How did Raymond Cattell come up with the 16 personality factors?
The 16 Personality Factors Raymond Cattell analyzed Allport's list and whittled it down to 171 characteristics, mostly by eliminating terms that were redundant or uncommon. He then used a statistical technique known as factor analysis to identify traits that are related to one another.
How many factors did Cattell use in his study?
Thus, Cattell considered his sixteen factors to be only an estimate of the number of source traits (Cattell, 1952). As potential source traits were identified that Cattell found difficult to put into words, he assigned them a Universal Index (U.I.) number so that they could be kept for consideration until they could be studied and explained.
What was the goal of Cattell's personality theory?
The goal of Cattell's personality theory was to establish a "common taxonomy" of personality traits. He refined previously established lists of personality traits and narrow it to simplify the descriptions of personality even further than his predecessors.
Is Cattell’s approach better than other approaches to personality tests?
Neither approach is inherently better, since they each serve a different purpose. Cattell’s approach, however, has had a dramatic effect on psychological testing. A psychological type refers to a broader description of personality than a psychological trait, and is often associated with abnormal psychology.
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What is the 16 personality test Cattell?
Cattell's goal was to empirically determine and measure the essence of personality. Cattell used factor analysis to reduce thousands of psychological traits into what he believed to be 16 of the basic dimensions, or source traits of human personality. As a result, he created the 16PF personality test.
How are Cattell's source traits measured?
Cattell analyzed the T-data and Q-data using a mathematical technique called factor analysis to look at which types of behavior tended to be grouped together in the same people. He identified 16 personality traits / factors common to all people. Cattell made a distinction between source and surface traits.
What are Cattell's source traits?
Cattell's 16 global factors, or source traits, are (A) Warmth, (B) Reasoning, (C) Emotional stability, (E) Dominance, (F) Liveliness, (G) Rule- Consciousness, (H) Social boldness, (I) Sensitivity, (K) Sensitivity, (L) Vigilance, (M) Abstractedness, (N) Privateness, (O) Apprehension, (Q1) Openness to change, (Q2) Self- ...
How many source traits are there?
Using a statistical technique known as factor analysis, Cattell whittled down Allport's original list of approximately 4,000 traits to what Cattell called the 16 "source traits." He believed that these underlying traits were what influenced the behaviors that are referred to as personality.
Who invented the 16 Personality Factor Inventory?
CattellThe 16 Personality Factors Questionnaire (16PF) The 16PF (Conn & Rieke, 1994) was originally constructed in 1949 by Cattell, whose factor-analytic research suggested to him that a set of 16 traits would summarize personality characteristics.
What are the 4 theories of personality?
Psychoanalytic, humanistic, trait perspective and behaviorist theory are the four main personality theories.
What are different types of traits?
Following are five personality traits of an individual:Openness to experience. ... Conscientiousness. ... Extraversion and Introversion. ... Agreeableness. ... Neuroticism.
What is meant by source trait in psychology?
A concept developed by Raymond Cattell, Source Traits are the building blocks or sources of human personality. Cattell believed there are 16 of these source traits. For example, a person may be reserved or outgoing, serious or happy-go-lucky, and submissive or dominant.
How many types of personality are there?
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator: The 16 Personality Types.
What describes Cattell's trait theory of personality?
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.
What is Cattell's theory of intelligence?
The Cattell-Horn theory of fluid and crystallized intelligence suggests that intelligence is composed of different abilities that interact and work together to produce overall individual intelligence.
What is the difference between a surface and source traits?
In Cattell's theory of personality, one way to classify traits is as surface traits or source traits. Surface traits are personality elements that can be directly observed, in contrast to source traits, which must be inferred through statistical methods.
Which of the following assessment tools was developed to measure the Big Five?
d) The DSM-5 is a new questionnaire being developed to measure the Big Five.
What do you mean by personality according to Cattle how surface trait and source trait are interrelated discuss with examples?
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 general underlying factors of personality, called as source traits.
What are the two basic assumptions behind trait theories?
There are the two basic assumptions behind trait theories. The first assumption is that everyone has all of the traits and the second one is that we can measure those traits. For example, every person is more or less impulsive.
How many factors did Cattell use to define human personality?
