Psycho personality traits

The Hidden Suffering of the Psychopath

The psychopath has the image of a cold, heartless, inhuman being. But do all psychopaths show a complete lack of normal emotional capacities and empathy?

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Psychopathy is characterized by diagnostic features such as superficial charm, high intelligence, poor judgment and failure to learn from experience, pathological egocentricity and incapacity for love, lack of remorse or shame, impulsivity, grandiose sense of self-worth, pathological lying, manipulative behavior, poor self-control, promiscuous sexual behavior, juvenile delinquency, and criminal versatility, among others.^1,2 As a consequence of these criteria, the image of the psychopath is that of a cold, heartless, inhuman being. But do all psychopaths show a complete lack of normal emotional capacities and empathy?

Like healthy people, many psychopaths love their parents, spouse, children, and pets in their own way, but they have difficulty in loving and trusting the rest of the world. Furthermore, psychopaths suffer emotionally as a consequence of separation, divorce, death of a beloved person, or dissatisfaction with their own deviant behavior.³

Sources of Sadness

Psychopaths can suffer emotional pain for a variety of reasons. As with anyone else, psychopaths have a deep wish to be loved and cared for. This desire remains frequently unfulfilled, however, because it is obviously not easy for another person to get close to someone with such repellent personality characteristics. Psychopaths are at least periodically aware of the effects of their behavior on others and can be genuinely saddened by their inability to control it. The lives of most psychopaths are devoid of a stable social network or warm, close bonds.

The life histories of psychopaths are often characterized by a chaotic family life, lack of parental attention and guidance, parental substance abuse and antisocial behavior, poor relationships, divorce, and adverse neighborhoods. ⁴ These persons may feel that they are prisoners of their own etiological determination and believe that they had, in comparison with normal people, fewer opportunities or advantages in life.

Despite their outward arrogance, psychopaths feel inferior to others and know they are stigmatized by their own behavior. Some psychopaths are superficially adapted to their environment and are even popular, but they feel they must carefully hide their true nature because it will not be acceptable to others. This leaves psychopaths with a difficult choice: adapt and participate in an empty, unreal life, or do not adapt and live a lonely life isolated from the social community. They see the love and friendship others share and feel dejected knowing they will never be part of it.

Psychopaths are known for needing excessive stimulation, but most foolhardy adventures only end in disillusionment because of conflicts with others and unrealistic expectations. Furthermore, many psychopaths are disheartened by their inability to control their sensation-seeking and are repeatedly confronted with their weaknesses. Although they may attempt to change, low fear response and associated inability to learn from experiences lead to repeated negative, frustrating, and depressing confrontations, including trouble with the justice system.

As psychopaths age, they are not able to continue their energy-consuming lifestyle and become burned-out and depressed while they look back on their restless life full of interpersonal discontentment. Their health deteriorates as the effects of their recklessness accumulate.

Violent psychopaths

Ultimately they reach a point of no return, where they feel they have cut through the last thin connection with the normal world

Risk factors

Hidden suffering, loneliness, and lack of self-esteem are risk factors for violent, criminal behavior in psychopaths

Emotional Pain and Violence

Social isolation, loneliness, and associated emotional pain in psychopaths may precede violent criminal acts. ⁵ They believe that the whole world is against them and eventually become convinced that they deserve special privileges or rights to satisfy their desires. As psychopathic serial killers Jeffrey Dahmer and Dennis Nilsen expressed, violent psychopaths ultimately reach a point of no return, where they feel they have cut through the last thin connection with the normal world. Subsequently, their sadness and suffering increase, and their crimes become more and more bizarre.⁶

Dahmer and Nilsen have stated that they killed simply for company.⁵ Both men had no friends and their only social contacts were occasional encounters in homosexual bars. Nilsen watched television and talked for hours with the dead bodies of his victims; Dahmer consumed parts of his victims’ bodies in order to become one with them: he believed that in this way his victims lived further in his body.⁶

For the rest of us, it is unimaginable that these men were so lonely-yet they describe their loneliness and social failures as unbearably painful. Each created his own sadistic universe to avenge his experiences of rejection, abuse, humiliation, neglect, and emotional suffering.

