Personality

The Trait Perspective

 The Trait Perspective

A personality trait is an enduring

psychological characteristic of the
person that influences behaviour.
 The Trait Perspective

“John is very conscientious” or “Jill is

reliable” are descriptive statements
referring to personality traits.
Aggressive people (as assessed by a
personality test) should, for example, not
only be aggressive at work, but also when
involved in sport, etc.)
 The Trait Perspective

Trait approach differs from other approaches.

 most theories seek to understand personality
development; trait doesn’t
 doesn’t provide a medium for personality
change
 heredity plays a part in personality
differences
 The Trait Perspective

Three basic assumptions:

 personality traits are relatively stable and
therefore predictable;
 personality traits are consistent in diverse
situations;
 each person has a different set or degree of
particular traits.
 The Trait Perspective
“The Big 5” :
 Openness: whether a person is open to new
experiences or has very narrow interests
 Conscientiousness: whether a person is disciplined
and responsible or impulsive and careless
 Extroversion: whether a person is sociable and
outgoing or retiring and withdrawn
 Agreeableness: whether a person is cooperative and
good-natured, or unfriendly and cold
 Neuroticism: whether a person is emotionally
unstable and nervous, or stable and not a worrier
Strengths of trait theory
Strengths:
 objectivity – reliance on statistical and objective
data
 personal experience of the theorists plays no role
in the trait theory
 E.g., Freud’s dealings with disturbed patients may
have influenced his ideas
 can be used to guide people into jobs and help
them understand how they interact with their
world
Strengths of trait theory
Strengths:
 Cross-cultural human studies find good
agreement for the Big 5 model in many cultures.
Even primate personality can be accurately
described by the big 5 model system.
Weaknesses of trait theory
Weaknesses
 consistency; suggests that people are consistent in
behaviour
In reality behaviour varies according to the situation
and across time. Any similarities observed are
probably due to the similarity of the situation.
 e.g., an introvert could be quiet and calm in most
situations, but around close friends could be
outgoing
 e.g., extroverts could be quiet and reserved in a
job interview
Weaknesses of trait theory
Weaknesses
 doesn’t provide an explanation of personality
development
 most theories argue for the development (past), the
current personality (present) and the means of
change (future); trait theory is stuck in the present
Go to
http://www.queendom.com/queendom_tests/transfer
to do the Big 5 personality test.
Theories Strengths Criticisms
• deals with the impact of
childhood experiences
on behaviour and • small sample size
Freud’s personality • biased sample
psychodynamic • one of the first • not evidence-based
concept of systematic approaches • ideas are clearly tied to
to show how particular culture and
personality psychological processes era
can result in mental
disorders
Maslow’s based on real answers,
• too positive
Humanistic concept of “human”, and
• order of hierarchy is
concept of interaction with
questionable
environment
personality
• too fixed and limiting
takes genetics into • doesn’t explain why
The Trait Theory consideration personalities change;
personality set at birth