BIOLOGICAL & TRAIT THEORY Group 5: Jacqueline Le, Amanda Mak, Diana Obracaj, Sam Prestigiacomo, and Janice Quintero

Traits

Traits are the permanent aspects that everyone has that are consistent in our interactions

Cardinal Trait: One trait out of all the individual traits that has a dominate appearance

Central Trait: As said by Allport, they are "the building blocks of your personality." They help define your personality with specific traits such as smart, shy or grumpy.

Secondary Trait: are traits that are with a particular situation that aren't so straightforward or expected. These types of traits are depicted through situations such as preferences or attitudes. E.g. “he gets angry when you try to tickle him,” and “you can’t take him to restaurants.”

Gordon Allport

First professor to teach about personality theory

Believes that every person has a small number of traits that dominate their personality

Traits are environmentally influenced

As children develop, behaviors and interactions become part of the person's personality

Raymond Cattell Born in 1905 Ph. D in Psychology from Harvard in 1922 Set up a Sixteen Personality Factor Model in a quest to

create a common group of traits using normal everyday adjectives to describe a standard of personalities.

He studied people all over the world, from the US to Japan and of all different ages. 

His study has never been able to be replicated. People say that it couldn't be replicated because of Catell's methology, but when Kline and Barrett in 1983 tried, they could only verify 

4 of 16 primary factors. He identified surface traits and source traits. "Surface traits represent clusters of correlated variables

and source traits represent the underlying structure of the personality."

The table compiles the surface traits as descriptors in relation to source traits within a high and low range.

Table 1. Primary Factors and Descriptors in Cattell's 16 Personality Factor Model (Adapted From Conn & Rieke, 1994).

Factor Analysis

Often associated with intelligence research, personality, attitudes, beliefs, etc.

Correlation between variables exist because of their dependency on one or more of the same factors

Ex: reading comprehension and vocabulary are highly correlated Someone who got a high score on a test that measures verbal

ability will also do well on other tests involving verbal abilities Using factor analysis, Hans Eysenck determined that all human

traits could be broken down into extroversion-introversion and neuroticism. He called these two categories supertraits. According to him, everyone, at some point, begins to see patterns in how they respond to certain stimuli, both external and internal. The specific responses will be different, depending on things like the intensity of the stimuli, the situation, and state of mind.

Hans Eysenck

Determined that all human traits can be broken down into two categories (supertraits) Extroversion-introversion Neuroticism

Everyone, at some point, see patterns in their reactions, depending on Intensity of stimuli Situation State of mind

Myers Briggs

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) Purpose: make theory of psychological types described by C.G.

Jung understandable Theory: “random” variation of behavior is actually consistant Extraversion/introversion

Do you prefer to focus on the outer world or your own inner world?

Sensing/intuition Do you prefer to focus on the basic information you take in or do

you prefer to interpret and add meaning? Thinking/feeling

Do you look at logic and consistency first when making decisions, or do you look at people and special circumstances?

Judging/Perceiving In regard to the outside world, do you prefer to get things decided

or stay open to new ideas? All types of personalities are equal

Keirsey Temperament Sorter Created by David Keirsey Based on the Myers-Briggs Temperament

Indicator Looks at one’s temperament and learning

style There are four temperaments:

Rational Idealist Artisan Guardian

ARTISAN GUARDIAN RATIONAL IDEALISTPromoter

(ESTP)Supervisor

(ESTJ)Fieldmarshal

(ENTJ)Teacher(ENFJ)

Crafter(ISTP)

Inspector(ISTJ)

Mastermind(INTJ)

Counselor(INFJ)

Performer(ESFP)

Provider(ESFJ)

Inventor(ENTP)

Champion(ENFP)

Composer(ISFP)

Protector(ISFJ)

Architect(INTP)

Healer(INFP)

Character Types

Temperament & Character Type

TECHNICAL TERMS

MEANING 

TECHNICAL TERMS

MEANING

(E)Extroversion

Expressive vs.(I)

IntroversionAttentive

(S)Sensing

Observant vs.(N)

IntuitingIntrospective

(T)Thinking

Tough-Minded vs.(F)

FeelingFriendly

(J)Judging

Scheduled vs.(P)

PerceivingProbing

Four Patterns: NF: Intuitive Feeler- Sees commitments as false goals for

other people but there is always a potential good for them. Wants to attain self actualization. Searches for meaning and perfection.

NT: Intuitive Thinker- Not very common (12%). Have power over nature. Intelligent and self critical. Do not expect a lot from others besides to attempt to be as good as the NT person.

