Definition Of Characteristics: The Trait Perspectives Of Psychology

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Trait perspective of personalities. The trait perspective of psychology are a group of theories that are based around a person’s traits. Definition of trait: A trait is a distinguishable property of a person’s mind of which is largely consistent and partly influences his behaviour. The trait of a person is akin to the climate of a place. Some people are social and gregarious, while some are solitary. Some people are cheerful while some are solemn. These qualities are called traits because they are firm and regular and have a significant effect on a person’s behaviour. According to trait theorists, each person has a combination of traits that are different from another person. Theorists even propose that by finding some of the traits, his entire personality can be traced. …show more content…

Cardinal trait: It is a single personality trait that dominates and heavily influences a person’s thought and action. 2. For example, renowned humanitarian Abdus Sattar Edhi has a cardinal trait of consideration and concern. It was due to this trait that he created the Edhi Foundation. The trait however, is rare and most people are driven by multiple central traits that make up their personality. 3. Central traits: These are the general set of characteristics that describe a person’s personality. For example, “I have a friend who is of a jovial nature but gets angry quickly.” In this statement, having a humorous nature is an important part of personality but so is being irritable. Hence these qualities are central traits. 4. Secondary traits: The traits of personality that are present only under limited or specific events are called secondary traits. For example, Ahmed is usually calm and good natured. But he can tends very tense during an examination. In this example, being tense is a secondary trait because he is not USUALLY a neurotic individual. He becomes anxious only during an exam. Aside from that Allport also deduced about 4500 words that are used to describe

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