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o Extraversion – outgoing and talkative vs. shy and withdrawn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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