SJ: Sensing Judger- More common (38%). Has a need to belong. When dependent on something they feel guilt. Gives but won’t receive. Wants to useful and responsible.

SP: Sensing Perceiver- As common as SJ. Makes the best out of everything- impulsive. Does not hold goals strongly. Free spirited. Easily bored and prone to accidents.

Robert McCrae and Paul Costa Creators of the Five Factor Theory

Explain how the Big Five Factors work with personality

Biological and environmental factors affect personality

Created the NEO PI-R “240- item inventory” true false test Takes the Big Five and it’s six “facets” which are

traits that take into account a general personality e.g. neuroticism and anxiety

Measures: Neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientious

Studied personality in adulthood

The Big Five Expanded set of personality dimensions used to create a more

detailed, complete picture of a subject’s consistent personality. The traits examined in the Big Five model are: 

Conscientiousness: ranges from organized and meticulous to disorganized and impulsive

Agreeableness: ranges from extremely sympathetic and friendly to uncooperative and malicious

Neuroticism: ranges from calm and stable (easily faces stress) to insecure and anxious

Openness: ranges from extremely open-minded (independent, willing to try new things) to radically practical or traditional

Extraversion: ranges from sociable and bold in interaction to reserved and timid.

These traits are often remembered using the acronym C.A.N.O.E. or if switched around for preference, O.C.E.A.N.

Initial model developed by Tupes and Cristal in the 1950’s  “Five Factor Model” extensively researched and publicized by Costa

and McCrae (1999)

Five Factor Model of Personality Traits Also referred as the “Big Five” which was

coined by Lew Goldberg Corresponds to research of personality

traits using personality tests Helps explain human personality but of

course does not explain all Assumes that behaviors and personality

can be picked out with trait theory

Big Five Personality Traits and Genetics The current belief is that about 50% of

behavior is directly hereditary, affected also by environment. Genes code for proteins, which could cause differences in the function and development of the brain. Although “bad” genes might be cited, environment might be responsible for triggering certain behaviors in which we have a genetic disposition.

 

Personality Inventories

Tests used to determine where somebody sits on the scale of each of the Big Five factors are called personality inventories, which are also used to determine and describe other selected traits.

Personality inventories are usually standardized questionnaires used to assess and predict behavior and personality traits in subjects. They tend to be longer and commonly use paraphrased questions to determine validity.

MMPI- Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory Personality inventory used to identify mental health

problems. Developed by Hathaway and McKinley (1930’s) updated and republished in 1989 as MMPI-II.

Uses yes or no questions to place the subject on scales for specific traits. Subjects answer questions with no explanation, only with the answer that applies to them

Answers compared to the results from a control group

Uses paraphrasing or linked questions to measure consistency and validity of results

Criticized for being taken seriously as a diagnosis. The MMPI only places the subject compared to statistics collected from others.

Bibliography Aston, M. (2004, May). Contributions and Limitations of Cattell's Sixteen Personality Factor Model.

Retrieved from http://www.personalityresearch.org/papers/fehringer.html       

Boeree, G. (2006). Personality theories: Gordon Allport. Retrieved from http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/allport.html    

Heffner, Dr. C. L. Personality Theory: An Introduction. Retrieved from http://allpsych.com/personalitysynopsis/contents.html

MacCallum, R. (2004). Psychology 236: factor analysis class notes. Retrieved from http://www.unc.edu/~rcm/psy236/p236notes.fnl.au04.pdf

Myers, D. G. . (2007). The Big Five Factors. (2007). Psychology. NY, New York: Worth Publishers.  Myers, I. (n.d.). mbti® basics.

Retrieved from http://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/mbti-basics/

Srivastava, S. (2010). Measuring the big five personality factors.. Retrieved from http://www.uoregon.edu/~sanjay/bigfive.html#b5vffm

Vaknin, S. (2006, April 27). Mmpi-ii test. Retrieved from http://www.suite101.com/blog/samvak/1280 Genetics and the environment - how do genes influence behavior and attitudes? (2010).

Retrieved from http://www.libraryindex.com/pages/2236/Genetics-Environment-HOW-DO-GENES-INFLUENCE-BEHAVIORAND-ATTITUDES.html

 “Gordon Allport." Online image. NNDB tracking the entire world. 14 Mar. 2010.   <http://www.nndb.com/people/009/000117655/gordon-allport-2-sized.jpg>.

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Personality inventory. (2010). Retrieved from http://psychology.jrank.org/pages/487/Personality-Inventory.html

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