allport, cattel, mccrae, costa

• personality


  the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine his unique adjustments to his environment
• personality


  determine his characteristic behavior and thought
• conscious motivation 


  Healthy adults are generally aware of what they are doing and their reasons for doing it.
• conscious motivation 


  More than any other theorist, Allport emphasized the importance of this
• conscious motivation 


  However, Allport did not ignore the existence or even the importance of unconscious processes.
• To Allport, the most important structures are those that permit the description of the person in terms of individual characteristics, and he called these individual characteristics PERSONAL DISPOSITIONS.
• structure of personality


  To Allport, the most important structures are those that permit the description of the person in terms of individual characteristics, and he called these individual characteristics PERSONAL DISPOSITIONS.
• personal dispositions


  Individual; Common traits are shared by several people.
• Throughout most of his career, Allport was careful to distinguish between COMMON traits and INDIVIDUAL traits.
• common traits


  general characteristics held in common by many people
• individual traits


  permits researchers to study a single individual
• Personal Dispositions are Individual; Common traits are shared by several people.
• cardinal dispositions


  Some people possess an EMINENT characteristic or RULING PASSION so outstanding that it DOMINATES their lives
• cardinal dispositions 


  Allport identified several historical people and fictional characters who possessed a DISPOSITION SO OUTSTANDING that they have given our language a new word.
• central dispositions 


  those that would be listed in an accurate letter of recommendation by someone who knew the person quite well.
• central dispositions 


  • 5-10 most outstanding characteristics around which a person’s life focuses
• secondary dispositions


  Far greater in number than central dispositions
• secondary dispositions 


  Not central to the personality yet occur with some regularity and are responsible for much of one’s specific behaviors
• motivational dispositions 


  receive their motivation from basic needs and drives : strongly felt
• proprium


  Refer to those behaviors and characteristics that people regard as warm, central and important in their lives.
• proprium


  Includes those aspects of life that a person regards as important to a sense of self-identity and self-enhancement.
• proprium


  Characteristics that an individual refers to in such terms as “That is me” or “This is mine”
• proprium


  All characteristics that are “peculiarly mine” belong to the proprium
• motivation


  Allport believed that a useful theory of personality rests on the assumption that people NOT only react to their environment but also shape their environment and cause it to react to them.
• Most people, Allport believed are motivated by PRESENT drives rather than by PAST events and are AWARE of what they are doing and have some understanding of WHY they are doing it.
• functional autonomy


  Allport’s most distinctive and most controversial postulate
• functional autonomy


  In general, the concept of this holds that some, but not all, human motives are functionally independent from the original motive responsible for that behavior.
• functional autonomy


  If the motive is this, it is the explanation for the behavior, and one need NOT look beyond it for hidden or primary causes.
• preseverative functional autonomy


  Found in animals as well as humans and is based on simple neurological principles.
• Perseverative functional autonomy


  gives CONSISTENCY and COHERENCE to personality, while Propriate functional autonomy causes one to RESPOND APPROPRIATELY to life’s challenge in order to progressively produce greater achievements.
• nomothetic


  seeks general laws
• idiographic


  emphasizes the uniqueness of the individual
• morphogenic science


  verbatim recordings, interviews, dreams, confessions, diaries, letters, some questionnaires, expressive documents, projective documents, literary works, art forms, autobiographies etc.
• raymond cattell


  Used an inductive method of data gathering à he began with no preconceived bias concerning the number of traits
• raymond cattell


  Introduced the most sophisticated statistical technique of analyzing personality (Factor Analysis)
• L data


  life record) à derived from observations made by OTHER people
• Q data


  Self-Reports) à obtained from questionnaires and other techniques designed to allow people make SUBJECTIVE descriptions of themselves
• T Data


  Objective Tests) à measure performance such as intelligence, speed of responding, and other activities designed to challenge people’s MAXIMUM PERFORMANCE
• surface traits


  traits that are observable
• source traits


  traits that are underlying causes of overt behavior