Literature Review
Trait theory is "an individuals relatively consistent way of thinking, feeling, and behaving across situations" in relation to communication (Littlejohn & Foss, 2011). Trait theory could also be classified as a personality theory since personality is what causes a person to behave a certain way due to his or her emotional qualities, or way of thinking and feeling. Communication is " the act or process of using words, sounds, signs, or behaviors to express or exchange information or to express ideas, thoughts, feelings, etc., to someone else" ("communication," 2013). Komarraju et al. (2011) define communication as a process to encode, recall, organize, and apply information. When comparing the definitions for both trait and communication, it becomes clear that personality is a large factor in communication since both utilize behaviors due to thoughts and feelings. Although thoughts and feelings are associated with emotions, emotions and personality are not synonymous, though emotions are often mistaken as an individual's personality (Hall, Gunnery, & Andrzejewski, DATE).
When researching trait theory and how traits affect communication, one particular trait theory stood out the most for both ease of application and the amount of research done on this particular theory. The five factor model of personality, or The Big Five, seemed to be the most relevant theory researched, though not as much study has been done on the theory in direct application to communications, the existing research has correlations to communication that make the theory relevant in trait theory studies for communication. These studies are relevant to all forms of communication. Due to the five factor model of personality being define...
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...ss to experience have greater access to a variety of feelings, thoughts, perspectives, and ideas," (George & Zhou, 2001). When considering the definition of communication with the traits of individuals scoring high in openness, this would imply that open individuals should be better at expressing themselves than others, thus, they are better at communicating in certain ways than others. Additionally, when considering that communication is more than just words, the highly artistic and creative traits of open individuals would indicate these individuals may be more adept at communicating visually than those with less open characteristics. However, when looking into communication, openness seemed to have less influence on certain types of communication than other traits. For example, openness had little impact on social media usage than other traits (Source, DATE).
The trait approach is understanding the human personality that identifies and measures the degree to which certain personality traits. The trait theory tends to look at different traits and see whether you have the trait or how you fit into the five dimensions that is being measured. Whether you are more closed minded or open to new experiences it shows which one you are from the various questions you answered throughout the quiz.
Cervone, D., Pervin, L. A. (2008). Personality: Theory and research (10th Ed.). New York: Wiley.
The purpose of this research report is to investigate the personality of Beyoncé Knowles in terms of humanistic and trait conceptions of personality.
Personality is massive part of an individual’s identity. Our personalities dictate our patterns of thinking, feeling, and acting. An individual’s personality exposes them to predispositions and habits that influence their actions and lives. Early on, personality assessments consisted of physical features ranging from head shape and facial characteristics to body type. In today’s world, personality assessments are mainly based around traits. Traits are simply descriptions of one’s habitual patterns of behavior, thought and emotion. The most popular personality assessment is the Five-Factor Model, also known as The Big Five. This model allows us to describe people based on the five main traits/dimensions. These traits are extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience. Each of these five traits measures a different aspect of one’s personality. Extraversion is based on one’s level of engagement with the world,
Criminals have been committing crimes for centuries, and they are always fooling the police detectives and federal agencies sometimes. If the justice departments would actually look at the persons thought processes and reasoning before a crime is committed, the justice departments will be able to answer the reason for the crime. The different departments could possibly figure out why the criminal did what they did in the first. For instance, they should use a couple of criminology theories to help them with certain cases that are more difficult than the rest. The theories that the justice departments should use in their systems are the rational choice and biological theories of criminology.
Communication involves the exchange of messages and is a process which all individuals participate in. Whether it is through spoken word, written word, non-verbal means or even silence, messages are constantly being exchanged between individuals or groups of people (Bach & Grant 2009). All behaviour has a message and communication is a process which individuals cannot avoid being involved with (Ellis et al 1995).
“The Big Five Trait Theory” is based on the five broad dimensions of one’s personality which according to Jason Rentfrow (PH. D) was “uncovered” after “decades of research on personality.”
