Five Factor Theory

One of the long held goals of psychology has been to establish a model that can conveniently describe human personality and disorders therein, with the intent to use this model in the remedying of personality disorders and improving general understanding of personality. Currently, a handful of models have risen to prominence, and have thus far stood the test of time. Some models are more generally accepted than others. Support for some models seems to come and go in cycles. One of the more prominent models in contemporary psychology is what is known as the five-factor model of personality. This theory incorporates five different variables into a conceptual model for describing personality. These five different factors are often referred to as the â€Å"Big 5†. The five-factor theory is among the newest models developed for the description of personality, and this model shows promise to be among the most practical and applicable models available in the field of personality psychology. Thorough critical attention is given to the proposal that the five-factor model is in fact a great theory. As it became evident to many psychologists that, mathematically, combinations of five factors were useful in describing personality, there was a need to clearly define what these factors were. Indeed, this process led to some dissent in the ranks. One dissenter from the five-factor theorists was renowned psychologist H. J. Eysenck. Eysenck felt that, due to overlaps in the five factors and their correlates, in fact a three-factor model was more appropriate and accurate. His theory is called the PEN model (which stand for psychoticism, extroversion, neuroticism), or sometimes is even shortened to the two factor E-IN model (extroversion-introversion, neuroticism). Many psychologists support Eysenck's PEN model. However, of the major â€Å"factor-analytic models†¦ the Big Five dominates the landscape of current psychological research† (Ewen, 1998, p. 141). Through extensive debating and experimenting, there is currently a general consensus in the realms of scholarly psychology as to the identity of the five factors, and their basic interpretations and values to analysis of personality. The five factors are extroversion-introversion, neuroticism, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness. Extroversion has long been one of the traits that has appeared in factor-analytic models, and is one of the two traits to appear in both the five-factor model and Eysenck's PEN and E-IN models. Extroversion also is sometimes referred to as social adaptability, though the popularity of this term seems to be waning. Extroversion is defined as a trait characterized by a keen interest in other people and external events, and venturing forth with confidence into the unknown. Neuroticism is the other trait to play a role in most of the contemporary factor models for personality. In some studies, adjustment is examined as a factor, instead of neuroticism. In this case, higher scores will indicate a positive result, consistent with the other four factors. This is because the term neuroticism has an inherent negative denotation (Bradshaw, 1997). The bases of neuroticism are levels of anxiety and volatility. Within these bounds, neuroticism is a dimension of personality defined by stability and low anxiety at one end as opposed to instability and high anxiety at the other end. Openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness are all terms with which most people outside the realm of psychology are familiar. In general, openness refers to how willing people are to make adjustments in notions and activities in accordance with new ideas or situations. Agreeableness measures how compatible people are with other people, or basically how able they are to get along with others. Conscientiousness refers to how much a person considers others when making decisions. As with the two factors in the big five from Eysenck's E-IN, these three are also placed on sliding scales. These three scales, like neuroticism and extroversion, slide between their limits to give a clear picture of personality. The limits of these scales give a clear idea of their applications and are defined as trusting and helpful versus suspicious and uncooperative (agreeableness), hard working and reliable versus lazy and careless (conscientiousness), and nonconformist and creative versus conventional and down-to-earth (openness). Never the less, there are many other theorist who have evaluated the five factor theory in a much boarder aspect. These researchers began by studying all known personality traits and then factor- analyzing hundreds of measures of these traits in self-report and questionnaire data, peer rating and objective measures from experimental settings in order to find the basic, underlying factors of personality. The big five factors of personality are five broad domains or dimensions of personality which have been scientifically discovered to define human personality at the highest level of the organization. These five over-arching domains have been found to ontain and subsume more or less all known personality traits within their five domains and to represent the basic structure behind all personality traits. They have brought order to the often-bewildering array of specific