Personality & Social Psychology: Lecture 3
1. Freud’s Legacy
Experimental evidence in support of Freud’s theories does exist (eg: subliminal
suggestion, Silverman 1983; effects of schema on the mind, Erdelyi 1986), but most
attempts at testing his theories have generally left him and his ideas open to criticism.
However, Freud’s approach to his subject laid the foundations of the modern
behavioural sciences. He integrated many ideas from biology, medicine, philosophy
and psychology; for example, the evolutionary idea of his time that we share most of
our characteristics with other animals, especially our primate cousins, and the
Romantic notion of internal, personal conflict represented by the struggle between the
id and the superego. The lasting legacy of Freud’s work is the focussing of attention
on the many questions surrounding personality and human nature.

How much of our personality is inherited, how much due to early experience?

What motivates us to do the things that we do?

Why and how do personality, culture and civilisation develop?

How much conscious control do we have over our behaviour and the course of our
lives in general?

What is the relationship between personality and behaviour, and how strong is that
relationship? What other factors determine our behaviour?
2. Historical background: Categorising people
Since records began, humans have categorised those people around them.
Horoscopes, based on the signs of the zodiac, are a case in point. But on what basis
does this categorisation depend? The Greeks considered that classification should
reflect presumed differences in biology, based on the dominant “humours” or fluids
within the body, which determined the consistently-underlying mood of the
individual. In the modern era, Sheldon (1943) classified people according to their
somatotype, or body shape. According to him, “mesomorphs” (muscular build) tend
to be physically active, “ectomorphs” (thin build) are sensitive and nervous, and
“endomorphs” (heavy build) are thought to be affable and relaxed.
These theories have some supporting evidence, but most are too general to be of any
practical use in predicting behaviour. More recent theories still use broad categories to
classify underlying differences, but have increasingly resorted to statistical, analytical
techniques to validate their bases.
3. Individual Differences
Rather than developing grand theories such as Freud's, that describe and explain
similarities in the underlying dynamics and sources for our character that are shared
by all of us, some theorists have developed ways of establishing how we differ from
one another, and how we might accurately measure these differences. This shift
established the study of what we now think of as 'Personality', and these theories are
based on two fundamental principles:

The differences are consistent and enduring within the individual

By classifying people according to these theories, we learn something important
about how they will behave
In order for a theory of Personality to be adequate, there are further assumptions that
must be made:

Any theory should view personality as contained within the person - in other
words, personality should be independent of environment.

Theories should view the person as "filled with variables" that contribute to
behaviour (exemplifies Allport's disdain for Behaviourism, where the individual is
seen as simply reacting to cues in the environment).

Theories should account for self-awareness - humans are the only animals aware
of our own awareness.
4. Temperament
Temperament is the genetic predisposition to respond to particular events in a
particular way (Peterson, 1988). It is expressed in the way that a person goes about
doing things; their ‘style’ of behaviour. Some people may write an essay by carefully
planning each section and only then beginning to write, while others may steam
straight in. It is frequently considered purely as a foundation upon which personality
is built; the landscape that determines the general structure of the house, but not the
detail.
Temperament is thought to be biologically based, as differences in activity level and
sociability observed in infants frequently seem to remain into adolescence. The placid
baby tends to grow into the easy-going, relaxed teenager and the overactive infant is
likely to become an anxious or boisterous adolescent (Kagan & Moss, 1962).
Buss & Plomin (1984) provide further evidence for the genetic basis for temperament,
measuring adult behaviour for frequency, duration and intensity. They found stable
differences in three aspects; emotionality, activity level and sociability.

Emotionality is the degree of emotional responsiveness that a person displays.
For example, when taking a ride on a roller-coaster, some people may shriek and
scream, whilst others simply sit and grin.

Activity level refers to how energetically a person behaves; some might leap up a
flight of stairs three at a time, whilst others trudge up them one by one.

