CONTEMPORARY

PERSPECTIVES ON
PERSONALITY
Module 35
 Trait Approach in
PersonalityResearch
Personality is defined as an individual’s
characteristic patterns of thinking, feeling
and acting

Consistency of thinking, feeling and acting

across time and situation is predicted
because they are caused by internal traits
Allport and Odbert (1936)
counted about 18,000 traits in the
English language

Allport believed that people have core

“central traits” that uniquely define
them most of the time and “peripheral
traits” that are less defining.
 Idiographic and Nomothetic
Approaches

Allport encouraged the “idiographic

approach” which was a study of a
particular person’s unique set of
traits that determine behavior.

Contrasts with “nomothetic

approach” that seeks the basic set
of traits that apply to all people.
 How do psychologists determine
basic traits that apply to all people?

Factor Analysis- an advanced

statistical method that
reveals the number of basic
factors in a set of data
 A Basic Question Regarding
Traits
How many basic personality
factors?

Different answers have been

offered by different trait-
oriented psychologists
 Eysenck and Eysenck
(1963)
proposed two basic
personality factors that have
a biological origin:

introversion - extroversion
emotional stability -
instability
Two Factor Model of
Eysenck and Eysenck
 Two Factor Model
Two basic factors are introversion-
extroversion and stability-instability.

These two factors are proposed to be

determined genetically and some data
support this.

All other traits fall within this two-

dimensional space produced by these
factors.
Biology and Personality Traits

Brain imaging studies show that the

level of brain arousal of extroverts is
relatively low compared to the
average.

Frontal lobes of extroverts show less

activity than those of introverts

Dopamine tracts tend to be more

active in extroverts than in introverts
 Temperment
One’s general response to stress

Children with more or less reactive

autonomic nervous systems when
encountering a threatening stimulus
show considerable consistency in
stress/anxiety response over the
lifespan

Personality differences have been

observed among dogs, birds and mice
 Measuring Traits
Personality questionnaires are used.

People read statements and indicate

agreement with the statement or if it is true
or false
 Gray’s Reinforcement
Sensitivity Theory

- people’s brains differ in sensitivity to:

: behavioral approach (approach)
: flight or freeze system (avoidance)

Behavioral Approach System – controls

approach, impulsivity, lack of inhibition

Flight or Freeze System: controls sensitivity

to punishment and motivation to avoid
punishment (fear and inhibition)
 E/I and Grays Theory

Extroverts – more active

approach system less active
fear system

Introverts – more active fear

system and less active
approach system
 Big Five Factors

Many studies throughout the

world show that there are five
basic personality factors (e.g.
US, Canada, China, Czech
Republic, Germany, Greece,
Finland, India, Japan, Korea,
Phillipines, Poland, Turkey,
Zimbabwe)
 Five Factors, Names and
Associated Traits
Factor Name Traits
I Extroversion talkative, social
outgoing

II Agreeableness cooperative,
Non-argumentative, easy going

III Conscientiousness hard working

responsible

IV Emotional Stability
(Neuroticism) calm, secure

V Intelligence/Culture imaginative
( Openness to Experience) Intelligent
Online Big Five Personality Test

http://www.outofservice.com/bigfive/

This site and test are

legitimate and maintained by
personality scientists
 Evaluating Trait Theory
If traits cause behavior, is behavior
consistent across time and situation as
the theory predicts?

Or, do people change their behavior in

different situations that involve
different people? (this is a view held
by social psychologists)

These questions are the basis of the:

person-situation debate
 Person-Situation Debate
Some psychologist conclude the data show
consistency.
 Roberts &
DelVecchio, 2000
 Agreement in Personality Judgments at
Zero Acquaintance

Albright, Kenny, & Malloy (1988) - strangers

met for the first time face to face but with
no speaking and made trait judgments on
the Big Five

Results showed agreement in judgments for

factor 1 (extroversion) and factor 3
(conscientiousness)
 Why agreement in trait
judgments at zero acquaintance?
People use visible appearance
cues to infer internal traits

attractiveness stereotype - if
attractive, then infer extroversion

If well groomed, then infer

conscientiousness
Evidence for Consistency

Evidence for consistency of

traits across a seven year
period

As humans age, traits scores

are more consistent over a
seven year period
 Gosling’s work on Trait
Judgments at zero Acquaintance
If you present people with music
preference, pictures of dorms and offices,
personal websites and electronic
communication they will agree in
personality judgments

But - agreement is not accuracy!

What is the Color of this
object?
 Everyone Answer “Red”

If all answer red, there is

complete agreement.

