Psychologist discusses research behind personality theory

Dr. Robert McCrae, an expert in the field of personality psychology, came to Hopkins on Wednesday as the speaker for the 2015 G. Stanley Hall Lecture in Distinguished Clinical Research.

Muhammad Hamza, the president of the Hopkins chapter of Psi Chi, the national psychology honors society shared information about the lecture.

“Each year Psi Chi, with the support of the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, invites someone to share their research with the community,” Hamza said.

This year that individual is McCrae for his Five-Factor Theory (FFT) along with his other contributions to the field. His discussion on the topic was held in Bloomberg and approximately 100 people attended. The audience consisted of Hopkins students, faculty and members of the community.

The primary focus of McCrae’s talk was his work in the development of the Five Factor Theory (FFT) and the implications of this new theory. The FFT is based upon the research done by McCrae, his colleagues and the generations of personality psychologists who have preceded them.

The FFT is the theoretical and practical implications of the Five Factor Model (FFM), which is a set of five broad personality trait dimensions or domains: Extroversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism and Openness to Experience. Extroverts are assertive and sociable. Agreeable individuals are polite and cooperative, while conscientious people are orderly and focused. Neurotic persons are inclined to experience particularly negative emotions. Individuals who are open to experience have broad interests and are sensitive to art and beauty.

The FFM is not the FFT; instead, the FFM is the methodology by which research on heritability, development and correlations between traits are carried out. The Five Factor Theory of personality, in contrast, is the explanation for the collected data.

“FFT is an integral theory for explaining a number of well-established findings: the stability of a personality in the face of life events, the lack of shared environmental effects… the universality of FFM structure,” McCrae said.

The FFT personality system functions such that a biological basis produces personality traits within the individual, which, in turn, leads to characteristic adaptations. These adaptations, along with the environment, dictate behavior.

The environment also has an effect on these characteristic adaptations. On the surface this appears to indicate that people have no control over their dispositions and behavior, but this is not the case.

“Patients cannot change who they are, but they can re-channel their dispositions in more constructive ways,” McCrae said. “Effective psychotherapy teaches people to manage their personalities just as diabetics learn how to manage their disease… If we can teach these patients new insights and new skills that allow them to minimize their problems and cope with their distress, then psychotherapy could have been very much worthwhile. This is a more modest goal then most therapies claim, but I think it’s a more realistic one.”

What McCrae suggested through his talk was that we do not yet know the biological implications behind personality traits. However, he argues that the other possible dictates of our personality, such as the individual’s environment or life experiences, are not possible explanations since the current data does not support it.

Instead, the crux of his argument lies in that the FFT system illustrates how our environment, life experiences and unalterable personality traits lead to characteristic adaptations, which in turn significantly dictate behavior. McCrae proposes that through a comprehensive understanding of our own personalities, we can manage the ways our personality dispositions affect our characteristic adaptations and behavior.

The discussion concluded with a series of questions from the audience. One audience member asked McCrae to touch upon the possible biological basis for FFT. Currently, there is no concrete answer for the biological basis of FFT. However, McCrae postulates that it could be patterns of hundreds of genes which dictate our personalities. Such an explanation would explain the wide diversity and variance among individual personalities.

The consensus among students was that the talk was beneficial and productive. Junior Jenny Hansen was especially positive.

“I think the opportunity to hear from such an esteemed person in the field is a great resource and experience that is unique to Hopkins students.”

Freshman Morgan Kuczler, who heard about the talk from her Abnormal Psychology professor, similarly enjoyed hearing about McCrae’s theory.

“I’m currently taking “Abnormal Psychology” and was encouraged by Associate Professor Alison Papadakis to attend the lecture. We are currently learning about Personality Disorders and will be discussing the FFT soon, so it was interesting to hear an outside source before discussing it in class,” Kuczler said.

McCrae’s talk presented an opportunity for students to learn about current developments in the field of personality psychology, while also being shown how much more work needs to be done, especially with regard to the biological basis of FFT.