PSYB30H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 4: Trait Theory, Barnum Effect, Walter Mischel
Document Summary
3 important assumptions form the basic foundation for trait psychology. Trait psychologists are primarily interested in determining the ways in which people are different from each other. B/c of its emphasis on the set of differences among people, trait psychology has sometimes been called differential psychology in the interest of distinguishing this field from other branches of personality psychology. Differential psychology includes the study of other forms of individual differences in addition to personality traits, such as abilities, aptitudes and intelligence; focus on traits in this chapter. The trait perspective historically has been concerned with accurate measurement. It takes a quantitative approach, which emphasizes how much a given individual differs from average. Of all the perspectives & strategies studying personality, the trait approach is the most mathematically and statistically oriented due to its emphasis on amount. According to trait psychologist, every personality is the product of a certain combination of a few basic and primary traits.
