1. Is the theory’s basis data scientific? The trait/biological approach is a little scientific. The data used to establish the traits does not include a large and diverse sample. The theorists who did collect data collected it from individuals whose personalities supported their theories. Raymond Cattell collected three types of data: L-data (behavior in everyday situations), Q-data (self-reported questionnaires), and OT-data (objective tests). With the data, Cattell ran a factor analysis and if the data correlated, they would be clustered together to create a factor. The majority of the data he collected is subjective. The five-factor model was developed by opening up the dictionary and picking adjectives. The participants were asked to …show more content…
The biological approach tried to supply the explanation. One explanation is temperament. Hippocrates and Galen proposed there were four humors and temperaments responded to them making up four personalities. Franz Joseph Gall theorized that temperaments existed physically in our heads and he claimed he could identify people’s temperaments by the bumps on their brains. Ernst Kretchmer and William Sheldon believed temperaments were based on three body types: pyknic (heavier, rounder); athletic (fit); and asthenic (thinner). Emil Kraepelin, who was born the same year as Freud approached pathology as links in families. If we had given more recognition to Kraepelin rather than Freud, we would be further in the field. Thomas and Chess identified three different temperaments from parents reporting about their children: easy/well-adjusted, difficult/undercontrolled, and slow-to-warm/inhibited. Strong relationships with how people were identified as children and how they were measured as adults were found. Kegan through more objective observations identified there were only two temperament styles: inhibited (more reactive) and uninhibited (welcome to new people/things). The second explanation is genetics. Research done on twin studies found that identical twins that were raised apart were more statistically similar to each other. A meta-analysis was done that concluded that forty percent of variance in personality can be attributed to genetics. The third explanation of
Funder discusses on how personality psychology formulates around numerous basic approaches. One approach Funder talks about is the biological approach, which addresses the mental process on our behavior including anatomy, physiology, genetics, and evolution. This approach analyses our feelings, thoughts, and behaviors through our mind. Another approach that Funder discusses is the trait approach, which is basically the study of human personality; the trait approach concentrates on the way an individual differs in emotion, thought, and behavior and how those differences are measured. These two approaches complement each other because the trait approach focuses on routine patterns of an individual that are behaviors, feelings, and thoughts which those
Psychodynamic theories highlight the unconscious motives and desires. Also, the childhood experience can shape their personality. In the late 1800s and 1900s Freud developed a technique that could treat mentally disordered people. He formed his psychodynamic theory by observing his patients. In like terms the psychoanalytic theory, personalities attempts to solve conflicts between unconscious sexual and aggressive impulses societal demands to confine these
Freud described humans as having three essential components that built personality. The three components were the id, the ego, and the superego. He described the id, as being what governed an infant’s drive to overcome their primitive biological desires. According to his theory infants had no other goal than to release the tension that built up when their
The study of personality traits is beneficial in identifying the many variables that exist from human to human; the combinations of these variables provide us with a true level of individuality and uniqueness. In the field of psychology, trait theory is considered to be a key approach to the study of human personality (Crowne, 2007; Burton, Westen & Kowalski, 2009). This paper aims to identify a number of significant contributors who have played crucial roles in both the development and application of trait theory. This paper then moves focus to these theorists, outlining their theory and analysing both the strengths and weaknesses of those theories. An illustration of the methods used in trait measurement is given and includes the
Research also shows indicates that the Big Five has distinct biological substrates thereby linking trait perspective with the biological perspective (DeYoung, Quilty & Peterson, 2007). However this convergence of perspectives is actually productive in that all perspectives by themselves have their disadvantages as well as their advantages. If all perspectives can coincide with one another, explanations of personality will become so much easier.
