Trait/Type Theory

Type A personality

a personality type characterized by competitive and compulsive behavior

Type B personality

a personality type characterized by laid-back and relaxed behavior

Cattell

a trait theorist who identified 16 basic traits that constitute the building blocks of personality

Eysenck

a trait theorist who proposed two main dimensions on which human personalities differ: introversion-extroversion and emotional stability-neuroticism

Allport

a trait theorist known for the concept of functional autonomy; also distinguished between idiographic and nomothetic approaches to personality

functional autonomy

a given activity or form of behavior that becomes an end or goal in itself, regardless of its original reason for existence

idiographic approach to personality

AKA morphogenic; an approach to studying personality that focuses on individual case studies

nomothetic approach to personality

AKA dimensional; an approach to studying personality that focuses on groups of individuals and tries to find commonalities between them

McClellan

a trait theorist who studied the need for achievement (N-Ach)

need for achievement (N-Ach)

a personality trait that measures degree of concern with achievement and pride in one’s accomplishments

Witkin

a trait theorist who studied field dependence (diffuse responses to perceived mass of somewhat undifferentiated stimuli) and field independence (capacity to make specific responses to perceived specific stimuli)

Rotter

a trait theorist who studied internal and external locus of control

Sandra Bem’s theory on gender identity

holds that because people can achieve high scores of both masculinity and femininity on personality inventories, masculinity and femininity must be two separate gender dimensions

Mischel

critic of trait theory; holds that human behavior is largely determined by the characteristics of the situation rather than by those of the person