Traits Theories

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Introduction
Theories of Personality
Human personality is a complex area of study. This is because in different situations, a human being will portray a certain behavior and this may be part of culture that is developed over a long time. There have been diverse observations on explanations regarding human personality. Over the time, theories have been developed attempting to explain this complex human phenomenon. Theories of personality have taken different approaches that try to make people understand the human personality. It is evident that no single theory can effectively describe personality in totality. This is because personality is not a stagnant thing but rather is an ever evolving thing. It evolves because it is an aspect of human being and naturally human beings change with time. What they used to be a 100 years ago is not what they are today. Even within a span of one week, a human being can decide to completely change his behavior due to an encounter with a compelling situation. Therefore, personality theories can be said or viewed to be valid for only a certain period of time. However, there are concepts embedded on personality theories that give them long term validity.
Among the many personality theories is the trait theory. It was an invention by Gordon Allport who named it dispositional theory. The trait theory basically revolves around a deep understanding of the traits. Human traits are assessed using different methods to determine the patterns that characterize human behavior. The unique thing about trait theory is that it presumes human behavior is a stable. According to this theory, environment and time are some of the factors that do not affect human behavior in any way. The trait theory also states that...

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...ng the minimum threshold of human traits that can constitute a behavior. Future researches are also eminent to happen to disclose how long can certain observed traits be accepted as a trait. This has been so because traits theories have received incredible criticism especially on their ability to predict a certain behavior. However, it cannot be underscored that traits theories have a commendable degree of objectivity. Another area that opens room for studies in the traits theory is why individuals have different personality features. The current scholarly works only focuses on studying the behavior pattern where as nobody is involved in the business of determining the root cause of these patterns. Empirical tests are used to do the studies. However, there has been a close observation that sometimes a person behaves totally different from what the assessment show.

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