The document discusses the trait approach to personality. The trait approach views personality as combinations of fundamental dimensions or traits, such as extraversion, neuroticism, agreeableness, etc. It describes several trait theorists like Gordon Allport, Raymond Cattell, and Hans Eysenck who developed theories and measures to identify core personality traits. The trait approach assumes that traits are stable across time and situations and that individuals differ in their specific traits. It focuses on using traits to describe personality and predict typical behavior rather than explain underlying causes of behavior.

1. The Trait Approach

2. IInnttrroodduuccttiioonn
•List the three best things
about:
–Best friend
–Yourself

3. Typology
- classifications to describe the distinctions
between people.
Four Types:
(Ancient Greek)
 Sanguine (Happy)
 Melancholic (unhappy)
 Choleric
(temperamental)
 Phlegmatic (apathetic)
Three basic personality types
(General Physique)
 Endomorphic (obese)
 Mesomorphic (muscular)
 Ectomorphic (fragile)

4. •Personality Psychologists use
conceptions of personality that
can apply to everyone. Personality
research has led to the
development of a number of
theories that help explain how
and why certain personality traits
develop.

5. WWhhaatt iiss TTrraaiitt??
•It is a dimension of personality
used to categorize people
according to the degree to which
they manifest a particular
characteristics.

6. TTrraaiitt AApppprrooaacchh ttoo PPeerrssoonnaalliittyy
•Identifies where a person might lie
along a continuum of various
personality characteristics.
•Basic views shared by trait
theorists:
– Traits are fundamental building blocks of
personality
– Can be organized

7. TTrraaiitt CCoonnttiinnuuuumm
• Wide range of behaviors can be represented on trait
continuum
– E.g. achievement motivation: highly driven and persistent on
one end, indifference and no drive at all on the other extreme
• Each person can be placed somewhere on continuum
– More or less aggressive, more or less friendly, etc.
• Scores will have a normal distribution (fewer people
score in the extreme on any trait)

8. The trait approach to personality is built
on two important assumptions:
1. Stability
•Over time
•Across situations
2. Individual Differences
•Strength of traits
•amount of trait
•number of traits that stand out

9. TTrraaiitt TThheeoorriissttss
• Gordon Allport’s Trait Theory
- Cardinal Traits
- Central Traits
- Secondary Traits
• Raymond Cattell’s Sixteen
Personality Factor Questionnaire
• The Five-Factor Theory
of Personality
- Extraversion
- Agreeableness
- Conscientiousness
- Neuroticism
- Openness
• Eysenck’s Three Dimensions of
Personality
-Introversion/Extraversion
- Neuroticism/Emotional Stability
- Psychoticism

10. DDiiffffeerreennccee ooff TTrraaiitt AApppprrooaacchh ffrroomm tthhee
ootthheerr aapppprrooaacchheess
• Trait researches are usually not interested in
predicting one person’s behavior in a given
situation. Instead they want to predict how people
who score within a certain segment of the trait
continuum typically behave.
• Trait theorists often places less emphasis on
identifying the mechanisms underlying behavior.
Rather than explaining why people behave the
way they do, many trait researchers focus on
describing personality and predicting behavior.

11. • Unlike many other theories of
personality, such as psychoanalytic or
humanistic theories, the trait approach
to personality is focused on differences
between individuals. The combination
and interaction of various traits forms a
personality that is unique to each
individual. Trait theory is focused on
identifying and measuring these
individual personality characteristics.

12. Assessing tthhee TTrraaiitt AApppprrooaacchh ttoo
PPeerrssoonnaalliittyy
• While most agree that people can be
described based upon their personality
traits, theorists continue to debate the
number of basic traits that make up human
personality. While trait theory has objectivity
that some personality theories lack. Some of
the most common criticisms of trait theory
center on the fact that traits are often poor
predictors of behavior.

13. Assessing tthhee TTrraaiitt AApppprrooaacchh ttoo
PPeerrssoonnaalliittyy
•While an individual may score high
on assessments of a specific trait,
he or she may not always behave
that way in every situation.
Another problem is that trait
theories do not address how or
why individual differences in
personality develop or emerge.

14. RReeffeerreenncceess::
• http://psychology.about.com/od/theoriesofpersonality/a/trait-theory.htm
Allport, G.W. & Odbert, H.S. (1936). Trait-names: A psycho-lexical study. Psychological Monographs, 47(211).
Boeree, C.G. (2006). Gordon Allport. Personality Theories. Found online at http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/allport.html
Cattell, R.B. (1965). The scientific analysis of personality. Baltimore: Penguin Books.
Eysenck, H.J. (1992). Four ways five factors are not basic. Personality and Individual Differences, 13, 667-673.
McCrae, R.R., & Costa, P.T. (1997) Personality trait structure as a human universal. American Psychologist, 52, 509-516.
• http://psychology.about.com/od/overviewofpersonality/a/persondef.htm
• http://en.wikipedia.org
• www.uky.edu/Classes/PSY/313-001/trait%20approaches%20part1.ppt

16. SSIITTUUAATTIIOONN
VVEERRSSUUSS
TTRRAAIITT CCOONNTTRROOVVEERRSSYY

17. •Walter Mischel (1930- )
- The overreliance on test scores
- In 1968, he published a book
called Personality and Assessment claiming
that behavior is too cross-situationally
inconsistent to be classified with personality
traits.
- More recently, Mischel has
retracted some of his original claims,
protesting that some psychologists
misinterpreted his argument to mean he
believes personality does not exist.

18. CCrriittiicciissmm ooff tthhee TTrraaiitt AApppprrooaacchh
• Trait Measures Do not Predict Behavior Well
• Person-by-Situation Approach is the relationship among
traits, situations, and behaviors.
• There is Little Evidence for Cross-Situational
Consistency

19. RReeffeerreenncceess
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Person
%E2%80%93situation_debate
• Google.com/image/WalterMischel