The Trait Perspective:
The Trait Perspective:
Traits: characteristic behaviors and conscious motives
If you describe people using broad generalities, they can find it in their hearts to believe you – especially if you’re flattering
This is called the Barnum effect. PT Barnum: “There’s a sucker born every minute.” Barnum effect states: people tend to accept as valid descriptions of their personality that are true of everybody. ESP if descriptions are favorable.
Cf. Baha’I and Roma for interesting not-germane discussion.
Trait: characteristic behaviors and conscious motives – stable and consistent over time.
Brainstorm 10-15 traits now – we’ll come back to it
Trait theories – personality reflected in the traits we possess
They can be
- Nomothetic: describe individuals in terms of universal dimensions possessed by all humans. Differences stem from differences in intensity or degree to which we possess traits.
- Ideographic: focus on understanding and describing that which makes an individual unique – more traits possible than in nomothetic theories
Originator of trait perspective: Gordon Allport
- went through dictionary; came up with over 9,000 (18,000) traits!
- That’s dumb
- Believed development was a steady process – discounted stage theories as arbitrary – thought there was a core to personality and development resulted from unification of our interests
- Punctuality, diligence, neatness, organization tend to cluster together
- By identifying “clusters” of related traits (through factor analysis) number of traits can be reduced greatly to as few as 2
- Raymond Cattell – “sweet 16”
- Hans Eysenck – “core 2(!)”
o Introversion/extraversion
o Stability/instability (neuroticism)
o Believed to be genetically determined
▪ Maybe an evolutionary advantage to extraversion/introversion
▪ Personality may be related to arousal theory
- Most modern psychologists use the “Big 5”
o Openness – tendency to seek and accept new experiences vs. reject and avoid
o Conscientiousness – responsibility and dependability vs. irresponsibility and undependability
o Extraversion – outgoing and talkative vs. shy and withdrawn
o Agreeableness – unfriendly and uncooperative vs. friendly, easygoing, cooperative
o Neuroticism – instability vs. stability
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