The document outlines various trait theories of personality, including those by Allport, Cattell, Eysenck, and McCrae & Costa, exploring how traits influence behavior and personality. It discusses the hierarchy of traits according to Allport, Cattell's sixteen personality factors, Eysenck's dimensions of extroversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism, and the Big Five factors proposed by McCrae and Costa. The theories emphasize that personality is shaped by a combination of traits, which can be viewed on continuous dimensions.

1. Trait theories of personality
Psychology for Everyday Living – PSY 111
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2. Outline
• Overview of trait theories
• Allport’s Trait Theory
• Hierarchy
• Cattell’s Trait Theory
• Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire
• Eysenck’s Trait Theory
• Personality dimensions
• McCrae and Costa’s Theory
• Big-five Factors
• Conclusion
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3. Overview of trait theories
• Personality, a characteristic way of
thinking, feeling, and behaving
• The entire puzzle is personality
• Each piece in the puzzle can be
considered a trait
• Each piece of puzzle influences
personality
• Personality is a combination of traits that
determine our behaviour
• Traits are viewed as continuous
dimension
Ex: the trait of ‘extroversion-introversion’
• Trait-labels used to identify the
characteristic way of behaving
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4. Example of a trait-label and dimensions
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Viewed as
continuous
dimension
Eysenck, H. J. (1952). The scientific study of personality.

5. Famous trait theorists
• Gordon Allport
• Raymond Cattell
• Hans Eysenck
• Robert McCrae and Paul Costa
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6. Allport’s Trait Theory
• Examined 4,500 words used in the English language that
could describe people
• According to their theory, three types of traits govern our
personality (in a hierarchy)
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Cardinal
Central
Secondary

7. Allport’s Trait Theory
These are the dominant traits of one’s personality
Cardinal Traits
• Top of Allport’s trait hierarchy
• Master controller of one’s personality
• These traits may dominate personality Ex: M.K. Gandhi for his honesty
• Very few people have personalities dominated by cardinal traits
They come second in the hierarchy
Central Traits
• According to Allport, every person possesses 5-10 central traits in varying degrees
• Responsible for shaping our personality
• Ex: intelligent, loyal, dependable, aggressive etc.
These are less relevant traits of personality
Secondary Traits
• These are basically situational or circumstantial traits
• These can be numerous in number and are responsible for behaviors incongruent to individual’s usual behaviour
• “aroused by a narrower range of equivalent stimuli and they issue into a narrower range of equivalent responses”
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8. Cattell’s Trait Theory
• Using factor analysis-a statistical procedure, Cattell factor
analysed the Allport’s list of 4,500 English adjectives.
• He came up with the following sixteen trait dimensions
of human personality
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Allport’s 4,500 Adjectives/Words
Cattell’s 16 trait dimensions

9. Cattell’s Trait Theory
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10. Cattell’s Trait Theory
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Developed a questionnaire known as the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF)
16PF psychology sheet - Bing..

11. Eysenck’s Trait Theory
• He believed that our personality is largely innate and
genetically based.
• He also used factor analysis to understand the underlying
personality traits
• Initially, he proposed that our personality is comprised of
two major personality dimensions: (extroversion vs.
introversion) and (neuroticism vs. stability).
• Different combinations of these dimensions lead to the
development of different personalities
• Later, he added the third dimension to his model and
named it as psychoticism vs. socialization
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12. Eysenck’s Trait Theory
Extroversion-introversion
• Refers to the degree to which one seeks external or
internal stimulation
• Extroverts: Social, seek adventurous and prefer company
when in stress.
• Introverts: shy, enjoy their own company and turns
inward when in stress.
Neuroticism-stability
• Refers to a dimension that describes people in the
context of their emotionality and maladjusted behaviour
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13. Eysenck’s Trait Theory
• Neuroticism: emotionally unstable, moody and
maladjusted
• Stable: tend to be calm
Psychoticism-socialization
• Psychoticism: aggressive, egocentric, anti-social and
impulsive
• Socialization: empathetic and conventional
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14. McCrae and Costa’s Big-five Factor Theory
• McCrae and Costa believed that all human personality
traits can be reduced to five factors only (OCEAN):
• Openness to experience
• Conscientiousness
• Extraversion
• Agreeableness
• Neuroticism
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15. McCrae and Costa’s Big-five Factor Theory
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Openness to experience: such people love novelty and creativity.
They have a curious mind and have an appreciation for art. They are
an independent thinker and prefer to do a variety of things instead of
routine activities.
Conscientiousness: these people are more goal-directed, self-
disciplined, hardworking, honest and competent. They prefer
planned activity instead of spontaneous behaviour.
Extraversion: similar to the description of Eysenck’s theory
Agreeableness: people who score high on agreeableness have a
tendency to be cooperative and compassionate. Such people are
generally helpful and trustworthy.
Neuroticism: these are worried, insecure and self-pitying people.
Whereas, people who score low on neuroticism are self-satisfied and
secure.