"Trait theory (also called dispositional theory) is an approach to the study of human personality."
Trait theory focuses on identifying and measuring individual personality traits. This topic explores the origins and different perspectives of trait theory.
Basic principles of trait theory: Trait theory focuses on identifying and measuring consistent patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that individuals display across different situations and over time.
Trait vs. state: Traits are relatively enduring personality characteristics, while states refer to transient emotional and cognitive states that vary across situations.
Trait dimensions: There are several dimensions or factors that underlie human personality. Some of the most commonly studied dimensions include extraversion, neuroticism, openness, conscientiousness, and agreeableness.
Trait assessment: The most common methods of trait assessment include self-report questionnaires, ratings by others, and objective measures such as physiological and behavioral indices.
The Big Five model: The most widely accepted model of personality traits is the Big Five model, which posits that human personality can be described in terms of five broad dimensions.
Trait stability and change: Although traits are relatively stable over time, research suggests that they are not entirely fixed and can change through environmental and life-course experiences.
Genetic and environmental influences on traits: Research has shown that traits are influenced by both genetic and environmental factors. Heritability estimates for personality traits range from about 40% to 60%.
Trait theory and applied settings: Trait theory has important applications in domains such as personnel selection, clinical assessment, and psychotherapy.
Big Five Personality Traits: The Big Five model is the most widely accepted trait theory, consisting of five dimensions of personality: openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism.
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator: The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) divides people into 16 personality types based on their preferences for four pairs of dichotomous traits: extraversion vs. introversion, sensing vs. intuition, thinking vs. feeling, and judging vs. perceiving.
HEXACO Personality Inventory: HEXACO is a six-factor model of personality that includes the following traits: honesty-humility, emotionality, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience.
Type A/B Personality Theory: Type A/B theory posits that people can be classified into two types based on their approach to life: Type A individuals tend to be competitive, impatient, and achievement-oriented, while Type B individuals are more relaxed.
Dark Triad Personality Traits: The Dark Triad refers to three interrelated traits: narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy. Individuals who score high on these traits tend to have manipulative and exploitative tendencies.
Eysenck's Three Factor Model: Eysenck's model includes three main dimensions of personality: extraversion/introversion, neuroticism/stability, and psychoticism/superego.
Trait Emotional Intelligence: Trait emotional intelligence (TEI) refers to the ability to perceive, understand, and manage one's own emotions as well as the emotions of others.
Personal Construct Theory: Personal construct theory suggests that people create their own internal models of reality and use these models to predict and interpret events.
Social-cognitive Personality Theory: This theory posits that personality is shaped by the interaction between a person's innate disposition and their environment.
Individual Differences Theory: This theory emphasizes that there are significant individual differences in personality, and that these differences can be better understood by examining people's unique patterns of traits and behavior.
"Traits can be defined as habitual patterns of behavior, thought, and emotion."
"Traits... differ across individuals (e.g. some people are outgoing whereas others are not)."
"According to this perspective, traits are aspects of personality that are relatively stable over time."
"Traits... influence behavior."
"Traits are in contrast to states, which are more transitory dispositions."
"Traits are dimensions such as extraversion vs. introversion."
"In some theories and systems, traits are something a person either has or does not have."
"Trait theorists are primarily interested in the measurement of traits."
"Traits... are relatively consistent over situations."
"Traits are aspects of personality that are relatively stable over time, differ across individuals, are relatively consistent over situations, and influence behavior... [while] states are more transitory dispositions."
"Trait theory suggests that some natural behaviors may give someone an advantage in a position of leadership."
"There are two approaches to define traits: as internal causal properties or as purely descriptive summaries."
"The internal causal definition states that traits influence our behaviors, leading us to do things in line with that trait."
"Traits as descriptive summaries are descriptions of our actions that do not try to infer causality."
"Traits are aspects of personality..."
"Traits... differ across individuals..."
"Traits are aspects of personality that are relatively stable over time."
"Traits... influence behavior."
"Trait theorists are primarily interested in the measurement of traits."