lower level personality concepts that are constantly being proposed by psychologists, which are often found to be overlapping and confusing. These five factors provide a rich conceptual frame work for integrating all the research fi ndings and theory in personality psychology. Three sets of researchers have worked independently for decades on this problem and have indentified generally the same Five Factors. They are Goldberg at the Oregon Research Institute, Cattell at the University of Illinois, and Costa and McCrae at the National Institutes of Health. These three sets of researchers used somewhat different methods in finding the five traits, and thus each set of five factors has somewhat different names and definitions. However, all three sets have been found to be highly inter-correlated and factor-analytically aligned. The Big Five Factors are commonly known as Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism, also Known as OCEAN or CANOE. OPENNESS Openness is a general appreciation for art, emotion, adventure, unusual ideas, imagination, curiosity, and variety of experience. The trait distinguishes imaginative people from down-to-earth conventional people. People who are open to experience are intellectually curious, appreciative of art, and sensitive to beauty. They tend to be, compared to closed people more creative and more aware of their feeling. They are more likely to hold unconventional beliefs. In addition, people with low scores on openness tend to have more conventional, traditional interest. They prefer the plain, straight forward and obvious over the complex, ambiguous and subtle. They may regard the arts and sciences with suspicion, regarding these endeavours as abstruse or of no practical use. Close people prefer familiarity over novelty. They are conservative and resistant to change. CONSCIENTIOUSNESS Conscientiousness is the tendency to show self-discipline, act dutifully and aim for achievement. The trait shows a preference for planned rather than spontaneous behaviour. It influences the way in which we control, regulate, and direct our impulses. Conscientiousness includes the factor known as Need for Achievement or NAch. It is obvious that the benefits of conscientiousness are high. Conscientious individuals avoid trouble and achieve high levels of success through purposeful planning and persistence. They are also positively regarded by others as intelligent and reliable. On the negative side, they can be compulsive perfectionists and workaholics. EXTRAVERSION Extraversion is characterized by positive emotions, surgency and the tendency to seek out stimulation and the company of others. The trait is marked by pronounced engagement with the external world. Extraverts enjoy being with people and are often perceived as full of energy. They tend to be enthusiastic, action oriented individuals who are likely to say â€Å"I most certainly will! † or â€Å"Come on let’s go! † to opportunities that will excite them. When placed in groups they are likely the first to talk, and assert themselves, just to draw attention to themselves. However, Introverts lack the exuberance, energy and activity levels of extraverts. These individuals tend to be quiet, low-key, deliberate, and less involved in society. Their lack of social involvement should not be interpreted as shyness or depression. Introverts simply need less stimulation than extraverts and more time alone. AGREEABLENESS Agreeableness is a tendency to be compassionate and cooperative rather than suspicious and antagonistic towards others. The trait reflects individual differences in general concern for social harmony. Agreeable individuals value getting along with others. They are generally considerate, friendly, generous, helpful and willing to compromise their interests with others. Agreeable people also have an optimistic view of human nature. They believe people are basically honest, decent and trustworthy. On the other hand, disagreeable individuals place self-interst above getting along with others. They are generally unconcerned with others’ well being and are less likely to extend themselves for other people. Sometimes their scepticism about others’ motives causes them to be suspicious, unfriendly and uncooperative. NEUROTICISM Neuroticism is the tendency to experience negative emotions, such as anger, anxiety or depression. Emotional instability it is sometime called. Individuals who score high in neuroticism are emotionally reactive and vulnerable to stress. They are more likely to interpret ordinary situations as threatening and minor frustrations as hopelessly difficult. Their negative emotional reactions tend to persist for unusually long periods of time, which means they are often in a bad mood. These problems in emotional regulation can diminish the ability of a person scoring high on neuroticism to think clearly, make decisions and cope effectively with stress. However, on the other end of the scale, those who score low in neuroticism are less easily upset and are less emotionally reactive. These individuals tend to be calm, emotionally stable, and free from persistent negative feelings. Freedom from negative feelings does not mean that low scorers experience a lot of positive feelings. Frequency of positive emotions is a component of the Extraversion domain.

