Invitation to Psychology

54 Chapter 2 Theories of Personality

Recite & Review

Recite: Out loud, say as much as you can about objective tests, factor analysis, and the Big Five

personality traits.

Review: Next, show that you have the trait of conscientiousness by rereading this section.

Now take this Quick Quiz:

1. Raymond B. Cattell advanced the study of personality by (a) developing case-study analysis,
   (b) using factor analysis, (c) devising the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.


2. Which of the following are not among the Big Five personality factors? (a) introversion,
   (b) agreeableness, (c) psychoticism, (d) openness to experience, (e) intelligence, (f) neuroticism,
   (g) conscientiousness


3. Which one of the Big Five typically decreases by age 40? (a) agreeableness, (b) extroversion,
   (c) openness to experience, (d) neuroticism
   Answers:

Study and Review at mypsychlab

d 3. c, e2. b1.

of the womb that way.” Was this mother right? Is

it possible to be born touchy or good-natured?

What aspects of personality might have an inher-

ited component?

For centuries, efforts to understand why

people differ from one another have swung from

biological explanations (“It’s in their nature; they

are born that way”) to learning and environmen-

tal ones (“It’s all a matter of nurture—how they

are raised and the experiences they have”). The

nature–nurture debate has been one of the longest

running either–or arguments in philosophy and

psychology. Edward L. Thorndike (1903), one

of the leading psychologists of the early 1900s,

staked out the nature position by claiming that

“in the actual race of life... the chief determin-

ing factor is heredity.” But in stirring words that

became famous, his contemporary, behaviorist

John B. Watson (1925), insisted that experience

You are about to learn...

•    whether animals have “personalities” just as

people do.

•    the extent to which temperamental and

personality differences among people are

influenced by genes.

•    why people who have highly heritable

personality traits are not necessarily stuck

with them forever.

Genetic Influences on

personality

A mother we know was describing her two chil-

dren: “My daughter has always been difficult,

intense, and testy,” she said, “but my son is the

opposite, placid and good-natured. They came out

Experience, too, shapes personality traits.

For example, extroverts obviously seek out cer-

tain experiences that shy people might not, but

once people are in a situation that brings out

qualities they did not know they had, their traits

may be modified accordingly (Specht, Egloff, &

Schmukle, 2011). Those situations can change

with social and economic conditions, such as job

shortages.

The Big Five do not provide a complete pic-

ture of personality, of course. Clinical psycholo-

gists note that important traits involved in mental

disorders are missing, such as psychopathy (lack

of remorse and empathy), self-absorption, impul-

sivity, and obsessiveness (Westen & Shedler,

1999). Personality researchers note that other

significant traits are missing, such as religios-

ity, dishonesty, humorousness, independence, and

conventionality (Abrahamson, Baker, & Caspi,

2002; Paunonen & Ashton, 2001). But most agree

that the Big Five do lie at the core of key person-

ality variations among individuals, and not only

human individuals, either, as we are about to see.

Watch the Video In the Real World: Putting

Popular Personality Assessments to the Test at

mypsychlab