In psychology Psychology is the study of human or animal mental functions and behaviors. In this field, a professional practitioner or researcher is a psychologist. Psychologists are classified as social or behavioral scientists. Psychological research can be considered either basic or applied. Psychologists attempt to understand the role of mental functions in, Trait theory is a major approach to the study of human personality Personality can be defined as a dynamic and organized set of characteristics possessed by a person that uniquely influences his or her cognitions, motivations, and behaviors in various situations . The word "personality" originates from the Latin persona, which means mask. Significantly, in the theatre of the ancient Latin-speaking world,. Trait theorists are primarily interested in the measurement of traits, which can be defined as habitual patterns of behavior, thought, and emotion.^[1] According to this perspective, traits are relatively stable over time, differ among individuals (e.g. some people are outgoing whereas others are shy), and influence behavior.

Gordon Allport Gordon Willard Allport was an American psychologist. Allport was one of the first psychologists to focus on the study of the personality, and is often referred to as one of the founding figures of personality psychology. He rejected both a psychoanalytic approach to personality, which he thought often went too deep, and a behavioral approach, was an early pioneer in the study of traits, which he sometimes referred to as dispositions. In his approach, central traits are basic to an individual's personality, whereas secondary traits are more peripheral. Common traits are those recognized within a culture and may vary between cultures. Cardinal traits are those by which an individual may be strongly recognized. Since Allport's time, trait theorists have focused more on group statistics than on single individuals. Allport called these two emphases "nomothetic" and "idiographic," respectively.

There is a nearly unlimited number of potential traits that could be used to describe personality. The statistical technique of factor analysis Factor analysis is a statistical method used to describe variability among observed variables in terms of a potentially lower number of unobserved variables called factors. In other words, it is possible, for example, that two or three observed variables together represent another, unobserved variable, and factor analysis searches for these, however, has demonstrated that particular clusters of traits reliably correlate together. Hans Eysenck Hans Jürgen Eysenck was a British psychologist of German origin, best remembered for his work on intelligence and personality, though he worked in a wide range of areas. At the time of his death, Eysenck was the living psychologist most frequently cited in science journals has suggested that personality is reducible to three major traits.^[2][3] Other researchers argue that more factors are needed to adequately describe human personality.^[4] Many psychologists currently believe that five factors are sufficient.^[5][6]

Virtually all trait models, and even ancient Greek philosophy Greek philosophy focused on the role of reason and inquiry. Many philosophers today concede that Greek philosophy has shaped the entire Western thought since its inception. As Alfred Whitehead once noted, with some exaggeration, "Western philosophy is just a series of footnotes to Plato." Clear, unbroken lines of influence lead from, include extraversion vs. introversion The trait of extraversion-introversion is a central dimension of human personality. Extraverts tend to be gregarious, assertive, and interested in seeking out excitement. Introverts, in contrast, tend to be more reserved, less outgoing, and less sociable. They are not necessarily loners but they tend to have smaller circles of friends and are less as a central dimension of human personality. Another prominent trait that is found in nearly all models is Neuroticism Neuroticism is a fundamental personality trait in the study of psychology. It is an enduring tendency to experience negative emotional states. Individuals who score high on neuroticism are more likely than the average to experience such feelings as anxiety, anger, guilt, and depressed mood. They respond more poorly to environmental stress, and are, or emotional instability.