Economics Commentary: Macroeconomics Essay

Areas of Syllabus your commentary relates to: Section 4: Macroeconomics Having experienced contraction from Q4 08 to Q2 09, the Canadian economy grew 5% in the fourth quarter of 2009, beating predicted forecasts. This growth was precipitated by consumer and government spending, as well as a growing housing market. There was also growth recorded in exports, with sectors such as the automotive, energy and industrial factoring into this. However, economists warn that for this growth to continue, issues such as unemployment and spotty aggregate demand must be addressed. Fiscal measures, meaning decisions made by the central governing body concerning taxation and government spending, have already been taken by the Canadian government, in the form of the fiscal stimulus package. This package has in it $12B in infrastructure spending, $7.8B meant to stimulate construction firms, $8.3 B for skills training and retraining, and several tax credits ranging from the home improvement ($1350/family) to lowered EI and income tax rates. Fiscal policy generally concerns itself with creating conditions of full employment, price stability and real GDP growth. Full employment, or an economic state where all eligible people who want to work can find employment at the prevailing wage rate, is important in achieving a state of maximum productivity in the economy. The current unemployment rate is 8.2%, above the generally accepted natural rate of unemployment. It has however fallen significantly, with a gain of 159,000 new jobs since June 2009. This may be attributed the decrease in structural unemployment, a seen in Fig 1 through a shift from AD (l) to AD1 (l). There mismatch in skills offered by Canadian workers and those demanded by firms has decreased on the diagram, perhaps through training programs. On the other hand, an increase in aggregate demand, caused by an increase in the disposable income of families may have also caused the increase in demand for labour as firms expanded or rehired laid off personnel. Price stability is also important for long term economic growth, because rampant inflation, meaning a steady and prolonged increase in the price level, is known to have several adverse effects. These include the extra costs caused by unsteady resource costs, and money losing its role as a medium of value. As the government injects more stimuli into the economy, the risk of demand pull inflation grows. Thus aggregate demand would rise; because of growth in the money supply, the price level would increase, as described by the short run equation of exchange, M=P. This increase in the money supply is provided by the Bank of Canada, and included as the Extraordinary Financing Framework in the government’s action plan. To avoid the aforementioned inflation, the Bank of Canada has several tools at its disposal. Raising the amount of reserve requirement is an interesting contractionary choice, so is raising the discount rate charged to major banks. These two together act to reduce the greatest inflationary obstacle, that is public opinion. Thus, as shown in Fig2, an increase in the interest rate results in a decrease in consumer demand for money. This decrease in demand would be useful in controlling inflation once recovery had occurred. However, in the present, the Bank of Canada is likely to concern itself with slowly increasing the money supply, and keeping a stable overnight rate. It is unknown whether the stimulus package is the cause of the rebound in the Canadian economy, this may have been caused by market forces. Additionally, the retraining programs are unlikely to have already decreased structural unemployment, as one of their major faults is the length of time needed to complete such a course. These so called time lags are problematic because once the retrained populace makes their way back into the labour market, 3-4 years may have passed, almost a full cycle of certain economies. As stated in the article, the Canadian recovery itself does not stand on stable ground, especially so given that a significant part of the EU is heavily in debt and America no yet out of its own recession, important, as 80% of Canadian imports are destined there. Whether or not the measures taken by the government with respect to stimulating the Canadian economy in the long run shall be successful remains to be seen. However, the average middle class citizen most likely has experienced the benefits of measures ranging from tax credits and reductions to funding directed to the industry they work in.

