Measuring Supertraits with Eysenck Personality Questionnaire

Everybody is unique or special in one form or another and each personality has a theory. For many years psychologists have based theories upon individuals and I the writer will compare and contrast three well known psychologists Sigmund Freud, Alfred Alder, and Carl Jung. Sigmund Freud was one of the greatest psychologists in time he Alder and Jung’s theories were very similar but then again very different. Within these theories we will discuss characteristics with which I agree and disagree with, explore the stages of Freud’s theory explaining characteristics of personality using stage components

Hans Eysenck, a psychologist well known in the field of personality based his trait theory on biological explanations; whereby he believed genetic and biological factors were significant elements of personality (Eysenck 1990). Eysenck also held the view that an individual’s personality traits, or what he referred to as ‘temperament’ was an exact result of one’s genetic make-up (Chamorro-Premuzic & Furnham, 2005). Eysenck encompassed the idea that there was a need to highlight the significant dimensions of personality, create a way in which they could be measured and then link them with experimental procedures. Subsequently, Eysenck developed a model of personality based on a theoretical and statistical approach to the classification of traits. This is

Personality is a complex area of Psychology, which has been studied for many years, by many experts in the field. Each having their own ideas about how to understand, study and evaluate it. Here I will introduce personality briefly, looking at the theories behind it. Then explain the need for testing. As there are many test that are available to use, for the purpose of this essay I will look at The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) and discuss the reliability and validity of some studies around these tests.

Biological theories suggest genetics have a big part to play in personality. Some have suggested that people with high cortical arousal are introverts who avoid stimulation. While individuals with low cortical arousal are extroverts who look for stimulating

Personality and how we behave have been of much interest to psychologists for a long time now and because of this there have been many theories and theorists that have been developed. Personality is defined as consistent behavior patterns and intrapersonal processes originating within and individual (Fritzley, 2012, p. 10). There are six main approaches to personality psychology they include: biological approach, humanistic approach, behaviorist approach, trait approach, psychoanalytic approach and cognitive approach. Each approach shines a little light onto why we behave the way we do and how our personalities are formed, the approaches contain many different theories from

His theory is based on three traits affecting behaviour, holding that extraversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism in conjunction with social experiences produce personality (Center and Kemp 2002). The first dimension, extraversion, describes individuals as sociable and needs people around. Extraverts thrive off of excitement, will take risks, are impulsive and unreliable. Meanwhile, introverts are the opposite, have control of emotions, and are rarely aggressive. Extraverts will usually have less well-developed consciences because of their poor conditionability, which is associated with their low arousal (Farrell 1984). The next dimension, neuroticism, describes individuals who are anxious and display other emotional responses. Essentially, high levels of emotionality make integration difficult because neurotic individuals will give way to the temptation of acting on their emotions (Center and Kemp 2002). The third dimension in his theory is psychoticism and relates to a lack of sympathy and empathy, antisocial, and cold. They also may be sensation seeking and have bizarre tastes, are unconventional, and do not fit socially. Psychoticism is related physiologically to the level of aggression, which is associated with certain crimes, such as murder. Many criminals are male, and a person’s level of androgen (male hormone) appears to be correlated

The single trait approach is a way of analyzing personality by taking one trait a person exhibits and using that to predict many behaviors from it (Funder, 2016). For Charles Evans Whittaker, the most pronounced trait in his later years was his neuroticism, which ultimately led to his breakdown and retirement from the Supreme Court. Neuroticism is one of the Big Five Personality Traits and is marked by emotional instability and negative emotions (Funder, 2016). Neuroticism is also characterized by indecisiveness and stress, as well as negative reactions to stress (Funder, 2016). A study done by Schneider, Rench, Lyons, and Riffle, found that neuroticism indirectly made performance worse (Schneider, Rench, Lyons, & Riffle, 2011). They investigated several Big Five traits to see how they affected stress responses. What was found in this study concurs with the textbook that neuroticism has a high impact on stress, and in highly stressful situations neuroticism is linked to poorer outcomes (Schneider, et all 2011). IT was also found that people higher in neuroticism were more likely to have higher threat appraisals for stressful tasks (Schneider, et all 2011). This means that participants viewed what was expected of them was more demanding than the resources they had to cope with that demand (Schneider, et all 2011). One factor that can affect high or low neuroticism is the gene 5 HTT. If a person has the short allele for 5 HTT, which affects serotonin levels, and is presented with a stressful environment they are more likely to experience depression after a stressful event (Funder, 2016). The gene also regulates serotonin found in the amygdala. Although the single trait is being used here to discuss aspects of Whittaker’s personality, the behavioral genetics behind serotonin

P.’s combination of neuroticism and extraversion scores, the affective plan, show that P. is an introvert. As such, she enjoys the quiet of solitude and solitary activities. With that profile P. might have a few close friends, which keep the commotion of being around others to a minimal level and thus keep her emotional reaction leveled.