Dahmer and Nilsen claimed that they did not enjoy the killing act itself. Dahmer tried to make zombies of his victims by injecting acid into their brains after he had numbed them with sleeping pills. He wanted complete control over his victims, but when that failed, he killed them. Nilsen felt much more comfortable with dead bodies than with living people-the dead could not leave him. He wrote poems and spoke tender words to the dead bodies, using them as long as possible for company. In other violent psychopaths, a relationship has been found between the intensity of sadness and loneliness and the degree of violence, recklessness, and impulsivity.^5,6

Self-Destruction

Violent psychopaths are at high risk for targeting their aggression toward themselves as much as toward others. A considerable number of psychopaths die a violent death a relatively short time after discharge from forensic psychiatric treatment as a result of their own behavior (for instance, as a consequence of risky driving or involvement in dangerous situations). ⁷ Psychopaths may feel that all life is worthless, including their own.^3,5,6

Treatment

In the past decade, neurobiological explanations have become available for many of the traits of psychopathy. For example, impulsivity, recklessness/irresponsibility, hostility, and aggressiveness may be determined by abnormal levels of neurochemicals, including monoamine oxidase (MAO), serotonin and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid, triiodothyronine, free thyroxine, testosterone, cortisol, adrenocorticotropic hormone, and hormones of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal and hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axes.⁸

Other features, such as sensation-seeking and an incapacity to learn from experiences, might be linked to cortical underarousal.⁴ Sensation-seeking could also be related to low levels of MAO and cortisol and high concentrations of gonadal hormones, as well as reduced prefrontal gray matter volume.9 Many psychopaths can thus be considered, at least to some degree, victims of neurobiologically determined behavioral abnormalities that, in turn, create a fixed gulf between them and the rest of the world.

It may be possible to diminish traits such as sensation-seeking, impulsivity, aggression, and related emotional pain with the help of psychotherapy, psychopharmacotherapy, and/or neurofeedback. Long-term psychotherapy (at least 5 years) seems effective in some categories of psychopaths, in so far as psychopathic personality traits may diminish.^10-12

Psychotherapy alone may be insufficient to improve symptoms. Psychopharmacotherapy may help normalize neurobiological functions and related behavior/personality traits.¹³ Lithium is impressive in treating antisocial, aggressive, and assaultive behavior.¹⁴ Hollander¹⁵ found that mood stabilizers, such as divalproex, SSRIs, MAOIs, and neuroleptics, have documented efficacy in treating aggression and affective instability in impulsive patients. There have been no controlled studies of psychopharmacotherapy for other core features of psychopathy.

Cortical underarousal and low autonomic activity-reactivity can be substantially reduced with the help of adaptive neurofeedback techniques. ^16,17

CASE VIGNETTE

Norman was raised by his aunt; his parents were divorced and neither was capable of or interested in caring for him. As a child and adolescent, he had numerous encounters with law enforcement for joyriding, theft, burglary, fraud, and assault and battery. He was sent to reform school twice. When he was 21, he was convicted of armed robbery and served 1½ years in jail. His only close friend was another violent criminal; he had many short-term relationships with girlfriends. At 29, he killed two strangers in a bar who had insulted him and was sentenced to forensic psychiatric treatment. The diagnosis was psychopathy, according to Hare’s psychopathy checklist.²

Norman showed little improvement over the course of 7 years of behavioral psychotherapy and became less and less motivated. The staff of the forensic psychiatric hospital considered him untreatable and intended to stop all treatment attempts. Norman’s lawyer arranged for an examination by a forensic neurologist, who subsequently found that Norman suffered from severe cortical underarousal, serotonin and MAO abnormalities, and concentration problems.

