PERSONALITY Flashcards
1
Q
Main premise of Trait Theory
A
- Personality exists
- Personality is a probabilistic system
- personality has both quantity and quality properties
2
Q
Definition of personality in trait theory
A
dynamic set of psychobiological characteristics possessed by a person that uniquely influences cognitions, motivations and attitudes
3
Q
concept of traits
A
- traits are dispositions and cannot be directly observed, but inferred from patterns of behaviour.
- every human possesses all traits, different intensity/importance
- development ends early adulthood, stable over time and dimensionally/hierarchically structured
4
Q
traits vs states
A
states-refer to the condition of corresponding traits at any given point in time
5
Q
what is temperament?
A
characteristic reaction patterns from early age
6
Q
forces that shape personality
A
- biology & genetics
- evolution
- environmental
7
Q
how to measure traits?
A
- common assumptions
- statistics and psychometrics
- life histories
- brain scans
8
Q
Core ideas in Allport’s theory
A
- “what a human really is”
- personality is dynamic system of traits
- self-regulating and continually evolving
9
Q
Focus of Allport’s theory
A
Emphasis on the uniqueness of the person, importance of individuality
- nomothetic approach: universal
- idiographic approach: individual/unique combination of traits