Trait theory is the idea that an individual’s personality is made up by many traits or characteristics that cause the individual to behave in one manner or another. One can easily see how curiosity fits into the trait theory. It is almost unanimously agreed upon that it is in fact a trait and is the motivator for countless actions people make every day.
Personality traits. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. McCrae, R. R., & Allik, I. U. (2002). The 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary'. The five-factor model of personality across cultures.
Personality can be defined as an individual’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling and acting. Many personality theorists have put forward claims as to where personality is derived from and how it develops throughout an individual’s life. The two main personality theories this essay will be focusing on is the Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) (Bandura, 1986) and the Trait Theory – Five Factor Theory (FFT) (McCrae and Costa, 1995). The SCT allocates a central role to cognitive, observational learning and self-regulatory processes (Bandura, 1986). An individual’s personality develops through experiences with their sociocultural environment. Whereas the Trait Theory proposes that all individuals are predisposed with five traits (Extraversion, Openness, Conscientiousness, Agreeableness and Neuroticism) which determines our personality. This theory also puts forward that personality is stable and cannot change as it’s biologically determined.
Friedman, H. S., & Schustack, M. W. (2012). Personality: Classic theories and modern research (5th ed). Boston , MA, USA: Pearson
Communication is the progression of emotional expressing reactions, reach common thoughtful, to send and receive message and improve connections. According to the An Introduction to Public Relations and Communication Management (2012), communication is the way of sharing opinions, attitudes and feelings that we need to knew by these we are communicating with. It is receiving messages through efficiently speaking, body language, writing and visuals. For sharing or/and give opinions, or be defined as an interpersonal communication, one must have successful verbal and nonverbal communication styles and skills. Such as listening and responding, Emotional intelligence. These communication dimensions are not only significant for the sender but als...
Traits are specific factors a person possesses that makes up their personality. According to trait theories, personality consists of broad, enduring dispositions that tend to lead to character responses. (King, 2016) This essentially means that we can define individuals by how they act, whether their friendly, outgoing, shy, or introverted. People who show those specific traits frequently are known to be “high” in those specific traits. For example, if someone is low in openness then they would be more practical or traditional in how they behaved or dealt with situations. Gordon Allport was one of the first psychologists to heavily focus on the study of personality. He believed that personality psychology should be concerned
Trait approach covers the big five personality traits: extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience. These five traits have been identified as the most identifiable personality traits, even across cultures and societies. According to McCrae, Costa, and Busch’s (1986) study on personality system comprehensiveness, the big five personality model included the five traits most identified with by individuals asked to describe themselves and others. I found this segment of the class especially intriguing as it helped me not only learn so much about myself, but also take a deeper look into the personality of my family, peers, and even strangers. I am also more conscious of how I self-monitor my personality traits. For example, I am very much so an introverted person but at times I try to be extroverted based off the environment. In highly social environments, I consciously smile and try to talk to people because I want to be perceived in a favorable light, not actually because I feel the need to be sociable. In other words, I don’t want to be perceived as odd. I believe I developed this form of self-monitoring because when I am introverted at social events people will constantly ask me if I’m ok since I’m quiet, which makes me uncomfortable as they make me the focus. Being the center of attention makes me anxious, and therefore to prevent that I have developed being a fake-extrovert to avoid it. This exemplified how I apply self-monitoring to my everyday life. Trait approach gave me insight into how to identify vastly accepted personality traits, as well as, how each of these traits can be influenced and
There has also been a rise in the number of studies done on people’s behavior and personality differences when using social media, experts are becoming more and more interested in the effects social media has on our decision making and behavior. These studies are based on the “big five” personality traits [a term originally coined by Lew Goldberg, (1981)]. The five personality traits that this term refers to are extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness to experiences. By basing these studies on the big five traits this allows us to have some insight on why people post what they post and what personality types are most likely to alter certain characteristics about themselves when using social media