Overview of Trait Approaches in Personality 
                                   
                                   
                           Dr Archana Shukla, 
                               MA, Ph D 
                           Assistant Professor 
                                                  Department of Psychology 
                          University of Lucknow 
                               Lucknow 
                                   
         
                                   
         
         
         
         
         
        Disclaimer: This content is solely for the purpose of e-learning by students and any 
        commercial use is not permitted. The author does not claim originality of the content 
        and it is based on the following references 
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
        Overview of Trait Approaches in Personality 
         
        Objective: 
        Present content aims to specify the Trait Approach in Personality Theories. It gives 
        a glimpse of its major contributors. 
         
        Learning Outcome: 
        Students will orient themselves as to what are major Personality Theories with 
        special reference to the Trait Theories of Personality 
         
            
         
        These  theories  are  mainly  concerned  with  the  description  or  characterization  of  basic 
        components of personality. They try to discover the ‘building blocks’ of personality. Human 
        beings display a wide range of variations in psychological attributes, yet it is possible to club 
        them into smaller number of personality traits. Trait approach is very similar to our common 
        experience in everyday life. For example, when we come to know that a person is sociable, we 
        assume that s/he will not only be cooperative, friendly and helping, but also engage in behaviors 
        that  involve  other  social  components.  Thus,  trait  approach  attempts  to  identify  primary 
        characteristics of people.  
        A trait is considered as a relatively enduring attribute or quality on which one individual differs 
        from another.  
        They include a range of possible behaviors that are activated according to the demands of the 
        situation.  
        To summarize,  
        (a) Traits are relatively stable over time,  
        (b)They are generally consistent across situations, and  
        (c) Their strengths and combinations vary across individuals leading to individual differences in 
        personality.  
         
        A number of psychologists have used traits to formulate their theories of personality. We will 
        discuss some important theories. 
        Allport (central, secondary and cardinal traits),  
        Cattell (source and surface traits).  
        The five-factor model of Costa and McCrae.  
         
         
        Gordon Allport (1897-1967) 
        He is often called the father of personality theory. He was very much a trait theorist. Traits are 
        specific dimensions along which individuals differ in consistent and stable ways. He believed in 
        the individuality and uniqueness of the person and that people have consistent personalities. 
        Allport who spent thirty years searching for the traits that combine to form personality, found 
        nearly 18,000 dictionary terms that can be used to describe human behaviour. Allport believed 
       that traits are essentially unique to each individual. On the basis of his studies, Allport concluded 
       that personality traits could be divided into several categories that varied in their importance. 
        
       The least important are secondary traits; these are traits that exert relatively weak and limited 
       effects on behavior.  
       More important are central traits- five to ten traits that together account for the uniqueness of 
       an individual’s personality. Such traits are stronger and more resistant to situational forces.  
        
       Finally, Allport noted that a few people are dominated by a single trait called cardinal trait. 
       Nearly all of the individual’s actions can be traced back to such traits. Napoleon (ambition) and 
       Alexander the Great (lust for power) are a few examples of such persons and their cardinal traits. 
        
       According to Allport, more important than all of the searching into the past or the history of the 
       organism is the simple question of what the individual intends to do in the future. Intentions 
       include hopes, wishes, ambitions, aspirations, and plans of the person. It is the contention of this 
       theory that what the individual is trying to do is the most important key to how the person will 
       behave in the present. In this respect, he showed a strong similarity to certain views of Alfred 
       Adler and Carl Jung.   
        
       The principle of functional autonomy simply states that a given activity may become an end or 
       goal in itself, in spite of the fact that it was originally engaged in for some other reason. For 
       example, initially a child may learn to read because this pleases his teachers and parents. Later in 
       life, however, the same person may read because he has come to enjoy this activity in itself. This 
       contrasts with Freud’s view that the roots of adult personality are planted firmly in the soil of 
       childhood. For Allport, such connections are not necessarily present, and our adult behaviour 
       may spring from roots entirely different from those that give rise to our childhood behaviour. 
        
       Cattell: (1905-1998)  
       Raymond Cattell believed that there is a common structure on which people differ from each 
       other. This structure could be determined empirically. He tried to identify the primary traits from 
       a huge array of descriptive adjectives found in language. He applied a statistical technique, called 
       factor analysis, to discover the common structures. He found 16 primary or source traits.  
       The source traits are stable, and are considered as the building blocks of personality.  
       Besides these, there are also a number of surface traits that result out of the interaction of source 
       traits.  
       Cattell described the source traits in terms of opposing tendencies.  
       He  developed  a  test,  called  Sixteen  Personality  Factor  Questionnaire  (16PF),  for  the 
       assessment of personality. This test is widely used by psychologists. 
        
        
       Big Five Factor model of Costa and McCrae(1987) 
       Researchers are of the view that there are five core personality traits. Evidences suggest that 
       theory  has  gained  gravity  in  recent  years.  There  are  big  five  key  or  central  dimensions  of 
       personality (e.g. Costa and McCrae).  These are sometimes labelled as the big five, and they can 
       be described as follows:  
        
       • Extraversion: A dimension ranging from energetic, enthusiastic, sociable, and talkative at one 
       end to retiring, sober, reserved, silent, and cautious at the other.  
        
       • Agreeableness:  A dimension ranging from good-natured, cooperative, trusting and helpful at 
       one end to irritable, suspicious, and uncooperative at the other.  
        
       •  Conscientiousness:  A  dimension  ranging  from  well-organized,  careful,  self-disciplined 
       responsible and precise at one end to disorganized, impulsive careless and undependable at the 
       other. 
        
        • Emotional Stability (sometimes labeled neuroticism):  A dimension ranging from poised, calm, 
       composed  and  not  hypochondriacal  at  one  end,  to  nervous,  anxious,  high  strung  and 
       hypochondriacal at the other.  
        
       •  Openness to experience:  A dimension ranging from imaginative, witty, and having broad 
       interests at one end to down-to-earth, simple, and having narrow interests at the other. 
        
       Summary: 
       Sole  purpose  of  this  content  was  to  give  a  overview  of  some  bench  marks  in  the  area  of 
       Personality theories. 
        
       References 
            
        
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       Morgan, C.T., King, R.A. Weisz, J.R., Schopler, J. (2001). Introduction to Psychology, Tata 
       McGraw and Hill.  
        McGeehan. (1990), Experimental Psychology (Indian edition). Prentice Hall of India Pvt. Ltd.  
       Singh, A.K. (2000). Uchchtar Samanya Manovigyan New Delhi: Motilal Banaras  
        Snodgrass, J. A., Berger, G. L. and Maydon, M. (1985) Human Experimental Psychology, 
       Oxford University Press. 
        Spear, P.D, Peniod, S.O. & Bakes.T.B.(1998).Psychology Perspective son Behavior. John Wiley 
       and Sons. 11. Zimbardo, P. G. & Weber, A.L. (1997). Psychology. New York: Harper Collins 
       College Publisher