Chapter 7 The Trait Approach: Theory and Application

1. Chapter 7The Trait Approach:Theory and Application

2. Type theories: the precursors of trait theories • The four temperament types: Galen, Hippocrates • The three somatotypes: Kretschmer, Sheldon

3. The four temperament types, according to the ancient Greeks • Sanguine corresponds to the fluid of blood. A person who is sanguine is generally optimistic, cheerful, even-tempered, confident, popular, and fun-loving. • Choleric corresponds to the fluid of yellow bile. A person who is choleric is a doer and a leader. Many great charismatic, military and political figures were cholerics. On the negative side, they are easily angered or bad tempered. • Melancholic corresponds to the fluid of black bile. A person who is a thoughtful ponderer has a melancholic disposition. Often kind and considerate, melancholics can be highly creative—as in poets and artists—but can also be obsessed with the tragedy and cruelty in the world, leading them to become depressed. • Phlegmatic corresponds to the fluid of phlegm. A phlegmatic person is calm and unemotional. Although phlegmatics are generally self-content and kind, their low-key personality can often inhibit enthusiasm in others and make phlegmatics themselves lazy and resistant to change.

5. Type theories: the precursors of trait theories • The four temperament types: Galen, Hippocrates • The three somatotypes: Kretschmer, Sheldon

6. The three prototypic somatotypes: ectomorphs, endomorphs, and mesomorphs

7. Personality as trait dimensions • Trait: a dimension of personality used to characterize people according to the degree to which they manifest a particular characteristic. • Assumption 1: personality characteristics are relatively stable over time. • Assumption 2: personality characteristics are relatively stable across situations. • Important question: To what extent does nature (our genetic makeup) or nurture (our experience and learning history) contribute to a given trait?

8. An example of a trait continuum

9. Traits are hierarchically structured (trait, patterns of behavior, specific surface behaviors)

10. Gordon Allport (1897-1967) • Followed his brother Floyd to Harvard, where both studied psychology • Was verbally adept, but lacked the statistical and laboratory skills of a dedicated scientist • Carved out his own career in the undeveloped area of personality • Met with Freud during a trip he took to Europe, but came away thinking that Freud had become blinded to the fact that the conscious influences on our behavior may be of greater importance than the unconscious ones • Sometimes called “the father of personality psychology”

11. Key concepts introduced by Allport • The distinction between the nomothetic versus the idiographic approach to the study of personality • The nomothetic approach is based on what Kant described as a tendency to generalize, and is typical for the natural sciences. It describes the effort to derive laws that explain objective phenomena in general. • The idiographic approach is based on what Kant described as a tendency to specify, and is typical for the humanities. It describes the effort to understand the meaning of contingent, unique, and often subjective phenomena. • The concepts of common traits, central traits, secondary traits, and cardinal traits • The concept of functional autonomy • The concept of the self (proprium) and how it develops

12. What are your traits? Where do you stand on different trait dimensions? To find out, take the Personal DNA test at: http://www.personaldna.com You should also take the Big Five Inventory at: http://www.outofservice.com/bigfive/ Be sure to print out the results when you’re done.

13. Key concepts introduced by Allport • The distinction between the nomothetic versus the idiographic approach to the study of personality • The concepts of common traits, central traits, secondary traits, and cardinal traits • The concept of functional autonomy • The concept of the self (proprium) and how it develops

14. Henry Murray (1893-1988) • Showed no early interest in psychology as a career • Earned a PhD in biochemistry at Cambridge University in 1927 • Discovered Carl Jung’s work and became enamored of it • Decided to enter the field of psychology after having long conversations with Jung in Vienna • Worked briefly for the OSS during World War II • Taught at Harvard until his retirement in 1962 • Was a biographer of Herman Melville

15. Key concepts introduced by Murray • The approach which he called personology, in which needs are assumed to be the basic elements of personality • The concept of largely unconscious psychogenic needs (as opposed to viscerogenic needs) • The concept of environmental press • The development of the TAT (Thematic Apperception Test)

16. Some of Henry Murray’s psychogenic needs

17. Key concepts introduced by Murray • The approach which he called personology, in which needs are assumed to be the basic elements of personality • The concept of largely unconscious psychogenic needs (as opposed to viscerogenic needs) • The concept of environmental press • The development of the TAT (Thematic Apperception Test)

18. The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) Developed by Henry Murray in the 1930s

19. Raymond B. Cattell (1905-1998) • Was born in England and raised in Torquay • Was profoundly affected by what he witnessed as an adolescent during World War I • Changed his plans of becoming a chemist and enrolled in graduate study in psychology at the University of London • Worked with Charles Spearman, who taught him to use factor analysis, which he later applied to search for the fundamental dimensions of human personality • Came to the US to work with E.L. Thorndike at Columbia • Worked at Clark University until Allport invited him to join the faculty at Harvard • Was extremely hard working, and enormously productive as a writer and researcher

20. Key concepts introduced by Cattell • The idea that factor analysis, which had previously been used to study different forms of intelligence, could be used to identify source traits • The notion that source traits are the fundamental dimensions of human personality • The development of the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16 PF): Warmth, Reasoning, Emotional Stability, Dominance, Liveliness, Rule-Consciousness, Social Boldness, Sensitivity, Vigilance, Abstractedness, Privateness, Apprehension, Openness to Change, Self-Reliance, Perfectionism, and Tension

21. Historical identification of the Big Five personality dimensions

22. The Big Five personality factors

23. Individual differences in openness to experience

27. Criticisms and limitations of the Big Five model • There is some debate about what the five factors mean. • There is some disagreement about the number of personality factors that should be regarded as fundamental. • The set of trait terms from which the Big Five model was derived did not include evaluative ones, such as worthy or immoral. • There are small variations among the Big Five models proposed by different theorists that critics find troublesome but most Big Five theorists do not. • The Big Five model is often criticized for being atheoretical. However, the same criticism could have been applied to the periodic table of elements in chemistry, in the days before chemical processes were well understood.

29. The situation versus trait controversy: Walter Mischel’s criticisms of the trait approach • Trait measures do not predict relevant behavioral measures well (the presumed .30 to .40 upper range of trait-based prediction). • There is little evidence for cross-situational consistency. Behavior reveals more situational specificity than most trait theorists suggest. • The predictive validity of trait measures does not justify their use in making important decisions about people (e.g., diagnosis and hiring decisions).

30. Three categories of moderating variables in personality research

31. Responses to Mischel’s criticisms • General traits do predict overall patterns of trait-relevant behavior fairly well. What they don’t predict well are single behaviors measured on a single occasion in a single situation. • Traits can be used to predict trait-relevant behavior in some, but not all, types of situations. In psychologically “weak” situations, traits are important in determining behavior. However, in psychologically “strong” situations, the influence of traits on behavior can be much more limited. • In general, an isolated trait accounts for about as much variance in a relevant behavior as an isolated situational variable does. The typical correlation in each case is about .20.

32. Application of the Big Five model in the workplace • Of the Big Five dimensions, conscientiousness is the best overall predictor of work performance across many different types of occupations. • Depending on the job description, other Big Five dimensions may also emerge as good predictors of performance: • Extraversion • Agreeableness • Openness to experience • Emotional stability

36. Problems with the use of self-report inventories • Lack of self-insight • Faking • Faking good • Faking bad • Carelessness • Sabotage • Response tendencies • Social desirability response set • Acquiescence (agreement) response set