Raymond Cattell, born in England in the early twentieth century, his professional career would make him one of the most important personality theorists in the history of psychology, his contributions were decisive in the so-called personality trait theory and there was a practical application in a test that bears his name.
Although Raymond Cattell first studied chemistry, he became interested in psychology after graduating. He was a professor at the University of Illinois for 30 years and at the University of Hawaii for 20 years. He was also a tireless researcher on human behavior and the founder of the Institute of Personality and Skill Testing (IPAT).
- Each of them was identified by a letter.
- Your test was created from these basic features.
- Although it is now used for different purposes.
- Let’s see what personality factors this incredible theorist defined.
“Psychology is a complicated field, in which even several authorities have circled, describing things the world knows in words that no one understands. ? Raymond Cattell?
Factors A, B, C, and E of Raymond Cattell’s personality theory correspond to affectivity, reasoning, stability, and dominance. The condition, according to his theory, would represent the degree of contact a person establishes with other individuals.
The reasoning would have to do with intellectual ability. In this sense, the deeper and more successful an individual’s abstract thinking is, the smarter we say it is.
In turn, stability refers to adaptability in Raymond Cattell’s theory, which corresponds to people’s ability not to be disturbed by the stimuli of the environment in which they live, as well as their willingness and ability to understand and appropriate these stimuli.
Domination is the degree of autonomy or submission of a person. In this sense, the most dominant people tend to be competitive, aggressive and self-confident. The less dominant are more fragile and more easily subordinate to others.
Factors F, G, H and I correspond to impulsivity, group compliance, daring and sensitivity. Cattell associates impulsivity with spontaneity and expressiveness. The more impulsive a person is, the more enthusiastic he will be. The less impulsive, the most cautious, secretive and pessimistic.
For Raymond Cattell, group compliance refers to the degree of acceptance of social norms demonstrated by individuals, the most resigned would be those who become moralists, the most dissatisfied would be rebels or revolutionaries.
Boldness would be tied to the ability to take risks and act under pressure. Those who do not have a high level in this dimension tend to seek the safe and the predictable.
In turn, sensitivity would allude to the predominance of emotional aspects over rationals in behavior. A very sensitive person would be dominated by his feelings. Someone with low sensitivity tends to be realistic and practical.
Factors L, M, N and O correspond to suspicion, imagination, cunning and guilt. Suspicion would have to do with the degree of trust or mistrust in relation to others. Imagination, in turn, would be a person’s ability to immerse themselves in his or her thought and inner world.
Factor N, or cunning, relates to the ability to analyze reality, to identify traits that allow to obtain something positive from others, therefore, the most cunning would also be more calculating and cold, the less cunning are the sincere, spontaneous and direct. .
The last factor, or guilt, refers to a person’s ability to take responsibility for their actions realistically. Those who score high on this factor are people who tend to suffer and blame the blame for everything. Those who score bass have an excellent opinion themselves and would be more forgiving.
Factors Q, from 1 to 4, are rebellion, self-sufficiency, self-control, and tension. Rebellion has to do with opening the way and the ability to transform situations. Autonomy is linked to the degree of personal independence.
In turn, self-control has to do with the level of tendency that an individual should behave socially in an ideal way. Tension refers to the level of anxiety a subject feels in his daily life.
All of these factors are those measured by raymond Cattell’s test, the scores of these factors can be used to track the personality profile of the person who responded to the test, currently this test is used very frequently for the selection of professionals by human resources departments.