Understanding Personality: Big Five Traits and Theories

Understanding Personality: Traits and Theories

Big Five Traits:

• Neuroticism: Tendency to experience unpleasant emotions frequently (e.g., depression).
• Extraversion: Tendency to seek stimulation and enjoy the company of others (e.g., warmth, happiness, excitement).
• Agreeableness: Tendency to be compassionate toward others.
• Conscientiousness: Tendency to show self-discipline and strive for achievement and competence.
• Openness to Experience: Enjoyment of new intellectual experiences. (Note: This does not take into account the importance of the situation.)

Factor Analysis

Factor analysis helps to identify clusters and score tests.

Biological Theory

This theory suggests that personality changes according to the environment (reinforcements and punishments). It considers heritability versus temperaments (a person's nature), which seems to be stable from infancy to old age.

Somatotype Theory

William Sheldon proposed that:

• Endomorphs (fat): Tend to be friendly and outgoing.
• Ectomorphs (thin): Tend to be shy and secretive.
• Mesomorphs (muscular): Tend to be more aggressive.

Note: This study has not been replicated.

Social Cognitive Theory

Reciprocal Determinism (Albert Bandura): Behavior, personal factors, and environmental factors all influence each other.

Self-Efficacy: One's belief in one's ability to succeed in specific situations or accomplish a task.

Locus of Control

Internal Locus of Control: Belief that one can influence events and their outcomes.

External Locus of Control: Blaming outside forces for everything (helplessness).

Humanistic Theory of Personality

This theory does not believe in determinism (actions dictated by the past) but believes in free will (our ability to choose our own destiny).

Self-Concept: A general term used to refer to how someone thinks about, evaluates, or perceives themselves.

Self-Esteem: Refers to the extent to which we like, accept, or approve of ourselves, or how much we value ourselves (degree of evaluation).

Carl Rogers

People have a natural drive for self-actualization: the achievement of one's full potential. People strive for excellence. We need:

• Genuineness: Authenticity.
• Unconditional Positive Regard: Complete, unqualified acceptance of another person as they are.
• Empathy

Barnum Effect

The tendency to accept vague descriptions of our personality.

Projective Tests

Designed to let a person respond to ambiguous stimuli. Tests must be:

• Reliable: Yield the same results over time.
• Valid: Measure what they are supposed to measure.

Rorschach Inkblots

A projective technique based on people's interpretations of 10 ambiguous inkblots. It is the most widely used to identify people's feelings.