The trait approach is a way of studying personality that places emphasis on the traits of an individual as markers of personality. Traits are continuing patterns of behavior and thoughts that are generally stable over time. Traits are often the things that people use to describe another person such as nice, rude, funny, honest. The trait approach suggests that our personalities are comprised of these differing behavioral traits. The trait approach is focused on individual differences and the interaction and combination of personality traits are what makes individual personalities unique. Many different theories use this approach such as the Big Five personality factor theory and the work of Gordon Allport and Raymond Cattell. A critique of the trait approach for personality is that traits can sometimes be bad predictors of behavior. Just because a person scores high on a particular trait doesn't mean they will act that way in a real world setting.
Introduction Trait Theory, also known as Dispositional Theory, is an approach to study human personality and behaviour. It is the measurement of steady patterns of habit in an individual’s behaviour, thoughts and emotions. Trait theorists focus on the measurement of ‘traits’, which lead to a better understanding of human personality. Over a period of time, traits become relativelystable, depending on the individual and his social and environmental surroundings, which influence behaviour.  Three Traits of an Individual Gordon Allport is one of the earliest trait theorists who conducted research on human traits. He believed that every individual’s personality consist of or it is shaped by a set of traits. He categorized traits as central, common and cardinal.
Main Traits in Trait Theory There are 16 main traits in Trait theory which are used as parameters.
Trait Theory can be applied in many ways. For example, The Thematic Apperception Test, 16PF the tests designed to measure the five factors. These tests are self-report tests and the candidates are asked to answer the questions. Criticism of Trait Theory The main criticism against Trait Theory is that it fails to predict future behaviour. It cannot address a person’s emotional state of mind or his future behaviour. A state is a temporary means of interacting both with oneself and with others. For example, an individual who is perceived as introverted and reserved in social circumstances may be the opposite when around with his friends. He may be quite friendly and social with his friends. Another critique is that trait theory does not address personality development. Its basis for study is empirical and relies heavily on statistics rather than theory. Hence, it neither provides any explanation of personality development nor gives any information on how to develop personality. It merely measures the current personality of the individual without any scope for change in the future. Conclusion Lastly, since there is no scope for personality development, trait theory also ignores the challenge of changing traits, particularly the negative traits. Since the acceptable development (i.e.,positive traits) is an important factor in human personality, changes in traits are frequent and sometimes inevitable. However, trait theory has neither no scope for the study of trait change, nor it gives any guidance about such changes. Thus, Trait theory focuses on the various aspects of human personality and illustrates such traits as the main components and shapers of human personality. Even though it does not have a futuristic outlook, it is still important for analysis of short term personality and behaviour.
Traits, in psychology, refer to the ways in which we generally describe a person. The descriptive terms such as out-going, short tempered, generous are all traits. Trait approach is one of the most vital areas of study in psychology that helps identify a person’s personality. Traits can be defined as a stable characteristic that causes a person to depict a response to any situations in certain ways. Trait theories indicate that the traits are always constant regardless of the situations. An individual, as a whole, doesn’t just have a single trait, but the variety of trait forms of personality. These trait forms are unique from one individual to another. The theory designated to identify and measure individual personality characteristics can be defined as trait theory. Trait theory approach focuses on personality differences between individuals. Gordon Allport’s Trait TheoryPsychologist Gordon Allport was among the firsts to come up with a personality trait theory. He came about with an astounding discovery in 1936, which showed that more than 4000 words in an English language dictionary described personality traits. Allbort viewed traits as building blocks of personality. According to him, there are three classes of traits. Cardinal TraitsCardinal traits are the traits around which a person organizes his whole life. Allport suggested that these traits are developed later in life, and are in fact quite rare. But, these traits play such an important role in a person’s life that they often become synonymous with the names of the person. Meaning, a person might be specifically known for these traits. E.g.: greed, lust, kindness, narcissism. Central TraitsTraits representing major characteristics of a person are referred as central traits. These can also be considered as the characteristics that lead to the foundation of an individual’s personality. Example of central traits: shy, anxious, intelligent, dishonest. Secondary traitsSecondary traits refer to the general behavior patterns that only appear under certain circumstances. An example would be getting nervous to speak in public. Hans EysenckEysenck is the most famous British psychologist. He considered that there are two major dimensions of personality which account for the many different types of person we encounter. They are:
He proposed a model of personality based on these two universal traits, and the third dimension later added by the psychologist himself. 1. Introversion/Extroversion: extrovert <—-> introvert 2. Neuroticism/Emotional Stability: neurotic <—-> normal (or stable) 3. Psychoticism Criticisms of Eysenck’s Theory
Raymond Cattell’s Trait TheoryUnlike Eysenck, Cattell based his theory on various sources rather than just self reporting. Cattell’s trait theory has been built around the use of factor analysis, a mathematical technique devised by Charles Spearman. With the use of factor analysis, Cattell reviewed and categorized a large number of traits, seeking the most basic and useful ones, and developed a scheme for classifying them. This brought down the Allport’s initial list of over 4000 words to 171 different traits. He further identified the closely related terms and the final list was prepared of 16 basic source traits. According to him, these are the base of all human personality. Cattell discovered that some traits are surface traits, easily visible to any observer, and others are source traits, the underlying structures responsible for the surface traits.
Sixteen factors of Personality, all bipolar.
Source: Hayes & Orell (1993) The Big Five Factors Theory of PersonalityLots of researchers and psychologists believed that Eysenck’s theory focused on too few traits while Cattell’s theory focused on too many traits. As a result, a new theory was established, namely “The Big Five Factor Theory of Personality”. Although researchers and related folks often disagree about the terms assigned to these dimensions, the labels developed by Costa and McCrae in 1985 are still in use today.
Critical Evaluation of Trait Approach to PersonalityNo theory is full proof, and everything has a loophole. While the trait theories of personality does cover some grounds that other personality theories lack, such as Psychoanalytic Theory of Freud, there are weaknesses to this approach. Major criticisms are:
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What does the trait perspective focus on?
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