McCare and Costa Five Factor Trait Theory, Lecture notes of Personality Psychology

Download McCare and Costa Five Factor Trait Theory and more Lecture notes Personality Psychology in PDF only on Docsity! Chapter 13 McCrae and Costa’s Five Factor Trait Theory Feist, Theories of Personality, 8e Student Study Guide-13 | 1 Chapter 13 McCrae and Costa’s Five Factor Trait Theory Learning Objectives After reading Chapter 13, you should be able to: 1. Explain the basics of factor analytic procedures. 2. Explain the importance of R. B. Cattell's pioneering work. 3. Distinguish between the Big Five as a taxonomy and as a theory. 4. List and briefly describe each of the Big Five factors. 5. Discuss the evolution of the five-factor theory.6. List and briefly describe McCrae and Costa's three core components of personality. 6. List and briefly describe McCrae and Costa's three peripheral components of personality. Chapter 13 McCrae and Costa’s Five Factor Trait Theory Feist, Theories of Personality, 8e Student Study Guide-13 | 2 7. Briefly describe some of the cross-cultural research on McCrae and Costa's Big Five factors. 8. Critique the pros and cons of McCrae and Costa’s factor and trait theories. 9. Discuss the relationship of parsimony to factor and trait theories. I. Overview of Factor and Trait Theories McCrae, Costa and others have used factor analysis to identify traits, that is, relatively permanent dispositions of people. Robert McCrae and Paul Costa have insisted that the proper number of personality factors is five—no more and no fewer. II. The Pioneering Work of Raymond B. Cattell In Chapter 13, we saw that Gordon Allport used common sense to identify both common and unique personality traits. In comparison, Raymond Cattell used factor analysis to identify a large number of traits, including personality traits. Included in personality traits were temperament traits, which are concerned with how a person behaves. Temperament traits Chapter 13 McCrae and Costa’s Five Factor Trait Theory Feist, Theories of Personality, 8e Student Study Guide-13 | 5 work on the five factors of personality, having added agreeableness (A) and conscientiousness (C). Costa and McCrae did not fully develop the A and C scales until the revised NEO-PI personality inventory appeared in 1992. Recently, the five factors have been found across a variety of cultures and using a number of languages. In addition, the five factors show some permanence with age; that is, adults tend to maintain a consistent personality structure as they grow older. B. Description of the Five Factors McCrae and Costa agreed with Eysenck that personality traits are basically bipolar, with some people scoring high on one factor and low on its counterpart. For example, people who score high on N tend to be anxious, temperamental, self- pitying, self-conscious, emotional, and vulnerable to stress- related disorders, whereas people with low scores on N tend to have opposite characteristics. People who score high on E tend to be affectionate, jovial, talkative, a joiner, and fun- loving, whereas low E scorers tend to have opposing traits. High O scorers prefer variety in their life and are contrasted to low O scorers who have a need for closure and who gain comfort in their association with familiar people and things. People who score high on A tend to be trusting, generous, yielding, acceptant, and good natured. Low A scorers are generally suspicious, stingy, unfriendly, irritable, and critical of other people. Finally, people high on the C scale tend to be ordered, controlled, organized, ambitious, achievement- Chapter 13 McCrae and Costa’s Five Factor Trait Theory Feist, Theories of Personality, 8e Student Study Guide-13 | 6 focused, and self-disciplined. Together these dimensions make up the personality traits of the five factor model, often referred to as the "Big-Five." VII. Evolution of the Five-Factor Theory Originally, the five factors were simply a taxonomy, a classification of personality traits. By the late 1980s, Costa and McCrae were confident that they had found a stable structure of personality. In shaping a theory from the remnants of a taxonomy, McCrae and Costa were insisting that their personality structure was able to incorporate change and growth into its tenets and to stimulate empirical research as well as organize research findings. In other words, their Five- Factor taxonomy was being transformed into a Five-Factor Theory (FFT). A. Units of the Five-Factor Theory McCrae and Costa predict behavior through an understanding of three central or core components and three peripheral ones. The three core components include: (1) basic tendencies, (2) characteristic adaptations, and (3) self-concept. Basic tendencies are the universal raw material of personality. Characteristic adaptations