The Trait Theory of Personality

• Trait researchers attempt to define personality in terms of stable and enduring behavior patterns

• Main psychologist linked to this theory is Gordon Allport

History

• Born in 1897, in Montezuma, Indiana

• He was one of the first psychologists to study personality

• He is often referred to as one of the founding figures of personality psychology

• His perspective is humanistic. Humanistic psychology is a branch of larger philosophical theory known as humanism

• Interested in personality, and at the time, personality was not a formal sub-discipline of psychology and it certainly was not as fashionable as social psychology

• He completed his doctorate, began studying personality. It is said that he was the first professor to teach a college level course on personality theory, a course that today is required by nearly all undergraduate psychology majors

G.W. Allport – Trait Theory of Personality

• G.W. Allport defined personality as “a dynamic organization within the individual of those psychological-physical systems which determine his unique adjustment to his environment.”

• According to the concept of dynamic, the personality is changing

• The term psycho-physical is used because of the importance of the unity of the mind (psycho) and body (physical)

• The unique refers to every one of us is a unique person in oneself

• Define traits as basic units of personality. He adopted a trait approach for the description of highly individualized personality.

The Trait Theory of Personality

• Trait theory says relatively little about the development or growth of personality but instead emphasizes measuring and identifying differences among personalities

• Allport concluded to describe personality in terms of fundamental traits

• Trait: a characteristic pattern of behavior or a disposition to feel and act, as assessed by self-report inventories and peer reports

Exploring Traits

• Allport and a colleague counted all the words that could describe someone in an unabridged dictionary and they discovered that there were 18, 000!

• How can psychologists condense the list to a manageable number of basic traits?

• By isolating important dimensions of personality by using factor analysis

Allport’s Personal Disposition Theory

• His theory of personality rejected Freudian psychology and behaviorism. It emphasized uniqueness of an individual and the need to treat problems

• Gordon Allport suggested that each individual has a unique set of personality traits called personal dispositions

1. Cardinal Trait

   • A trait so dominant that a person’s entire life revolves around it

   • This is a single characteristic that directs most of a person’s activities

   • It is so pervasive that it dominates just about everything that a person does

   • Ex. A person so power-hungry that they are solely driven by that need for control

2. Central Traits

   • Qualities that characterize a person’s daily interactions

   • Major characteristics of an individual

   • These usually number from 5-10 in any one person (e.g., honesty, sociability)

   • These are rather pervasive and affect many behaviors. We can use a small number of adjectives to describe someone

3. Secondary Traits

   • Characteristics that are exhibited in specific situations

   • These are characteristics that affect behavior in fewer situations and are less influential than central or cardinal traits

   • A preference for ice cream or dislike of modern art would be considered a secondary trait

• Propium

  • Composition of all the important aspects of a personality as a result of a person’s experiences and growth

    • Maintains our sense of self

      • The behaviors and characteristics that we deem central to our lives

    • Determines how we perceive the world and what we remember from our experiences

• The Propium: theoretical concept of “self” or “ego”

Development of the Mature Self

• Functional Autonomy

  • Process whereby a behavior that was once controlled by a basic motive comes to operate independently of that motive

  • Characteristics of Maturity

    • Extensions of the Sense of Self: ability to participate in activity with others that go beyond striving to gratify one’s own selfish needs; genuine concern for others

    • Warm Relatedness to Others: able to be intimate and compassionate in one’s relationships with others

    • Self-Acceptance: understanding and acknowledgement, not only of one’s strengths, but one’s weaknesses as well

    • Realistic Perception of Reality: accurate perception of the world as it actually exists

    • Self-Objectification: ability not to take oneself too seriously

    • Unifying Philosophy of Life: development of a set of life goals and values that guide the person’s behavior

The Psychologically Healthy Person

• 6 Characteristics

  • Capacity for self-extension

  • Capacity for warm human interactions

  • Demo of emotional security and self-acceptance

  • Demo of realistic perceptions

  • Demo of self-objectification

  • Demo of unifying philosophy of life