Blood flow to different parts of the brain has a similar effect. Introverted and extroverted persons have more blood allocated to certain parts of their brains.

The personality trait from the mini IPIP6 –scale descriptions analysed in this report is Extraversion. With a mean score of 5.5 compared to the mean score of sample 4.05, standard deviation of 1.17 and z score of 1.24, over all I scored above average compared to the mean total score of participants. By incorporating previous research on Extroversion and the mini –IPIP6 scale, an observation can be made that my score was above average due to my lack in introvert behaviours. These scales are self-reported data (S- Data), which can decrease the validity as self- report data can only measure what the individual is willing to express. The personality trait from Jackson-5 Scales of revised Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory - Scale description analysed

He used the statistical measurement of factor analysis that identifies patterns and correlations of words, once and then again resulting in what are known as the three superfactors. Eysenck also believed that the basic factors of personality have a biological basis. For example, one hypothesis was that introverts are characterised by higher levels of cortical arousal than extraverts (Eysenck, 1967 as cited in Eysenck. HJ, 1981). EEG measures by Savage (cited in Eysenck.

Eysenck’s theory of personality is based on physiology and genetics. According to him our personality is inherited and determined by environment. He believed that our personality traits had psycho-physiological foundation.

Introversion was defined as “withdrawn and often shy, and they tend to focus on themselves, on their own thoughts and feelings” (Jung, 1923) Therefore focusing on this personality trait can help to better understand why people tend to be reserved and withdrawn from everyday life. Carl Jung was the creator of the neopsychoanalytical approach, which focused on psychic energy. While Gordon Allport and Hans Eysenck contributor to the trait theory, focused on biology and individualized traits. Jung, Eysenck and Allport focused on extrovert vs. introvert, yet had completely different ideas of how introversion is seen in everyday life. Personally believeing this trait is one I carry, focusing on completely different approaches will bring light to many explanations of why people act the way they do, including myself. By using both case studies and personal work from the works of Jung, Eysenck, and Allport researching introversion should not be a an issue. Although there is a lot of work to do with introversion, through this research one can get a better overview.

Cardinal traits were rare and included traits that dominated a person, central traits were more general and descriptive of the individual, secondary traits were situational and related to an individual’s attitude and preference (Srivastava, 2005, p. 231). According to Buchanan (2010), German born psychologist Hans Eysenck devoted much of his career to both personality and intelligence research with much of this time spent in British universities. According to Haggbloom (2002), Eysenck’s research was thoroughly respected with him being the most regularly cited psychologist in science journals at the time of his passing. In 1947 Eysenck’s first book outlined what Eysenck viewed as the two central factors of personality; neuroticism and introversion/extraversion. Five years later Eysenck added another factor; psychoticism (Buchanan, 2010, p. 73). According to Carnivez & Allen (2005), British born psychologist Raymond Cattell centred his studies on factor analysis. His work observed him meticulously reduce Allport’s list of traits to less than two hundred. Applying his factor analysis knowledge, Cattell developed the 16PF questionnaire in 1949. Now in its fifth edition, it is still in wide use to this day (Boyle, Matthews & Saklofske, 2008). According to Tucker (2009), Cattell argued that while Eysenck’s three factor approach to personality was simpler, his own method was more thorough.

Personality is a large part of being human, as each person has a unique set of characteristics and traits. One person can be kind and patient and another can be rude and ill tempered. This variability is both what makes the study of personality fascinating and incredibly difficult. Although there are a myriad of different personality traits that can be used to describe a person, psychologists have narrowed it down to five overarching ideas. These are commonly referred to as the “Big Five” personality traits and they consist of, neuroticism, extraversion, agreeableness, openness, and conscientiousness. In particular, this study will focus on neuroticism, the trait that is characterized by high emotionality and instability, anxiety, and irritability (Soto, John, Gosling, & Potter 2011). Of the five, neuroticism is the only one with a negative connotation, which separates it from the others. Nonetheless, despite its poor reputation, neuroticism is an incredibly important trait to study as it is often linked with anxiety and depression (Soto et al., 2011). For example, one study found that participants who were clinically depressed and those who were not but scored highly on the neuroticism scale both had significantly greater negative self-perceptions (Thomson, 2016). Although currently there is only a correlation between these mental disorders and neuroticism, further experimentation could lead to more conclusive result. Recently, mental health has