Summary
Contents
Subject index
The examination of personality and individual differences is a major field of research in the modern discipline of psychology. Concerned with the ways humans develop an organised set of characteristics to shape themselves and the world around them, it is a study of how people come to be 'different' and 'similar' to others, on both an individual and a cultural level. This volume explores the scientific foundations of personality and individual differences, in chapters arranged across three thematic sections: Part 1: Theoretical Perspectives on Personality and Individual Differences Part 2: Research Strategies for Studying Personality and Individual Differences Part 3: The Measurement of Personality and Individual Differences With outstanding contributions from leading scholars across the world, this is an invaluable resource for researchers and graduate students.
Defining Traits
Defining Traits
In common usage, ‘trait’ can refer to any relatively enduring feature of an individual, universal (e.g., sentient), physical (e.g., blue-eyed), or psychological (e.g., intelligent). In this chapter I will restrict the term ‘trait’ to certain individual differences in personality. To put such traits in perspective, it is useful to locate them within the broader category of individual differences. Figure 1.1 offers a hierarchical classification, in which individual differences divide first into extrapsychological variables (although still of great interest to psychologists), such as gender, age, and socio-economic status, versus psychological variables. The latter, at least from the perspective of Five-Factor Theory (FFT; McCrae and Costa, 2008), can be subdivided into acquired adaptations, such as skills, attitudes, and roles, and innate ...
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