Trait Oriented Personality And Personality Traits

Trait theories assume people have many traits that are continuing qualities that individuals have in different amounts. Allport’s theory suggests that there are 3 main traits: central, secondary, and cardinal. A central trait is a characteristic that controls and organizes behavior in various situations. A secondary trait can be described as a preference and is specific to certain situations. A cardinal trait is very general and pervasive. It is so pervasive that an individual is governed by it and it dictates everything a person does.

Research also shows indicates that the Big Five has distinct biological substrates thereby linking trait perspective with the biological perspective (DeYoung, Quilty & Peterson, 2007). However this convergence of perspectives is actually productive in that all perspectives by themselves have their disadvantages as well as their advantages. If all perspectives can coincide with one another, explanations of personality will become so much easier.

For over two hundred years the study of traits has been a continued interest for trait theorists. In 1936 pioneering psychologist Gordon Allport began applying the principles of scientific taxonomy to the study of character traits, developing a cohesive theory of personality as a generalized, rather than specific, manifestation (Olivarez, 2010, para.1).In Allport’s approach, human traits also referred to as dispositions could be categorized into three classes: central traits, common traits, and cardinal traits. Central traits are basic to an individual's personality, whereas secondary traits are more peripheral. Common traits are those recognized within a culture and may vary between cultures. Cardinal traits are those by which an individual may be strongly recognized.

in order to analyze the patterns that determine personality, certain issues need to be addressed

According the Carver & Schreier (2012), “the trait approach to personality can be exemplified by two traits” (p. 52). One trait can be described as consistency while the other trait usually describes an individual being different from their neighbors. Vollrath and Torgersen argue that the extraversion and neuroticism traits are substantially present among individuals who are likely to participate in “risky health behaviors such as smoking, excessive drinking and drunk driving, drug use and sexual behaviors” that risks the overall wellbeing of a person or a person who lacks both of the following traits in larger quantities. They are generally regarded as individuals who can withstand temptation and are less likely to participate in risky behaviors. “Extraversion seems to relate to having social impact.” (Carver & Schreier, 2012) People with high levels of extraversion seemingly engage with and enjoy being with other people and often are the assertive ones in the group. People with high levels of neuroticism react differently in situations of stress, oftentimes unable to cope with situations. Torgersen (1995) “proposed a typology defined as priori” (p.288). “This typology represents the possible combinations of the Big Three personality factors, which result in eight unique types” (Vollrath & Torgersen, 2008). This study examined that high neuroticism and low constraint played a role in high risk behaviors. Torgersen’s definition of constraint is what the United States

Gordon Allport, born on November 11, 1897, is considered the founder of “personality psychology” and “trait theory”. Allport, just like any other psychologist, had his own definition on what personality is. According to Allport, “ no two psychologists could easily agree on one definition of the term ‘personality’” (Kendall, 2010, p. 282), Allport believed that personality could be characterized in two ways, idiographic and nomothetic; while Freud believed that personality is composed by the Id, Ego and Superego.

Gordon Allport firmly believed that traits were a part of our nervous systems and developed of at least 200 traits he believed were a part of it. Raymond Cattell was able to reduce the numbers to between 16 and 23 with something called factor analysis. After several groups researched, they were able to develop something called the Five-Factor Model. These Five were; neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. The Humanistic Perspective is something that is still widely being researched and improved

Other core personality variables that are present at birth and innate to human beings. To better understand the biological and genetic factors that affect personality one must consider how prominent researchers define personality. According to Joshua Wilt and William Revelle (2015), personality is “the coherent pattern of affect, cognition, and desires (goals) as they lead to behavior” (p. 479). Correspondingly, the most prevalent personality framework is the “Big Five,” or the five-factor model of personality developed by McCrae and Costa who specifically assume that traits are biologically based, inherent tendencies that persistently influence thoughts, feelings, and behaviors throughout life (Broderick, & Blewitt, 2015). The five traits are as follows: (1) Extraversion which has the characteristics of being outgoing, enthusiastic, active, talkative, and assertive. (2) Agreeableness which has the characteristics of being warm, forgiving, sympathetic, kind, affectionate, generous, and compliant. (3) Conscientiousness which has the characteristics of being organized, reliable, careful, responsible, self-controlled, and efficient. (4) Neuroticism which has the characteristics of being tense, sensitive, moody, anxious, self-pitying, and self-conscious. (5) Openness to Experience which has the characteristics of being insightful, imaginative, artistic, curious, having wide-ranging interests, and a positive orientation to learning.