Truman and his exchanges of messages with pope pius XII and its Essay

Truman and his exchanges of messages with pope pius XII and its consequences - Essay Example In his first letter to the Pope, he stated that he was dully elected and would ensure that the people in the country lived in a peaceful nation. However, in this letter, he insinuated that the nature of the church was to adore politics and war. The president openly expressed his idea of not calling the Pope His Holiness as this was a title that was only befitting God. Since he was not God or anything closer to God, he would only refer him with his official names. At this point, he also stated that the government was principled to ensure that the church would not meddle in the businesses conducted by the government (Muehlenbeck, 45). Therefore, the church would not be involved in the internal affairs of the government. If the government would include the church in their internal affairs, it would be a retrogressive drill. For instance, he stated that Europe was undeveloped because of indulgence of the church in its internal affairs. In addition to this, the president stated that the c hurch was the leader in instigating war, while pretending to spread peace in the country (Devine, 32). The president included a stern warning that was directed towards the church, stating that the great nation would not be duped into accepting the ways of the wicked. These messages were monumental in that they were directed towards making a peaceful coexistence in the American democracy. In this letters, the Pope openly expressed he need to have urgent solutions to the problems that were in the country. In his letters, he expressed the need to have American relief streams that would help the people, in the war and even after the war that had erupted (Dolezalova, Martin and Papousek, 29). In addition to this, the Pope expressed the need to put the national interests a first priority. With this, he meant that they all were to ensure that the war was not extended to other parts of the country. To maintain a peaceful environment, the Pope suggested that the government should explore all the possibilities that could be used (Burleigh, 11). This was also to ensure there was an end to human suffering which was mostly caused by hostility arising from the conflict in the country. With these events, it is evident that the church and the president were not in agreement. The church was in line with making a peaceful existence in the country, while the president was concerned with the church’s indulgence in the politics of the nation. As such, their differences were not contained (Potworowski, 13). This led to a drift between the church and the president, with the president insisting that the Pope had no powers to control the interests of the country. For instance, in a letter addressed to the Pope, the president openly expressed his concerns of the â€Å"catholic culture† and how it could influence the country if it were given the mandate to govern the world again (Gaddis, 28). In his support, the president also inclined the fact that the government would no t spend its hard earned resources in sending young people to help other people. Though he expressed the need for peace in the United States of America, it was sheer irony (Suderman, 32). The president was not doing anything to control the eruption of war, yet he was on the frontline in condemning the church against their indulgence in the internal affairs of the country. In relaying all the letters addressed to the president, the Pope openly

Nosologic imaging and its value for childhood brain tumours Essay

Nosologic imaging and its value for childhood brain tumours - Essay Example According to the research findings a latest technique has been established to develop brain nosologic images based on magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Nosologic images give a summary of the distinct lesions and tissues presence in a sole image. This is through pixel or voxel color coding in relation to the assigned histopathological class. The technique proposed utilizes advanced methods that cuts across image processing, recognition of patterns, segments and classification of brain tumors. For better understanding of how it functions, here is an illustration. For purposes of segmentation, a brain atlas that is registered in conjunction with an abnormal tissue that is subject -specific is retrieved from magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) data. Subsequently, abnormal tissue detected is categorized based on pattern recognition supervised methods. In addition to that, there is computation of class probabilities for the ab normal segmented region. The new technique in comparison to former approaches is extremely flexible. Moreover, it has the capability of exploiting spatial information resulting to nosologic images that are improved. The combination of MRSI and MRI presents a new method of producing nosologic images exhibiting high resolution. Nosologic images with high resolution represent class probabilities and tumor heterogeneity which aid clinicians in making of decisions (Luts et al 2008, p.1). MRSI as a Powerful Diagnostic Tool In the current world, magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) has been proved to be a diagnostic tool that is non-invasive and remarkably powerful. For instance, its ability of detecting metabolites has been extremely constructive in routine radiologic practices. This is because, it avails essential biochemical information regarding the organism molecule under investigation. In addition to that, magnetic resonance spectroscopy data has been helpful in various te chniques such as tissue segmentation. The data has played a critical role in a variety of biomedical applications such as tissue volume quantification, pathologies localization, pre-surgical diagnosis improvement, therapy planning and surgical approach optimization. These applications are significant in solving diverse segmentation problems. For better understanding of various techniques of solving segmentation problems, they have been split into various categories. These are such as, classifiers, thresholding, region growing, models of Markov random field and artificial neural networks. However, Canonical Correlation Analysis (CCA) has been proposed to be a reliable and fast technique for tissue segmentation. CCA is a technique founded on statistical method. Canonical Correlation Analysis has the capability of exploiting simultaneously the spatial and spectral information. The information characterizes the data of Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopic Imaging (MRSI). CCA is successful i n the application of functional data of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). The data has been useful in map sensor, cognitive and motor functions to brain specific areas. Thus, Canonical Correlation Analysis has been adopted for processing of magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging data for purposes of detecting regions with homogeneous tissue. The regions are such as the sample characterized tumor region. The achievement of ultimate goal is reached via the combination of magnetic resonance spectroscopic spectral-spatial provided information and a subspace signal suitable for spectrum modeling of the tissue type characteristic, whose presence might be in an investigated organ and detection is needed. Canonical Correlation Analysis through the utilization of correlation coefficient quantifies the correlation between dual variable sets, and the spectra magnitude of the data measured and subspace signal. Afterwards, there is exploitation of the coefficients for

