. But they are factor‐analytic trait dimensions at the highest level of a hierarchy of traits, and thus Eysenck called them superfactors (“super” in the sense of “high”). Eysenck at first identified two such superfactors, which he labeled (1) introversion–extraversion and (2) neuroticism (alternatively called emotional stability vs. instability). Later added psychoticism.
