According to Raymond Cattell, personality is a pattern of traits and that helps to understand his personality and predict his behaviour. Traits are permanent and build the personality of an individual.
Classification of Traits
Surface Traits and Source Traits: Surface Traits or Central Traits are the visible qualities of personality like kindness, honesty, helpfulness, generosity, etc. On further study, he found certain traits that appeared from time to time which indicated some deeper, more genera underlying factors of personality, called as source traits. The basic structure of the personality of a person is made up of the source traits. They are the unifying factors of a person’s personality that inter-correlate the surface traits. They are a few only but they predict the behavior of the person. All of us have the source traits in us, for example, intelligence, but not to the same extent, some have more of it, some have less of it.
The following are the sixteen factors identified by Cattell in normal personalities:
Reserved vs. Outgoing,
Less intelligent vs. more intelligent,
Emotional vs. stable,
Humble vs. assertive,
Sober vs. happy-go-lucky,
Expedient vs. conscientious,
Shy vs. venturesome,
Tough-minded vs. tender-minded,
Trusting vs. suspicious,
Practical vs. imaginative,
Forthright vs. shrewd,
Placid vs. apprehensive,
Conservative vs. experimenting,
Group-tied vs. self-sufficiency,
Casual vs. controlled, and
Relaxed vs. tense.
Along with these, Cattell proposed seven new factors: excitability, Zeppia vs Coasthenia, boorishness vs mature socialization, sanguine casualness, group dedication with sensed inadequacy and social panache vs explicit expression.
By using the 16 traits we can distinguish between normal and mad people (neurotics), but all behavior away from normal and the characteristics of psychotic people cannot be studied.
Out of the surface traits of normal and abnormal personalities, Cattell found 12 new factors to measure psycho pathological (that require medical attention) traits:
Hypocondriasis (excessive concern about one’s health),
Zestfulness (spirited and joyful),
Brooding Discontent (thoughtful and dissatisfied),
Anxious depression (due to worry),
Energy euphoria (state of happiness),
Guilt and resentment,
Bored depression (due to a general feeling of boredom),
Paranoia (a state of delusion),
Psychopathic deviation,
Schizophrenia (a mental disorder),
Psychesthenia (psychological disorder)
General Psychosis.
These characteristics are in bipolar format. Combining these 12 factors with the 16 PF, he developed a new test called Cinical Analysis Questionnaire (CAQ) On developing this, Cattel felt that he had found important source traits of both normal and abnormal personalities.
Raymond Cattell made many contributions to psychology but is most renowned for his theory of personality. Cattell developed this theory later in his life, and his work in psychometric research and factor analysis culminated in this unique perspective on personality.
As with all of his work, Cattell took a statistical, measurable approach to studying personality rather than utilizing observational and qualitative data. He wanted to apply factor analysis to personality. To do this, he categorized data into three parts to achieve a large, comprehensive method of sampling. The three data types were:
Life Data (L-data): Information about an individual’s everyday behaviors and their behavioral patterns. This included things such as the grades they received in school, their marital status, social interactions, and more.
Experimental Data (T-data): Recorded reactions to standardized experiments in a lab setting, designed to test study participant’s response to certain situations.
Questionnaire Data (Q-data): Responses to questions about the participant’s behavior and feelings. This data was introspection based and provided a deeper look at the person’s personality that is not always clear through behavioral data.
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From MPC-003 Personality: Theories and Assessment – IGNOU
Cattel’s Trait Theory (Approach):
According to Raymond Cattell, personality is a pattern of traits and that helps to understand his personality and predict his behaviour. Traits are permanent and build the personality of an individual.
Classification of Traits
Surface Traits and Source Traits: Surface Traits or Central Traits are the visible qualities of personality like kindness, honesty, helpfulness, generosity, etc. On further study, he found certain traits that appeared from time to time which indicated some deeper, more genera underlying factors of personality, called as source traits. The basic structure of the personality of a person is made up of the source traits. They are the unifying factors of a person’s personality that inter-correlate the surface traits. They are a few only but they predict the behavior of the person. All of us have the source traits in us, for example, intelligence, but not to the same extent, some have more of it, some have less of it.
The following are the sixteen factors identified by Cattell in normal personalities:
Along with these, Cattell proposed seven new factors: excitability, Zeppia vs Coasthenia, boorishness vs mature socialization, sanguine casualness, group dedication with sensed inadequacy and social panache vs explicit expression.
By using the 16 traits we can distinguish between normal and mad people (neurotics), but all behavior away from normal and the characteristics of psychotic people cannot be studied.
Out of the surface traits of normal and abnormal personalities, Cattell found 12 new factors to measure psycho pathological (that require medical attention) traits:
These characteristics are in bipolar format. Combining these 12 factors with the 16 PF, he developed a new test called Cinical Analysis Questionnaire (CAQ) On developing this, Cattel felt that he had found important source traits of both normal and abnormal personalities.
Raymond Cattell made many contributions to psychology but is most renowned for his theory of personality. Cattell developed this theory later in his life, and his work in psychometric research and factor analysis culminated in this unique perspective on personality.
As with all of his work, Cattell took a statistical, measurable approach to studying personality rather than utilizing observational and qualitative data. He wanted to apply factor analysis to personality. To do this, he categorized data into three parts to achieve a large, comprehensive method of sampling. The three data types were:
.
From MPC-003 Personality: Theories and Assessment – IGNOU