Page 412 - Understanding Psychology

Trait Theories
Reader’s Guide
Exploring Psychology
Characteristics of Personality
“Tell me about Nelson,” said Johnetta.
“Oh, he’s just terrific. He’s the friend- liest guy I know—goes out of his way to be nice to everyone. He hardly ever gets mad. He’s just so even-tempered, no mat- ter what’s happening. And he’s really smart, too. About the only thing I don’t like is that he’s always in such a hurry to get things done. He seems to have bound- less energy, much more than I have.”
“He sounds great to me, especially in comparison to Rico,” replied Johnetta. “He is so self-centered and arrogant it drives me crazy. I sometimes wonder why I ever started going out with him.”
—from Understanding Psychology by Robert S. Feldman, 2002
s Main Idea
Trait theorists believe that character traits account for consistency of behav- ior in different situations.
s Vocabulary
• trait
• cardinal trait
• factor analysis
• surface trait
• source trait
• extravert
• introvert
s Objectives
• Explain the main features of trait
personality.
• Describe Allport’s, Cattell’s, and
Eysenck’s theories of personality.
trait: a tendency to react to a situation in a way that remains stable over time
Terms such as nice, smart, and arrogant refer to personality traits. Some theorists have argued that studying such traits in detail is the best approach to solving the puzzle of human behavior.
A trait is “any relatively enduring way in which one individual differs from another” (Guilford, 1959). A trait, then, is a predisposition to respond in a certain way in many different kinds of situations—in a den- tist’s office, at a party, or in a classroom. More than any other personal- ity theorists, trait theorists emphasize and try to explain the consistency of a normal, healthy individual’s behavior in different situations.
398 Chapter 14 / Theories of Personality