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

2215 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: big 5 personality traits examples

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...

... middle of paper ...

...al behavior, and altruism: Genetic and environmental mediation. Journal of Personality, 75(2), 265-290.
4. Madsen, E.A., Tunney, R.J., Fieldman, G., Plokin, H.C., Dunbar, R.I.M., Richardson, JM., & McFarland, D. (2007). Kinship and altruism: A cross-cultural experimental study. British Journal of Psychology, 98, 339-359.
5. McCullough, M.E., Kimeldorf, M.B., & Cohen, A.D. (2008). An adaptation for altruism? The social causes, social effects, and social evolution of gratitude. Association for Psychological Science, 17(4), 281-285.
6. Nielsen, M.L. (2010). Incorporating a concept of altruism into psychoanalytic theory. International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies, 7(4), 262-280.
7. Svetlova, M., Nichols, S.R., & Brownell, C.A. (2010). Toddlers’ prosocial behavior: From instrumental to empathetic to altruistic helping. Child Development, 81(6), 1814-1827.

Show More
Related

  • Samantha

    2458 Words  | 5 Pages

    Corey, C. (2009). Theory and Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy (8th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thompson Learning.

    Read More

  • Altruism in Everyday Life

    1104 Words  | 3 Pages

    To conclude everything that has been mentioned above altruism does not exist and it is a misconception, people do acts of kindness and no matter what it is they always get a reward in return whether the reward is tangible or not. People may also think that they are not getting a reward but they are and aren’t aware of it.

    Read More

  • Prosocial Behavior Theory

    1628 Words  | 4 Pages

    The most common is kin selection, social exchange norm, and the social responsibility norm. According to Cherry in 2015, the idea of kin selection suggests that helping a member of one’s own genetic family makes it more likely that the kin will survive and pass on genes to the future generation. Cherry states that survival is one of the most common reasons behind helping, and subsequently, prosocial behavior. Given this, Cherry (2015) concluded that since people only tend to help their family members instead of other people, they are more likely to become selfish towards strangers. Another theory is the social exchange theory, assumes that helping is much like other social behaviors. Humans are motivated by a desire to maximize rewards (Myers, 2015). This theory suggests that prosocial behavior is determined by the rewards the doer receives from helping others. The rewards may be material or nonmaterial such as monetary gain or improvement of self virtues. Finally, the social responsibility theory states that people tend to be more helpful towards the needy (Myers, 2015). Women, children, elderly, and the disabled are some examples of those which people offer help to without thought of future reward. This theory suggests that people are prosocial simply because other people need them to be. Either people choose to be prosocial or are conditioned to be so, prosocial behavior is deemed as a socially desirable trait and it is highly encouraged among people around the world for it promotes cooperation and

    Read More

  • What is Morality?

    1903 Words  | 4 Pages

    Schmidt M.F.H., Sommerville, J.A. (2011). Fairness Expectations and Altruistic Sharing in 15-Month-Old Human Infants. PLoS ONE 6(10): e23223. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0023223

    Read More

  • The Nonexistence of Kindness: George Price

    981 Words  | 2 Pages

    People perpetrate seemingly selfless acts almost daily. You see it all over the news; the man who saved that woman from a burning building, the mother who sacrificed herself to protect her children from the bomb blast. But how benevolent are these actions? Are these so-called “heroes” really sacrificing themselves to help others? Until recently, it was the common belief that altruism, or selfless and unconditional kindness, was limited primarily to the human race. However, within the last century, the works of several scientists, most prominently George Price, have provided substantial evidence concluding that altruism is nothing more than a survival technique, one that can be calculated with a simple equation.

