Lecture 5- Trait Approach to Personality Flashcards
What are the 2 main assumptions of the trait approach?
1) traits are stable over time
2) traits are stable across situations
What did William Wundt change about the categorical types of personality?
changed them into dimensions
What were William Wundt’s trait dimensions?
- Mood stability
- Strength
Outline Sheldon’s Theory of Physic and temperament
- Personality called SOMA types
- each body type associated with each temperament
What was Galton’s approach to personality traits?
Lexical
What is the Lexical approach
meaningful personality descriptors will tend to become encoded in language as single words
How do we know if the personality trait is important in the lexical approach?
1) Frequency of use
2) Number of words in the Language (to describe trait)
What does high fact theories mean?
a relatively large number of
personality traits to account for human behaviour.
What does low factor theories mean?
relatively small numbers of
personality traits to account for human behaviour
What are the weaknesses of high factor theories?
controversial; difficult to replicate
What is the AO3 for low factor theories?
less controversial; easier to replicate;
although far too simplistic
Outline Allport’s approach (1897-1967)
- distinguished between nomothetic & ideographic
- ## identified 18,000 words of which 4,500 described personality
What traits did Allport find?
- Cardinal
- Central
- Secondary
- Proprium (the self)
What is a Cardinal trait?
trait that dominates the personality
What is a central trait?
a few consistencies in behaviour
What is a secondary trait?
preferences and habits
What is Proprium?
- the self that develops over time
- Allport believes that children are not born with the concept of self
Outline Cattell’s approach
- used factor analysis to determine the structure of personality
- precise measurement and prediction
- best-known measure of personality (16F)
- distinction between surface and source traits
Define Surface traits
Surface traits: Collections of
trait descriptors that cluster
together in many individuals
and situations (46 traits).
Define Source traits
The causes of
behaviour. Underlying traits
revealed using factor
analysis. Basic elements of
personality.
What data did Cattell collect?
- L-data (life record data)
- Q-data (self-reported data)
- T-data (objective test data)
What did Cattell find?
- Identified 16 sources traits
- Basic structure of personality
what does the basic structure of personality contain?
-ability
- temperament
- dynamic traits
