Trait theory of Personality
Suggests personality is genetic / inherited / innate
Therefore is stable & enduring
Therefore behaviour is consistent or predictable
Methods of Measuring Personality
Questionnaires
Some advantages:
easy to administer
cheap to produce
produce lot of data
can be used anywhere
usually reliable
Some disadvantages:
Lack of validity as difficult to define what personality is
Misinterpretation of questions
Answers may not be truthful / provide socially desirable answers
Questions may not allow for full answers
biased questions
Situation when completed may not be ideal
Interview
Some advantages:
greater validity than questionnaires
can gather more detailed answers
Some disadvantages:
lower reliability due to different answers
depends on skill of interviewer to ask relevant questions & interpret answers
expensive and time consuming
Observation
Some advantages:
personality profile can be built up over period of time
high ecological validity as takes place in "real life"
Some disadvantages:
subjective
Reliant on skill of the observer
Time consuming / expensive / needs to be completed several times
Observer needs to know normal behaviour patterns of performer for comparison
May need several observers (at the same time)
If performer knows observation is occurring they may behave differently
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