McCrae and Costa: Five-Factor Trait Theory Flashcards
Method of gathering data with no preconceived bias concerning the number or name of traits or types.
Inductive method
Method of gathering data with preconceived hypothesis in mind before they begin to collect data.
Deductive method
Traits that are concerned with how a person behaves.
Temperament
Traits that deal with why one behaves.
Motivation
Traits that refer to how far or how fast one can perform.
Ability
A mathematical procedure for expressing the degree of correspondence between two sets of scores.
Correlation coefficient
A table of intercorrelations.
Matrix
Factors that represent a cluster of closely related variables.
Traits
Correlations of scores with factors.
Factor loadings
Traits that are scaled from zero to some large amount.
Unipolar traits
Traits that extend from one pole to an opposite pole, with zero representing a midpoint.
Bipolar traits
Assumes some positive or negative correlation and refers to an angle of less than or more than 90°.
Oblique method
A revision of an earlier unpublished unpublished personality inventory that measured only the first 3 dimensions.
NEO-PI
Distinguishes people who prefer variety from those who have a need for closure and who gain comfort in their association with familiar people and things.
Openness to experience
Distinguishes soft-hearted people from ruthless ones.
Agreeableness scale
Describes people who are ordered, controlled, organized, ambitious, achievement focused, and self-disciplined.
Conscientiousness
Represented by arrows; indicate the direction of causal influence.
Dynamic process
The universal raw material of personality capacities and dispositions that are generally inferred rather than observed.
Basic tendencies
Acquired personality structures that develop as people adapt to their environment.
Characteristic adaptations
Consists of knowledge, views, and evaluations of the self, ranging from miscellaneous facts of personal history to the identity that gives a sense of purpose and coherence to life.
Self-concept
3 central components of behaviour according to McCrae and Costa.
Basic tendencies
Characteristic adaptations
Self-concept
3 peripheral components according to McCrae and Costa.
Biological biases
Objective biography
External influences
Everything the person does, thinks, or feels across the whole lifespan.
Objective biography
All about the question of how we respond to opportunities and demands of the context.
External influences
4 postulates of basic tendencies.
Individuality
Origin
Development
Structure
Postulate that stipulates that adults have a unique set of traits and that each person exhibits a unique combination of trait patterns.
Individuality
Postulate that takes a clear if somewhat controversial stance: All personality traits are the result solely of endogenous forces.
Origin
Postulate that assumes that traits develop and change through childhood, but in adolescence their development slows, and by early to mid-adulthood, change in personality nearly stops altogether.
Development
Postulate which states that traits are organized hierarchically from narrow and specific to broad and general.
Structure
Characteristic adaptation postulate which suggests that our responses are not always consistent with personal goals or cultural values.
Maladjustment/ 2nd characteristic adaptation postulate
Characteristic adaptation postulate which states that, over time, people adapt to their environment by acquiring patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviours that are consistent with their personality traits and earlier adaptations.
1st characteristic adaption postulate
Characteristic adaptation postulate which states that basic traits may change over time in response to biological maturation, changes in the environment, or deliberate interventions.
3rd characteristic adaptation postulate