Treatment with D,L-fenfluramine, a serotonin-releasing drug, was started. (Fenfluramine was voluntarily withdrawn from the US market in 1997.) Acute challenge doses (0.2 mg/kg to 0.4 mg/kg) produced significant dose-dependent decreases in impulsive and aggressive responses. After 1 month, an MAOI (pargyline, 10 mg/kg) and psychodynamic psychotherapy were added. Pargyline produced some normalization of his EEG pattern and was titrated to 20 mg/kg over 5 months. Neurofeedback was started after 2 months and continued for 15 months. His EEG pattern gradually normalized, and his capacity for concentration and attention increased.

Norman continued to receive D,L-fenfluramine and psychotherapy for 2 years, at which point he was discharged from forensic treatment. He voluntarily continued psychotherapy for an additional 3 years and, in the 4 years since his release, has not reoffended.

Conclusions

It is extremely important to recognize hidden suffering, loneliness, and lack of self-esteem as risk factors for violent, criminal behavior in psychopaths. Studying the statements of violent criminal psychopaths sheds light on their striking and specific vulnerability and emotional pain. More experimental psychopharmacotherapy, neurofeedback, and combined psychotherapy research is needed to prevent and treat psychopathic behavior.

The current picture of the psychopath is incomplete because emotional suffering and loneliness are ignored. When these aspects are considered, our conception of the psychopath goes beyond the heartless and becomes more human.

Note to readers- This article was originally published in Psychiatric Times and posted on PsychiatricTimes.com in 2006. Ever since, it has remained one of the best-read articles. We re-publish it here with updates from Dr Martens.

Disclosures:

Dr Martens is Chair of the W. Kahn Institute of Theoretical Psychiatry and Neuroscience. He is also Psychiatry Advisor of the European Commission (Leonardo da Vinci) and a member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists.

References

1. Cleckley HM. Mask of Sanity: An Attempt to Clarify Some Issues About the So-Called Psychopathic Personality. 6th ed. St Louis: CV Mosby Co; 1982.

2. Hare RD, Harpur TJ, Hakstian AR, et al. The revised psychopathy checklist: descriptive statistics, reliability, and factor structure. Psychol Assess. 1990;2:338-341.

3. Martens W. Hidden suffering of the psychopath: new insight on basis of self-reports of psychopaths; 2013. Accessed September 15, 2014. https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/304901

4. Martens WHJ. Antisocial and psychopathic personality disorders: causes, course and remission: a review article. Int J Offender Ther Comp Criminol. 2000;44:406-430.

5. Martens WH, Palermo GB. Loneliness and associated violent antisocial behavior: analysis of the case reports of Jeffrey Dahmer and Dennis Nilsen. Int J Offender Ther Comp Criminol. 2005;49:298-307.

6. Martens WH. Sadism linked to loneliness: psychodynamic dimensions of the sadistic serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. Psychoanal Rev. 2011;98:493-514.

7. Black DW, Baumgard CH, Bell SE, Kao C. Death rates in 71 men with antisocial personality disorder: a comparison with general population mortality. Psychosomatics. 1996;37:131-136.

8. Martens WHJ. A new multidimensional model of antisocial personality disorder. Am J Forensic Psychiatry. 2005;25:59-73.

9. Raine A, Lencz T, Bihrle S, et al. Reduced prefrontal gray matter volume and reduced autonomic activity in antisocial personality disorder. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2000;57:119-127.

10. Dolan B, Coid J. Psychopathic and Antisocial Personality Disorders: Treatment and Research Issues. London: Gaskell; 1993.

11. Dolan B. Therapeutic community treatment for severe personality disorders. In: Millon T, Simonsen E, Birket-Smith M, Davis RD, eds. Psychopathy: Antisocial, Criminal, and Violent Behaviors. New York: Guilford Press; 1998:407-438.

12. Sanislow CA, McGlashan TH. Treatment outcome of personality disorders. Can J Psychiatry. 1998;43:237-250.

13. Martens WH. Criminality and moral dysfunctions: neurologic, biochemical and genetic dimensions. Int J Offender Ther Comp Criminol. 2002;46:170-182.

