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Trait Approach
Trait? Aspect of personality that is considered to be
reasonably stable. A person has certain traits based on how the
person behaves. A “shy” person? How do they behave? An “outgoing” person? How do they behave? Trait theorists, believe traits generally are
somehow fixed or unchanging. Try to answer the ? Where do traits come
from?
Hippocrates
Greeks: Body contains fluids called Humors. Traits are a result of different combinations of these bodily fluids. Believed 4 basic fluids
Yellow Bile Quick-tempered disposition
Blood Warm and cheerful temperament
Phlegm Sluggish and cool disposition
Black Bile Melancholic, thoughtful temperament
Gordon Allport
1930s Catalogued 18,000 different traits Traits can be inherited and they are
fixed in the nervous system. People’s behavior is a product of their particular combinations of traits. “short” and “brunette” – Physical “Shy” and “emotional”– behavioral “Honest” – Moral
Raymond Cattell
Determine the number of basic traits human personality can be boiled down to. Studied groups rather than individuals Identified obvious personality traits
(surface traits) Integrity Friendliness Tidiness
Raymond Cattell
Clusters of surface traits seemed to occur together.
If a person showed 1 trait in cluster, they usually showed the others in the cluster.
A single underlying trait (source traits) gives rise to all the traits in each cluster.
16 source traits Cattell’s Sixteen Personality Factor
Questionnaire
Hans Eysenck
Focused on the relationships between two personality dimension
Introversion-Extroversion Emotional stability-instability Introverts: imaginative and look inward rather
than to other people for their ideas and energy Extroverts: tend to be active and self-
expressive and gain energy from interaction with other people
Stable: usually reliable, composed, and rational Unstable: agitated and unpredictable Eysenck
The Big Five
5 basic personality dimensions Introversion-Extroversion Emotional Stability-Instability Conscientiousness-carelessness Agreeableness-disagreeableness Openness to new experience– closed-
mindedness Established at a young age and
remains stable.
Evaluation of the Trait Approach Where do traits come from? Most trait-theorists describe traits Matching people to educational
programs and jobs on the basis of personality traits.