Chapter I Literature Review on Personality
1. Definition of Personality
Personality, as one of the most important aspects among differences of individuallearners, has been the subject of many researches. Personality can be defined as adynamic and organized set of characteristics possessed by a person that uniquelyinfluences his or her cognitions, emotions, motivations, and behaviors in varioussituations. “Personality” originates from a Latin word “persona” which means “mask”.Different scholars have different views on how to define personality, so there is noagreement on the definition of personality.One of the earliest definitions given by Allport is①“the dynamic organizationwithin the individual of those psychological systems that determines his characteristicbehavior and thought” (Allport, 1937). Eysenck, Arnold and Meili thought②“personalityis the relatively stable organization of a person’s individual dispositions, arising from theinteraction between biological drives and the social and physical environment” (Eysenck,Arnold & Meili,1975). The term chiefly refers to the affective-cognitive traits ，sentiments，attitudes，complexes and unconscious，interests and ideals，which determineman’s characteristic or distinctive behavior and thought. Carver and Scheier also offer adefinition of personality, which is:③“A dynamic organization, inside the person, ofpsychophysical systems that create a person’s characteristic patterns of behavior,thoughts, and feelings” (Carver & Scheier, 2000).Zhu reported that④“personality of an individual is demonstrated by its uniquemental preference and comparatively stable psychological characteristics”.(Zhu Chun,1994)
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2. Factors Influencing Personality
Extroversion/introversion is one of the most important factors in influencinglearners’ second language learning. The two terms were brought into psychology by Carlin 1965. He proposed the definitions of the two terms:①“the extrovert is typically thiskind of active person who is most content when surrounded by people; the introvert,however, is normally a contemplative person who enjoys solitude and the inner life ofideas and the imagination” (Eysenck, 1970). Based on Eysenck’s research (1970),extroversion commonly refers to the tendency to be outgoing and feel much interested inpeople and things in the environment, whereas introversion generally refers to thetendency to withdraw from social interaction and always be preoccupied with innerthoughts and feelings. He also put forward that extroversion-introversion represents acontinuum since individuals can be more or less extroverted or introverted. Therefore,learners who are extroverts are sociable, lively and active and they have many friendsand like taking risks. Conversely, learners who are introverts are quiet and shy and theyhave few but close friends and usually avoid excitement.
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Chapter II Research Method
1. Instrument
In this thesis, the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF) is employed as anassessment tool to measure people’s personalities. It was first published by RaymondCattell in 1949, which has made great contribution to the researches of personalityassessment. Cattell and his co-workers were able to identify 16 major source factors(Cattell, 1965,P64). Each factor has its own history and has a strong effect on everyaspect of a person's overall functioning and behaviors. These 16 basic traits were lateremployed in the construction of the Sixteen Personality Factor Test. At present, 16 PF iswidely used and of high validity and reliability.Cattell’s 16PF is a famous known survey which used more personality questionnaire.Accounting for MMY-9, it leaps the first 13.5 in the 50 commonly used tests. The scalehas high reliability(1981 test shows that the highest reliability coefficient is 0.92). Invalidity, test results indicate 16 personality factors of low between related, shows thatbetween various factors is independent. The scale of resistency is between 0.73 and 0.96,the same factor in each topic the reaction has a high degree of coherence.16PF adopts 10scoring system, from 1 to 10 points respectively said from low to high, 5 for the average.It is worth noting that, here said the high score or low with the meaning of thenumber not size, but used to measure the respondents in different dimensions of bipolarof the evaluation of deviation.
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2. Subjects
The test is one of the most universal ways to evaluate the personality characteristicsof people over 16 years old. It widely applies to various kinds of people, and has no limitto the occupation, level, gender and cultural background of its subjects.The study here is student-orientated and the subjects are 30 interpreters of Englishmajor from two universities . They participated in the CATTI (China Aptitude Test forTranslators and Interpreters). All the participants are at the age of 20 to 26 and havestudied English formally and systematically for more than 2 years’ as English-majorstudents in the university. As they have already gained stable language skills andpsychological state, these participants can be the representatives of English majors . Personality is the stable, and habitual ways of thinking and behavioral style,throughout the entire psychological process, and is the uniqueness of the overall portrayalof the human.Personality is very important for managers to penetrate into all the acts of themanagers, the activities that affect managers, style and performance. A lot of research andpractice shows that some personality types and management activities have a specificrelationship. The use of personality tests is to judge the personality of the managers orcandidates for the personnel arrangements, adjustments and the rational use of humanresources to provide advice.
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Chapter II Research Method.... 8
1. Instrument...... 8
2. Subjects.... 9
3. Research Questions.... 9
4. Data-Collection and Analysis Procedures ......... 10
Chapter III Findings and Discussion....... 12
1. Findings ....... 12
2. Discussions ........ 17
Chapter III Findings and Discussion
In this chapter, data results will be analyzed and explored. Cattell’s 16PFassessment are used to help to measure levels of warmth(A), Reasoning(B), EmotionalStability(C), Dominance(E), Liveliness(F), Rule-consciousness(G), Boldness(H),Sensitivity(I), vigilance(L), Abstractedness(M), Privateness(N), Apprehension(O),Openness to change(Q1), Self-reliance(Q2), Perfectionism(Q3)，Tension (Q4). In this section, the relationship between personality traits and achievements ofEnglish majors are studied. The 30 students were divided into two groups (Group A andGroup B) according to their final scores of CATTI. It is a kind of academic test, whichaimed at testing the English majors’ general college-level English proficiency accordingto a syllabus. In this section, Group A members are those who have passed the examalready, while the members of Group B have failed the exam. The next, through thedifferences of each analysis data, does the research for correlationship betweenpersonality traits and achievement.
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Conclusion
This thesis attempts to provide a sound explanation on the relationship betweenpersonality factors and English interpreting levels of English interpreters by usingCattell’s 16 Personality Factor Questionnaire (16 PF). In the first chapter, the concept ofpersonality is presented. This chapter introduces personality factors and previous studiesof personality and language learning. In the second chapter, Cattell’s 16PF is introduced.And this chapter draws forth its research questions, subjects and research procedures.Through the Cattell’s 16PF, the third chapter shows the research findings and discussions.Its 16 personality factors find a discovery on the personality differences between studentswith higher scores and lower scores. The statistical results show the major tendencies ofpersonality factors as well as the considerable relationships between personality andinterpreting levels of English interpreters. It can be seen that either Group A or Group Bhas their own distinguishing factors which dominate their personality. Group A studentswho have passed the CATTI tend to be attentive , thoughtful, open to change, imaginary,radical and more perfectionistic. Group A are more cautious, calm , silent, timid, innocent,more trusting, confident, relaxed. Conversely, Group B members that score low inCATTI are relatively lively, enthusiastic, talkative, socially bold , aggressive, morevigilance and suspicion, depressed and anxious, self-reliant and easily getting nervous,self-disciplined, realistic, reasonable and careful, conservative, tolerate disorder.
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