Trait Theory : Hans Eysenck's Influence On Personality

Funder (2006) defines personality as a person’s pattern of thought, emotion, and behavior, with psychological mechanisms and underpinnings. Studying personality within the field of social psychology makes logical senses. While the study of personality psychology seeks to determine the various ways that people differ from one another, and figure out individuals from the inside out, personality within social psychology seeks to figure out individuals from the inside out in varying contexts. Personality psychologists deal with one main challenge – there are so many facets to one’s personality that it is hard to view one’s personality within one single lens. Therefore, before exploring personality within the context of social realms, it is important to view the many facets and approaches to examining personality and its variations.

Guilford (1959) defines personality traits as being ‘any distinguishable, relatively enduring way in which one individual varies from another’. Subsequently, trait theory can be identified as an approach to the study of human personality. The aim of psychologists, specifically trait theorists, is to explain similarities and differences between individuals based on traits. Although numerous psychologists differ on the amount of traits that are significant, each theorist categorizes personality traits along several broad type spectrums. This assignment will focus on comparing and contrasting Eysenck’s Hierarchical Theory of Personality and Costa and McRae’s Five Factor Model (FFM), two different trait theories of personality.

Burger (2008), says that there are many theories of personality and psychologists try to explain it with their own approaches. Discussed here will be the psychoanalytic approach, the trait approach, the biological approach the humanistic approach, the behavioural/social learning approach and the cognitive approach. They were devised to search for specific patterns in behaviour and ways of thinking about these

Dispositional personality theories are quite different from biological personality theories. The two will be compared and dissected in this article. The Big Five Personality Test will also be analyzed and how it is used to study personality will be examined.

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

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

Trait theory is one of the most critically debated fields of personality studies. Many psychologists have theorised using the trait theory approach to personality, which promotes the difference between individuals. Hans Eysenck developed a model of personality based on 3 set traits. Unlike other theories, Eysenck only used 3 universal traits to describe an individual’s personality, they are:

Eysenck belief was the primary determinate of personality is genetics. “All in all, if certain aspects of personality are indeed based on biologically induced temperament, then we should expect to see such differences in all cultures. Indeed, the introversion–extroversion dimension does seem to appear worldwide “(Eysenck, 1990, p.

According to Eysenck the personality is the sum total of actual or potential behavior patterns of organism as determined by heredity and environment; it originates and develops through the functional interaction of four main sectors into which these behavior patterns are organized; the cognitive sector(intelligence), the cognitive sector(character), the affective sector(temperament) and somatic structure(constitution).

This paper will go over the founders of assessing personality, how it changes over time, and how the theories of personality have changed. It will also include the main trait theories and what it means when you assess your personality

Most theorists have argued that personality is a product of biological and environmental factors. To help individuals understand the different approaches used to analyze the theories of personality, many theorists have given emphasis to different personality and development. One has included four approaches to help individuals gain

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.

This essay will give a description of Personality before critically analysing the biological basis of personality approach. The biological basis approach tries to account for the mechanisms between genes and personality by looking at various different brain structures whilst the biochemical approach looks at the impact of hormones and neurotransmitters. The majority of our understanding of personality from a biological perspective focuses on the three main behavioural systems; the reward system, the motivation system and the punishment system. Within this essay I will be discussing the three main theories that have come from these ideas, Eyenck’s three-factor model, Gray’s reinforcement sensitivity theory (RST) and Cloningers model of personality.

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

Personality distinguishes one individual different from another. Some personalities are more positive than others; however personality ultimately defines a person. Ample amounts of research and theories focus on personality. Researchers trust that investigation concerning personality provides a road map to truly understanding the individual. In an attempt to analyzing Michelle Obama’s personality, this paper will discuss the extrovert and introvert personality through using Eysenck’s Personality Theory and Allport’s Trait Theory; the two character theories illustrate two contrasting philosophies. Moreover, extrovert personalities hold characteristics such as combative, outgoing, determined, intolerant and hostility. On the contrary, introvert personality characteristics involve compromising reserved, wavering, and relaxed. Understanding the role that Eysenck’s Personality Theory and Allport’s Trait Theory play in Michelle Obama’s personality, will enrich one’s perception of her, exposing the extrovert and introvert traits of her personality.