Psychologists were able to use Cattell's personality theory as a starting point to distill it down to five personality traits that "define human personality.". Cattell recognized these factors in his research as "global factors" that encompass many of the sixteen factors into five broader traits.
Why is Cattell's personality theory controversial?
Thus, the reliability of the factor analysis calculations that shaped Cattell's personality theory can be called into question. Cattell claimed that this was because those who attempted to replicate his findings were not using his exact methodology.
What did Cattell do?
Cattell then went on to establish the Laboratory of Personality Assessment and Group Behavior at the University of Illinois . He later helped found the Society of Multivariate Experimental Psychology and a corresponding journal, Multivariate Behavior Research. One of the key distinctions of Cattell's career was his use of multivariate statistics to examine human behavior, rather than following the traditional research style of measuring single variables against one another.
What are the factors of personality?
Just as Cattell sought to improve and refine the findings of his predecessors in the field of personality, others did the same thing with Cattell's sixteen factors. Psychologists were able to use Cattell's personality theory as a starting point to distill it down to five personality traits that "define human personality." Cattell recognized these factors in his research as "global factors" that encompass many of the sixteen factors into five broader traits. The big five personality traits are: 1 Openness 2 Conscientiousness 3 Extraversion 4 Agreeableness 5 Neuroticism
What was Raymond Cattell's biggest contribution to psychology?
Despite these achievements, Raymond Cattell's biggest contribution to psychology occurred after his retirement from the University of Illinois. Post-retirement, Cattell worked with his wife Heather Birkett to develop the 16-Factor Personality Model.
How many factors are there in Cattell's theory?
Cattell's theory of personality described 16 personality traits that each person possesses to varying degrees. The personality traits are referred to as "primary factors," of which someone can be in the "low range," or "high range." Within those rangers are descriptors of attributes someone may possess, or ways someone may act, who falls within those ranges. The sixteen primary factors of personality as described by Cattell's personality theory are as follows:
Where did Cattell go to school?
He decided to pursue a career in the field and ultimately graduated from theUniversity of London with a degree in psychology. In the ensuing years, he accepted various teaching positions at universities in the United States, including at Columbia University and Harvard University.
How many personality factors did Cattell identify?
Cattell identified as many as forty-two personality factors (see Cattell, 1957).
How many source traits did Cattell identify?
Cattell used the factor-analytic technique to identify sixteen source traits. He often uses the terms source trait and factor interchangeably. Factor analysis is a statistical technique that determines a number of factors, or clusters, based on the intercorrelation between a number of individual elements. Cattell considered factor analysis to be a radical departure from the personality research that preceded his, because it is not based on an arbitrary choice as to which variables are the most important. Instead, the factor-analytic technique determines the relevant variables, based on the available data:
What did Cattell believe?
Cattell believed that clinical psychologists always took personality traits for granted, but focused their attention on the patterns of traits that defined clinical syndromes (or types). However, if one wishes to conduct a thorough description and measurement of personality, traits must be the target of that investigation.
What is the 16 factor?
In the late 1940s, Cattell and his colleagues developed the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (commonly known as the 16-PF), based on the 15 factors they considered best established by their data, plus general intelligence as the sixteenth factor (see Cattell, 1956).
How does a trait guide behavior?
Thus, a trait guides behavior in a specific direction, by connecting all aspects of that trait into a unit (w hether the process is directed outward, a response, or the result of external stimuli, a reaction). Since an understanding of an individual’s traits would allow us to predict the nature of such responses or reactions, Cattell offered a rather simple definition of personality:
Why is Cattell saying "more or less"?
The reason for saying more or less is that any statistical technique is subject to known probabilities of error. Thus, Cattell considered his sixteen factors to be only an estimate of the number of source traits (Cattell, 1952).
What did Cattell study?
Cattell studied a variety of personality types and personality traits. Of particular interest to Cattell was how to assess personality, and his work is heavily influenced by the systematic collection of scientific data. This is quite different than many of the psychodynamic and humanistic theorists, who based their theories on clinical observation, but it is similar to the learning theorists, who also value careful, objective observation and the collection of scientific data. Neither approach is inherently better, since they each serve a different purpose. Cattell’s approach, however, has had a dramatic effect on psychological testing.
How many source traits did Cattell identify?
