1. Trait or Dispositional Theories
Personality Psychology
Trait or Dispositional Theories

2. Definition – Trait/Disposition
A trait is any readily-identifiable, stable quality that characterizes an individual from other individuals.
A trait is a characteristic way in which an individual perceives, feels, believes, or acts. 
Traits serve to summarize, predict, and explain a person’s behavior.

3. Trait/Dispositional Theories
Traits present specific ideas about a person’s disposition which is the way a person is likely to behave across situations as well as over time.
Discover/Define main traits.
Measure traits.
Organize traits:
Hierarchically or as a continuum.

4. Discovering Traits Lexical Approach Statistical (Empirical) Approach
Collecting words and synonyms of traits
Statistical (Empirical) Approach
Factor Analysis
Theoretical Approach
Using theory and past information

5. Factor Analysis
Statistical procedure to identify items that group together and reflect a larger factor.
Selection of traits
Labeling of factors
Number of factors

6. Gordon Allport Born 1897, died 1967 Quiet and reserved
Went into Psychology because he followed his brother, Floyd Allport (a Social Psychologist), to Harvard.
Received an undergraduate degree in philosophy and economics from Harvard, and taught in Europe for a year.
While in Europe, he had a fortuitous meeting with Sigmund Freud in Vienna, which helped him decide to complete a Ph.D. in psychology.

7. Allport’s Disposition Theory
“Father” of trait theory
Used a lexical approach
There is value in surface characteristics – there is more to a person than what is at the “unconscious” level
To discover what someone is like, ask them about themselves. They are the best source of information.
Traits are both inherited and learned

8. Allport’s Theory (con’t)
Suggested internal and external forces that influence an individual’s behavior.
Genotypes are internal forces relates to how a person retains information and uses it to interact with the external world.
Phenotypes are external forces, these relate to the way an individual accepts his surroundings and how others influence their behavior. These forces generate the ways in which we behave and are the groundwork for the creation of individual traits.

9. Allport’s Theory (con’t)
Allport suggested that each individual has a unique set of personality traits
He called these personal dispositions
A disposition is “a generalized neuropsychic structure with the capacity to render many stimuli functionally equivalent and to initiate and guide consistent forms of adaptive and stylistic behavior.”
Allport divided traits into three categories: Cardinal, Central, and Secondary

10. Allport’s Theory (con’t)
Cardinal Traits
A trait so dominant a person’s entire life revolves around it.
Most people do not have one.
Central Traits
Qualities that characterize a person’s daily interactions
Most people have 5 to 10 central traits
To understand a person, one should look at the pattern of central traits
Secondary Traits
Characteristics that are exhibited in specific situations
Secondary traits are more easily modified than central traits

11. Allport’s Theory (con’t)
Allport further divided personal dispositions into
Motivational dispositions, which are strong enough to initiate action and
Stylistic dispositions, which refer to the manner in which an individual behaves and which guide rather than initiate action.

12. Allport’s Theory (con’t)
Motives
Opportunistic Functioning: tendency to satisfy biological needs
Propriate Functioning: expressing one’s self
Proprium
Behaviors and characteristics that people regard as warm and central in their lives.
Preferred this term over self or ego because the latter terms could imply an object or thing within a person that controls behavior, whereas proprium suggests the core of one's personhood.

13. Allport’s Theory (con’t)
Development of the Proprium
Sense of body – Warmth, pain, etc.
Self-identity – Individual entity
Self-esteem – Value, competencies
Self-extension – Self-definition, warm and close
Self-image – How others see us
Rational coping – Dealing with life
Propriate striving – Future, purpose, direction

14. Allport’s Theory (con’t)
Psychological Maturity
Extensions of self, i.e. involvement.
Warm relating to others
Emotional security and self-acceptance
Realistic perception not defensiveness
Problem-centeredness
Self-objectification
A unifying philosophy of life

15. Raymond Cattell Born 1905, died 1998.
Born in England, first in his family to go to college. (Degree was in Chemistry.)
Came to America to work with E. L. Thorndike and was invited to Harvard University by Allport.

