The Altruistic Personality: A Review of Research and “Real Life” Experience

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Introduction
People are constantly growing and changing from the moment they’re born until the moment they die. Yet, some researchers believe that the personality is the one thing about a person that does not change over time. Genetics and environment equally contribute to the development of the personality. This is shown through the nature/nurture principle. The way a person behaves towards others, and reacts towards the world around them is determined by that person’s individual personality. No two personalities are alike. This is because a person’s individual personality is made up of a unique variety of characteristics called traits.
Raymond Cattell, a researcher in the field of personality psychology, found that there were at least 171 traits identified and labeled by researchers. Many of these traits were closely related to each other, and carried the same meaning. Cattell realized this and “took a set of traits, collected ratings on them, and factor analyzed the ratings. The emerging factors were the traits he believed mattered.” (Carver and Scheier, 2012) This allowed him to narrow down the 171 traits into 16 primary personality traits. Cattell then used those 16 primary personality traits to create a personality inventory called the “16 Personality Factor Inventory”, or 16PF.
Another prominent researcher in the field of personality psychology was Hans Eysenck. He believed that the two super-traits, extroversion and neuroticism, were the key dimensions of personality. His research led to Paul Costa and Robert McCrae’s creation of the NEO Personality Inventory, which measured the “Big Five” personality traits: extraversion, neuroticism, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience. There ar...

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