Cattell used the factor-analytic technique to identify sixteen source traits. He often uses the terms source trait and factor interchangeably. Factor analysis is a statistical technique that determines a number of factors, or clusters, based on the intercorrelation between a number of individual elements. Cattell considered factor analysis to be a radical departure from the personality research that preceded his, because it is not based on an arbitrary choice as to which variables are the most important. Instead, the factor-analytic technique determines the relevant variables, based on the available data:
How many factors did Cattell use to identify the source traits?
The reason for saying more or less is that any statistical technique is subject to known probabilities of error. Thus, Cattell considered his sixteen factors to be only an estimate of the number of source traits (Cattell, 1952). As potential source traits were identified that Cattell found difficult to put into words, he assigned them a Universal Index (U.I.) number so that they could be kept for consideration until they could be studied and explained. Cattell identified as many as forty-two personality factors (see Cattell, 1957). By 1965, when Cattell wrote The Scientific Analysis of Personality, he had included three additional factors to his primary list, giving him nineteen personality factors, and kept thirteen of the remaining factors on his list as yet to be confirmed (though each one had a tentative name).
What did Cattell believe about personality?
Cattell believed that clinical psychologists always took personality traits for granted , but focused their attention on the patterns of traits that defined clinical syndromes (or types). However, if one wishes to conduct a thorough description and measurement of personality, traits must be the target of that investigation. Thus, Cattell focused his attention on the details of understanding and describing traits. He agreed with Allport’s description of individual vs. common traits, though he preferred the use of the term unique traits to describe the former. Cattell described a trait as a collection of reactions or responses bound by some sort of unity, thus allowing the responses to be covered by one term and treated similarly in most situations. The challenge lies in identifying the nature of the unity, which has been done in different ways throughout the history of studying personality. Thus, a trait guides behavior in a specific direction, by connecting all aspects of that trait into a unit (whether the process is directed outward, a response, or the result of external stimuli, a reaction). Since an understanding of an individual’s traits would allow us to predict the nature of such responses or reactions, Cattell offered a rather simple definition of personality: “Personality is that which permits a prediction of what a person will do in a given situation” (pg. 2; Cattell, 1950b).
What did Cattell study?
Cattell studied a variety of personality types and personality traits. Of particular interest to Cattell was how to assess personality, and his work is heavily influenced by the systematic collection of scientific data. This is quite different than many of the psychodynamic and humanistic theorists, who based their theories on clinical observation, but it is similar to the learning theorists, who also value careful, objective observation and the collection of scientific data. Neither approach is inherently better, since they each serve a different purpose. Cattell’s approach, however, has had a dramatic effect on psychological testing.
What is a psychological type?
A psychological type refers to a broader description of personality than a psychological trait, and is often associated with abnormal psychology. According to Cattell, a type can only be understood in terms of personality traits. For example, a villain is a type based on a pattern of associated traits such as immorality, cruelty, and disregard for the law and the rights of others. Cattell considered types to fall into one of five principal categories: temperamental characteristics, interests and character, abilities, disposition, and disintegration and disease processes . As further examples, and in accordance with Cattell’s type categories, we can include the ancient personality types of Hippocrates (sanguine, choleric, melancholic, phlegmatic), the oral-erotic and anal-erotic types of Sigmund Freud, musical vs. mathematical geniuses, unrestrained vs. restrained personalities, and various neurotic and psychotic syndromes (Cattell, 1946, 1950a,b, 1965).
What does a questionnaire look like?
Although a questionnaire looks like a simple series of questions to which a person underlines a brief answer, such as ‘yes’, ‘no’, ‘generally’, [sic] etc., actually a great deal of art enters into the psychologist’s choice of words, the direction of the question, the use of adjectives to ensure that all alternatives are well used, and so on. (pg. 61; Cattell, 1965)
How is T data obtained?
As noted above, T-data is obtained from objective tests. According to Cattell, questionnaires may seem objective, since their scoring is objective, but the process involves having the individual evaluate themselves. In truly objective tests, the individual’s specific behaviors or thoughts are directly and precisely measured. It is essential that only closed-ended questions are used, such as multiple choice or Yes-No options. If open-ended questions are used, such as “How do you feel when you wake up in the morning?” it is possible that two psychologists will interpret the answer quite differently. If there is a possibility of different interpretations, obviously the test cannot be objective.