For this assignment, you will:
• Download and use the form entitled “trait worksheet” for this exercise.
• Choose seven people you know and write five traits that describe their personalities.
• Cut out the traits into little cards.
o You will have a total of 35 cards.
o Some traits will be duplicated so you will have about 10-15 different cards.
• Combine the cards into categories.
o For example, “friendly” and “outgoing” are similar, can be grouped together, and if you
had 15 different traits in the first part, you now have 14 traits.
o Continue this exercise until you can’t combine the traits anymore.
• How many piles of traits do you have? Come up with a name for each pile.
o For example, if you had a pile with “friendly” “outgoing” and “gregarious” you might call
this pile “friendly” or “social.” There is no one correct name; however, it should describe
all traits in the pile.
• Write a few paragraphs describing the traits.
o Compare the traits you had at the beginning and how they changed by grouping them
into categories.
o Explain the piles you created and how you named them.
o Give an opinion about how accurate this method is at coming up with a list of traits you
chose. What do you think might make it more accurate?
PSY305 – Theories of Personality
Factor Analysis of Traits
Requirements:
• Incorporate all ideas into your own words.
• Complete your work in a Microsoft Word document.
