There are four different theories within the trait perspective that attempt to explain it in a unique way. Hans Eysenck proposed his theory of supertraits- that there are 2 categories in which 4 basic dispositions, and every other "trait" that is included within those dispositions, lie. All of the categories, dispositions, and traits can fall into a continuum.
Gordon Allport suggested that there are certain characteristics that most cultures have, known as common traits. For instance, America is known as having more of an "independent culture." Then there are individual traits. If every person in the same culture is exposed to similar traits, then what makes them different are their cardinal traits, which are the basic traits that all others can be traced back to, their central traits, which are the core qualities of personality that stem from cardinal traits, and their secondary traits, which are the traits that change throughout life.
Raymond Cattell believed in factor analysis, where every possible term that is associated with traits is pruned into categories. He was able to come up with 16 categories of traits and the 16 Personality Factor Personality Test. The categories contained surface traits, the traits that are visible within personality, and source traits, the underlying characteristics of personality. When people took his test, they were asked questions that showed how their expressions of personality fell into the 16 categories. While this type of personality testing was effective, people believed that his categories weren't factored enough and grouped them together to make 5 major traits.
The "Five-Factor Theory", aka the ocean of personality, encompasses all of Cattell's 16 categories of traits. Basically, this theory suggests that there are 5 basic traits under which every aspect of personality falls. These traits include openness to experience, conscientiousness, extroversion/introversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism.
When learning about the different ways that personality works under the trait perspective, I started to wonder about the ways that personality DOESN'T work. According to my best friend, psychologytoday.com, there are ten personality disorders, each categorized into a cluster. Cluster A includes the paranoid, schizoid, and schizotypal personality disorders. These types of personality disorders include traits like distrust, guarded and suspicious, easily embarrassed, detached, aloof, low emotional responses, odd beliefs, suspiciousness, obsessions, and many more. Cluster B includes the antisocial, borderline, histrionic, and narcissistic personality disorders. These disorders included traits like disregard for others, irritable, aggressive, impulsive, emotional instability, feelings of emptiness, dependence on the approval of others, obsessed with appearance, overly charming, lack of empathy, need to be admired, self-absorbed, controlling, and again, many more. Cluster C includes the avoidant, dependent, anankastic personality disorders. These disorders included traits like fear of being embarrassed, belief that you are socially unappealing, excessive need to be taken care of, fear of abandonment, obsession with rules, details, and organization, rigid, controlling, doubting, and many more.
More on personality disorders: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/hide-and-seek/201205/the-10-personality-disorders
Shani, this was a super cool blog post. As I was searching for "blogsperation," I stumbled across quite a few of these disorders. It's really fascinating to research these disorders further and discover their causes and treatments. I also found it to be so interesting that personality disorders date all the way back to 1801. Which disorder did you find most compelling?
ReplyDeleteSince I haven't learned much about personality yet (because I wasn't in school since tuesday), this post is very interesting because it gives me insight into our unit and different aspects of personality. I really like the trait perspective because it is what we, as normal (uneducated people about psychology) people think of personality as.
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