Traits and Taxonomies Flashcards
Dimensions
-we have low, moderate, or high levels
-we can also compare our levels to other people
Internal Causal Properties
-internal processes that cause us to act a certain way
-even if they are not being expressed, they still exist within us
Purely Descriptive Summaries
-no assumption of causality
-merely theories we create before we find out more in depth characteristics and traits
-straight up describing people as we perceive them
What are the 3 kinds of Approaches?
Lexical, Statistical, and Theoretical
Lexical Approach
-if there is an important difference to describe people, we will have a word to describe them by
What are the two criteria within the Lexical Approach?
-Synonym Frequency
-Cross-cultural universality
Synonym Frequency
-a trait is pretty important if we have so many words to describe it
Cross-cultural universality
the more languages the words are available in, the more credible it is
What did Allport and Odbert do?
-they pulled out almost 18k adjectives from the dictionary
-they also reduced 40k words to 2k, and these adjectives helped develop the Big 5
What is the problem with dictionaries?
-might not be updated, many words it contains are mainly from the Bible
-the words can be obscure and unrealistic to describe personality even though they technically exist
Statistical Approach
-identify the main key dimensions of personality with statistics
Factor Analysis
-correlates all the items and makes groups of them based on how similar they are
-it gives an organized structure, they correlate words with personality traits
Theoretical Approach
-starts with a theory, and then determines which variables are important
What are some personality theories that start with a Theoretical Approach?
-Freudian psychoanalytic theory
-Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
-Jung’s personality types
Eysenck Hierarchical Model of Personality
-he made the PEN model, Psychoticism, Neuroticism, and Extroversion
-he surprisingly identified Neuroticism as “shy”, and psychoticism as “creative
-he said that traits have heritability, and was trying to find areas in the brain that correlated with these traits
Cattell
-created the 16 personality factor system
-he used factor analysis in his lexical approach
Wiggins
-created Circumplex Taxonomies of Personality
-assessed character, material, and attitude by placing 2 traits on a circle and seeing how they interact
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What 2 dimensions define axes of Wiggins Circumplex?
-Status and Love
-aka, dominance and agreeableness
-aka, agency and communion
Advantages of Wiggins Circumplex?
-identifies how different traits are related to each other (Adjacency, Bipolarity, Orthogonality)
-Alerts investigators to “gaps” in work on interpersonal behaviour
Disadvantages of Wiggins Circumplex?
-limited to 2 dimensions
-not capturing the full essence of interpersonal consequences, like what led a person a certain situation
Why did the Big 5 achieve consensus?
-more than a dozen researchers found the Big 5 in different samples
-Replicated using different item formats
-Replicated in different languages
-Replicated across multiple decades
Limitations of the Big 5
-The fifth factor (Openness-Intellect/Openness to Experience)
isn’t consistent in measurement or interpretation
-different languages pick up on different things
-Concerns about glossing over cultural differences
-critics say that it doesn’t include important aspects of personality (sexuality, attractiveness)
HEXACO Model
-same as the Big 5, but with Honesty-Humility and Emotionality added to it
-anger under agreeableness rather than neuroticism