14. Bloom FE, Kupfer DJ, eds. Psychopharmacology: The Fourth Generation of Progress. New York: Raven Press; 1994.

15. Hollander E. Managing aggressive behavior in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder and borderline personality disorder. J Clin Psychiatry. 1999;60(suppl 15):38-44.

16. Martens WH. Effects of antisocial or social attitudes on neurobiological functions. Med Hypotheses. 2001;56:664-671.

17. Raine A. Autonomic nervous system factors underlying disinhibited, antisocial, and violent behavior. Biosocial perspectives and treatment implications. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1996;794:46-59.

7 Characteristics of the Modern Psychopath

“Some people try to be tall by cutting off the heads of others.” —Paramahansa Yogananda

“Our society is moving in the direction of permitting, reinforcing, and in some cases actually valuing some of the traits listed in the Psychopathy Checklist. ” —Robert Hare

Antisocial personality disorder, sometimes identified interchangeably as sociopathy or psychopathy, is defined by the Mayo Clinic as: “A mental condition in which a person consistently shows no regard for right and wrong and ignores the rights and feelings of others. People with antisocial personality disorder tend to antagonize, manipulate or treat others harshly or with callous indifference. They show no guilt or remorse for their behavior.”

Research suggests that 4 percent of the population are sociopathic*, and 5 to 15 percent are “almost psychopathic.”** Cultural elements such as materialism, social intolerance, and desensitization to violence may influence a society to nurture, facilitate, and embolden sociopathic and/or psychopathic behavior. About 75 percent of sociopaths are men, and 25 percent are women.*** The sociopathic and/or psychopathic pathology is often intertwined with other traits, including and not limited to bullying, narcissism, gaslighting, bigotry, and misogyny.

In the modern age, sociopaths and psychopaths are usually not the mass murderers that are sometimes portrayed in popular media (with exceptions). Instead, contemporary sociopaths and psychopaths may outwardly appear functional and successful. They instigate abuse and harm through more indirect and insidious means.

Source: New Africa/Shutterstock

In personal relationships, sociopaths and psychopaths often initially entice with their superficial charisma and calculated charm, before revealing their cruel and uncaring nature over time (i.e., after a committed relationship is established or an important agreement is made). They deceive, manipulate, and abuse in relationships without remorse, leaving their victims wounded and traumatized by their utter lack of decency and empathy.

In their professional careers, higher-functioning sociopaths and psychopaths are nakedly ambitious, shrewdly exploitative, and ruthlessly aggressive. They often maneuver their way to positions of power and status in business, finance, politics, media, and other prominent fields. They attain success at the unethical expense of using and abusing others. Examples may include the business executive who cuts employees’ living wage and healthcare for higher profit, the financial advisor who defrauds clients’ life savings for unscrupulous investment, the politician who scapegoats and demonizes “undesirable” groups to incite his following, and the media talking head who shocks and offends to gain notoriety and exposure. Sociopaths and psychopaths achieve their objectives through the relentless, immoral pursuit of power and personal gain, leaving a trail of human suffering and societal damage in their wake.

Below are seven characteristics of the modern sociopath or psychopath. While not everyone who possesses this disorder may have all of the traits listed, a clinically diagnosed sociopath or psychopath will likely exhibit many of the following signs on a regular basis, especially when personal gain, relational control, and social domination are at stake.

1. Pathological Lying and Manipulation

“If you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes accepted as the truth.” —attributed to various sources

In their desire for ever more power (over relationships, organizations, or society at large), many sociopaths and psychopaths will literally make up and say anything in order to achieve their aims. Blatant lies, distortions, deceptions, broken promises, and blaming the victim are just some of the common devices used to enable the sociopath or psychopath to advance his or her aggressive and unscrupulous schemes. Instead of making factual statements based on reality, sociopaths and psychopaths repeat lies incessantly to distort. Solid evidence is ignored and dismissed with contempt.

