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The Cognitive Foundations of Personality Traits

  • Book
  • © 1990

Overview

Authors:
  1. Shulamith Kreitler

    1. Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel

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    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

  2. Hans Kreitler

    1. Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel

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    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Part of the book series: Emotions, Personality, and Psychotherapy (EPPS)

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Table of contents (14 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xv
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  2. The Trait Concept

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1
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    2. Traits: The Embattled Concept

      • Shulamith Kreitler, Hans Kreitler
      Pages 3-13

    3. Toward a Solution

      • Shulamith Kreitler, Hans Kreitler
      Pages 15-39

    4. The Trait and Its Constituents

      • Shulamith Kreitler, Hans Kreitler
      Pages 41-60

    5. Trait Dynamics

      • Shulamith Kreitler, Hans Kreitler
      Pages 61-71

    6. Characteristics of the Trait Pattern

      • Shulamith Kreitler, Hans Kreitler
      Pages 73-89

    7. A Methodological Interlude

      • Shulamith Kreitler, Hans Kreitler
      Pages 91-97

    8. The Answers: A Summary of Contributions

      • Shulamith Kreitler, Hans Kreitler
      Pages 99-110

    9. Traits and Human Behavior

      • Shulamith Kreitler, Hans Kreitler
      Pages 111-124

  3. Studies on Traits

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 125-125
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    2. Studies on Traits

      • Shulamith Kreitler, Hans Kreitler
      Pages 127-288

  4. How to Work with the New Trait Concept

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 289-289
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    2. Assessment of Personality Traits

      • Shulamith Kreitler, Hans Kreitler
      Pages 291-301

    3. Identifying Personality Traits

      • Shulamith Kreitler, Hans Kreitler
      Pages 303-316

    4. Characterizing Trait Scales and Factors

      • Shulamith Kreitler, Hans Kreitler
      Pages 317-323

    5. Meaning-Based Validation of Personality Traits

      • Shulamith Kreitler, Hans Kreitler
      Pages 325-329

  5. Postscript

    1. Postscript

      • Shulamith Kreitler, Hans Kreitler
      Pages 331-331

  6. Back Matter

    Pages 333-405
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Keywords

About this book

Hardly anything in psychology is as irking as the trait concept. Psychologists and laypersons alike use primarily adjective trait-names to characterize and even concep­ tualize the individuals they encounter. There are more than a hundred well-defined personality traits and a great many questionnaires for their assessment, some of which are designed to assess the same or very similar traits. Little is known about their ontogenetic development and even less about their underlying dynamics. Psy­ choanalytic theory was invoked for explaining the psychodynamics underlying a few personality traits without, however, presenting sufficient empirical evidence for the validity of these interpretations. In a reductionistic vein, behaviorally inclined psy­ chologists have propounded the thesis that all traits are acquired behaviors. Yet, this view neither reduces the number of personality tests nor explains the resistance of traits to modification by means of reward and punishment. Dissatisfied with these and some other less well-known approaches to person­ ality traits, we decided to explore whether applying our psychosemantic theory of cognition to the trait concept would do better. The way we had to follow was anything but easy.

Authors and Affiliations

  • Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel

    Shulamith Kreitler, Hans Kreitler

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