The Essential Trait Approach and 5 Factor Model Flashcards
What did Cattell produce?
16 Personality Factor Questionnaire - multi-level hierarchical structure of personality
What was in the 16PF?
- Surface traits - observable by others
- 16 second-order global factors - describe personality at a broader conceptual level
- 3rd order factors (AKA ‘global factors’ - similar to 5 factor model
How are 3rd order factors derived?
Factor analysis of 2nd order factors
What 3 different sources of data did Cattell collect?
L data (life), Q data (SR-Q) and T data (objective tests
How do source traits arise?
Environmental-mold traits and constitutional traits (biology)
How are source traits expressed?
Ability traits, Temperament traits (emotional tendencies) and Dynamic traits (motivations)
What happens in the 16PF?
Asks simple questions about daily behaviour, interests and opinions rather than asking for self assessment of personality traits
What is the ipip?
International Personility Item Pool - a public domain collection of over 3320 items and 250 scales for use in personality tests
How is the ipip used?
- Research and clinical settings
- Vocational psychology - careers
- Occupational psychology
What did Cattell contribute to?
Development of the Big 5 theory of personality
Who created the Big 5 and what are they?
Goldberg; Surgency, Emotional stability, Intellect or culture, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness or dependability
What are the +ve/-ve of the 16PF?
+ve
- Contribution to psychology - factor analysis
-ve
- Difficult to replicate
- Not independent - oblique rotation in factor analysis
What is oblique rotation in factor analysis?
Where factors correlate
What are the similarities between Cattell’s 16PF and Eysenck’s PEN model?
- Great importance on biological and genetic factors
- Nomothetic approach - general laws and similarities
- Emphasises scientific discovery and measurement
What are the differences between Cattell’s 16PF and Eysenck’s PEN model?
- Different uses of Factor analysis - oblique vs orthogonal
- Cattell was data driven (inductive) vs Eysenck was theory driven (deductive)
What 3 super traits did Eysenck identify and when?
- Neurotiscim vs emotional stability
- Extroversion vs introversion
(1947) - Psychchoticism (1976)
What is Neuroticism vs Emotional stability?
an individual’s level of emotionality and tendency to worry, be moody, touchy, and anxious
What is Extroversion vs Introversion?
refers to the degree to which an individual is socially outgoing or socially withdrawn
What is Psychoticism?
refers to an individual’s level of conformity, aggressiveness, and feelings for others (empathy)
What was the key element of Eysenck’s PEN theory?
It explains individual differences in personality in biological terms
What two neural mechanisms in the brain did Eysenck theorise?
Excitatory and Inhibitory
What is the balance of neural mechnisms balanced by?
Ascending reticular activating system (ARAS)
What two major systems account for physiological and psychological differences in arousal between individuals?
The reticulo-cortical - cortical arousal
The reticula-limbic - emotional stimuli
What did Eysenck argue?
Individual differences in Extraversion were explained by physiological differences in the reticula-cortical system
- Introverts would have a greater tendency to be cortically aroused than extroverts, given equal external stimulation
What research backs up Eysenck’s theory?
A study where participants chose the volume of music to listen to while completing a task, extroverts chose a higher level (Geen, 1984)
What did Eysenck explain neuroticism in terms of?
Limbic system - activated by emotional stimuli
Why are neurotic individuals more likely to experience anxiety?
Higher activation of these emotional systems
What are the critiques of Eysenck’s theory?
- Processes theorised to underlie neuroticism and extraversion are physiologically interdependent
- Inability to test theories due to lack of knowledge/scientific instrument
- Rarely replicated
- However was a forerunner of other attempts to explain biological origins of personality
What is the EPQ-R?
Personality test based on Eysenck’s 3 overarching traits - 100 y/n Qs in full scale (48 y/n Qs in short scale)
What two brain based systems for controlling peopl’s interactions with their environment did Gray identify?
