Costa And Mccrae s Five Factor Theory Of Personality And...

Both Costa and McCrae’s Five Factor theory of personality and Eysenck’s PEN theory have been the subject of significant research in an effort to better understand human personality. This paper focuses on two opposing theories: Costa and McCrae’s Five Factor model, a lexically-based theory with five factors, and Eysenck’s PEN model, a biologically-based theory with three core traits of personality. Utilizing factor analysis, Raymond Cattell (1946) recognized 16 personality factors (16pf). Cattell believed each individual exhibits 16 distinctive personality traits, each person embodying different traits; some might be considered high in certain attributes while deemed low in others. Fellow scientists and associates criticized Cattell s 16pf questionnaire, and postulated that 16 personality factors were too many to effectively conduct studies on human personality. Different reactions came about because of the failure to reproduce Cattell s work. Numerous researchers, for example, Paul Barrett and Paul Kline were not able reproduce Cattell s 16pf questionnaire (Barrett and Kline, 1982). Nevertheless, in questioning the validity of Cattell s work and expanding on years of research examining personality traits, researchers were able to distinguish five distinct personality factors or characteristics. Cattell s work demonstrated a methodological approach to theory development through the use of factor analysis, a relatively new approach to psychological research (Sinha Show MoreRelatedFive Factor Theory1616 Words   |  7 Pageshuman personality and disorders therein, with the intent to use this model in the remedying of personality disorders and improving general understanding of personality. Currently, a handful of models have risen to prominence, and have thus far stood the test of time. Some models are more generally accepted than others. Support for some models seems to come and go in cycles. One of the more prominent models in contemporary psychology is what is known as the five-factor model of personality. ThisRead MoreFive Dimensions of Personality and Their Correlation with Job Performance2733 Words   |  11 PagesThe accurate definition of personality has been a point of discussion amongst many different philosophers within many different disciplines since the beginning of civilization. Personality can be defined as the relatively stable set of psychological characteristics that influences the way an individual interacts with his or her environment (Johns , 1996: 75). Personality has a rocky history within the workplace and organization behavior because of measurement problems. There is now a renewed interest