Atmosphere Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Atmosphere - Essay Example In addition, the increase on temperature is causing the rise of the water level in seas and oceans. This is basically due to expansion of water systems and the melting of glaciers and polar ice caps (Hegerl et al. 667; Wittoeck). Based on such effects, a number of problematic aftermaths can occur. In the rise of sea level, considerable amount of land area will be submerged specifically in the Pacific and the Maldives. Swamps and estuaries that are rich in biodiversity will be under water permanently, thus, affecting the diversity of the organisms due to the fact that the survival of the inhabitants of such areas will be tested. Similarly, agricultural lands will significantly decrease, thus, ultimately affecting the food supplies. Water supply will also be a problem in the future since higher temperature can be equated to more evaporation, thus, less water in the liquid form (Hegerl et al. 667; Wittoeck). When such problems transcend to social issues relating to the livelihood of the people, chaos can arise specifically due to shortages in water supplies and food. In addition, due to the fact that such problems can affect the organisms of different forms, the only logical action to be undertaken is to cooperate and unite with other nations and people of different nationalities. Every member of the community is needed to practice and promote sustainability. The leaders of nations are needed to initiate actions that can lessen the practices that can result to global warming. One action of importance is the establishment of policies on air quality improvement. In the present period, the consciousness of the people regarding sustainable practices is higher and such actions to improve the awareness of the public can make the economic costs worth it. Included in the policies related to decreasing the effects of global warming is the Clean Air Act that can lessen the emission of gases that can intensify such effects (Hegerl et al. 667;

Ethics Theories Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Ethics Theories - Essay Example In this case, there is little question that a theft of the drug would be ethical under a teleological and utilitarian model. Depending on the ethical approach chosen, breaking into the store to steal the drug could be considered either right or wrong. As stated above, a teleological analysis would justify the action as being right due to its potential to avoid a great harm, a loss of life, at the expense of some lost profit, which surely cannot weigh as heavily. On the other hand, a more duty-based approach such as deontological would require that the morality of the act itself be considered without regard to its consequences. Deontological ethics maintains that actions themselves have intrinsic moral value, and can be inherently good or bad. Arguably, stealing is wrong even if it ends up having a positive effect, and therefore a deontological analysis would require a determination that the action is wrong. In short, the ends never justify the means under such an analysis. Notifying employees of layoffs via e-mail is the right way because of the manner in which the notification was handled in this particular case.

Literature Review on Change Management Research Paper

Literature Review on Change Management - Research Paper Example Managing change in an organization is a complex procedure which involves various factors which influence the transformation initiatives. The quality and change management are interlinked in a manner that it is extremely essential to administer quality of the ongoing project. If project is behind schedule or lacks some elements it is essential to introduce change management procedures after having proper consent from the management. Every manager perceives differently about the change management initiatives because of their personal experiences and the success factors which they have faced. Change management requires companies to tackle with every problem according to their priorities which allows manager to easily allocate resources and skills for resolving them (Sirkin, Keenan, & Jackson, 2013). These measures and indicators can easily be applied to any working organization for having enterprise change management. But it must be clearly defined that change management is different fo r every department of a business. ... nal Organisation The procedure which is being followed in educational organizations are quite different from what is being followed in business sector. The educational organizations have a lot of external pressure which they have on their learning curriculum. The courses and their associated areas require universities to cope with the changing procedures and develop strategies for implementing such change management practices in their daily official routines. Education sector requires proper funding from external sources for competing with the changing learning patterns being implemented worldwide. Students are now required to spend substantial time of their lectures and assignments and follow new learning patterns. Besides there are instances in which universities and colleges are emerging against litigation issues which has increased the scrutiny procedures along with conductance of external audits from third parties (Szamosi & Duxbury, 2002). Education sector is bound to follow th ese changes as it helps them in ranking their services and learning standards accordingly in comparison with other international universities. Educational sector needs to be aware of the change management procedures because it plays a central role in social and economic upheaval and in some countries it is considered as a major contributor of export and import. For remaining competitive with the changing business patterns it is essential that educational sector must respond to all these changes in a positive manner and design actions to combat with these forces appropriately. Change management procedures allow management of this sector to determine whether the key quality improvements and strategic developments have been identified and implemented as required. It is also useful for