- The behavioural inhibition system (BIS)
- The behavioural activation (BAS)
What did Gray emphasise when explaining biological mechanisms?
Conditioning (reward/punishment)
What are the features of BAS?
- Infleunces individuals disposition to pursue and achieve goals
- Aroused when it recieves cues corresponding to rewards
- Sensitive to stimuli which have been conditioned to be appealing
- Associations with hope (Gable et al., 2000)
What are individuals with higher activating BAS like?
Feel more positive emotions in response to environmental cues indicating non-punishment, reward and achievement of goals
What has trait impulsivity been linked to?
Conditions related to disinhibition such as ADHD, substance and alcolhol abuse (Franken et al., 2016; Hahn et al ., 2012) and sociopathy
What are the features of the BIS?
- Theorised to predict IDs in responses to anxiety-relevant cues in the environment
- Inhibits behaviours associated with potential punishment, lack of reward, lack of stimulation of negative events
- Activation leads to avoidance of these types of cue, to reduce feelings of fear, anxiety, frustration and sadness
What is overreaction of this system related to?
Neurotic anxiety and depression (Gray, 1987)
What is some relevant research related to the BAS/BIS?
Heponiemi et al 2003
- Ps BIS/BAS sensitivity measured via self report questionnaire (Carver and White, 1984)
- Ps complete a # of taks either involved with punishment for error or reward for success - recorded levels of positive/negative emotion
- Ps with greater BAS felt more positive in reward tasks
- Ps with greater BIS felt more negative in punishment tasks
What was Carver and White’s BIS/BAS scales and when?
20 item self-administered questionnaire on 5 point scale, 1994
What are the implications of Gray’s theory?
- Some evidence for correlations between Gray’s BIS (anxiety related) <-> Eysenck’s Neuroticsim
+ BAS (impulsivity related) <-> Eysenck’s Extraversion - Suggests IDs in people’s sensitivity to +ve/-ve cues
What has recent research suggested about psychoticism being associated with?
Reduced anxiety/fear and increased impulsivity
What are the Big Five/FFM and who created them?
Openness to experience
Conscientiousness
Extraversion/Introversion
Agreeableness
Neuroticism
McCrae & Costa, 1987, 1997; Goldberg, 1990)
How was the FFM developed?
- On the basis of a lexical hypothesis
- Via statistical methods rather than theory or research
- Provides a description of IDs ratheer than causal explanations
What is the NEO-PI by Costa and McCrae, 1985/1992?
Self administered test of over 240 items, assessing 30 facets of 5 personality factors - 5 point Likert scale
Who created the Big 5 inventory?
John et al., 1991
What is the Big 5 i/nventory?
Another measure of the FFM, short instrument to measure
- 44 short-phrase items select based of expert categorisations of 300 adjectives
- Still shows strong validity and reliability
What behaviours has the Big Five been associated with and by who?
- People high in extraversion exercise more, drink more and are more honest
- People high in conscientiousness get better grades and percieved as more honest by others
- People high in openness are more likely to play a musical instrument
- Highly agreeable people are consistently found to smoke less
Paunonen, 2003
What are the critiques for the FFM?
- Cross cultural reproduction
- Universality
- Supporting empricial evidence
- Highly compatible with other models of personality e.g. Cattell’s 3rd order factors
What are the negatives of the FFM?
- Doesn’t provide theoretical explanations for personality development
- Debate over naming of traits
- Sex differences - women score consistently higher than men in neuroticism, agreeableness and conscientiousness
What were the potential sixth traits?
Trustworthiness (Di Blas & Forzi, 1998; Hahn et al., 1999)
Values (Peabody & Goldberg, 1989)
What did Ashton and Lee (2008) develop?
HEXACO model of personality - OCEAN + Honesty/humility
What adjectives dive Paunonen and Jackson identify to not fit with the Big Five?
Deceptiveness, miserliness, conservatism, masculinity, egotism, humour and risk-taking
What has the FFM shown?
Good validity and reliability