    Read More

  • The Big Five Traits

    1850 Words  | 4 Pages

    Later research attempted to reduce Cattell’s sixteen “source traits” to five universal personality dimensions resulting in what is now known as “The Big Five Personality Factors.” (Costa & McCrae, 2006; Noftle & Fleeson, 2010)

    Read More

  • Pro-social Behavior

    373 Words  | 1 Pages

    Cultures that favor generous, supportive and cooperative behavior promote these responses by reinforcing prosocial behavior. People who are cooperative are also more likely to come to the aid of people in distress. Several of the factors that promote cooperation such as personally adjustment, cognitive level, imitation, and cultural background also affect generosity and helpfulness.

    Read More

  • The Advantages And Disadvantages Of The Psychodynamic Theory

    724 Words  | 2 Pages

    The five-factor model includes five broad domains or dimensions of personality that are used to describe human personality. The five factors are openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. While these five traits should be sufficient on their own to describe all facets of a personality, there also should be no correlation between the main factors. The Five Factor Model is now perhaps the most widely use trait theory of personality and has achieved the closest thing to a consensus in personality research. The advantage of this theory is that there have been multiple research studies conducted on this theory. Results suggest that this theory is effective in describing and determining personality. However, this theory is very categorical and does not allow for much flexibility. It also looks at the person personality at that time and now how it developed.

    Read More

  • The Causes of Altruism

    1151 Words  | 3 Pages

    Rushton, J. Philippe. “Is Altruism Innate?” Psychological Inquiry 2.2 (1991): 141-143. Web. 5 Feb. 2012.

    Read More

  • Psychological and Ethical Egoism

    1876 Words  | 4 Pages

    For someone who believes in psychological egoism, i t is difficult to find an action that would be acknowledged as purely altruistic. In practice, altruism, is the performance of duties to others with no view to any sort of personal...

    Read More

  • A Comparison Between Freud and Erikson

    1947 Words  | 4 Pages

    Friedman, H. S., & Schustack, M. W. (2012). Personality: Classic theories and modern research (5th ed). Boston , MA, USA: Pearson

    Read More

  • Essay On Altruism

    836 Words  | 2 Pages

    According to Altruists International (2014), the idea of altruism came from Auguste Comte. This new concept sent the scholars and great thinkers of the time back to the proper examination of major moral and religious ideologies. At this stage, the two major ideologies that were reigning were that of benevolence and self-interest. The concept of altruism gained ground in the 1850s, raising many philosophical and scientific questions. Altruism contains three major ideas. These are the intentions, actions, and the ideology itself. In this regard, altruism takes forms like psychological, behavioral, and ethical. Behavioral altruism refers to consequences that result from actions. These consequences are essentially, the benefits that others derive from the agent acting (A...

    Read More

  • Theories of Personality

    1146 Words  | 3 Pages

    The distinctive characteristics and qualities of any one person is one way to define personality. According to Feist & Feist (2009) personality is described as a pattern of relatively permanent traits and unique characteristics that give both consistency and individuality to a person’s behavior. These traits are the precursor of behavior as per individuality, and that of behavior that is consistent throughout life. Although a person can argue the fact that traits is a disposition of genetic predisposition of certain characteristics, the pattern in which these are characterized are different. Each person’s anatomy, intelligence, and temperament are differently and each owns a unique personality, different from parents, grandparents, and any other individual on this planet. Personality theorists’ however may not concur.

    Read More

  • Psychology: Personality Theories

    1730 Words  | 4 Pages

    Mccrae, R. R. and Costa Jr, P. T. 1997. Personality trait structure as a human universal. American psychologist, 52 (5), p. 509.

    Read More

  • Self Reflection and Personality Traits

    1187 Words  | 3 Pages

    Personality is the expression of a person’s traits according to ones feelings, mentality and behavior. It involves understanding individuals’ traits such as withdrawal and willpower and how various parts of an individual link together to form personality. Personality expresses itself from within an individual and is comparatively regular throughout in an individual’s life. Different people have different personalities dependent on factors such as environment and genetic composition. Our personality is dependent on the success or failure of our development in the eight stages of life. This is proposed by Erik Erikson. Success in the development stages lead to virtues while the failure leads to malignancies.

    Read More

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

Open Document