The trait perspective asserts that personalities are made up of various traits that vary in degrees of strength. These traits are exemplified on a

In 1933, Louis Thurstone, acclaimed that a list of 60 adjectives on an assessment he introduced could be downsized to five relevant factors. Surprisingly, not much effort was done by Thurstone himself or others to imitate and follow up this finding. In 1936, Allport and Odbert combed through the English language and construct over 4,500 adjectives that are used to elaborate personality, and formed the essential initiating point for a well-known psychologist and creator of the 16 Psychology Factor assessment, Raymond Cattell. As the name suggest, Cattell found 16 personality factors that considered for the primary of trait terms used to portray personality. Recent research and findings have found several weakness and flaws in Cattell’s work,

Traits are parts of us as individuals through interaction and repetition make us who we are. Gordon Allport in 1936 believed the human personality centered on just three types of traits: Central traits, Secondary traits and Cardinal traits. Central traits are formed during childhood. One or two of these traits dominate the other traits and form the Cardinal traits. These traits are environmentally influenced. Secondary traits are not considered important and are limited in nature suck as a phobia. (Heffner, 2015).

Gordon Allport (1961) popularised the term 'personality' psychology and defined it as "a dynamic organisation, inside the person, of psychophysical systems that create the person's characteristic patterns of behaviour, thoughts and feelings" (Allport, 1961, pg. 11). Personality is adaptive to individual experience, constantly shaping behaviour. Personality psychology is divided into different domains, including the adjustment domain. This studies how personality operates in order to aid the adjustment and coping process of human beings, to everyday life. It also studies the consequences of personality, analysing when illness is generated. The domain claims that what personality type an individual is situated with; including what specific traits

Allport and his student Henry Odbert a Dartmouth student who followed Allport to obtain his PHD, publish the 1936 monograph “Trait names: A Psycho- Lexical Study”. A fascinating read 178 pages article. Allport made a hallmark on personality trait, in last pages of this article, Allport provided a list of personality which I will discuss along with a summary of the article.

The study of personality traits is beneficial in identifying the many variables that exist from human to human; the combinations of these variables provide us with a true level of individuality and uniqueness. In the field of psychology, trait theory is considered to be a key approach to the study of human personality (Crowne, 2007; Burton, Westen & Kowalski, 2009). This paper aims to identify a number of significant contributors who have played crucial roles in both the development and application of trait theory. This paper then moves focus to these theorists, outlining their theory and analysing both the strengths and weaknesses of those theories. An illustration of the methods used in trait measurement is given and includes the

“We are influenced by our own internal forces, forces of which we are unaware, have feelings towards, or urges we do not quite understand “(Freidman, 2012, p. 17). This is the struggle that personality psychology tries to understand, how and to what extent the unconscious forces plays a role in human behavior. It is believed that people are responsible for their own actions. There is a continuous struggle with personality psychology and the comprehension of and to what extent unconscious forces play in human behavior. “Meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances; if there is any reaction both are transformed” (Carl Jung 1993, p.57). There are various questions that are asked about the issues in personality psychology such as, “How important are social influences on the self, such as parental deprivation or excessive praise? Is the sense of self merely an inconsequential epiphenomenon or secondary perception arising from other forces that really matter? What is the core of who we are? A second core issue with the studies of personality studies is does each person require a unique approach? “Gordon Allport argued that a key aspect of the study of personality must focus on the individual and thus be idiographic” (p.18). To generalize an individual is a complication in itself because the personality of each person is complex in its own way so how can we generalize? Obtaining an answer to that question is still a dilemma. Allport complained