Two taxonomies

Eysenck's three factor model contains the traits of extraversion Extraverts tend to be gregarious, assertive, and interested in seeking out excitement. They tend to think out loud and cannot solve things in their heads as well as introverts. However, it should not necessarily be assumed that just because one has many friends that they are an extravert. Introverts, in contrast, tend to be more reserved, less, neuroticism Neuroticism is a fundamental personality trait in the study of psychology. It is an enduring tendency to experience negative emotional states. Individuals who score high on neuroticism are more likely than the average to experience such feelings as anxiety, anger, guilt, and depressed mood. They respond more poorly to environmental stress, and are, and psychoticism Psychoticism is one of the three traits used by the psychologist Hans Eysenck in his P-E-N model model of personality. The five factor model contains openness Openness to experience is one of five major domains of personality discovered by psychologists. Openness involves active imagination, aesthetic sensitivity, attentiveness to inner feelings, preference for variety, and intellectual curiosity. A great deal of psychometric research has demonstrated that these qualities are statistically correlated, extraversion Extraverts tend to be gregarious, assertive, and interested in seeking out excitement. They tend to think out loud and cannot solve things in their heads as well as introverts. However, it should not necessarily be assumed that just because one has many friends that they are an extravert. Introverts, in contrast, tend to be more reserved, less, neuroticism Neuroticism is a fundamental personality trait in the study of psychology. It is an enduring tendency to experience negative emotional states. Individuals who score high on neuroticism are more likely than the average to experience such feelings as anxiety, anger, guilt, and depressed mood. They respond more poorly to environmental stress, and are, agreeableness Agreeableness is a tendency to be pleasant and accommodating in social situations. In contemporary personality psychology, agreeableness is one of the five major dimensions of personality structure, reflecting individual differences in concern for cooperation and social harmony. People who score high on this dimension are empathetic, considerate,, and conscientiousness Conscientiousness is the trait of being painstaking and careful, or the quality of acting according to the dictates of one's conscience. It includes such elements as self-discipline, carefulness, thoroughness, organization, deliberation , and need for achievement. It is an aspect of what has traditionally been called character. Conscientious. These traits are the highest-level factors of a hierarchical taxonomy based on the statistical technique of factor analysis Factor analysis is a statistical method used to describe variability among observed variables in terms of a potentially lower number of unobserved variables called factors. In other words, it is possible, for example, that two or three observed variables together represent another, unobserved variable, and factor analysis searches for these. This method produces factors that are continuous In mathematics, a continuous function is a function for which, intuitively, small changes in the input result in small changes in the output. Otherwise, a function is said to be "discontinuous". A continuous function with a continuous inverse function is called "bicontinuous". An intuitive though imprecise idea of continuity is, bipolar Bipolar disorder or manic–depressive disorder is a psychiatric diagnosis that describes a category of mood disorders defined by the presence of one or more episodes of abnormally elevated energy levels, cognition, and mood and one or more depressive episodes. The elevated moods are clinically referred to as mania or, if milder, hypomania, can be distinguished from temporary states, and can describe individual differences.^[7] Both approaches extensively use self-report questionnaires. The factors are intended to be orthogonal In mathematics, two vectors are orthogonal if they are perpendicular, i.e., they form a right angle. The word comes from the Greek ὀρθός , meaning "straight", and γωνία (gonia), meaning "angle" (uncorrelated),^[8] though there are often small positive correlations In statistics, correlation and dependence are any of a broad class of statistical relationships between two or more random variables or observed data values between factors. The five factor model in particular has been criticized for losing the orthogonal structure between factors.^[9][10] Hans Eysenck Hans Jürgen Eysenck was a British psychologist of German origin, best remembered for his work on intelligence and personality, though he worked in a wide range of areas. At the time of his death, Eysenck was the living psychologist most frequently cited in science journals has argued that fewer factors are superior to a larger number of partly related ones.^[11] Although these two approaches are comparable because of the use of factor analysis to construct hierarchical taxonomies, they differ in the organization and number of factors.

