馃攳
Trait theory | Behavior | MCAT | Khan Academy - YouTube
Channel: khanacademymedicine
[2]
Hi, everyone.
[3]
Welcome back.
[4]
We're going to be talking
about the trait theory today.
[7]
So what better way to describe
individual personalities
[10]
than by using traits?
[13]
Well, the trait theory is a
very straightforward approach
[16]
describe personality.
[18]
We do it everyday.
[20]
It basically defines
personality in terms
[22]
of identifiable
patterns of behavior.
[25]
So that is a key word.
[26]
They are patterns of behavior.
[31]
And I'll explain
that in a little bit,
[33]
into a little bit more depth.
[35]
So it describes traits
instead of explaining them
[39]
as in many other
personality theories.
[41]
So this theory uses
description versus explanation,
[45]
versus other theories
of personality
[47]
tend to use explanation to
describe patterns of behavior.
[52]
So what exactly is a trait?
[55]
Now, if someone asked you to
describe your best friend, what
[58]
kind of things would you say?
[59]
Maybe that your best friend
was funny, caring, loyal,
[63]
even-tempered?
[64]
Well, all of these words
that I just called off
[67]
represent traits.
[69]
A trait can be thought
of as a relatively stable
[72]
characteristic.
[73]
So that is another
defining word.
[75]
It is a stable characteristic.
[78]
And what do I mean by stable?
[82]
So it's a stable
characteristic that
[84]
causes individuals to
consistently behave
[88]
in certain ways.
[89]
So it has to be consistent.
[92]
I guess that's
synonymous with stable.
[95]
So the combination and
interaction of various traits
[98]
forms a personality.
[100]
And that's what's unique
to each individual.
[104]
No two people have the
exact same personality.
[107]
We can even see that
within our families.
[109]
Even though we share
many genes, we all
[113]
have different
personalities because we all
[115]
possess these different traits.
[118]
Well, let's get into
what different theorists
[121]
of the trait theory have to say
in trying to describe traits.
[126]
So, a little aside
over here, I found
[129]
these personality tests
to be so fascinating,
[132]
like the Myers-Briggs
personality type test.
[134]
I don't know if you've
taken it before.
[136]
But basically, it
gives you a set
[138]
of four letters
that categorizes you
[140]
into one of 16
personality types.
[143]
And then within each one
of those personality types,
[146]
there's a set of
traits and behaviors
[148]
that you tend to dominate
in your everyday life.
[152]
So anyways, if you
haven't checked
[154]
those types of personality tests
out, I highly recommend it.
[157]
I know a lot of companies
use them for employment.
[160]
And it's just a fun way
to get to know yourself
[163]
and your tendencies
a little better.
[165]
I'm always curious.
[167]
So individual trait
theories differ in terms of
[170]
whether or not they believe
that all individuals possess
[174]
the same traits.
[175]
And I'll get into
that in a little bit.
[177]
And you'll see why I say that.
[179]
So let's go through
the first theorist.
[182]
His name was Gordon Allport.
[185]
So what Allport said is that
all of us have different traits.
[193]
He didn't believe
that all individuals
[195]
have the same traits.
[196]
He said that they could
differ amongst individuals.
[198]
And he actually
came up with a list
[201]
of 4,500 different descriptive
words to describe traits.
[206]
And that wasn't
the original list.
[209]
Apparently, the original
had over 10,000.
[211]
That's crazy.
[212]
So anyways, from
those 4,500, he was
[215]
able to come up with three
basic categories of traits.
[220]
And the first one are
our cardinal traits.
[224]
The second one are
our central traits.
[229]
And the last are our
secondary traits.
[234]
Now of these three,
the cardinal traits
[237]
are the characteristics
that direct
[243]
most of a person's activities.
[244]
So these are the
dominant traits,
[247]
the ones that lie in
the cardinal category.
[249]
For example, one person
may have a cardinal trait
[251]
of selflessness, or
power motivation,
[254]
but Allport says that not all
individuals have selflessness
[258]
or power motivation.
[260]
So that's the key right there.
[261]
Individuals have
some subset of traits
[264]
from a universal
possibility of traits.
[267]
But not all individuals
have the same traits.
[271]
We mix and match.
[272]
We all possess different ones.
[274]
Now these cardinal traits
influence all of our behaviors,
[278]
including the central
and the secondary traits,
[282]
or dispositions, which influence
behavior to a lesser degree.
[286]
So these are dominant,
and these are
[289]
expressed at a lesser degree.
