Question

discuss trait theories of personality.

Answer 1

Trait Theories of Personality

1. Gordon Allport's trait theory of personality

Gordon Allport found around 4000 personality traitsso he categorized different personality traits into three levels:-

• Cardinal traits are those traits that are rare, develop later in life and are dominant in nature. They define the individual to such an extent that their name becomes synonymous to their personality. Examples are Narcissistic, Machiavellian, Christlike, etc
• Central traits are those traitraits or characteristics that are the basic foundation of the personality. Examples are honest, intelligent, anxious, etc.
• Secondary traits are those traits that are usually related to the preferencesand attitudes of a person, these tend to appear in special circumstances and specific scenario. Examples areare impatient while waiting in a line or anxiety related to public speaking.

2. Cattell's 16PF Personality Theory and 16 PF Questionnaire

Raymond Cattell reduced these 4000 traits suggested by Allport to 171. He eliminated uncommon traits of personality and also clubbed together the common ones. He selected a large sample then employed factor analysis and reduced these 171 traits to 16 traits that are source of all human personalityand the 16PF questionnaire is widely used and based upon this theory and work by him.