McAdams

Dan McAdams and Jennifer Pals stated that it is crucial that personality researchers move beyond the success of the “Big Five” trait theory and develop an integrative vision for understanding the whole person. Toward that end, they proposed a new big five for conceptualizing personality as…

1.     an individual’s unique variation on the general evolutionary design for human nature, expressed as a developing pattern of

2.      dispositional traits

3.     characteristic adaptation

4.     self-defining life narratives, complexly and differentially situated

5.     In culture and social context."

In regard to the first domain, they describe the importance of human evolutionary history and the insights from evolutionary psychology in delineating the general architecture of the human mind. For the second domain, they refer to the Big Five traits. Characteristic adaptations, the third domain and focus of this post, refers to the feelings, goals, strategies, values, tendencies and many other aspects of human individuality that reflect the general pattern of responding that individuals exhibit in response to certain situations. Importantly, McAdams and Pals note that “there exists no definitive, Big Five–like list of these kinds of constructs." It is this gap I am seeking to fill here. The fourth domain refers to a person’s self-conscious identity. People construe their lives as stories and these stories regulate behavior and help people connect with and navigate within the larger social and cultural context (e.g., connecting with a political or national identity). The fifth and final domain is the sociocultural context in which personality develops, which refers to the large scale systems of justifications and traditions in which people are immersed.

Goldberg

Dr. Goldberg is actively involved in research on individual differences, including studies of personality structure, personality measurement and assessment, and the usefulness of assessment instruments for predicting such important human outcomes as physical and mental health. Goldberg’s theory includes a systematic study of personality traits, development of personality, and personality assessment is known as personality psychology Personality has been studied for thousands of years. Hippocrates, for example, argued that there were four distinct temperaments. Freud's theory of psycho-sexual development was also a theory of personality and personality development.

In modern psychology, there are several schools of thought regarding personality. Perhaps the best known is Lewis Goldberg’s "Big Five" theory of personality which includes:

1.     Conscientiousness

2.     Openness to new experiences

3.     Agreeableness

4.     Neuroticism

5.     Extraversion

Cattell

Raymond Cattell was born in a small town in England and he developed an interest in science early on in life. He went on to become the first person from his family to attend college, earning his BS in chemistry from the Kings College when he was just 19. After witnessing the devastation of World War I, Cattell developed an interest in using science to solve human problems. He was also influenced by other thinkers of the time including George Bernard Shaw, and H. G. Wells. He earned his Ph.D. in Psychology from University College, London in 1929.

However, his exploration in identity, inspiration, and insight, Raymond Cattell's work with multivariate investigation left an enduring imprint on brain research. While prior examination in brain science had concentrated on contemplating single variables in disconnection, Cattell spearheaded the utilization of multivariate investigation that permitted scientists to view individual's in general and study parts of human conduct that couldn't be considered in a lab setting. Cattell is likewise understood for his 16 Personality Factors, in which he and various associates used element investigation to recognize 16 distinctive basic parts of identity. He along these lines built up the 16PF Personality Questionnaire, which is still broadly utilized today.

In a 2002 review of eminent psychologists, Raymond Cattell's professional writings ranked as the seventh most frequently cited in psychology journal over the past 100 years. Psychologists were also surveyed as asked to name who they felt was the most eminent psychologist of the 20th century. Cattell was ranked at number 16. In short, he provided a model of the complete psychologist in an age of specialization. It may be said that Cattell stands without peer in his creation of a unified theory of individual differences integrating intellectual, temperamental, and dynamic domains of personality. Overall, he must be considered among a very small handful of people in this century who have most influenced the shape of psychology as a science."

Allport

Gordon Allport founded the trait theory in 1936. Allport did not discover this theory based upon other theories. He discovered or founded this theory by analyzing or studying every trait within the English dictionary. Allport's personality Theory separates all traits into three basic subcategories. Cardinal, secondary, and central traits. This trait theory suggests that individual personalities are composed broad dispositions. It is also based mainly on the difference between individuals. The combination and interaction of various traits forms a personality that is unique to each individual, this theory focused on identifying and measuring these individual personality characteristics.

• The three major traits that are divided are:
• cardinal traits- are traits that dominate an individual’s entire life, often times this individual would become known for these traits. Allport suggested that these traits were rare and mainly developed later on in life.
• Central traits- are general characteristics that form the basic foundation for personality. They are traits that many people would use to describe other individuals such as "intelligent, honest, shy."
• Secondary Traits- Basic Traits related to attitudes or preferences and often appear only in certain situations or under certain events. Some simple examples of this trait would be getting anxious when speaking to a group or impatient when waiting in line.