However, that agreement is

not accurate

While people may agree, they

may not be accurate
 Social Context and Behavioral
Consistency (Malloy et al, 1997)
A person was judged on the Big Five
Personality Traits by:

Family Members
Friends
Co-Workers

Trait Ratings were correlated across

groups.
 Correlations
Can range from 0 to 1.00

0 = no consistency across groups

1.00 = perfect consistency across
groups
 Findings
In all groups there was statistical
evidence for agreement with the
family, friend and co-worker groups on
each of the Big Five personality factors
Agreement across groups was
much weaker
co-fr co-fa fa-fr
OUTGOING 1 .186 .364* .287
COURTEOU 2 .158 .485* -.073
ON TIME 3 .299 .507* .492*
ANXIOUS 4 -.152 .137 .391*
INTELLIG 5 .154 .162 .282

Those in RED are reliably different from zero

Co = coworker
fr = friend
fa = family
 Overall
Agreement in trait judgment 100% of
time within groups

People from different social groups

judge a person's personality
differently 2/3 of the time
 Thin Slices of Behavior

Ambady and Rosenthal (at Harvard)

videotaped graduate students while
teaching their classes

10 second clips from the beginning, middle,

and end of the lecture were shown to
students who did not know the teachers

Students rated the teachers on confidence,

warmth, activity level, etc.
 Findings
Student ratings based on 10 second
clips predicted the teachers course
evaluations in the class by students
attending all semester

Study done with 3 - 2 second clips

yielded a correlation of +.72 with the
final course evaluation
 Social-Cognitive Approach to
Personality
Personality is learned patterns of
thinking and behavior.

Functional Analysis – analyzing

behavior and thinking by determining
what responses occur under conditions
of reward and punishment
 Leaders of the
Social-Cognitive Approach
Julian B. Rotter, Albert Bandura, and
Walter Mischel have presented the
most influential modern social-
cognitive theories of personality
Rotter – UConn Professor
B = f( E x RV)

Behavior is a function of
(Expectancy for Reinforcement x
Reinforcement Value)

People do what they expect will

produce reinforcement that they
value
 Internal versus External
Locus of Control of Reinforcement

Internal LoC = people who believe

that they are responsible for
procuring reinforcement (e.g.
take personal responsibility for
success and failure)

External LoC – people who believe

that reinforcement is due to luck,
fate, or other external forces
 Bandura’s Reciprocal
Determinism
Behavior affects aspects of
the environment (e.g. other
people) that, in turn, affects
our thoughts and future
behaviors.
Model of Reciprocal
Determinism
Bnadura’s Self Efficacy Concept

Self-Efficacy: belief that

one has the capacity to
behavior in a fashion the
produces reinforcement.
Multiple Causes of Personality:
Biopsychosocial Model
 Walter Mischel’s
Cognitive-Affective Theory

Mischel was a Ph.D. student with Rotter

Person Variables

- encoding: beliefs about world and

other people
- expectancies
- affect (emotion)
- goals and values
- competencies and self-regulation
 Mischel Continued

Situational Varibles
- cooperative or competitive
situation
- a family member or a friend
- an acquaintance or a loved
one
 If-Then Contingency

“If – Then” If a person is in a

particular situation, then they
will behave in a manner that
is typical of that situation

e.g. consistently respond one

way to a spouse and another
way to a supervisor
 Exploring the Self
Self is assumed to be at the core of
personality and organizes thinking, feeling
and acting

People overestimate how much attention

others actually pay to them
 Spotlight Effect
Cornell students wore or did not wear Barry
Manilow T-shirts into a group of people
 Findings

Students estimated that

about 50% of those in the
room would notice the T Shirt,
yet only 23% actually noticed.

People pay much less

attention to us than we think
 Self-Esteem

Self esteem - our affective

(emotional) evaluation of
ourselves

Those with lower self esteem

are more critical of others
(according to research)
 Self-Serving Bias
A common finding is that people tend to
perceive themselves favorably

People do not see themselves as average -

we all tend to see ourselves as above
average (this is a mathematical
impossibility)
 Can Self-Evaluation be Too
Positive?
Narcissism - when one’s evaluation of self is
beyond what is reasonable, is exceedingly
positive and is associated with negative
outcomes in life (e.g. gambling, cheating)
 Culture and Personality
Individualism - placing more
emphasis on personal goals
rather than group goals and
basing identity on personal
uniqueness rather than upon
one's role in the group

Collectivism - placing more

emphasis on the goals of the
group rather than on personal
 Individualism - Collective
America - individualistic
China - collective
--------------------------------
The "I am …." task

College students in India, China, and Japan

are more likely to end the sentence by
mentioning a group they belong to,
whereas Americans are likely to respond
with traits