Eysenck’s Trait/Type Theory Flashcards
Eysenck: Introduction
Eysenck, Hans Jurgen 1916-97, was a British psychologist.
He was known for his theory of human personality.
He suggested that personality is biologically determined and is arranged in a hierarchy consisting of types, traits, habitual responses, and specific responses.
Eysenck did not believe in Freudian psychoanalysis as he considered it rather unscientific.
Eysenck’s PEN Model: Introduction
According to Eysenck Personality can be studied from either temperamental or cognitive aspects, or both
He focussed on the temperament aspect of personality in his PEN model. For better understanding of the PEN model, therefore, the study should begin with its description or taxonomy of personality or temperament.
Taxonomy (classification) in the study of personality
As Eysenck (1991) states, “In any science, taxonomy precedes causal analysis” (p. 774).
In the course of taxonomy (classification) , any organisms can be organised into groups based on characters and their relationships.
Eysenck describes in plain terms how taxonomy in the study of personality can be achieved using the correlational technique called factor analysis:
In the case of personality study the organisms concerned are human beings, the characters are traits, measured by experiment, by rating, by self-rating, or in some other way.
Traits can be correlated over subjects, or subjects over traits, giving us groups of people showing similarity over traits, or groups of traits, cohering as factors over people. We can then look at the traits (or people) having the highest factor loadings in order to better identify the trait clusters. (Eysenck,
1991, p. 775)
Traits and types in taxonomy
Individual differences in personality or temperament are analysed in terms of traits, which can be defined as theoretical constructs based on “covariation of a
number of behavioural acts” (Eysenck & Eysenck, 1985, p. 12).
However, Eysenck (1991) further supposes that traits themselves intercorrelate and make up higher-order factors or superfactors, which Eysenck calls “types.”
As a result, the PEN (Psychoticism Extraversion and Neuroticism) model proposes a hierarchical classification of personality containing four levels.
Four levels of heirarchical classification of PEN
As a result, the PEN (Psychoticism Extraversion and Neuroticism) model proposes a hierarchical classification of personality containing four levels.
At the very bottom level of the hierarchy are behaviours such as talking with a friend on a single occasion.
At the second level are habits such as talking with friends on multiple occasions, which are comprised of recurring behaviours.
The third level of the hierarchy is that of traits or factors such as sociability, which are comprised of intercorrelated sets of habits.
At the top of the hierarchy are superfactors or dimensions of personality such as extraversion, which are intercorrelated sets of traits or factors.
Eysenck suggests three such superfactors: extraversion (E), neuroticism (N), and
psychoticism (P).
These three superfactors or dimensions of personality are orthogonal to each other, which means that they do not correlate with each other
(Eysenck & Eysenck, 1985).
Principle of ‘aggregration’ in PEN model
The PEN model is based on the principle of “aggregation,” in which measures will have higher reliability if they are comprised of many items (Eysenck, 1990).
That is, each superfactor in the PEN model is comprised of many different factors, habits, and behaviours, and thus reliability of measurement is increased.
The superfactors of extraversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism at the top level of the hierarchy are stable, whereas behaviours such as talking with a friend on a single occasion at the bottom of the hierarchy are changeable across time and
situation.
In this respect, the distinction between levels is very important for the analysis of personality in the PEN model.
Three dimensions of Personality
Eysenck strongly advocates that there are only three major dimensions or superfactors in the description of personality:
- extraversion-introversion;
- emotional stability versus instability, or neuroticism; - and psychoticism versus impulse control (Eysenck & Eysenck, 1985).
In the PEN model, these dimensions or superfactors are based on “constitutional, genetic, or inborn factors, which are to be discovered in the physiological, neurological, and biochemical structure of the individual” (Eysenck & Eysenck,
1985, pp. 42-43).
Each person does not necessarily have either 100 percent or zero percent of extraversion, neuroticism, or psychoticism. An individual may show some degree of these superfactors on the continuum. A person may have high extraversion, moderate neuroticism, and low psychoticism.
Psychosis
3 dimensions
Eysenck suggests after studying psychosis:
1) Psychotic symptoms and illnesses do not form completely separate diagnostic entities.
2) Psychosis is not a separate diagnostic entity which is categorically separated from normality
3) This continuum is co-linear with the concept of psychoticism, embodied in the P scale of the EPQ.
The continuum of the PEN model
3 dimensions
On this continuum, a person with high extraversion is sociable, popular, optimistic, and rather unreliable, whereas a person with low extraversion is quiet,
introspective, reserved, and reliable.
A person with high neuroticism is anxious, worried, moody, and unstable, whereas a person with low neuroticism is calm, even-tempered, carefree, and emotionally stable.
A person with high psychoticism is troublesome, uncooperative, hostile, and socially withdrawn, whereas a person with low psychoticism is altruistic, socialised, empathic, and conventional
(Eysenck & Eysenck, 1985).
Causal Aspects
Based on a three-dimensional description of personality, the PEN model further attempts to provide causal explanation of personality.
The PEN model looks for psychophysiological, hormonal, and other biological mechanisms responsible for the personality dimensions, so that the theory can be tested by scientific
experiments.
Eysenck and Eysenck (1985) clearly contend that “no theory would be considered valid that did not make testable and verified predictions” (p. 187).
Consequently, Eysenck (1990) proposes the arousal theory, by modifying his inhibition theory to explain the causal roots of the three dimensions of personality.
Self Assessment Questions
1) Elucidate the Trait Type theory of personality by Eysenck.
2) What is meant by Hierarchical Taxonomy? How is personality types
conceived of by Eysenck in terms of the taxonomy?
3) What are the three dimensions of personality?
4) Define and describe the causal aspects of personality according to
Eysenck.
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