are acquired personality structures that develop as people adapt to their environment. Self-concept refers to knowledge and attitudes about oneself. Peripheral components include (1) biological bases, which are the sole cause of basic tendencies; (2) objective biography, which is everything a person does or thinks over a lifetime; and (3) Chapter 13 McCrae and Costa’s Five Factor Trait Theory Feist, Theories of Personality, 8e Student Study Guide-13 | 7 external influence, or knowledge, views, and evaluations of the self. B. Basic Postulates The two most important core postulates are basic tendencies and characteristic adaptations. Basic tendencies have four postulates—individuality, origin, development, and structure. The individuality postulate stipulates that every adult has a unique pattern of traits. The origin postulate assumes that all personality traits originate solely from biological factors, such as genetics, hormones, and brain structures. The development postulate assumes that traits develop and change through childhood, adolescence, and mid-adulthood. The structure postulate states that traits are organized hierarchically from narrow and specific to broad and general. VIII. Related Research The five-trait theory of McCrae and Costa has drawn a considerable amount of research, and isvery popular in the field of personality. Costa and McCrae have developed a widely used personality inventory: the NEO-PI (Costa & McCrae, 1985, 1992). Traits have been linked to vital outcomes such as physical health (Martin, Friedman, & Schwartz, 2007), well-being (Costa & McCrae, 1980), and academic success (Noftle & Robins, 2007; Zyphur, Islam, & Landis, 2007). Traits have also been linked to more everyday outcomes such as mood (McNiel & Fleeson, 2006). A. Personality and Culture If personality has a strong biological bases, then the structure of personality should not differ much from culture to culture. The major traits do appear consistent in most countries of the Chapter 13 McCrae and Costa’s Five Factor Trait Theory Feist, Theories of Personality, 8e Student Study Guide-13 | 10 neuroticism to negative mood, while not inaccurate, do not give the full picture of the complex relationship between traits and emotions. In sum, even though your traits predispose you to certain types of behavior, your actions can override those dispositions. IX. Critique of Trait and Factor Theories The factor theories of Eysenck and of McCrae and Costa rate high on parsimony, on their ability to generate research, and on their usefulness in organizing data; they are about average on falsifiability, usefulness to the practitioner, and internal consistency. X. Concept of Humanity Factor theories generally assume that human personality is largely the product of genetics and not the environment. Thus, we rate these two theories very high on biological influences and very low on social factors. In addition, we rate both about average on conscious versus unconscious influences and high on the uniqueness of individuals. The concepts of free choice, optimism versus pessimism, and causality versus teleology are not clearly addressed by these theories. Test Items Fill-in-the-Blanks Chapter 13 McCrae and Costa’s Five Factor Trait Theory Feist, Theories of Personality, 8e Student Study Guide-13 | 11 1. Social psychologists explain behavior by the situation, whereas: personality psychologists attribute behavior to enduring ______. 2. The five major dimensions of personality are extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, ________, and openness to experience. 3. “Big Five” traits of personality and their widespread adoption and acceptance owes much to the research and theory of Robert McCrae and________ 4. Presently, most researchers who study personality traits agree that _____, and only _____, and no fewer than _____ dominant traits continue to emerge from factor analytic techniques. 5. Hans J. Eysenck insisted that only _____ major factors can be discerned by a factor analytic approach. 6. Allport’s major contribution to trait theory may have been his identification of nearly ______ trait names in an unabridged English language dictionary. Chapter 13 McCrae and Costa’s Five Factor Trait Theory Feist, Theories of Personality, 8e Student Study Guide-13 | 12 7. The Five-Factor Theory (often called_______) includes neuroticism and extraversion; but it adds openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. 8. Cattell and McCrae and Costa both used an _______ of gathering data; that is, they began with no preconceived bias concerning the number or name of traits or types. 9. The largest and most frequently studied of the normal traits are the __ personality factors found on Cattell’s (1949) ____ Personality Factors Questionnaire (__ PF Scale). 