Personality Traits

According to Allport, traits are consistent enduring ways of reacting to our environment. He summarized the characteristics of traits as follows (Allport, 1937)-

1. Personality traits are real and exist within each of us. They are not theoretical constructs or labels made up to account for behavior.
2. Traits determine or cause behavior. They do not arise only in response to certain stimuli. They motivate us to seek appropriate stimuli, and they interact with the environment to produce behavior.
3. Traits can be demonstrated empirically. By observing behavior over time, we can infer the existence of traits in the consistency of a person’s responses to the same or similar stimuli.
4. Traits are interrelated; they may overlap, even though they represent different characteristics. For example, aggressiveness and hostility are distinct but related traits and are frequently observed to occur together in a person’s behavior.
5. Traits vary with the situation. For example, a person may display the trait of neatness in one situation and the trait of disorderliness in another situation.

Types of traits
Initially, Allport proposed two types of traits: individual and common.
Individual traits are unique to a person and define his or her character.
Common traits are shared by a number of people, such as the members of a culture.
Latter he proposed traits in to categories- Personal Dispositions and Habits and Attitudes.

Personal Dispositions;
Allport was to re-lable traits as personal dispositions in three categories.
Cardinal trait; A cardinal trait was described by Allport as a “ruling passion.”
Central traits; everyone may possess central traits such as, aggressiveness, self-pity, and cynicism.
Secondary traits; the least influential individual traits are secondary traits, such as preferences for a particular food or for certain kinds of music.

Habits and Attitudes
Allport argued that traits and personal dispositions are distinct from other characteristics, such as habits and attitudes.
Habits; Habits have a more limited impact than traits and personal dispositions because they are relatively inflexible and involve a specific response to a specific stimuli. Attitudes; Sometimes the concepts of attitudes and traits can be closely related. However an attitude has some specific object of reference and can be positive or negative. An attitude involves a judgment or evaluation.