Trait theory of personality

There are many criticisms of the way in which the humanistic theory attempts to measure personality. Therefore, alternative measures have been put forward which try to do the following:

• Measure personality more scientifically using more reliable methods
• Acknowledge the importance that genetic factors may play in the development of personality
• Acknowledge that there are traits which people have in common

A ‘trait’ is something that refers to a way in which we generally tend to describe a person. Therefore, you might refer to someone as being ‘short tempered’ or ‘kind’ or ‘needy’ – these are all traits that we might apply to ourselves or to other people.

A trait is also thought to be a stable characteristic that remains the same regardless of the situation. Therefore, if three people were all caught in a rainstorm without a coat, the short-tempered person might become angry about this, the kind person might offer to let them walk under a shelter at their own expense and the needy person might feel aggrieved that they have not been offered the shelter because they feel like they will be more inconvenienced by the situation and therefore need it more.

One individual does not have one trait; according to the trait theory, someone will have several traits, which combine to make their personality. Allport and Cattell are two of the main researchers in this area and we shall now consider their work.

Allport

Gordon Allport was one of the first researchers to come up with a trait theory. His main idea was that personality came about like a series of building blocks; referred to here, of course, as traits. He further believed that personality was biologically determined but could be shaped by someone’s environment.

He argued that there are three classes of trait:

• Cardinal traits: these are the traits around which someone organises their whole life. They are thought to develop later in life and become synonymous with a person because that is how people primarily see them – ‘greedy Sam’ or ‘angry Tony’ for example
• Central traits: these refer to major characteristics of someone’s personality and lead to its foundation, such as shy, intelligent, deceitful or unkind
• Secondary traits: these refer to traits which refer to patterns of behaviour that only occur under specific circumstances, for example a person who is usually confident becomes nervous when they have to walk over a bridge

Cattell

Raymond Cattell based his theory on sources other than self-report, which can be an unreliable method of testing anything, as it is subject to individual bias.

He also argued that other methods of exploring personality were too narrow and that it was also necessary to consider other areas when determining someone’s personality.

The traits were identified using factor analysis on three different kinds of data:

• L Data: life data, such as school grades and employment records
• Q Data: a questionnaire given to people in order to rate their personality
• T Data: objective testing designed to ‘tap into’ a person’s personality

Cattell contended that there were sixteen major source traits which everyone possessed to a greater or lesser degree, and these were classified as either:

• Surface traits: very obvious traits that others can easily identify
• Source traits: less visible to other people and may be strong motivators of some kinds of behaviour

Using this information, Cattell developed a personality test known as the 16PF which has been used to provide personality profiles and which has been used quite extensively within applied psychology.

Activity – Cattell’s 16PF model

You can have a go yourself at determining your personality according to Cattell’s research here: http://similarminds.com/cattell-16-factor.html

Despite it being a new and unique way of trying to determine the origins of personality, critics of Cattell contend that his categories are too rigid and exclude people from fitting into them easily.

His personality model has also been criticised for being over simplified and superficial and critics argue that his model is too focused on classifying people as similar, meaning that we become blinded to the ways in which people are different.

Strengths of trait theory

• It acknowledges the potential role of biological influences in personality development
• It acknowledges that although most traits are stable that there can be some variation in behaviour dependent upon the situation

Weaknesses of trait theory

• It cannot predict an individual’s behaviour; research shows that even if someone scores highly for a particular trait, they may not actually behave that way in real life
• Although it acknowledges that there are differences between individuals, it fails to explain why this might be the case
• Loehlin, Willerman and Horn (1988) found that only 50% of the variations of scores on personality factors are due to inherited traits. This suggests that environmental factors are also important
• Much of the research is based on the findings from self-reports, which are open to bias.