10. Factor analysis is largely the collection and quantifying of observations, and then demonstrating ________. 11. Traits generated through factor analysis may be either _______ or bipolar. 12. The advocates of the Five-Factor Theory favor the ________ rotation. 13. The Big Five began as a ___________________ ; that is, a classification system. Chapter 13 McCrae and Costa’s Five Factor Trait Theory Feist, Theories of Personality, 8e Student Study Guide-13 | 15 _____9. Cattell classified traits into temperament, motivation, and ability. _____10. The largest and most frequently studied of Cattell’s normal traits are the 16 personality factors found on Cattell’s (1949) Sixteen Personality Factors Questionnaire (16 PF Scale). _____11. Factor anaylsis is based solely upon the observations of people’s behaviors. _____12. The advocates of the Five-Factor Theory favor the orthogonal rotation to demonstrate fewer, meaningful traits. _____13. McCrae and Costa are currently the only researchers seriously investigating the Big Five factors. _____14. McCrae and Costa do not consider the Big Five to be a theory. _____15. According to McCrae and Costa, the Five Factor Model and the Five Factor Theory are terms that can be used interchangeably. Chapter 13 McCrae and Costa’s Five Factor Trait Theory Feist, Theories of Personality, 8e Student Study Guide-13 | 16 _____16. Although they have published much together, Robert McCrae and Paul Costa live nearly 3,000 miles apart. _____17. The A factor in the Big Five theory represents anxiety. _____18. People in the United States score considerably higher on measures of extraversion than do people in Spain. _____ 19. According to McCrae and Costa, the ultimate source of human behavior is childhood experience. _____ 20. McCrae and Costa believe that personality traits are nearly completely determined by early adolescence. Multiple Choice ______1. Personality psychologists are more likely to attribute behavior to_________. a. day to minute situation b. enduring traits c. cognitive displacement d. overt emotionalism ______2. A trait is best described as Chapter 13 McCrae and Costa’s Five Factor Trait Theory Feist, Theories of Personality, 8e Student Study Guide-13 | 17 a. a cluster of surface factors. b. a temporary attitude toward a person or event. c. a relatively permanent disposition of a person. d. an environmentally determined hypothetical construct that shapes an individual's behavior and thought. _____3. Mathematically, the technique of reducing a number of variables to a smaller number is called a. induction. b. the experimental method. c. variance. d. factor analysis. _____4. Today most researchers who study personality traits agree that __, and only __, and no fewer than __ dominant traits continue to emerge from factor analytic techniques. a. 3 b. 5 c. 7 d. 16 _____5. Which of the following statements is true? a. Traits are of two kinds—dispositional and hypothetical. b. Traits are more permanent than states. c. Traits represent a broader concept than factors. Chapter 13 McCrae and Costa’s Five Factor Trait Theory Feist, Theories of Personality, 8e Student Study Guide-13 | 20 c. neuroticism d. extraversion _____13. The A in McCrae and Costa's theory stands for a. anxiety. b. aggression. c. agreeableness. d. activity. _____14. Currently, the Big Five can most accurately be called a. a model. b. an armchair speculation. c. a taxonomy. d. a theory. _____15. Factor C in the Five-Factor theory is a. consistency. b. cooperation. c. conscientiousness. d. compromise. _____16. People who score low on ______________ tend to be quiet and reserved. a. intelligence b. psychoticism c. compromise Chapter 13 McCrae and Costa’s Five Factor Trait Theory Feist, Theories of Personality, 8e Student Study Guide-13 | 21 d. extraversion _____17. According to McCrae and Costa, the ultimate contributor to personality is a. biology. b. self-concept. c. childhood experience.. d. the ability to adapt to new experiences. _____18. A person's view of what he or she is like is called _____. a. self-concept. b. objective biology. c. external influences. d. characteristic adaptations. _____19. According to McCrae and Costa, the Big Five factors comprise a person's a. characteristic adaptations. b. objective biography. c. basic tendencies. d. external influences. ____20. The theories of McCrae and Costa and of Eysenck rate a. high on biological determinants of personality. b. high on teleology. c. low on their ability to generate research. Chapter 13 McCrae and Costa’s Five Factor Trait Theory Feist, Theories of Personality, 8e Student Study Guide-13 | 22 d. high on free will vs. determinism. Short Answer I. Define a unipolar trait. 2. List and elaborate on McCrae and Costa's five factors. 3. Explain the difference between the Five Factor Model and the Five-Factor Theory.