How a Functionalist Understanding of Behavior Can Explain Trait Variation and Covariation Without the Use of Latent Factors
Year: 2011
Type: article
Abstract: Personality psychologists frequently think of latent factors (e.g., extraversion) inferred from the covariance of behavioral traits (e.g., sociability, assertiveness) as basic causes of these traits. Here, we argue that such latent factors serve no role as causes of behavior. Instead, we discuss the merits of approaches which cast motivations, abilities or affordances, and perceptions of the environment – collectively MAPs – as the functional antecedents of behavior. Although functionalist explanations of behavior have recently illustrated how a range of basic phenomena in personality psychology can be understood without invoking latent factors (e.g., Fleeson & Jolley, 2007), this work has not clearly described how such frameworks can explain the covariation of behavioral traits. Using qualitative and quantitative data, we show that any particular behavioral trait is almost certainly influenced by many distinct MAPs, and conversely, that any particular MAP almost certainly influences many distinct behavioral traits. This in turn allows for a functionalist understanding of the covariance of behavioral traits which does not necessitate any role for latent factors: covariance increases as traits increasingly share functional antecedents, and even uncorrelated traits will regularly share functional antecedents. We discuss how removing a causal role for latent factors has numerous implications for how personality research is conducted, and for our theoretical understanding of basic issues in personality psychology ranging from the nature of biological and environmental influences on behavior, to personality stability and the potential for personality change.
Authors: Wood, Dustin, Hensler, Molly
Institution: University of Alabama at Birmingham
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W6982312011