Nomothetic Theory Of Personality Essay

The nomothetic theories of personality are widely used in many areas of modern life, including marketing, employment and education. Many companies use pre-hire psychometric assessment tools based on nomothetic theories of personality to cut down on hiring time and lower the costs of hiring. The term “nomothetic” comes from the Greek word “nomos” meaning “law” McLeod, S. A. (2007). These theories look for universal laws of behaviour. Being able to predict behaviour is the major purpose of these theories. Psychologists categorise human personality into ‘traits’. A trait is assumed a relatively stable characteristic of an individual and it influences behaviour in a particular direction.

There are a number of psychological theorists which use

As Aberdeen research shows companies which use Big five assessment tool for staff selection have terrific returns on their investments. Companies having pre hire assessment programmes 24% more likely to have employees exceeding performance expectations and 17% higher level of job engagement among employees and 36% more satisfied with new employees compared to businesses which do not use pre employment testing Lechner (2015). This is another evidence showing that the Big five model adequately capture and explain human personality.

However nomothetic theories predictions from group results may not apply to an individual. Robert, Waltson and Viechtbauer (2006) study on the mean level change in personality trait showed that personality doesn’t seem to reach a point of consistency and is in fact always changing during a person’s life time. Because traits are presumed to be some of the least changeable factors studied in personality psychology, if not psychology in general (Conley, 1984). This would make the big 5 theory model

This helps clarify the needs and possible issues of certain personality types with certain area of their lives. Geen’s (1984) study on auditory stimulation in extraverts and introverts shows that introverts are more aroused when exposed to same level of noise heard during task. Which confirms Eysenck’s theory and indicates that extraverts are more likely change negatively in their performance with ether a higher or lower change in auditory stimulation from their preferred level of stimulation. The introverts will only worsen their performance when exposed to higher stimulation.
Another study (Twenge (200, 2001, 2002), shows that younger groups of people are more neurotic and extraverted than older ones. This study shows changes in the level of neuroticism across lifespan. These are studies which allows us to understand better each personality type and their possible study requirements.

Even if nomothetic theories captured and explained personality as Mischel (1968) demonstrated, the average personality trait only account for 10% of behaviour, therefore this mean that 90% of human behaviour is down to something else than