Relates to how we use traits to describe others

Traits and Personality/Person Descriptions

Critique of the Big 5 Model that adds a honesty-humility dimension to the existing extroversion, neuroticism, agreeableness, openness to experience, and conscientiousness dimensions.

HEXACO Model

This approach focuses on a single trait and aims to learn as much as possible about behaviors and life outcomes associated with that trait. 

Examples: 
-  Self Monitoring
-  Narcissism 

Single Trait Approach 

This approach focuses on one behavior and investigates how that behavior correlates with many different personality traits in order to explain that behavior. 

Examples:
-  California Q set 
-  Political Beliefs/Behaviors

Many Trait Approach

This approach focuses on narrowing 1000's of traits and terms into shorter, meaningful lists. 

Examples:
-  Theoretical Approach 
-  Big 5 Personality Traits

Essential Trait Approach

This approach focuses on identifying types/groups of individuals based on patterns of traits. Results are often very descriptive as they analyze the entire individual, not just a single trait. 

Example:
-  Myers Briggs Type Indicator

Typological Approach 

Relatively consistent patterns of thought and behavior.

Personality Traits

According to Gordon Allport personality traits are the building blocks of an individual's personality and that personality develops over time and is influenced by both genetic and environmental factors. After finding 4,500 words in the English language that could be used to describe individuals, Allport proposed three categorize of traits: cardinal, central, and secondary.

Allport's Theory of Personality

A model of personality with the HEXACO acronym for six traits: honesty-humility, emotionality, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience.

The HEXACO Model of Personality

Attribution is the process of inferring the causes of events or behaviors. In social psychology, this often involves determining whether a behavior is due to internal factors, such as personality and character (a dispositional attribution), or external factors, such as the environment and social context (a situational attribution).

Attribution

Which of the Following Describes Trait Theories of Personality?

In contrast to earlier theories that focused on explaining the origins of personality, the modern study of personality has adopted a more quantitative approach. This method centers on identifying and measuring specific personality traits to understand how they interact and predict an individual's behavior in various situations.

Quantitative Approach in Personality Research

A personality trait is a relatively consistent and enduring pattern of thought and behavior that an individual exhibits across various situations and throughout their lifespan. Modern personality research focuses on identifying and measuring these traits to predict behavior.

Personality Trait

The Five-Factor Model, commonly known as the “Big Five,” proposes that human personality variations can be captured by five core dimensions: openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. Research indicates that these five trait dimensions are influenced by genetics and remain relatively stable throughout an individual's lifespan.

The Big Five Personality Traits (Five-Factor Model)

Based on an extensive survey of psychological literature, Walter Mischel concluded that empirical data failed to support the core principle that an individual's personality traits remain consistent across various situations. This finding suggested that the situation itself could be a more powerful determinant of behavior than internal traits.

Mischel's Critique of Trait Consistency

Early trait theories represent foundational attempts to systematically identify and organize the fundamental components of human personality. Prominent examples include the theories developed by Raymond Cattell and Hans & Sybil Eysenck.

Early Trait Theories

Early trait theories were criticized for their scope. Raymond Cattell's 16-factor model was often viewed as too broad and complex, while the Eysencks' two-factor system was criticized for being too narrow and simplistic. The Five Factor Model emerged as a widely accepted middle ground, providing a more balanced framework for describing personality.

Critiques of Early Trait Theories and the Rise of the Five Factor Model

Trait theorists suggest that individuals have certain characteristics that tend to remain stable over time and appear in many situations. These theorists suggest individual traits to be the unit of analysis. They aim to determine which traits occur together and their specific patterns of organization within individuals.

Columbia University

Google

Alma College

Following early historical views, Sigmund Freud's psychodynamic perspective became a foundational modern theory, emphasizing the role of early childhood experiences. Subsequently, many other major theoretical perspectives emerged, often in reaction to the psychodynamic approach. These include the learning, humanistic, biological, trait, and cultural perspectives, each offering a different lens through which to understand personality.

Theories of Personality

Setterlund, M., Feshbach, S., Weiner B., & Bohart A. (2019). Personality. United States of America: Academic Media Solutions.

Personality 5th Edition

Spielman, R. M., Jenkins, W. J., & Lovett, M. D. (2020, April 22). Psychology (2nd ed.). OpenStax. https://openstax.org/books/psychology-2e/pages/1-introduction

OpenStax Psychology (2nd ed.) Textbook

Trait Theories

The psychoanalytic approach focuses on the unconscious mind and internal conflict. Mainly described by Freud and Erikson, this approach is motivated by the need to satisfy basic drives.  This approach also emphasizes the importance of early childhood experiences, as they impact different aspects of development over time.

Theory of Psychoanalytic Approach

The phenomenological approach focuses on the conscious experiences of the individual. It also emphasizes awareness and free will.

Theory of Phenomenological Approach

He is the Father of Humanism, which is heavily focusing on normal development rather than abnormal behaviors. 

Maslow's Theory of Personality

The study of personality has a long history, with early theories contributed by figures like Hippocrates and Galen. In the modern era, foundational work was done by theorists such as Sigmund Freud, Abraham Maslow, and Gordon Allport, who each attempted to explain how personality develops from their unique perspectives, paving the way for later theoretical approaches.

Historical Perspectives on Personality

The cultural perspective considers culture to be one of the most important environmental factors in shaping personality. It explores how both universal and culture-specific elements contribute to personality development and diversity, questioning the universal applicability of theories developed in a single cultural context, such as the West.

Cultural Perspective in Personality

Neo-Freudians were a group of theorists who followed Sigmund Freud but adapted his ideas to develop new personality theories. While they concurred with Freud on the significance of childhood experiences, they shifted the focus away from sexual drives, placing greater emphasis on the influence of social and cultural factors on personality development.

Neo-Freudians and Personality

Humanism is a highly influential perspective in psychology that focuses on the growth potential of healthy individuals and their innate capacity for good. Championed by key figures like Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers, this approach posits that people are driven by a desire for self-actualization. It highlights concepts such as free will and self-determination, asserting that individuals actively strive to become the best version of themselves, which has significantly contributed to the psychological understanding of the self.

Humanism in Psychology

The evolutionary perspective on personality examines how both universal human traits and individual differences have evolved as adaptations. This view posits that these personality characteristics provided survival and reproductive advantages in ancestral environments. It explores why certain traits are common across cultures and why heritable individual variations persist.

Evolutionary Perspective on Personality

This video provides a summary of several psychological perspectives on personality, offering a broad introduction to the topic.

Video Overview of Personality Perspectives

This theoretical framework examines personality through the lenses of learning and cognition. It encompasses behaviorist views, which see personality as shaped by environmental reinforcements and consequences, as well as cognitive and social-cognitive views, which emphasize the role of mental processes like thoughts, beliefs, and social observation in personality development.

Learning and Cognitive Perspectives on Personality

The biological approach to personality suggests that inherited predispositions and physiological processes are foundational to individual differences. While genetics are believed to largely control certain personality aspects, this perspective also acknowledges that environmental factors, such as family interactions, and the process of maturation can influence how these genetic tendencies are ultimately expressed.

Biological Approach to Personality

Research into the connections between personality and other factors has led to the identification and study of Type A and Type B personality classifications. These concepts are often explored in relation to stress, health, and lifestyle.

Type A and Type B Personalities

Consider the case of Alex, a university student who consistently procrastinates on important assignments and experiences significant anxiety in social situations. Analyze Alex's behavior from two different theoretical viewpoints: the psychodynamic perspective and the learning perspective. How would each perspective explain the root causes of Alex's actions?

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