Whatever the causes, however, psychoticism Psychoticism is one of the three traits used by the psychologist Hans Eysenck in his P-E-N model model of personality marks the two approaches apart as the five factor model contains no such trait. Moreover, apart from simply being a different high-level factor psychoticism, unlike any of the other factors in either approach, does not fit a normal distribution curve. Indeed, scores are rarely high thus skewing a normal distribution In probability theory and statistics, the normal distribution, or Gaussian distribution, is an absolutely continuous probability distribution whose cumulants of all orders above two are zero. The graph of the associated probability density function is “bell”-shaped, with peak at the mean, and is known as the Gaussian function or bell curve:[.^[12] However, when they are high there is considerable overlap with psychiatric conditions such as antisocial Despite being currently unused in diagnostic manuals, psychopathy and related terms such as psychopath are still widely used by mental health professionals and laymen alike. In particular, NATO has funded a series of Advanced Study Institutes on psychopathy both prior to DSM-III and since. Researcher Robert Hare has been a particular champion of and schizoid personality Schizoid personality disorder is a personality disorder characterized by a lack of interest in social relationships, a tendency towards a solitary lifestyle, secretiveness, and emotional coldness. SPD is rare compared with other personality disorders. Its prevalence is estimated at less than 1% of the general population. It is not related to and disorders. Similarly, high scorers on neuroticism Neuroticism is a fundamental personality trait in the study of psychology. It is an enduring tendency to experience negative emotional states. Individuals who score high on neuroticism are more likely than the average to experience such feelings as anxiety, anger, guilt, and depressed mood. They respond more poorly to environmental stress, and are are more susceptible to sleep Sleep is a naturally recurring altered state of consciousness with relatively suspended sensory and motor activity, characterized by the inactivity of nearly all voluntary muscles. It is distinguished from quiet wakefulness by a decreased ability to react to stimuli, but it is more easily reversible than hibernation or coma. Sleep is a heightened and psychosomatic Psychosomatic medicine is an interdisciplinary medical field studying the relationships of social, psychological, and behavioral factors on bodily processes and well-being in humans and animals. The influence that the mind has over physical processes including the manifestations of physical disabilities that are based on intellectual infirmities, disorders.^[13] Five factor approaches can also predict future mental disorders.^[14][15]

Lower order factors

There are two higher order factors that both taxonomies clearly share, extraversion Extraverts tend to be gregarious, assertive, and interested in seeking out excitement. They tend to think out loud and cannot solve things in their heads as well as introverts. However, it should not necessarily be assumed that just because one has many friends that they are an extravert. Introverts, in contrast, tend to be more reserved, less and neuroticism Neuroticism is a fundamental personality trait in the study of psychology. It is an enduring tendency to experience negative emotional states. Individuals who score high on neuroticism are more likely than the average to experience such feelings as anxiety, anger, guilt, and depressed mood. They respond more poorly to environmental stress, and are. Both approaches broadly accept that extraversion Extraverts tend to be gregarious, assertive, and interested in seeking out excitement. They tend to think out loud and cannot solve things in their heads as well as introverts. However, it should not necessarily be assumed that just because one has many friends that they are an extravert. Introverts, in contrast, tend to be more reserved, less is associated with sociability and positive affect Dispositional Affect, similar to mood, is a personality trait or overall tendency to respond to situations in stable, predictable ways. This trait is expressed by the tendency to see things in positive or negative way. People with high positive affectivity tend to perceive things through “pink lens” while people with high negative affectivity, whereas neuroticism Neuroticism is a fundamental personality trait in the study of psychology. It is an enduring tendency to experience negative emotional states. Individuals who score high on neuroticism are more likely than the average to experience such feelings as anxiety, anger, guilt, and depressed mood. They respond more poorly to environmental stress, and are is associated with emotional instability and negative affect Dispositional Affect, similar to mood, is a personality trait or overall tendency to respond to situations in stable, predictable ways. This trait is expressed by the tendency to see things in positive or negative way. People with high positive affectivity tend to perceive things through “pink lens” while people with high negative affectivity.^[12] Many lower order factors are similar between the two taxonomies. For instance, both approaches contain factors for sociability/gregariousness, for activity levels, and for assertiveness within the higher order factor, extraversion Extraverts tend to be gregarious, assertive, and interested in seeking out excitement. They tend to think out loud and cannot solve things in their heads as well as introverts. However, it should not necessarily be assumed that just because one has many friends that they are an extravert. Introverts, in contrast, tend to be more reserved, less. However, there are differences too. First, the three-factor approach contains nine lower order factors and the five-factor approach has six.^[12] Eysenck's psychoticism Psychoticism is one of the three traits used by the psychologist Hans Eysenck in his P-E-N model model of personality factor incorporates some of the polar opposites of the lower order factors of openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness. A high scorer on tough-mindedness in psychoticism Psychoticism is one of the three traits used by the psychologist Hans Eysenck in his P-E-N model model of personality would score low on tender-mindedness in agreeableness. Most of the differences between the taxonomies stem from the three factor model's emphasis on fewer high-order factors.

