Explain how dispositional trait theories
Career Dispositions Self-Inventory Worksheet
Introduction
Refer to Chapter 13 in your textbook, Theories of Personality, for this assignment.
McCrae and Costa (Feist et al., 2018) theorized that personality traits can be categorized by five major factors:
• Openness
• Conscientiousness
• Extraversion
• Agreeableness
• Neuroticism
Like Allport, they claim that individuals will score at a specific point along a continuum for each of the five factors. For example, a high score in extraversion may reflect that someone is outgoing, or a low score may reflect that a person is reserved. Most people will score somewhere in the middle, with only a few who score at either of the extremes.
Combined, these factors can give us insight into recognizing and accepting our own dispositional traits as well as those of others. Such an understanding of personality can help us to self-reflect, predict behaviors, and demonstrate empathy in ways that can improve our relationships with colleagues in diverse workplace environments.
Part I: Trait Theories
Explain how dispositional trait theories (Allport, McCrae and Costa) are different from biological trait theories (Eysenck and Buss) in 125–175 words.
Part II: Big Five Personality Test
Take the Big Five Personality Test to obtain a free basic report of your personality traits. The report will display a graph that looks like this:
Provide your results below using one of the following methods:
• Type your results as a percentage for each trait
• Create a chart or graph of your percentages
• Take a screenshot of the graph of your results and paste it into this document
Part III: Personality Trait Scores
Discuss each dimension of your personality based on the Big Five Personality Test report of your trait scores in 175–225 total words.
1. Summarize each dimension of your personality in 2–4 sentences:
a. Openness:
b. Conscientiousness:
c. Extraversion:
d. Agreeableness:
e. Neuroticism:
2. Describe some of your behaviors that are reflected in your score for each dimension.
3. How accurate do you think the Big Five Personality Test is in its description of your personality? Explain your answer.
Part IV: Career Trait Dispositions
Every career requires a different set of skills and aptitudes. While it is important to know the skills required to succeed at a job, it is equally important to know the types of personalities that would best match that career.
Use your test results and apply your knowledge of dispositional and biological personality trait theories to respond to the following examples in 200–300 total words:
1. You have been invited to interview for a position as a salesperson in a retail store. Explain how well you would fit this role by describing your personality to the hiring manager.
2. You are considering a position as a bookkeeper for a small accounting firm. How well would your personality fare in this environment? Include at least one biological factor in your explanation.
3. National Geographic is looking for a photographer. Which personality dimensions would require high scores to be successful in this position?
4. Based on the results of the Big Five Personality Test, what might be the ideal career for your personality? Why?
References
Feist, J., Feist, G. J., & Roberts, T. (2018). Theories of personality (9th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.
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