- [Girish] Hi, this is Girish Kishnani
and you are watching "5 Minute Learnings."
Welcome to the eighth video in the series on personality.
Today, we will explore the trait theories of personality.
The trait theory of personality suggests that people have
certain basic traits or dispositions,
and it is the strength and intensity of those traits
that account for personality differences.
The trait approach to personality
is one of the major theoretical areas
in the study of personality.
A trait is a consistent, stable characteristic
that causes individuals to behave in certain ways.
It varies from person to person.
The outlook towards personality and how traits are defined
has evolved over time.
Unlike many other theories of personality,
such as psychoanalytic or humanistic theories,
the trait approach to personality
is focused on differences between individuals.
The combination and interaction of various traits
is unique to each person.
Trait theory is focused on identifying
and measuring these individual personality characteristics.
If someone asked you to describe
a close friend's personality,
what kind of things would you say?
A few things that might come to mind
are descriptive terms such as outgoing, kind,
and even-tempered.
All of these represent personality traits.
The first trait theory
was proposed by psychologist Gordon Allport in 1936.
Allport found that one English language dictionary
contained more than 4,000 words
describing different personality traits.
He categorized these traits into three levels:
cardinal, central, and secondary.
Cardinal traits.
Allport suggested that cardinal traits
are rare and dominating,
usually developing later in life.
They tend to define a person to such an extent
that their names become synonymous with their personality.
Examples include descriptive terms
such as narcissistic and Christ-like.
Central traits.
These general characteristics
form basic personality foundations.
While central traits are not as dominating
as cardinal traits,
they describe the major characteristics
you might use to describe another person,
such as intelligent, honest, shy,
and anxious refer to central traits.
Secondary traits.
Secondary traits are sometimes related
to attitudes or preferences.
They often appear only in certain situations
or under specific circumstances.
Some examples include public speaking anxiety
or impatience while waiting in line.
Cattell's 16-factor personality model.
Trait theorist Raymond Cattell
reduced the number of main personality traits
from Allport's initial list of over 4,000 down to 171.
He did so primarily by eliminating uncommon traits
and combining common characteristics.
Next, Cattell rated a large sample of individuals
for these 171 different traits.
Using a statistical technique known as factor analysis,
he identified closely related terms
and eventually reduced his list
to 16 key personality traits.
Among them are dominance, perfectionism,
reasoning, and self-reliance.
According to Cattell, these 16 traits
are the source of all human personalities.
He also developed
one of the most widely used personality assessments,
the 16 Personality Factor Questionnaire.
Eysenck's three dimensions of personality.
British psychologist Hans Eysenck
believed that personality has a biological basis,
developing a model of personality
based on just three universal traits.
Introversion/extroversion.
Introversion involves directing attention
to inner experiences,
while extroversion relates to focusing attention outward
onto other people and the environment.
A person high in introversion might be quiet and reserved,
while an individual high in extroversion
might be sociable and outgoing.
Neuroticism/emotional stability.
This dimension of Eysenck's trait theory
is related to moodiness versus being even-tempered.
The trait of neuroticism refers to an individual's tendency
to become upset or emotional,
while stability refers to the tendency
to remain emotionally constant.
Psychoticism.
Later, after studying individuals with mental illness,
Eysenck added a personality dimension he called psychoticism
to his trait theory.
Individuals who are high in this trait
tend to have difficulty dealing with reality
and may be antisocial, hostile,
non-empathetic, and manipulative.
Five factor model of personality.
Both Cattell's and Eysenck's theories
have been the subject of considerable research.
This has led some theorists to believe
that Cattell focused on too many traits
while Eysenck focused on too few.
As a result, a new trait theory,
often referred to as the Big Five theory, emerged.
This five-factor model of personality
represents five core traits that interact
to form human personality.
While researchers often disagree
about the exact labels for each dimension,
they are commonly described as agreeableness:
level of cooperation and caring for others,
conscientiousness:
level of thoughtfulness and structure,
extroversion:
level of socialness and emotional expressiveness,
neuroticism: level of mood stability
and emotional resilience,
openness: level of adventure and creativity.
Some of the most common criticisms of trait theory
center on the fact that traits
are often poor predictors of behavior.
While an individual may score high
on assessments of a specific trait,
they may not always behave that way in every situation.
Another problem is that trait theories
do not address how or why
individual differences in personality develop or emerge.
We all have certain traits that dominate our personality
along with various permutations and combinations
that can arise in different situations.
Also, our traits can change over time
and be shaped by our experiences.
That's all for today.
In the next video, we shall continue to explore
more related topics on trait theories.
Hope you found this video helpful.
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