personality traits

Question 1

personality

Answer 1

a collection & system of organized psychological traits within an individual

a consistent pattern in the way the individual behaves, feels & thinks

Question 2

internal causal traits vs traits as descriptive summaries

Answer 2

internal causal traits = traits are internal - traits influence behavior

traits as descriptive summaries = traits are only descriptive summaries or attributions - they say nothing about causality

Question 3

ideographic vs nomothetic

Answer 3

ideographic = everyone has a unique combination of traits

nomothetic = everyone has the same traits in different proportion

Question 4

3 approaches to identifying traits

Answer 4

lexical approach = language

statistical approach = largest dimensions on a personality map are identified from a pool of personality terms

theoretical approach = identification of dimensions is done using theories

Question 5

allport’s traits concept

Answer 5

ideographic
people possess traits, states and activities differing in their degree of consistency

traits = stable patterns in human thoughts and feelings
states = temporary patterns e.g. mood
activities = behavior that depends on situation

criticism: only based on observation

Question 6

3 types of traits (allport)

Answer 6

cardinal: influence almost all aspects of behavior - not everyone has them - one trait that describes you in every situation

central: influence in many situations, but not all - everyone has

secondary dispositions: specific traits which are very dependent on certain situations (e.g. organized in class but messy at home)

Question 7

Eysenck’s hierarchical model of personality

Answer 7

nomothetic
there are 3 main traits that act as the head of their own hierarchy & stand above a narrower set of related traits
3 main traits:
- extraversion vs introversion
- neuroticism vs emotional stability
- psychoticism

there are certain traits that everyone has to a greater or smaller extent

Question 8

cattell’s 16 factor theory

Answer 8

nomothetic
16 source traits which are divided 3 categories:
- dynamic traits: about someone’s efforts to achieve certain goals e.g. motivation
- ability traits: skills that allow someone to function effectively or achieve a goal e.g. intelligence
- temperament traits: deal with a person’s emotional life & quality of behavior e.g. calmness

surface vs source traits

common vs unique traits

Question 9

the big 5 model (OCEAN)

Answer 9

• openness to experience
  conscientiousness
  extraversion
  agreeableness
  neuroticism

nomothetic