16. Raymond Cattell
Cattell asked the question, "How do we figure out which personality traits are most important in understanding people?"
This is the question asked by many personality psychologists taking the "Essential trait approach."

17. Cattell’s Trait Theory
Used the Inductive Method
Gather a large amount of Data
Run an exploratory factor analysis on the data set (a "fishing expedition" which looks for data clusters)
This exploratory analysis then gives the researcher information to base future hypothesis on, and the underlying significant factors discovered in the exploratory stage are then used to run a confirmatory analysis.

18. Cattell’s Theory (con’t)
Factor analysis reduction of 4,500 trait words (left by Allport) to 16 most basic primary personality dimensions.
Not as concerned with whether traits were inherited or learned.

19. Cattell’s Theory (con’t)
Trait Description
Description of Opposing Extremes 1
Abstractedness
imaginative vs. practical 2
Apprehension
insecure vs. complacent 3
Dominance
aggressive vs. passive 4
Emotional Stability
calm vs. high-strung 5
Liveliness
enthusiastic vs. serious 6
Openness to Change
liberal vs. traditional 7
Perfectionism
compulsive vs. indifferent 8
Privateness
pretentious vs. unpretentious 9
Reasoning
abstract vs. concrete 10
Rule Consciousness
moralistic vs. free-thinking 11
Self-Reliance
leader vs. follower 12
Sensitivity
sensitive vs. tough-minded 13
Social Boldness
uninhibited vs. timid 14
Tension
driven vs. easy going 15
Vigilance
suspicious vs. accepting 16
Warmth
warmhearted vs. aloof

20. Cattell’s Theory (con’t)
Three broad sources of data that are used to uncover all the major dimensions of personality.
These three sources are L-data, Q- data, and T-data.
These three sources of data must be integrated to capture the full complexity of human personality.

21. Cattell’s Theory (con’t)
L-Data
Gathered from one’s life records
Q-Data
Information gathered from questionnaires and interviews
T-Data
Information obtained from objective testing situations

22. Cattell’s Theory (con’t)
Two types of Traits
Surface traits: Clusters of overt responses that seem to go together.
Source traits: Building blocks of personality. More stable than surface traits and can only be discovered by factor analysis.

23. Five-Factor Model Many researchers have suggested a Five-Factor Model.
Earliest evidence of the five factor model came from D. W. Fiske in 1949.
The most commonly used model today is from McCrae and Costa (1987).

24. McCrae and Costa (1987) Big Five Factors Openness to experience –
Inventive/curious vs. consistent/cautious
Appreciation for art, emotion, adventure, unusual ideas, curiosity, and variety of experience. Openness reflects the degree of intellectual curiosity, creativity and a preference for novelty and variety.

25. McCrae and Costa (1987) Big Five Factors Conscientiousness
Efficient/organized vs. easy-going/careless
A tendency to show self-discipline, act dutifully, and aim for achievement; planned rather than spontaneous behavior; organized, and dependable.

26. McCrae and Costa (1987) Big Five Factors Extraversion –
Outgoing/energetic vs. solitary/reserved
Energy, positive emotions, surgency, assertiveness, sociability and the tendency to seek stimulation in the company of others, and talkativeness.

27. McCrae and Costa (1987) Big Five Factors Agreeableness –
Friendly/compassionate vs. cold/unkind
A tendency to be compassionate and cooperative rather than suspicious and antagonistic towards others.

28. McCrae and Costa (1987) Big Five Factors Neuroticism
Sensitive/nervous vs. secure/confident
The tendency to experience unpleasant emotions easily, such as anger, anxiety, depression, or vulnerability. Neuroticism also refers to the degree of emotional stability and impulse control, and is sometimes referred by its low pole – "emotional stability".