Chapter 7: Trait Approach



Chapter 7: Trait Approach

Trait Perspectives:

Trait theories suggest that personality can be understood by describing the organization of traits within the individual.

A trait is an enduring personality characteristic that leads to certain behaviors. fundamental building blocks of personality.

Personality consists of traits that tend to lead to characteristic responses. Each individual has a unique set of traits

Trait theorists not concerned with any one person's behavior--instead describe behavior typical of people at certain points along a trait continuum.

The trait approach assumes we can identify individual differences in behaviors that are relatively stable across situations and over time.

Gordon Allport was the first acknowledged trait theorist. (central and secondary traits, functional autonomy)

Henry Murray identified psychogenic needs as the basic elements of personality. A need will affect behavior depending on where it lies on a person's need hierarchy and the kind of situation the person is in.

Trait advocates: if traits and behaviors are measured correctly, a significant relationship can be found, and the amount of behavior variance explained by traits is considerable and important.

More recent research provides fairly consistent evidence that personality is structured along five basic dimensions. While questions remain, evidence tends to support the five-factor model.

The Big Five Personality Factors

Recent analysis has revealed the existence of five factors central to personality structure.

The big five factors of personality, or main dimensions of personality, are “supertraits” that include openness to experience, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism (emotional stability).

Research on the big five factors looks at the extent to which factors appear in personality profiles in different cultures, factor stability, and the role these factors play in predicting physical and mental health.

Five-factor model: explains personality in terms of the following five traits:

Openness: high scores ( original, imaginative, curious, open to new ideas, artistic, interested in cultural pursuits;

low scores ( conventional, down to earth, narrower interests, not artistic

Conscientiousness: high scores ( responsible, self-disciplined, organized, achieving;

low scores ( irresponsible, careless, impulsive, lazy, undependable

Extroversion: high scores ( sociable, outgoing, talkative, fun loving, affectionate;

low scores ( withdrawn, quiet, passive, reserved

Agreeableness: high scores ( good-natured, warm, gentle, cooperative, trusting, helpful; low scores (

irritable, argumentative, ruthless, suspicious, uncooperative, vindictive

Neuroticism (emotional stability): high scores ( emotional instability, prone to insecurity, anxiety, guilt, worry, moodiness; low scores ( emotional stability, calm, even-tempered, easygoing, relaxed

Personality Traits in the Workplace

Psychologists debate usefulness of personality tests to predict occupational success. Recent research with the Big Five traits provides strong support for the relationship between personality and job performance.

Significant research indicates that, of the Big Five, conscientiousness may be the best predictor of job performance.

Respondents who score high on this dimension are careful, thorough, and dependable. In addition, they take time to do a job accurately and completely. They tend to be organized, plan oriented, and persistent.

Consistent with other research, conscientiousness was a significant predictor of how many appliances the salespersons sold. Highly conscientious workers set higher goals for themselves than did other employees. they were more committed to reaching those goals. They expended greater effort to reach their targets and were more persistent than others when encountering the inevitable obstacles.

highly conscientious employees receive higher evaluations from their supervisors and are least likely to be laid off when companies are forced to reduce their labor force.

Depending on role requirements, a case could also be made for hiring applicants high in agreeableness. These people are trusting, cooperative, and helpful—characteristics particularly important if the job requires teamwork. Other studies indicate that extraverts may have the advantage over introverts in the business world

Evaluating Trait Perspectives

Studying people in terms of personality traits has practical value.

Viewing people only in terms of their traits may provide only a partial view of personality. Trait measures by themselves do a poor job of predicting actual behavior.

A controversy in personality concerns the relative importance of traits compared to situational determinants of behavior.

Strengths of trait approach: a strong empirical base, many practical applications, and the large amount of research generated.

Criticisms are that traits do not predict behavior well and little evidence for cross-situational consistency. Limited usefulness of the approach for dealing with problem behaviors and the lack of an agreed-upon framework.

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