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Raymond Cattell and His 16 Personality Factor Test Essay Example

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Raymond Cattell and His 16 Personality Factor Test Essay Example
* * * * * * * Raymond Cattell and his 16 Personality Factor Test *
Raymond Cattell and his 16 Personality Factor Test
Psychological attributes which make each person different from one another interests the trait theorist. (Cervone & Pervin, 2010). Trait theory relies on factor analysis, which identifies differences in personality traits (Cervone & Pervin, 2010). According to Cervone and Pervin (2010), Raymond Cattell is one of the most powerful psychologists of the 20th century. In 1949, Cattell published his 16 Personality Factor Questionnaire; later it developed into the basis for other measures of personality (Horn, 2001). The thoroughness of Cattell’s personality test appealed to my analytical mind, based on the results of my recent personality test at Similar Minds (2011).

Cattell and my Beliefs
Cattell relied on two different traits, surface traits and source traits. Surface traits are observed superficial traits that represent behavioral predilections (Cervone & Pervin, 2010). Source traits are the basis for the personality structure (Cervone & Pervin, 2010). Cattell deduced that there were about 40 intercorrelated surface traits and 16 source traits, which he separated into three categories (Cervone & Pervin, 2010). Those three categories are ability traits, skills that allow a person to function; temperament traits, traits involving emotions and the quality of behavior; and dynamic traits, the traits related to an individual’s motivational life (Cervone & Pervin, 2010). Horn (2001) writes that Cattell’s theory is a model by which to judge other theories. Horn (2001) proposes that Cattell’s contributions and work on test development are influential and with an important impact.
The 16 Personality Factor (16 PF) measures levels of the following: warmth, reasoning, emotional stability, dominance, liveliness, rule-consciousness, social boldness, sensitivity, vigilance, abstractedness,
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