2. Lack of Morality and Rule Breaking

“Rules are meant to be broken; that’s how you WIN.” —Anonymous

Most people have a basic sense of right and wrong. In general, we may agree that kindness is right, and cruelty is wrong; healthy relationships are right, and toxic relationships are wrong; honest hard work is right, and stealing and cheating are wrong. Sociopaths and psychopaths, however, have little or no sense of morality. They are more inclined than the general population to violate human rights or have brushes with the law. They believe that “might is right” and “rules are meant to be broken.” Human and ethical considerations are abhorred and viewed as weaknesses. In short, they have little or no conscience.

On occasions when sociopaths and psychopaths do mention morality or “fairness,” it is done either for the sake of appearance or to conveniently forward their own self-serving agenda. Fake morality is used as a manipulative device, rather than genuine value.

3. Lack of Empathy and Cold-Heartedness

"Sociopathy is, at its very essence, ice-cold.” —Martha Stout

Research by neuroscientist Adrian Raine reveals that people with antisocial personality disorder have fewer cells in their prefrontal cortex — considered the most evolved region of the brain. The prefrontal cortex is responsible for, among many functions, the capacity to understand other people’s feelings (empathy), the capacity to make sound, principled judgments (ethics), and the capacity to learn from life experience (reflection).

As sociopaths and psychopaths lack empathy, ethics, and reflection, they also tend to be unfeeling and cold-hearted toward the pain and suffering they cause others. This lack of humanity has several dangerous implications:

It compels the sociopath or psychopath to commit trespasses with little or no moral conflict.
Knowing the suffering of their victims does not bring about ethical pause. Just the opposite — it may encourage the sociopath or psychopath to do more harm (for they feel like they’re “winning”).
Abuses are committed without regret or remorse.
Little or no lessons are learned from the negative consequences of their actions. Sociopaths and psychopaths often blame their victims for causing their own victimization.

Many sociopaths and psychopaths become “serial offenders” in their transgressions against others until consequential intervention takes place (i.e., strong action by a coalition of people) to halt their misconduct and destruction.

4. Narcissism and False Superiority Complex

“Narcissism is, in a metaphorical sense, one half of what sociopathy is.” —Martha Stout

Not all narcissists are sociopathic (many narcissists are emotive, many sociopaths are non-emotive, or primitively emotive), but most sociopaths and psychopaths possess certain narcissistic traits, such as calculated charm, manipulativeness, self-absorption, entitlement, conceit, and a false superiority complex. In the mindset of many sociopaths and psychopaths, being “better” than others provides them with twisted justification to exploit and mistreat people at will. Those who are “inferior” deserve their downtrodden fate, and should only be regarded with contempt.

5. Gaslighting and Psychological Bullying

“When someone constantly puts you down, leaves you feeling like you can't do anything right, or makes you feel worthless and bad about yourself in general… it's emotional abuse. ” —Unknown

Gaslighting is a form of persistent brainwashing that causes the victim to doubt her or himself, and ultimately lose his or her own sense of perception, identity, and self-worth. At its worst, pathological gaslighting constitutes a severe form of mind-control and psychological bullying. Gaslighting can occur in personal relationships, at the workplace, or over an entire society.

For many sociopaths and psychopaths, gaslighting is used as a specialized form of lying and manipulation, where the gaslighter incessantly repeats falsehoods about the undesirability, inadequacy, and/or detestableness of the gaslightee. It degrades an individual or a group’s identity and stigmatizes and marginalizes their value and acceptability. Gaslighting is psychological violence.

