Personality Psychology Lecture 11 Outline of Last Lecture Reinforce Partial reinforcement Continuous reinforcement Interval vs ratio Punishment Skinner Box Skinner Baby Tender Box Free Will Skinner Shaping Successive Approximations Growth and Development Skinner Systematic Desensitization Counterconditioning Fear hierarchy Causes of Behavioral disorders Behavioral Assessment What to identify ABC assessment ABA Research Design Behaviorism evaluation Outline of Current Lecture Trait Theory Trait Theorists Gordon Allport o Cardinal traits o Central traits o Secondary traits Raymond Cattell o Factor analysis Current Lecture Trait theory Trait o o o Neuropsychic structures Initiate and guide consistent forms of adaptive and expressive behavior Common or personal These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute o o o Can be studied nomothetically fixed standardized or ideographically flexible The same trait can be found in every person but at different strengths Importance of the situation different one expressed in various situations explains variability State Activities Role Trait Theorists Gordon Allport started this field of trait theory o Humanistic view person in state of becoming o Emphasis on individuals unique behavior and thoughts o Preferred to study trait ideographically flexible o Concept of the self what is particularly ours o Functional autonomy although motives of an adult may have their roots in the tensionreducing motives of the child the adult grows out of early motives Adult life motives become independent of autonomous from earlier tensionreducing drives o Early development peripheral motives and seek tension reduction o Adult life shift towards self strivings o Valued contributes to personality and trait theory but lack of explanation for traits o Research concerns No clear trait situation link No support for claim of hereditary influence Over reliance on idiographic methods Cardinal Traits Pervasive and dominant seek expression override other traits o Master motives o Ruling passions Central Traits Important but control less of ones behavior Typical descriptions what one says when you ask someone to describe themselves Secondary Traits less important or conspicuous Raymond Cattell o Factor analysis method o Surface traits behavioral tendencies obvious traits Innumerable amount of surface traits o Source traits internal psychological structures that are the underlying cause of intercorrelations of surface traits A few source traits can create what seem to be many different surface traits 3 categories Ability traits skills that allow the individual to function effectively Temperament traits involved in emotional life Dynamic traits involved in motivational life o Factor analysis of surface traits can reveal their underlying source traits Factor Analysis Statistical tool for summarizing the ways in which a large number of variables are correlated Premier tool used by trait theorists to identify the structures of personality Correlation r relationship between 2 variables as one variable increases o Correlation does NOT mean cause and effect Step 1 collect surface trait ratings from many people Step 2 calculate correlations among those ratings Step 3 extract factors from the correlation matrix Step 4 calculate factor loadings Step 5 review the loadings and name the factors Reduces the multiple reflections of personality to a smaller set of traits Provides a basis for arguing that some traits matter more than others Helps in developing assessment devices