PSYC10004 Lecture Notes - Lecture 20: Psychoticism, Conscientiousness, Hans Eysenck
28 Jun 2018
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LECTURE 20 – TRAIT PSYCHOLOGY
HOW SHOULD WE DESCRIBE PERSONALITY?
Need for a descriptive unit to measure personality
Need for a classification or ‘taxonomy’ – formal systematic way of describing differences in a
field of study
Requirements for a scientific psychology of personality
PERSONALITY TRAITS
Simplest descriptive unit = trait
oConsistent pattern of behaviour, thinking or feeling
Relatively stable over time
Relatively consistent across situations
Varying between people
Dispositional
Stable, consistent, tendency to behave a certain way
Trait vary in generality – some are broad, others narrow
Are they organised into spectrum? Or are there specific types?
THE STRUCTURE OF PERSONALITY TRAITS
Survey the traits/terms related to personality that are encoded in that language
‘Lexical approach’ – words in everyday language (important distinction)
ofiltered: physical attributes, cognitive abilities, transient states (i.e. moods aren’t
permanent), evaluative terms (i.e. what you think of someone moron)
there were correlations between the characteristics (i.e. synonyms/antonyms)
FIVE BASIC FACTORS?
Cattell’s 16 factors were still correlated
oi.e. reserved & going = shy & venturesome?
oSomewhat different in meaning but share some underlying factor & go together,
something common
Diff. factors = might both reflect single underlying ‘super-factor’
oDimensions of personality independent of one another
Donald Fiske factors could be further reduced by factor analysis to 5
THE “BIG FIVE”
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Document Summary
Need for a descriptive unit to measure personality. Need for a classification or taxonomy" formal systematic way of describing differences in a field of study. Simplest descriptive unit = trait: consistent pattern of behaviour, thinking or feeling. Stable, consistent, tendency to behave a certain way. Trait vary in generality some are broad, others narrow. Survey the traits/terms related to personality that are encoded in that language. Lexical approach" words in everyday language (important distinction: filtered: physical attributes, cognitive abilities, transient states (i. e. moods aren"t permanent), evaluative terms (i. e. what you think of someone moron) there were correlations between the characteristics (i. e. synonyms/antonyms) Cattell"s 16 factors were still correlated: i. e. reserved & going = shy & venturesome, somewhat different in meaning but share some underlying factor & go together, something common. Diff. factors = might both reflect single underlying super-factor": dimensions of personality independent of one another. Donald fiske factors could be further reduced by factor analysis to 5.
