Traits and trait taxonomies Flashcards
What are the two major conceptualizations of traits?
Traits as internal causal properties and traits as purely descriptive summaries.
What does it mean to view traits as internal causal properties?
Traits are internal needs/desires that cause behavior and exist even without expression.
What does it mean to view traits as descriptive summaries?
Traits summarize behavior patterns without assuming internal causes.
What are the three major approaches to identifying traits?
Lexical approach, statistical approach, theoretical approach.
What is the lexical hypothesis?
Important traits become encoded in language over time.
What are the two criteria of the lexical approach?
Synonym frequency and cross-cultural universality.
What does the statistical approach use?
Factor analysis to group traits that co-occur.
What guides the theoretical approach?
Pre-existing personality theories (e.g., Freud, Maslow).
What are the three components of the act frequency approach?
Act nomination, prototypicality judgment, and recording act performance.
What does this approach assume about traits?
Traits are categories of behaviors (acts) and summarize frequency of those acts.
What are Eysenck’s three super traits (PEN)?
Psychoticism, Extraversion, Neuroticism.
What’s unique about Eysenck’s model?
It’s hierarchical and biologically based (heritability + physiological substrate).
What are the two axes of the Wiggins circumplex model?
Status (dominance) and love (warmth/agreeableness).
What are the three trait relationships in the circumplex model?
Adjacency (positive correlation), bipolarity (negative correlation), orthogonality (no correlation).
What are the Big Five traits?
Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, Openness to Experience.
What two methods are used to assess the Big Five?
Single-word trait adjectives and sentence-length questionnaire items.
What are the six facets of Conscientiousness?
Competence, order, dutifulness, achievement striving, self-discipline, deliberation.
Which traits predict academic performance?
High Conscientiousness, high Emotional Stability.
Which traits predict risky sexual behavior?
High Extraversion, high Neuroticism, low Agreeableness, low Conscientiousness.
Which traits predict leadership effectiveness?
High Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability.
Which traits are linked to happiness?
High Extraversion, low Neuroticism.
What is the sixth trait in the HEXACO model?
Honesty–Humility.
What are key traits of low Honesty–Humility individuals?
Narcissistic, manipulative, exploitative, prone to revenge and cheating.
What is the HEXACO model?
Honesty–Humility, Emotionality, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Openness.
