Allport's And Cattell's Trait Theories example essay topic

PERSONALITY 1. Define the term personality. Cite the five key questions that personality theorists ask in describing personality. Personality is the pattern of qualities, traits, dispositions, or characteristics that give some regularity to people's behavior. Personality dictates how people act or play a role in different situations. Personality also includes inconsistency of behavior as well.

Five key questions that personality theorists ask in describing personality are: o Does nature or nurture play a greater role in personality development? o Do unconscious processes direct behavior? o What accounts for the development of stable behavior patterns in humans? o Does a person's behavior depend on the situation? o Do people behave consistently throughout their lives? 3. Compare and contrast Allport's and Cattell's trait theories. Allport's and Cattell's trait theories were similar because they both developed and adopted separate types of personality traits and they believed that each person has a different combination of traits.

Allport's and Cattell's trait theories were different because while Allport relied on mostly common sense, Cattell employed the method of factor analysis. Allport believed that the personality traits that someone exhibits are divided up into three distinct types; including "cardinal" or dominant traits, "central" traits or traits we use during daily interactions, and "secondary" traits or traits that are responsive. Cattell believed in two different types of traits: "surface" and "source" traits, which were traits that were shown daily and "deep", higher-order traits respectively. 4. Briefly explain the four dimensions of the MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator of Kersey Temperament Sorter.) How can an understanding of these temperament types help you in your life? The four dimensions of the MBTI are extraversion-introversion, sensing-intuition, thinking-feeling, and judging-perceptive.

The MBTI is a personality inventory test consisting of true / false or multiple-choice questions which help determine which of the two poles the subject affiliates the most with. An understanding of these temperament types can help to serve as a prediction of performance in school, work, and personal interactions. 7. List and differentiate the "super traits" known as the Big Five. o Extraversion-introversion, or the extent to which people are social or unsocial, talkative or quiet, affectionate or reserved o Agreeableness-antagonism, or the extent to which people are good-natured or irritable, courteous or rude, flexible or stubborn, lenient or critical o Conscientiousness-undirected ness, or the extent to which people are reliable or undependable, careful or careless, punctual or late, well organized or disorganized o Neuroticism-stability, or the extent to which people are worried or calm, nervous or at ease, insecure or secure o Openness to experience, or the extent to which people are open to experience or closed, independent or conforming, creative or uncreative, daring or timid SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 2.

Discuss how proximity, physical attractiveness, and shared attitudes contribute to interpersonal attraction. Distinguish between love and friendship. Proximity, physical attractiveness, and shared attitudes all contribute to interpersonal attraction or the rating of another person as having positive qualities. When you have interaction with a person on a daily basis you develop familiarity which causes higher levels of attraction and anticipation of a relationship. Physical attractiveness determines how you perceive another person's status, competence, and health.

People who have similar or shared attitudes with you also increase attraction, because you like people who like you and view them as having similar experiences as you. Love is similar to friendship, except in love the intimacy is usually much more intense. In love your thoughts are preoccupied with the thoughts of your lovers, and in a way you become one but remain two separate individuals. In both love and friendship, the relationship depends on equal reciprocation between the two people.

6. Identify and briefly describe five techniques to induce attitude change. How might a teacher, sales person, psychologist, health professional effectively use these techniques. (give specific examples) o Credibility Technique, is best described as someone who shows trustworthiness, honesty, and is knowledgeable about the subject. An example would be an employee at a shoe store who works for salary, is friendly, and has a great enthusiasm for shoes. o The Foot-In-The-Door Technique, is best described as small request followed by a larger request later on. An example would be a neighbor who asks for some help fixing a door then asks for some help building a porch for his house. o The Door-In-The-Face Technique, is best described as a ridiculous favor followed soon after by a more reasonable one.

An example would be a guy who asks a girl to marry him, then asks the girl to go out for coffee. o The Low balling Technique, is best described as a situation where a person is made to agree to a deal with lower stakes, and as the stakes increase that person feels obligated to agreement that he made. An example would be a group of investors who originally approve a price of three million dollars for a casino, and the investors sticking to their agreement when the contractor adds some extra plans or underestimated some prices of building materials. o The Modeling Technique, is best described as exhibiting good behavior for someone else, which boosts the likelihood that the person will adopt the same behavior. An example would be a famous athlete training with an young and aspiring athlete, where the famous athlete training ideas are adopted by the aspiring athlete. 7. Summarize the process of making attributions.

The process of making attributions occurs when one person observes another person and makes conclusions about that person based on what he observes. People decide how they will react to others and evaluate the occurrences in their lives through attribution. Other people's behavior can be seen as either internal or external based on three factors: consensus, consistency, and distinctiveness. People are inclined to make attributions in order to make sense of their environment and to predict behavior and events. 8. Distinguish between stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination.

Summarize at least two theoretical explanations of the causes of prejudice. Stereotypes are fixed and simple ideas about attitudes, traits, and behaviors of a group which judge that all members of the group are alike. Stereotypes are different from prejudice because prejudice is a negative opinion of a group based on a certain stereotype, while stereotypes can either be a positive or negative connotation of a group. Discrimination results from prejudice determining a specific behavior against a group. One theory that can be used to explain the causes of prejudice is the social learning theory in which children learn to be prejudice. Through imitation and reinforcement children learn to be prejudice based on discrimination acts of others.

Another theory that can be used to explain the causes of prejudice is motivational theory in which individuals develop prejudices about their competitors and the groups they belong to. This creates group that are branded as scapegoats.