•  Strengths of Allport's Personality Theory
• Strict reliance on objective and statistical data.
• Has no bias compared to other theories
•  Freud's relationship with his mother and Jun's belief in mythology could have been possible influences of their theories.

• Describes each and every trait.
• Easy to use and have a number of assessment devices.
• Provides an easy to understand continuum that gives a large amount of information about a person's personality about the self and the world.

• Weaknesses of Allport's personality Theory
• Poor predictor of the future.
• Does not address development of the traits.

o   This trait theory is stuck explaining about present events rather than looking towards the past or future.

• Does not provide a way to change bad traits.

o   Measures the traits but explains no way how to change them.

• This theory seeks to explain or list what traits people have throughout the duration of their life.

Lemon Juice Test

Lemon juice experiment It’s to do with a part of your brain called the Reticular Activating System (RAS) which response to stimuli like food, or social contact. For example, it controls the amount of saliva you produce in response to food. A good food stimulus islemon juice. Squeezing lemon juice on to your tongue makes your mouth water, and it does this because your RAS is responding to the lemon juice.The amount of saliva you produce after putting a drop of lemon juice on your tongue might tell you something about your personality. Scientists now think introverts have increased activity in their RAS and therefore increased production of saliva. The theory is that the RAS in introverts has a high level of activity, even when it isn’t being stimulated. So it only needs a small stimulus to produce a large response. This means that introverts are likely to produce a large amount of saliva in response to lemon juice. But because the RAS also reacts to social contact, introverts react more strongly to meeting people too. In extroverts, on the other hand, there is a low level of activity in the RAS when it isn’t stimulated, so they require a much larger stimulus to generate a response. So they usually produce less saliva in response to lemon juice than introverts, but are more comfortable with social contact.re Try this simple test with your friends and family and compare your results. The Test You will need: ·        Lemon juice ·        Kitchen scales ·        Cotton wool balls This is what you need to do: ·        Put a large drop of lemon juice on your tongue and swill it around your mouth for ten seconds ·        Use the cotton wool balls to mop up all the saliva that you produce ·        When you’ve mopped it all up, put the cotton wool balls on your kitchen scales and see how much they weigh ·        Compare your results with your friends and family, and see whose weighs the most We expect that you will find: ·        That introverts produce a lot of saliva in response to lemon juice ·        That extroverts don’t produce much saliva in response to lemon juice Now try our personality test and our ‘necker cube’ experiment to see if they say you are more of an extrovert or an introvert. And to find out whether the results from the lemon juice experiment tally up. In our test, the introverts produced 50% more saliva than the extroverts. But it’s worth bearing in mind that there are lots of other factors that affect saliva production, such as time of day and how thirsty you are. http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/mind/articles/personalityandindividuality/lemons.shtml My results for this test was that I am extroverted.

Eysenck Test

According to my results, I am 60% extroverted and 50% neurotic. I don't disagree with the extroverted, however, I always though I was a little more stable. I believe if the answer choices were a little more realistic, i.e. sometimes, instead of yes and no, I would have had a completely different result. 

http://www.liaf-onlus.org/test/eysencks-personality-inventory-epi-extroversionintroversion/1knb663fe862eebe4b529b2dbd81532d6ec/

Eysenck

Hans Eysenck was born on March 4, 1916 in Berlin. His mother was an actress, and his father was a nightclub entertainer. With the rise of Nazi power in Germany, Eysenck moved to England in 1934 to attend University College in London. He received his PhD in 1940 while working at the college in the psychology department. Eysenck developed the concept of neuroticism, arguing that it was a biological form of emotional instability. He often argued that much of personality is genetically determined. He argued against psychoanalysis, claiming that it was unscientific. Instead, he favored a behavioral approach to therapy. His theory of personality compares two central factors, extraversion (E) and neuroticism (N), from which four basic personality types flow. His personality types are based on Hippocrates's personality formulation:

·        High N, High E results in a choleric personality—an assertive, leader-like person.

·        High N, Low E results in a melancholic personality—a cautious and introverted type.

·        Low N, High E results in a sanguine personality—the sociable and charismatic type.

·        Low N, Low E results in a phlegmatic personality—a consistent, calm person.

Eysenck often had many controversial views on the nature of intelligence, arguing that intelligence was at least partially genetic and those different racial groups had different levels of intelligence. These views remained controversial for his entire life, and he was once punched in the nose by a protester while giving a lecture.