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The Trait Perspective in Personality Psychology

This article explores the trait perspective in personality psychology, discussing inherited traits, stability of characteristics, and the impact of traits on behavior. It also covers important concepts such as somatotypes, factor analysis, and locus of control. Additionally, it examines learned helplessness and explanatory style in relation to personality traits.

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The Trait Perspective in Personality Psychology

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  1. More important information about The Trait Perspective… • Traits are inherited not acquired • Characteristics are stable and motivate behavior • A “friendly” person is friendly across different situations and times • Little evidence to support hereditability of personality • “Temperaments” are inherited traits • William Sheldon: somatotypes • Endomorphs: fat; friendly, outgoing • Ectomorphs: thin; shy, secretive • Mesomorphs: muscular; aggressive, confident

  2. More important information about The Trait Perspective (continued) • Gordon Allport: traits are responsible for consistencies in behavior • Functionally Equivalent – different situations call for similar responses • Cardinal – traits that override a person’s whole being; dominant • Central – primary traits of a person; general and present in come degree in mostly everyone • Secondary – traits that constitute interests and only appear in certain situations

  3. More important information about The Trait Perspective (continued)—Factor Analysis • A statistical approach used to describe and relate personality traits and reduces the number of different terms used to describe people • Correlations are used to determine which traits cluster together • Conscientiousness = diligence, punctuality, and neatness • Cattell used this approach to develop a 16 Personality Factor (16PF) inventory. Raymond Cattell (1905-1998)

  4. Irritable Boisterous Impatient Excitement Basic trait Superficial traits Factor Analysis Cattell found that large groups of traits could be reduced down to 16 core personality traits based on statistical correlations. Impulsive

  5. Personal Control—Locus of Control Social-cognitive psychologists emphasize our sense of personal control, whether we control the environment or the environment controls us. Locus of Control (Julian Rotter) Locus of control affects how a person thinks and acts; impacts personality TWO TYPES OF LOCUS OF CONTROL” External locus of control refers to the perception that chance or outside forces beyond our personal control determine our fate. Internal locus of control refers to the perception that we can control our own fate.

  6. Learned Helplessness When unable to avoid repeated adverse events an animal or human learns helplessness. An optimistic or pessimistic explanatory style is your way of explaining positive or negative events. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z73P47NCxoM

  7. Explanatory Style: Optimism vs. Pessimism Explanatory style is a psychological attribute that indicates how people explain to themselves why they experience a particular event, either positive or negative People with an optimistic explanatory style tend to have more control over stressors, cope better with stressful events, have better moods, and have a stronger immune system. Research with rats and humans indicates that the absence of control over stressors is a predictor of health problems.

  8. Locus of Control Survey

  9. How to score the Locus of Control Survey • Reverse the numbers you placed before statements 3, 6, 7, 8, and 10 (i.e. 1=7, 2=6, 3=5, 4=4, 5=3, 6=2, 7=1). • Add up ALL 10 items. Scores should range from 7-70. • Mean for female students= 51.8, mean for male students= 52.2. • Greater scores beyond the mean reflect greater internal locus of control. • Scores below the mean reflect greater external locus of control. • ANSWER THIS QUESTION: Do you agree with your results? Why or why not? • ANSWER THIS QUESTION: What can YOU do to develop greater INTERNAL locus of control?

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