Eysenck, McCrae, and Costa’s Trait and Factor Theories

Psychology of Personality

Lecture, Chapter 14

Eysenck’s Factor Theory                      

•Criteria for identifying factors: psychometric evidence, heritability, make sense from a theoretical view, and possess social relevance.

•Hierarchy of behavior organization

            Specific acts or cognitions – individual behaviors or thoughts

            Habitual acts or cognitions – recurring

            Traits – several related habitual responses

            Types or superfactors – several interrelated traits

Criteria for Identifying Dimensions

Bipolarity as opposed to unipolarity of the 3 factors, distributed in a normal distribution.

            Strong psychometric evidence

            Strong biological base

            Theoretical base

            Social relevance

Dimensions of Personality

•Extraversion

•Neuroticism

•Psychoticism                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

Biological Base

•Identical factors of P, E, and N found in cross-cultural studies.

•Participants have maintained their positions over time.

•Studies of twins show a higher level of congruence between identical, rather than fraternal, twins.

Personality as Predictor

•Hypothesized behavioral relationships:

–High P score can predict genius and creativity (nonconforming in childhood).

–High P and E combo can predict troublemaking behavior.

•Low N score can predict cancer and cardiovascular disease due to suppression of emotion.

•Predictions involve complex interactions of lifestyle, family history, and personality type.

McCrae’s and Costa’s Lives

•McCrae was born in Missouri, the youngest of three children.

•McCrae completed his Ph.D. at Boston college after being influenced by Cattell’s psychometric work.

•Mischel’s early questioning of the consistency of personality traits challenge McCrae to pursue the possibility that traits were real and enduring.

•Costa was born in New Hampshire and completed his Ph.D. in human development at the University of Chicago.

•Costa worked with Salvatore Maddi, with whom he published a book on humanistic personality theory.

•Costa worked at the National Institute of Aging’s Gerontology Research Center with McCrae, and collaboration between the two scholars has yielded over 200 articles, chapters, and books.

McCrae & Costa’s 5-Factor Theory

•Neuroticism

•Extroversion

•Openness to experience

•Agreeableness

•Conscientiousness

Five-Factor Theory

•Core components

–Basic tendencies (biological and stable over time)

–Characteristic adaptations (flexible; result from adapting to environment)

–Self-concept (beliefs about self; a very important characteristic adaptation)

•Peripheral components

–Biological bases – biological influence on basic tendencies

–Objective biography – psychohistory; everything a person does, thinks, or feels across the entire lifespan.

–External influences – how one responds to opportunities and demands of environment.

Postulates for Basic Tendencies

•Individuality postulate

•Origin postulate

•Development postulate

•Structure postulate

Postulates for Characteristic Adaptations

•Adaptation: Traits affect the way we adapt to our environment; moreover, our basic tendencies result in our seeking and selecting particular environments that match our dispositions.

•Maladjustment: Our responses are not always consistent with personal goals or cultural values.

•Plasticity: Although basic tendencies may be rather stable over the lifetime, characteristic adaptations are not.

Conclusion

Were trait and factor theories developed using research? Have the theories been able to generate research, be falsified, organize data, guide action, be internally consistent, and be parsimonious?

•Where do trait and factor theories fall on the basic issues concerning the nature of humanity?

–Determinism vs. free choice

–Pessimism vs. optimism

–Causality vs. teleology

–Conscious vs. unconscious

–Social vs. biological influences

–Uniqueness vs. similarities