Theory Of Personality

In the article titled, "The Relationship Between the Big Five Personality Traits and Academic Motivation," authored by Meera Komarraju and Steven J. Karau, the researchers attempted to understand the relationship between personality characteristics and academic motivation. A relationship between these two factors is known to exist but a direct correlation between the two has not been identified thus the purpose of this study was to address the specifics of that relationship. The researchers hypothesized that each of the Big Five Personality Traits would be related to the sixteen subscales of the Academic Motivations Inventory, which were grouped into three key motives, thus explaining which personality traits affected academic motivation positively and negatively. The three groups of motives were avoidance, engagement, and achievement. Avoidance was found to have a positive relationship to Neuroticism and Extraversion but was found to be negatively related to Conscientiousness and Openness. Engagement was found to be positively related to Openness and Extraversion. Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, and Openness were found to be the biggest players in achievement. Significant relationships were found between personality and motivation using these scales and subscales.

Eysenck's Hierarchical Trait Viewpoint is a type theory of traits. Eysenck's theory puts a heavy focus on traits in order to study and understand personality. He found that there is a hierarchical structure to traits starting at specific actions and going to general types of traits. The first level is specific response. Specific responses are actions that take place in a particular situation at a particular time. The next level up is the habitual response level. Habitual responses are specifics responses that are repeated over more than one situation. They are simply recurring specific responses. The next level up is trait, which is defined by Eysenck as habitual responses that are grouped together. The highest level of the trait hierarchy is the type level. A type is defined as a collection of traits that show a pattern in the way a person responds and behaves (Carducci 2004). The theory has three basic types of personality. There is extraversion-introversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism. A person does not always hold to one type but often can be described by a blend of multiple types. For example, a person who is extraverted and who is emotionally stable (the positive end of neuroticism) often have traits of being laid back and responsive. Extraversion is described as people who are easy-going and optimistic. Introversion is characterized as being emotionally controlled and calculated. Neuroticism is emotional stability on the positive end and emotional instability on the negative end. Emotional stability is stated as a person who is even-tempered and calm and an instable person is one who is moody and anxious (Carducci 2004).

Eysenck's trait theory would fit well with the research study about personality traits and academic motivation. Based on Eysenck's basic types of personality, the relationship between personality traits and academic motivation can be analyzed and understood. The hierarchical trait theory has general personality traits and types that are similar to the Big Five Model. The Big Five model develops a relationship between the traits and motivations factors. Eysenck's theory would be able to develop a similar relationship using his general personality types. The different types of personalities that Eysenck's theory mentions are extraversion-introversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism (Carducci 2004). Based on this theory it can be hypothesized that an extraverted type would be more popular and socially motivated. They would also be more goal-oriented and focused. This would lead to a prediction that extraversion is more closely related to achievement oriented motives. Introverted individuals are more socially distant and