Part A (Q2): Mention the trait theories of personality.
Trait theories of personality focus on identifying, describing, and measuring the specific traits that make up human personality. A "trait" is a relatively stable, enduring predisposition to consistently behave in a certain way.
Prominent trait theories include:
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Gordon Allport's Trait Theory: Allport categorized traits into three levels:
- Cardinal Traits: Rare, dominant traits that shape a person's entire life (e.g., Mother Teresa's altruism).
- Central Traits: General characteristics that form the basic foundations of personality (e.g., intelligent, honest, shy).
- Secondary Traits: Traits that only appear in certain situations (e.g., getting anxious only when public speaking).
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Raymond Cattell's 16 Personality Factors: Using factor analysis, Cattell reduced thousands of traits down to 16 core personality dimensions (e.g., warmth, reasoning, emotional stability, dominance) that he believed were the source of all surface behaviors.
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Hans Eysenck's Three Dimensions: Eysenck believed personality was largely biological and focused on three major dimensions:
- Introversion vs. Extraversion
- Neuroticism vs. Emotional Stability
- Psychoticism (added later; dealing with aggression and empathy).
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The Five-Factor Model (The "Big Five"): Currently the most widely accepted theory. It posits that personality consists of five broad dimensions, remembered by the acronym OCEAN:
- Openness to Experience
- Conscientiousness
- Extraversion
- Agreeableness
- Neuroticism