The Trait Perspective

Trait A characteristic of behavior or a disposition to feel and act as assessed by self-reported inventories or peer reports.

Factor Analysis A statistical procedure used to identify different components of your intelligence or personality (depending on the test). FA takes the answers you give on tests and compiles them into general traits.

Eysenck Personality Questionnaire

The Big Five Emotional Stability (calm/anxious, secure/insecure, self-satisfied/self-pitying). Extraversion (sociable/retiring, fun- loving/sober, affectionate/reserved). Openness (imaginative/practical, variety/routine, independent, conforming)

The Big Five (Continued) Agreeableness (soft-hearted/ruthless, trusting/suspicious, helpful/uncooperative). Conscientiousness (organized/disorganized, careful/careless, disciplined/impulsive).

The Big Five Once you take a test that measures your personality according to the Big Five Scale…. Your traits will be stable over time. They can be attributed to your genetics They apply across different cultures They predict other attributes.

Assessing Our Traits Personality Inventories: a questionnaire where people respond to items attempting to gauge different aspects of their personality

MMPI Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory: the most widely used personality test. Originally used to identify emotional disorders. Now used for screening purposes.

MMPI put to the Test

The Person-Situation Controversy Are traits really stable? Kind Of…. They change according to the situation