Sociability is the desire to be around others and respond to them. For example,
some of us look forward to going to crowded bars to meet people, whereas others
dread the idea.
These findings were supported by studies using monozygotic and dizygotic twins
(Buss, Plomin & Willerman, 1973; Plomin & Rowe, 1977). Monozygotic twins share
100% of their genetic material, whereas dizygotic twins share only the same amount
of material as normal siblings. Therefore, the degree of association, or 'correlation' in
those characteristics presumed to be inherited should be significantly higher in
monozygotic twins than in dizygotic twins.
But the way in which we behave does not depend purely on our genetic make-up, but
also upon our experiences, particularly in early life. Hence temperament can only
explain some of the differences in personality between individuals.
5. Traits
Traits are the general and enduring qualities that exist within us and underlie our
thoughts, feelings and actions over time and across situations. They may be thought of
as a dimension of personality used to categorise people according to the degree to
which they possess that construct. Some theorists believe that they are the basic units
of personality (eg: Allport, 1937).
Gordon Allport is considered the 'father' of the trait perspective. He considered that
the principles governing the behaviour of lower animals are different from those
guiding the behaviour of healthy adult humans, once suggesting that:
"some theories… …are based largely upon the behaviour of sick
and anxious people or upon the antics of captive and desperate rats.
Fewer theories have derived from the study of healthy human
beings"
Allport (1955, p18)
Characteristics of traits
Traits have more than nominal existence. In other words, they are more than just
labels. There are nearly 18,000 words that we use to describe ourselves and other
people (Allport & Odbert, 1936), and over 4,500 of these are trait terms. These terms
are not simply descriptions, but are also predictions of behaviour. Describing
someone as ‘cheerful’ doesn’t just summon an image of the person, but also a fairly
complex expectation of their behaviour.
Traits tend to have some relationship with physiological features; neurotransmitter or
hormone levels, or the 'strength of activation' of various parts of our nervous system.
Traits are not the same as habits - individual habits combine to form traits. For
example, habits such as tooth-brushing, washing, cleaning clothes regularly form the
trait of personal cleanliness.
Traits may be viewed nomothetically (we can compare individuals in terms of one
particular trait) or idiographically (we can look at the way in which one person's
combination of traits unite to form their personality).
A hierarchical approach
Allport (1937) identified two kinds of traits; cardinal and secondary, thus establishing
a hierarchical approach to trait theory:

Cardinal traits are highly generalised dispositions that organise the whole
personality. Successful sportsmen may be considered ‘competitive’, while
philosophers may be ‘introspective’.

Secondary traits are relevant only in particular sets of circumstances, but still
reflect consistencies in an individual’s behaviour. A person may be generally
calm, but become anxious when faced with a room full of strangers, so ‘anxiety’ is
a secondary trait.
A trait that dominates an individual's personality is viewed as a cardinal trait,
although not all individual's possess a trait that is so strong that it influences almost
everything that they do - those lacking a cardinal trait may be described as 'wellbalanced', possessing only secondary traits of comparable influence.
Development of personality
Allport talked about the development of the self in terms of "becoming". As the
aspects of personality are organised there is, by definition, some agent responsible for
this organisation. Allport called this the proprium, although some refer to it as the
"soul" and is comparable to Freud's "ego" construct. The proprium develops through
childhood and early adulthood, and includes all aspects of the individual that makes
them unique.

As we develop, we become physically independent of our environment - we are
no longer purely controlled by environmental cues.

We develop a conscience, realising that we can physically and psychologically
affect objects and people around us.

We also become logical thinkers, able to rationalise about cause and effect in our
environment.

Finally, we become unified, able to view ourselves as a single entity and to reflect
on patterns and consistencies in our behaviour and thought.
Eysenck's Three-Factor Model
Using a statistical procedure called Factor Analysis, Hans Eysenck (1981) concludes
that three personality types or “superfactors” exist, and that these are based on
genetic, inherited factors.

The Extraversion-introversion dimension is linked to the brain’s ascending
reticular activating system (ARAS), which controls arousal level. Eysenck
considered that introverts are easily aroused, so to avoid the aversive sensation of
over-arousal, they avoid stimulation. Extraverts, on the other hand, are the
reverse; they seek stimulation in order to maintain an optimal arousal level.

The Instability-stability dimension, frequently referred to as the “Neuroticism”
factor, is thought to be linked to the limbic system, specifically to the autonomic
nervous system, with its control of the “fight or flight” response. Individuals high
in instability are emotionally reactive (eratic sympathetic division response) and
are thought to develop neurotic symptoms as a result of severe stress.