6. Lack of Contrition and Self-Serving Victimhood

When caught in the act with their unscrupulous behavior, most sociopaths and psychopaths will not show signs of contrition or remorse (unless it is strategically advantageous for them to do so). On the contrary, they are more likely to double or triple down on their aggressive tendencies, increase hostility, deny responsibility, accuse and blame others, and maintain a facade of arrogance and conceit. Interestingly, many sociopaths will invent a victimhood story for themselves: The romantic partner charged with domestic battery claims he was “set-up,” the investment advisor caught defrauding clients thinks he was betrayed, the politician whose policies harmed entire populations insists he’s being scapegoated, the business executive accused of setting up sweatshops overseas laments being singled out, and the media talking head penalized for spewing vile and hateful remarks believes she’s being persecuted. Casting themselves as victims can help sociopaths and psychopaths to defend their immoral conduct.

7. The “Situational” Sociopath or Psychopath

Perhaps one of the most insidious forms of anti-social personality disorder is what may be termed “situational sociopathy or psychopathy,” where an individual extends cordiality, respect, and regard towards some, but exhibits inhumanity, harshness, and cruelty towards others. Targets of situational sociopathy or psychopathy are usually individuals or groups considered to be “other,” “lesser,” or “weaker,” and may be based on factors such as gender, class, race, sexual orientation, social standing, societal afflictions, etc. This “sociopathic splitting” views some people as fully human, and others as objects, commodities, and less human. Situational sociopathy or psychopathy contributes to many unjust conditions, such as misogyny, class bigotry, racism, homophobia, religious intolerance, extreme poverty, and structural violence in society.

Disclaimer: Communication Success blog posts are for general educational purposes only. They may or may not be relevant to an individual's specific circumstances.

Personality traits - Psychologos

Personality traits (personality traits, personality traits) - traits and characteristics of a person that describe his internal (more precisely, deep) features. What you need to know about the peculiarities of his behavior, communication and response to certain situations is not specifically now, but during long-term contacts with a person.

Personal traits include deep features that have both a biological and social nature and determine more superficial, situational manifestations.

Conscientiousness, as a personality trait, in a particular situation will manifest itself as a willingness to see things through to the end.

Positive personality traits are often referred to as personality traits.

What personality traits can be classified as personality traits? It is easier to note that it does not apply to personality traits. Characteristics that describe the following are not personality traits:

Subjective attitude to personality (Unusual, Surprising, Unpleasant).
Physical qualities of a person (dexterous, beautiful).
Social characteristics and "titles" (Experienced, Wise, Leading worker, Saint, Enlightened).
A temporary, unstable state of a person, such as situational (Tired) or mood-dependent (Dejected or Radiating happiness). Unlike a position that can be quickly chosen, a personality trait does not change quickly. A personality trait is an unchanging circumstance that can only be reckoned with, used or overcome. Something like the weather outside the window: we cannot change it, but if it rains there, we can take an umbrella and go where we need to go.

Can you give a complete list of personality traits? - It is impossible to create a complete, “correct” list of personality traits: on the one hand, it is endless (limited only by the capabilities of the language and the imagination of its owner), on the other hand, this list is created for the specific needs of a particular study and therefore is always arbitrary.

In an attempt to achieve a comprehensive description of personality, R. Cattell began by collecting all the names of personality traits found either in dictionaries such as compiled by G. Allport and H. Odbert, or in psychiatric and psychological literature. The resulting list of names (4500 characteristics) was reduced to 171 personality traits by combining explicit synonyms.

Further, it is not always possible to say whether some situational personality trait is her chosen position or a stable feature. A position is a choice, it is a certain way of thinking and attitude chosen by a person, then personality traits are stable personality traits. Unlike a position that can be quickly chosen, a personality trait does not change quickly.

If a person behaves like a Victim, is this his trait or a situational choice? To answer this question, you need to observe a person in different situations. Many of the personality traits can be simultaneously attributed to traits and positions, while noting the “predominance” of one or the other, characteristic of a particular culture of a given time. For example, the Consumer today is more often a position than a personality trait of an adult. Few people can definitely say that he has a stable characteristic of always taking care of himself and always only at his own expense. More often a person in a given situation quickly chooses this way of life, and in another situation he can make a different decision. However, we can also say that some people adhere to the position of the Consumer, having made a conscious choice and made it their stable habit. And in this sense - a personality trait.

