Feist−Feist: Theories of
Personality, Seventh
EditionIV. Dispositional Theories 14. Eysenck, McCrae, and
Costa’s Trait and Factor
Theories© The McGraw−Hill^411
Companies, 2009The Pioneering Work
of Raymond B. Cattell
An important figure in the early years of psychometrics was Raymond B. Cattell
(1905–1998), who was born in England but who spent most of his career in the
United States. Cattell did not have a direct influence on Eysenck; indeed, the two
men had quite different approaches to measuring the structure of personality. Be-
cause some familiarity of Cattell’s trait theory enhances the understanding of
Eysenck’s three-factor theory, we briefly discuss Cattell’s work and compare and
contrast it with that of Eysenck.
First, Cattell used an inductive methodof gathering data; that is, he began
with no preconceived bias concerning the number or name of traits or types. In
contrast, Eysenck used a deductive methodto identify three personality factors.
That is, he had some preconceived hypothesis in mind before he began gathering
data.
Second, Cattell used three different media of observation to examine people
from as many angles as possible. The three sources of data included a person’s life
record (L data) derived from observations made by other people; self-reports (Q
data) obtained from questionnaires and other techniques designed to allow people to
make subjective descriptions of themselves; and objective tests (T data), which
measure performance such as intelligence, speed of responding, and other such ac-
tivities designed to challenge people’s maximum performance. In contrast, each of
Eysenck’s three bipolar factors is limited to responses on questioners. These self-
reports confine Eysenck’s procedures to personality factors.
Third, Cattell divided traits into common traits(shared by many) and unique
traits(peculiar to one individual). He also distinguished source traitsfrom trait in-
dicators, or surface traits.Cattell further classified traits into temperament, motiva-
tion,and ability. Traits of temperament are concerned with howa person behaves,
motivation deals with whyone behaves, and ability refers to how faror how fastone
can perform.
Fourth, Cattell’s multifaceted approach yielded 35 primary, or first-order, traits,
which measure mostly the temperament dimension of personality. Of these factors,
23 characterize the normal population and 12 measure the pathological dimension.
The largest and most frequently studied of the normal traits are the 16 personality
factors found on Cattell’s (1949) Sixteen Personality Factors Questionnaire (16 PF
Scale). By comparison, the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire yields scores on only
three personality factors.
Fifth, while Cattell was measuring a large number to traits, Eysenck was con-
centrating on types,or superfactors that make up several interrelated traits. We dis-
cuss types and traits in the section titled Hierarchy of Behavior Organization.
Basics of Factor Analysis
A comprehensive knowledge of the mathematical operations involved in factor
analysisis not essential to an understanding of trait and factor theories of personal-
ity, but a general description of this technique should be helpful.
Chapter 14 Eysenck, McCrae, and Costa’s Trait and Factor Theories 405