Topic 1b - Approaches to Personality Flashcards
What is the Lexical Hypothesis?
All aspects of personality can be determined by looking at words and language people use when talking about personality
What are latent variables?
Overlap of meanings of different words - latent variables
Psychological variables such as individual differences (personality) cannot be directly observed - instead they are inferred = latent variables
How are personality traits established in terms of the lexical hypothesis?
Common latent factors - determine which terms are related
E.G positive correlation between scores on ‘relaxed’ and ‘carefree’ = common latent factor
E.G strong negative correlation between ‘relaxed’ and ‘anxious’ (high in one low in the other) = common latent factor
What method is used to figure out latent factors?
Factor analysis - pattern of correlation
What is Factor analysis?
Statistical technique that uses patterns of correlations between several variables to identify a smaller number of underlying latent variables
How many personality terms were there originally? - Allport & Obert (1936)
Collected from dictionary - all terms referring to behavioural differences (removed cognitive and physical) = 4500 TRAITS!
How was the 16 Personality Factor Model formed? - Cattell
- Made groups of synonyms out of the 4500 personality traits
- 171 terms that represent difference meanings (too many for factor analysis)
- 100 people rated - examined 60 clusters
- Reduced to 45
- Used factor analysis
- Used self ratings, test performances etc. = 16 PERSONALITY TRAITS
- First person to use factor analysis in personality research
What is the limitations of the 16 Personality Factor Model?
- Subjective
- Still correlations between the final 16 (too many)
What is the BIG FIVE Model of Personality? (Costa & McCrae) - 1985
- Neuroticism (includes anxiety, vulnerability and depression)
- Extraversion (includes warmth and assertiveness)
- Openness to Experience
- Agreeableness
- Conscientiousness
What is Openness to Experience? (The BIG FIVE)
Tendency to engage in activities, new and abstract ideas, high curiosity and imagination
What is Agreeableness? (The BIG FIVE)
Friendly, considerate, modest, caring, nurturing, tolerant, altruistic and pro-social
What is Conscientiousness? (The BIG FIVE)
Proactive, responsible, self disciplined, efficient and prepared
What is Eysenck’s GIGANTIC THREE and how does this differ to the BIG FIVE?
He argues that openness to experience is intelligence and not personality
He argues agreeableness is just Low psychoticisim, low neuroticism and high extraversion
Do the approaches correlate?
Lexical hypothesis (OCEAN Scale) correlates with PEN (Eysenck) but only with neuroticism and extraversion
No correlation between the Big 5 and PEN
What is the criticism of personality factors? - Block
- Factors derived from factor analysis depend on what variables are entered
- Correlations do not always capture full relationships (E.G wittiness and intelligence correlated but these cannot be considered the same)
- Single words are insufficient to describe aspects of personality
- E.G aggression can mean different things in different contexts
- Narcissism not represented in Costa and McCrae’s big 5 and this is an important trait
