PSY435 Exam 5 Study Guide

According to current trait theory, how many dominant trait dimensions comprise human
personality?
According to current trait theory, there are five dominant trait dimensions

Describe the main statistical method trait theorists used to identify personality traits.
Five factors

What makes a trait bipolar versus unipolar?

Unipolar traits are scaled from zero to some large amount (height, weight, intellectual ability). Bipolar
traits extend from one pole to an opposite pole, with zero representing a midpoint.

What is the difference between taxonomy and theory?

Taxonomy: a classification of things according to their natural relationships. Classification system.
Theories: Generate research. Predict and explain behavior

What was McCrae and Costa’s primary criticism of earlier personality theories outside the trait
and factor theory approach?

Describe how McCrae and Costa developed their Five-Factor model. According to McCrae and
Costa, what are the five trait factors in the Five-Factor model? Describe each.
 Neuroticism: Anxious, temperamental, self-pitying, self-conscious, emotional, vulnerable to stress
related disorders.
o Low score: calm, self-satisfied, unemotional.
 Extraversion: Affectionate, jovial, talkative, joiners, fun-loving.
o Low score: reserved, quiet, loners, passive, lacking ability to express strong emotion
 Openness: Imaginative, creative, original, prefers variety, curious, liberal
o Low score: down-to-earth, uncreative, conventional, prefers routine, uncurious,
conservative
 Agreeableness: Softhearted, trusting, generous, acquiescent, lenient, good-natured
o Low score: ruthless, suspicious, stingy, antagonistic, critical, irritable
 Conscientiousness: Conscientious, hardworking, well-organized, punctual, ambitious, persevering
o Low score: negligent, lazy, disorganized, late, aimless, quitting
o
Describe the main findings from cross-cultural research on the Five-Factor Model.
They have been found across a variety of cultures using a plethora of languages

Describe “basic tendencies,” “characteristic adaptations,” and “self-concept.” How does each of
these components fit into the Five-Factor theory? Describe the four postulates for basic
tendencies. Which biological mechanisms are considered most influential on the basic
tendencies?
Basic Tendencies: The universal raw material of personality capacities and dispositions that are
generally inferred rather than observed. Basic tendencies may be inherited, imprinted by early experience
or modified by disease or psychological intervention, but at any given period in an individual’s life, they
define the individual’s potential and direction.
o In addition to five stable personality traits, in addition to cognitive abilities, artistic talent, sexual
orientation, and the psychological processed underlying acquisition of language.
o How quickly we learn
o Shape and mold characteristic responses
o Stable and enduring
Characteristic Adaptions: Acquired personality structures that develop as people adapt to their
environment. More flexible than basic tendencies
o What we learn
o Influenced by dispositions and tendencies
o Fluctuate
Self-Concept: Actually a characteristic adaption.
o Consists of knowledge, views and evaluations of the self, ranging from miscellaneous facts of
personal history to the identity that gives a sense of purpose and coherence to life.
o Includes personal myths
Postulates:
Individuality
‘ Origin
Development
Structure
Bio Mechanisms: Genes, Hormones, brain structures

What did McNiel and Fleeson (2006) and Zelenski et al. (2012) find regarding the direction of
causality for relationships between traits and emotion?
 Acting extraverted increased positive mood
 Acting introverted increased negative mood
Describe Eysenck’s biographical background.
 Born in Berlin, Germany in 1916
 As a teenager, moved to England to escape Nazis
 Received his PhD in psychology at the University of London in 1940
 Published Dimensions of Personality in 1947
 One of the most prolific and controversial psychologists in the world
 Died in 19978 at age 81

What four criteria did Eysenck have for identifying factors?
1. Psychometric evidence (factor’s existence must be established)
2. Heritability
3. Must make sense from a theoretical point of view
4. Must possess social relevance

Describe Eysenck’s four-level hierarchy of behavioral organization, including the order of levels of
behavioral organization.
1. Specific behaviors or cognitions
o Individual behaviors or thoughts that may or may not be characteristic of that person
2. Habitual behaviors or cognitions
o Responses that recur under similar conditions
o Several related habitual responses form…
3. Traits
o Important semi-permanent personality dispositions
4. Types or super factors
o Made up of several interrelated traits

Describe Eysenck’s theory of personality and the three basic factors of P, E, and N he identified.
1. Psychoticism
a. Opposite Superego Function
2. Extroversion
a. Opposite Introversion
3. Neuroticism
a. Opposite Stability

How did Eysenck view the biological bases of personality? What research evidence did he cite to
support his views?
 Three fourths of personality dimensions accounted for by heredity
 Found these factors to exist cross-culturally
 Stability of traits over time
 Twin research suggests strong similarities on these dimensions
  Behavior genetics: Robert Plomin talks

Why did Eysenck believe there were so many inconclusive and inconsistent findings in
psychology research?