Finally, the Psychoticism-superego function was considered by Eysenck to be a
valid factor, but less important in determining personality than the other two. An
individual high in Psychoticism is isolated, hostile, and insensitive to others,
unable to experience empathy (Eysenck, 1975). He believed that this dimension is
related to the androgen hormone system.
Eysenck's view was that personality was predominantly inherited, and that changes
were only likely in extreme circumstances that would be likely to affect the
responsivity of the underlying nervous system (eg: internment in concentration camp).
This has clear implications for parenting styles.
"However we look at the facts, heredity is responsible for a good
proportion of the individual differences in our type of society"
"Personality is determined to a large extent by a person's genes; he
is what the accidental arrangement of his parents' genes produced,
and while (the) environment can do something to redress the
balance, its influence is severely limited"
Eysenck (1976, p20)
"When (the parents) join their chromosomes and shuffle their genes
into the unique pattern that will forever determine the looks, the
behaviour, the personality and the intellect of the child"
Eysenck (1967, p22)
Cattell's Sixteen Personality Factor Model (16PF)
Raymond Cattell considered that an individual's behaviour is a function of
personality, combined with environmental factors:
"Personality is that which permits a prediction of what a person will
do in a given situation. The goal of psychological research in
personality is thus to establish laws about what different people will
do in all kinds of social and general environmental situations"
Cattell (1950, p2)
Cattell (1971) gathered lists of adjectives, descriptions of behaviour in real life, and
items from other personality tests, and through a process of factor analysis1, identified
16 factors that he believes are basic personality dimensions. Cattell considered that
each of the sixteen factors was represented by two expressions, one indicating a high
score, the other a low score. Cattell developed the Sixteen Personality Factor (16PF)
questionnaire to assess individual differences in these factors, consisting of 100
yes/no questions. By using the 100-item 16PF questionnaire, a ‘personality profile’
can be established for an individual, which may then be used to predict their
behavioural tendencies.
NB: Any good text book will contain details of Cattell's factors, and so I will not list
them here.
The Big Five (Norman, 1963; Costa & McCrae, 1987)
For many years the taxonomy of traits was based solely on Eysenck's three-factor and
Cattell's sixteen factor models. The Big Five model emerged from its origins in the
Fiske (1949) study on selection of clinical psychologists, through Norman's (1963)
factor-analytic study, to its present claim to being the best paradigm for personality
structure (Costa & McCrae; 1992). Although ultimately based on the same ideas as
Allport, Eysenck and Cattell's theories, this model is made up thus:

Extraversion: for example, is the individual talkative or silent, open or secretive,
adventurous or cautious, sociable or reclusive?

Agreeableness: are they good-natured or easily irritated, mild and gentle or
headstrong, co-operative or negative?

Conscientiousness: are they fussy and tidy, or careless and sloppy, can they be
depended upon, do they persevere in times of hardship or give up?

Emotional stability: are they poised and calm or nervous and tense, are they
composed or excitable, are they hypochondriacs or rarely give in to illness?

Culture: are they artistically sensitive or not, intellectual or unreflective/narrow in
their views, polished and refined or crude and boorish, imaginative or simple and
direct?
Support for this model has been fairly strong; many researchers have found the same
factor structure in a wide variety of young and old sample populations (eg: Costa &
McCrae; 1987). The one exception here is the final factor Culture, may be better
described as Openness to experience, with a person high on this trait being described
as original, creative and daring, while a person low on this trait being described as
conventional, uncreative and unadventurous.
1
Factor analysis: a statistical technique that assesses the degree of association between two or more
variables (how much they increase or decrease with one another). Sets of variables (in this case
frequencies of particular behaviours or self-descriptions) that show strong correlational relationships
with one another, independent of other variables or groups of variables, are thus identified as 'factors'.
Alternative Five Factor Model (Zuckerman et al, 1988)
Based on factor-analyses using Barrett's (1985) revision of the Eysenck Personality
Questionnaire (EPQ) scales for the three-factor model.

Impulsive Sensation-seeking (Imp-SS): the impulsivity subscale implies a lack
of planning and the tendency to act without thinking. The sensation-seeking
subscale may be thought of as experience-seeking, or the tendency to take risks
for the sake of excitement or novel experiences.

Neuroticism-Anxiety (N-Anx): the tendency to become emotionally upset, tense,
fearful, to worry and reflect a lack of self-confidence and sensitivity to criticism.

Aggression-Hostility (Agg-Host): the willingness to express verbal or physical
aggression, rudeness, thoughtless or other antisocial behaviour. High scores
indicate a quick temper and impatience with others.

Sociability (Sy): determines the number of friends one has and the amount of time
spent with them, outgoingness at parties/social events, and a preference for being
alone, rather than in the company of others.

Activity (Act): reflects the need for activity, an inability to relax and do nothing
when an opportunity presents itself, an active, busy life and a high energy level.
The relationship between these models will be explored further next week.
Recommended Reading (in Main Campus Library)
Cooper, C. (1997) Individual Differences, London: Arnold.
Pervin, L.A. (1980) Personality: Theory, Assessment & Research, London: Wiley.
Zuckerman, M. (1999) Psychobiology of Personality, Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Also worth reading, to put things in perspective, is:
Zuckerman, M., Kuhlman, D.M., Joireman, J., Teta, P., & Kraft, M. (1993) A
comparison of three structural models for personality: the Big Three, the Big Five and
the Alternative Five. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 65, 4; 757-768.