1. Theories of Personality:
Trait Theory
Amy Whitcomb

2. Trait Theory in a nutshell:
Basic assumption
 “People possess broad dispositions, called
traits, to respond in particular ways” (Cervone &
Pervin)
 Personality: an individual’s tendency to consistently
act or think in a certain way
• Tendencies toward a specific way of acting =
“fundamental building blocks of personality”

3. Personality Traits:
“Consistent patterns in the way individuals
behave, feel, and think.” (Cervone &
Pervin, 2008)
 Trait terms: describe an individual’s typical
style of experience and action
 Consistency – Regularity of said behavior
 Distinctiveness – Said behavior is unique to the
individual

4. Functions
Description
 Traits describe what an individual is usually like
Prediction
 Can help predict how a person might behave in
a certain situation based on typical behavior
Explanation
 Can be used to explain a person’s behavior

5. Trait Theorists
Gordon Allport
Raymond Cattell
Hans Eysenck

6. Allport’s Contributions:
Organization
 Cardinal Trait – highly pervasive in an
individual’s life; all behavior results from this
type of trait
 Central Trait – General traits that are seen in
most behaviors (e.g.: kindness, assertiveness)
 Secondary dispositions: least
consistent/general traits not seen in all
behaviors

7. Cattell’s Contribution:
Organization
 Surface traits: Observable tendencies
 Source traits: Underlying traits that are the “root
cause” of observed surface traits
 Ability traits
 Temperament traits
 Dynamic traits

8. Eysenck’s Contribution
Organization – hierarchy of traits
 Superfactors: set of traits that are independent,
under which secondary traits can be
categorized
 PEN
• P=psychoticism
• E=Extraversion/Introversion
• N=Neuroticism