Causality

Although both major trait models are descriptive, only the three factor model offers a detailed causal explanation. Eysenck suggests that different personality traits are caused by the properties of the brain The brain is the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate, and most invertebrate, animals. Some primitive animals such as jellyfish and starfish have a decentralized nervous system without a brain, while sponges lack any nervous system at all. In vertebrates, the brain is located in the head, protected by the skull and close to the primary, which themselves are the result of genetic Genetics , a discipline of biology, is the science of heredity and variation in living organisms. The fact that living things inherit traits from their parents has been used since prehistoric times to improve crop plants and animals through selective breeding. However, the modern science of genetics, which seeks to understand the process of factors.^[16] In particular, the three factor model identifies the reticular system and the limbic system The limbic system is a set of brain structures including the hippocampus, amygdala, anterior thalamic nuclei, and limbic cortex, which suggestively support a variety of functions including emotion, behavior, long term memory, and olfaction. The term "limbic" comes from the Latin limbus, for "border" or "edge". Some in the brain as key components, with the specific functions of mediating cortical arousal and emotional responses respectively. Eysenck advocates that extraverts have low levels of cortical arousal and introverts have high levels, leading extraverts to seek out more stimulation from socialising and being venturesome.^[17] Moreover, Eysenck surmised that there would be an optimal level of arousal after which inhibition would occur and that this would be different for each person.^[18] In a similar vein, the three factor approach theorizes that neuroticism is mediated by levels of arousal in the limbic system with individual differences arising because of variable activation thresholds between people. Therefore, highly neurotic people when presented with minor stressors, will exceed this threshold, whereas people low in neuroticism will not exceed normal activation levels, even when presented with large stressors. By contrast, proponents of the five factor approach assume a role of genetics Genetics , a discipline of biology, is the science of heredity and variation in living organisms. The fact that living things inherit traits from their parents has been used since prehistoric times to improve crop plants and animals through selective breeding. However, the modern science of genetics, which seeks to understand the process of and environment but offer no explicit causal explanation.

Given this emphasis on biology Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy in the three factor approach it would be expected that the third trait, psychoticism, would have a similar explanation. However, the causal properties of this state are not well defined. Eysenck has suggested that psychoticism is related to testosterone levels and is an inverse function of the serotonergic system,^[19] but he later revised this, linking it instead to the dopaminergic system.^[20]

See also

• 16 Personality Factors The 16 Personality Factors, measured by the 16PF Questionnaire, were multivariately-derived by psychologist Raymond Cattell
• Big Five personality traits In contemporary psychology, the "Big Five" factors of personality are five broad domains or dimensions of personality which are used to describe human personality
• Hans Eysenck Hans Jürgen Eysenck was a British psychologist of German origin, best remembered for his work on intelligence and personality, though he worked in a wide range of areas. At the time of his death, Eysenck was the living psychologist most frequently cited in science journals
• NEO-PI The Revised NEO Personality Inventory, or NEO PI-R, is a psychological personality inventory; a 240-item measure of the Five Factor Model: Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, and Openness to Experience. Additionally, the test measures six subordinate dimensions of each of the "FFM" personality factors. The test
• Personality psychology Personality can be defined as a dynamic and organized set of characteristics possessed by a person that uniquely influences his or her cognitions, motivations, and behaviors in various situations . The word "personality" originates from the Latin persona, which means mask. Significantly, in the theatre of the ancient Latin-speaking world,
• ProScan Survey The ProScan Survey is an instrument designed by Professional DynaMetric Programs, Inc. to measure the major aspects of self-perception, including an individual’s basic behavior, reaction to environment, and predictable behavior. It was originally developed beginning in 1976 by Dr. Samuel R. Houston, Dr. Dudley Solomon, and Bruce M. Hubby,
• Multiple Natures

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