Theories_of_Personality 7th Ed Feist

Feist−Feist: Theories of

Personality, Seventh

Edition

IV. Dispositional Theories 14. Eysenck, McCrae, and

Costa’s Trait and Factor

Theories

© The McGraw−Hill^419

Companies, 2009

order even in periods of extreme stress. High N scorers, however, may suffer a neu-
rotic reaction as a result of only a minimal level of stress. In other words, the higher
the neuroticism score, the lower the level of stress necessary to precipitate a neurotic
disorder.
Because neuroticism can be combined with different points on the extraversion
scale, no single syndrome can define neurotic behavior. Eysenck’s factor analytic
technique assumes the independence of factors, which means that the neuroticism
scale is at right angles (signifying zero correlation) to the extraversion scale. Thus,
several people can all score high on the N scale yet display quite different symptoms,
depending on their degree of introversion or extraversion. Figure 14.5 shows the ex-
traversion/introversion pole with zero correlation with the neuroticism/stability pole.
Consider persons A, B, and C, all equally high on the neuroticism scale, but repre-
senting three distinct points on the extraversion scale. Person A, an introverted neu-
rotic, is characterized by anxiety, depression, phobias, and obsessive-compulsive
symptoms; Person B, who is high on neuroticism but only average on extraversion,
is likely to be characterized by hysteria (a neurotic disorder associated with emo-
tional instability), suggestibility, and somatic symptoms; Person C, an extraverted
neurotic individual, will probably manifest psychopathic qualities such as criminal-
ity and delinquent tendencies (Eysenck, 1967, 1997a). Consider, also, Persons A, D,
and E, all equally introverted, but with three different levels of emotional stability.
Person A is the introverted neurotic individual we just described; Person D is equally
introverted but is neither severely neurotic nor emotionally stable; and Person E is
both extremely introverted and psychologically stable.
Figure 14.5 shows only five people, all of whom have at least one extreme
score. Most people, of course, would score near the mean on both extraversion and
introversion. As scores move toward the outer limits of the diagram, they become in-
creasingly less frequent, just as scores on the ends of a bell-shaped curve are less fre-
quent than those near the midpoint.

Chapter 14 Eysenck, McCrae, and Costa’s Trait and Factor Theories 413

FIGURE 14.5 Two-dimensional
scheme depicting several extreme
points on Eysenck’s E and N scales.

Neuroticism

A

E

D

B C

Stability

Extraversion

Introversion