[291]
So an example of
a essential trait
[293]
is honesty or
sociability or shyness,
[296]
which are less dominant
than these cardinal traits.
[299]
And a secondary
trait is something
[301]
like a love for modern art
or a reluctance to eat meat.
[304]
And these are more
preferences, or attitudes.
[308]
Let's go to the second theorist.
[310]
And his name was
Raymond Cattell.
[313]
So now what Cattell did is
that he proposed that we all
[318]
have 16 essential
personality traits.
[320]
We all do.
[322]
He said that they represent
the basic dimensions
[324]
of personality.
[325]
And he turned this into
the 16 personality factor
[329]
questionnaire, or
16PF for short.
[334]
That was his contribution.
[336]
So he categorized
all of our traits
[339]
into 16 personality traits
that we all possess.
[343]
The third theorist
was Hans Eysenck.
[347]
and what Eysenck did, his theory
is based on the assumption
[351]
that we all have three
major dimensions.
[355]
And these three major
dimensions of personality
[358]
encompass all traits
that we all possess.
[362]
But the degree to which we
individually express them
[365]
are different.
[366]
So this is different
from Allport.
[367]
Again, Allport said we have
different unique subsets
[371]
of traits.
[372]
Eysenck is saying we
all have these traits,
[374]
but we express them
at different degrees.
[377]
So there's three major
dimensions of his theory.
[382]
The first is extroversion.
[385]
So you know what that is.
[386]
Extroversion versus
introversion, and that
[389]
is the degree of sociability.
[391]
The second is neuroticism,
and neuroticism
[396]
is our emotional stability.
[399]
And the third is psychoticism.
[402]
Let me make sure I'm
spelling this right.
[405]
There we go.
[406]
Psychoticism is the degree to
which reality is distorted.
[411]
OK, so I know I said Eysenck
said that we all possess traits
[415]
that lie in these
three categories,
[417]
but we display them, or express
them to different degrees.
[420]
Well, there's a
little caveat here
[422]
because Eysenck said
that we all have
[424]
varying degrees of
extroversion and neuroticism,
[428]
but not necessarily
psychoticism.
[432]
All right, moving on, the
last major theory trait
[436]
is called the big five.
[439]
And the big five,
again, is found
[441]
in all people of
all populations.
[445]
So the first major personality
trait in the big five
[449]
is openness.
[451]
Let me do this in
a different color.
[454]
So the first is openness.
[456]
And what I mean by openness
is that we ask the question,
[461]
are you independent,
or are you conforming?
[463]
Are you imaginative,
or are you practical?
[466]
The second is conscientiousness.
[470]
And that is a mouthful.
[472]
So in conscientiousness,
we're asking the questions,
[476]
are you careful or careless?
[478]
Are you disciplined
or impulsive?
[480]
Are you organized
or disorganized?
[483]
The third is extroversion.
[487]
And in extroversion, we're
asking the questions,
[490]
are you talkative,
or are you quiet?
[491]
Are you fun loving,
or are you sober?
[494]
The fourth is agreeableness.
[499]
And in agreeableness,
we're asking the questions,
[503]
are you kind, or you cold?
[504]
Are you appreciative
or unfriendly?
[507]
And the last we've
already seen from Eysenck,
[511]
and that is neuroticism.
[514]
So in neuroticism, we're
asking the questions,
[515]
are you stable or tense?
[517]
Calm or anxious?
[519]
Secure or insecure?
[521]
So the best way I learned to
memorize the big five is using
[524]
the acronym O.C.E.A.N,
O-C-E-A-N. Easy.
[531]
OK, so Cattell, Eysenck, and
the big five all over here used
[539]
something called factor
analysis to come up
[543]
with this these
categories of our traits.
[547]
So factor analysis is
a statistical method
[552]
that categorizes and determines
our major categories of traits.
[557]
And Allport's theory
did not use that.
[559]
He relied on different
procedures to determine traits.
[562]
So basically, factor
analysis reduces the number
[565]
of variables and
detects structure
[567]
in the relationships
between variables.
[570]
And we do that because we
want to classify variables.
[573]
So in the past, probably at the
time of Cattell and Eysenck,
[577]
all of this was
done out by hand.
[580]
All the possible
combinations in determining
[585]
the number of categories
of traits was done by hand.
[588]
But now, we have fancy
computer software
[590]
that can do all the math for us.
[592]
And it's what gives us these
final sets of variables
[595]
or classification of
personality traits.
Most Recent Videos:
You can go back to the homepage right here: Homepage