The Minnesota Twin Study is a correlational study which seeks to establish the relationship between genetics and/or environment on personality. The study uses twins as a basis due to shared genetic material. The two types of twins, who were separated at birth and raised in different environments, are the (adult) participants; the data accumulated from these twins was compared to the control
In reading stories about identical twins my point of view is easily understood. Various types of psychologist have analyzed the study of identical twins. It shows that individuals with the same genetic make-up can be totally different, when it comes to personality. Nurture promotes the twins to grow up as separate individuals. Its a lot better if a twin has his or her own personality rather than the same exact personality of the other half. I think this great debate weighs heavier on the nurture side. As a child my parents, and sibling overshadowed my genetic make-up. No matter how much I thought my physical traits made me behave. It did not affect me more than the things that I had seen and been exposed to. The more things that I had seen around and experienced made me the person that I am today. If my genetic make-up was totally different, to a certain extent, I am sure that I?d behave the same way that I do presently. There are exceptions to that. For instance if I were six foot five and one hundred and ninety pounds, I?d most likely be in the NBA and be really rich. I think if I was really rich and in the NBA I wouldn?t have the same worries that I have today. Even if before I were in the NBA I would have lots of attention and have a lot more confidence. So to an extent I would change a little if my genetic make-up were different. In a sense, genetic make-up is just a competitor to the environmental factors
To start things off Sigmund Freud. Sigmund Freud’s theory was Elements of Personality. Freud has coined and made many of the vocabulary of western society. Words he has introduced through his theories are now used by everyday people. Such as personality, libido, denial, repression and so many more. (Saul McLeod, Page 1) Freud believed that humans seldom give a true explanation of our behaviors. Our genuine motivation is not revealed. Not because we are purposely lying, but because we are quite proficient at self-deceptions. We dispraise the real reasons for our behavior.
Trait theory (developed by Eysenck and Rachman (1965,cited in Butt,2007) can be described as an experimental approach to individual differences (Butt, 2007). It is a way in which we differ from one another and how we would sum another person up in terms of their traits. We may describe someone as independent, happy, or sensitive. That is our view of that person and we would expect the person we described that person to think the same. **Theories come from ‘3 separate but related strands’ (Butt 2007) which are clinical, psychometric and experimental. Traits therefore can be measured via psychometrics,( Psychometrics is the field of study concerned with the theory and technique of psychological measurement. One part of the field is concerned with the objective measurement of skills and knowledge, abilities, attitudes, personality traits, and educational achievement. ) as people are pretty much the same across different situations
Identical twins may share the same DNA make up and grow up in the same household, yet they have very distinct personalities. On the other hand, twins that may have been separated at birth, find that years later when they meet up for the first time that they have very similar character traits and experiences. Researchers have been trying to figure out for years if DNA or environment has a bigger factor in determining a twin’s personality. When researchers try to determine how personalities are developed, they often look to twin studies to determine if DNA or life experiences are influential in personality development.
One of the foremost authorities on trait theory is Eysenck. He worked at the Maudsley Psychiatric Hospital where his task was to make the initial assessment of anyone admitted. After several years, he developed a questionnaire with which he would interrogate his patients. He then applied the questionnaire to 700 soldiers and solidified his evidence. He found that the answers seemed to reveal a lot about the personality traits of each soldier (Gergen, 1973). He then assigned a weight to the answers and called them factors. He created two broad categories with which the various traits tallied and presented the results to the world. His work still influences psychology today.
The Five Factor Model or Big Five model developed by McCrae and Costa factor together personality traits into 5 major categories. Those factors were Neuroticism (worried insecure, nervous, highly strung), Extraversion (Sociable, talkative, fun-loving, affectionate), Openness (Original, independent, creative, daring), Agreeableness (Good-natured, softhearted, trusting, courteous), and Conscientiousness (Careful, reliable, hardworking, organized). (Schultz & Schultz, 2013). They are able to include most of other lower order traits accounting for specific dimensions of individual differences in personality. (Schultz & Schultz, 2013)
Although people think identical twins have the same personality they really don't. Every identical twins personality is different from one another a good example is Bonne and Brenda Bonne one of the twins had a sex change and became a man and the other did not. This proves that nurture plays a part in someone's personality. Another example is Tim and James both are identical twins and both had bad kidney problems when they were born, but only James recovered Tim had to have a kidney transplant later in
The authors, Samuel D. Gosling and Oliver P. John both predicted that the Five Factor Model’s characteristics like extraversion, neuroticism and agreeableness varied from animal to animal. They attempted to prove the level of the characteristics in different nonhuman animals. For instance, of 19 studies, 17 identified a factor related to Extraversion, whether it might have been sociability in dogs and rhesus monkeys or surgency in chimpanzees. Gosling and John decided to go even further by adding two more aspects- dominance
People’s possession of personality traits is one of the most essential elements of personality theory. As the most widely recognised model of personality traits approach, the Five-Factor Model (FFM) has been transformed over a few decades, from a 17,000-word description in Roget’s