The most common list of personality traits used in classical psychological tests: MMPI, Cattell's test and others. According to Kettel, these are, first of all: "isolation - sociability", intelligence, "emotional instability - emotional stability", "subordination - dominance", "restraint - expressiveness", "low normative behavior - high normative behavior", "timidity - courage ”, “rigidity - sensitivity”, “gullibility - suspicion”, “practicality - daydreaming”, “straightforwardness - diplomacy”, “calmness - anxiety”, “conservatism - radicalism”, “conformism - nonconformism”, “low self-control - high self-control ”, “relaxation - tension”, “adequate self-esteem - inadequate self-esteem” (primary factors of the test), as well as “anxiety”, “extroversion - introversion”, “sensitivity” and “conformity” (secondary factors of the test).

It seems that the list of personality traits that are relevant in life is easy to continue: these are adequacy, suggestibility, good breeding, sincerity, perfectionism, restraint, and many others.

It is difficult to make a coherent system of personality traits, primarily due to the fact that personality traits are related to each other not only linearly, but also hierarchically. For example, behavioral habits such as Nods, Hoots, and Eye Flashes are part of listening skills, which are higher-level skills and habits. In turn, the signs of listening, together with adjustments in the body, adjustments in the dictionary, are components of the ability to listen. In turn, the ability to listen together, the ability to speak in clear theses, the ability to operate with facts and specifics, and the habit of summing up are components of thoughtful communication, which in turn is part of effective communication. Effective communication is an element of effective leadership, and so on.

From the point of view of the needs of practice, the list of personality traits can be significantly narrowed by highlighting the root, fundamental, proper personality traits. These are considered to be extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness to experience (the so-called Big Five).

Openness to experience - the ability and readiness of a person to see (listen, perceive) what is happening in him, in the people around him and in life.
Openness to experience ensures personal growth and development.
Personal inadequacy is an obstacle to openness to experience: there is openness, but information comes to a person in a distorted form.
Closedness from experience, internal and external protections give greater security, but stop the growth and development of the personality. The extreme variant of defenses is impenetrability for experience.

Some of the features that are characteristic of a developed personality and less common in a mass personality, we have placed in the Self-Improvement section. We attributed positive, constructive, responsibility, energy, purposefulness, love of order, willingness to cooperate, as well as the ability and habit of living with love to such traits - unfortunately, these traits are clearly lacking, at least for Russian people, both in workers and relatives. relationships.

Can a person change his personality traits? Someone definitely can. Most - no, they themselves are not capable. For more details, see the article "Is it possible to change your character, and how?"

How a personality trait is understood in psychology

04/30/2011

Personality traits in psychology are stable, repeating in various situations, behavioral characteristics of an individual.

Mandatory properties personality traits are: their degree of severity in different people, transsituation (a personality trait of an individual manifests itself in any situations) and potential measurability (personality traits are available for measurement using special questionnaires and tests).

In experimental psychology of personality, such features as extraversion - introversion, anxiety, rigidity, impulsivity are most widely studied. In modern research, the point of view has been adopted, according to which the description of personality traits is not enough to understand and predict individual behavioral characteristics, since they describe only general aspects of personality manifestations.

A trait is a unit of personality analysis, a predisposition to behave in a similar way in a wide range of situations.

G. Allport defines a personality trait as forming a block of psychological organization that serves to unite reactions to various stimuli.

Basic parameters personality trait:

severity,
transsituation,
potential measurability. Personality Features:
are real, really manifest in people;
are more generalized qualities than habits.
is the driving or at least defining element of behavior.

The presence of personality traits can be established empirically.
The trait is only relatively independent of other traits;

is not synonymous with moral or social evaluation;
it can be considered either in the context of the individual in whom it is found, or in terms of its prevalence in society.

The fact that actions or even habits are not consistent with a personality trait is not proof that the trait does not exist. G. Allport divides personality traits into general and individual, or personal, dispositions.
He distinguishes three types of dispositions:

cardinal;
central;
secondary.

The correlation of traits, attitudes and habits, as well as their comparison, is important because they are all similar, belonging to the class of set phenomena, being the product of a combination of heredity and learning, differing in their uniqueness and initiating function. The trait is most generalized in relation to the other two phenomena and is an aspect of personality. Attitude is developed in relation to the environment. A habit is a particular response to a particular stimulus.

G. Allport considered a trait to be the most significant unit of analysis for understanding and studying personality. In his system, a personality trait is defined as a predisposition to respond in similar ways to different kinds of stimuli.

According to R. Cattell, the main organizing concept of personality is to describe the various types of traits he has identified.

Traits are hypothetical personality structures that are found in behavior that determine the predisposition to act in the same way in different circumstances and over time. Personality traits reflect stable characteristics and are the most important in his concept.

In the study of the structural elements of personality, R. Cattell relies heavily on factor analysis.
Principles of classifying traits according to the principle of dichotomy.

surface - original;
constitutional - shaped by the environment;
ability, temperament - dynamic traits;
common - unique features.

List of superficial dichotomous features, according to R. Cattell.

Self-confidence is submissiveness.
Intelligence, analyticity - limitation, lack of imagination.
Maturity of mind - stupidity, inconsistency, susceptibility to influence.
Inconstancy, vanity - prudence, stoicism, restraint.
neuroticism - the absence of neuroticism.
Devilishness, cynicism - softness.
Self-will, selfishness - kindness, unobtrusiveness, tolerance.
Rigidity, tyranny, vindictiveness - complaisance, friendliness.
Malice, callousness - kindness, courtesy.
Demoralization, autism - realism.
Strong will, conscientiousness - lethargy, impulsiveness.
Intellectuality - undepippinated mind, simplicity.
Infantilism, uncertainty - maturity, tact.
Asociality, schizoid - openness, idealism.
Gaiety, enthusiasm, wit - a feeling of misfortune, slowness.
Activity, nervousness - self-control, rigidity, conformity.
Neurosis, psychopathy - emotional maturity.
Excessive sensitivity, expressiveness - phlegm,
Malice, pettiness - naturalness, friendliness, openness.
Emotionality (inadequate) - non-emotionality.
Rise, expressiveness, variety of interests - isolation, calmness, narrow-mindedness.
Accessibility, warmth, sentimentality - isolation, coldness, misanthropy.
Frivolity, vanity, pretense - mediocrity, artlessness.
Aggressiveness, paranoia - reliability, good-heartedness
Aesthetic interests - independence of judgment.
Anxiety, emotionality, hypomania - calmness, patience, modesty.
Infantilism, self-centeredness - emotional maturity, resistance to frustration.
Inconstancy, spinelessness, lack of realism - persistent, integral character.
Mental and physical strength, cheerfulness - neurasthenia.
Enterprise, irascibility - lethargy, timidity.
Sociability, ardor - love of solitude, timidity.
Melancholy.
Rigidity, hardness - introspection, sensitivity, timidity.
Imagination, introspection, constructiveness - sedateness, stinginess.
Dexterity, determination - sincerity, gentleness.

R. Cattell considers personality traits as complex hypothetical constructs that predispose a person to stable behavior over time and in various circumstances.

The essence of G. Eysenck's theory is that personality elements can be arranged hierarchically: superfeatures, composite features, habitual reactions (PR), specific reactions (CP).

There are certain super traits or types such as extraversion in his system that have a powerful influence on behavior. In turn, he sees each of these super-features built from several composite features. These component traits are either more superficial reflections of the underlying type or specific qualities inherent in that type. Finally, traits are made up of numerous habitual responses (HA), which in turn are formed from many specific responses.

In contrast to R. Cattell, G. Eysenck sees only two main types (super traits) underlying the personality structure: introversion - extraversion and stability - neuroticism. Features of the same behavior of the individual are the result of a combination of these two types.

Keywords: Personality trait

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