The Trait Perspective
The trait perspective tries to describe people according to recognizable traits
of personality. A trait is a construct describing a basic dimension of
personality.
 They emphasize individual differences in characteristics that are
stable across time and situations.
 They emphasize the measurement of these traits through tests.
o This may be observations of a behavior, self-report in
interviews, multiple choice or forced choice tests.
o Using factor analysis, statisticians can group similar traits and
broaden a measurement to find more general traits that affect a
variety of behaviors.
o The Big Five theory suggests there are 5 basic factors of
personality, each on a continuum:
 Extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism,
conscientiousness, openness.
o Cattell’s 16PF defines 16 dimensions of personality.
o Eysenck suggests 3 dimensions: extraversion, neuroticism, and
psychoticism.
o A hierarchical model offers more specific factaors that
correspond to a smaller number of more general factors.
Basically the number of factors uncovered depends on how
general or specific the dimensions are that you are focusing on.
Finally traits can be understood in terms of biological variations in
neurotransmitters and brain function. Incorporating this knowledge in
making life decisions, such as occupational choice, results in people being
more satisfied with their careers, and more successful. Using testing to
screen for employees is illegal, however, since tests can be biased if not fully
validated on similar instruments.
Gordon Allport
Personological Trait Theory
Theory
This is a theory that can be verified through testing, and it is comprehensive
in terms of applicability. Allport used his theory to consider many areas of
social behavior: prejudice, rumor transmission, and inter-group relations. He
taught the first personality course in the US, and wrote the first textbook for
it. He called his theory “personological” to emphasize the development of
the person- a unified and conscious whole. This theme was taken up by the
humanists 20 years later, during the 3rd wave of psychology. Allport was the
first one to use the term humanistic psychology, which stresses the unique
capacities of humans, as opposed to animals (distinguishing his theory from
the behaviorists, who used animal research to enlighten human behavior.)
Allport was also unique in focusing on healthy function of the person. He
felt psychoanalysis spent too much emphasis on the past, childhood
experiences, when the person was busy looking forward and planning his
life. The behaviorists missed the uniquely human characteristics of man
which couldn’t be compartmentalized by studying specific behaviors. He
favored the idiographic method of study, but recognized that for larger
study, examining people in groups was possibly necessary.
Biography
Allport was a small town boy, raised in Indiana, who went to Harvard and
studied with his brother Floyd, even serving as his brother’s subject in
research. Later he and his brother published research together. Even as an
undergraduate, he was interested in the person, studying psychology, and the
group, studying social ethics. He studied and taught overseas, and on his trip
back, he requested a meeting with Freud in Vienna. He was faced with a
silent Freud, which unnerved him, and he told a story of observing a boy on
the train, who was obsessive about dirt. He also observed the boy’s mother,
who was stern and repressive. He saw a direct connection in how the boy
ended up, as a result of the mother’s rigidity. But Freud used it to suggest
that Allport was that inhibited, obsessive little boy. Allport was trying to
impress Freud with his powers of observation and integration, and Freud
wanted to go deeper and personalize what Allport observed. Allport felt
Freud was trying to go to a deeper level with him than the interchange
warranted. (Freud actually suggested Allport felt dirtied by his connection to
psychoanalysis! This would actually be a point validated as Allport
developed his own theory in contrast with psychoanalysis.) Allport received
his doctorate at age 24, and began his lifelong investigation of personality
traits. He married a clinical psychologist and had one son. At Harvard for
most of his career, he did work in sociology, psychology, and anthropology.
He helped found the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues,
which applies psychological insights on social issues. During the War,
Allport helped find positions for refugees from the Nazis, as well as
investigating the source of wartime rumors, in order to help control this
problem which led to unrest and insecurity in people in the US during the
War.
Major Themes
 Personality consistency- Allport believed people are remarkably
consistent in traits across time and situations.
 Social influence- Allport realized the social environment influences
how we develop, even studying effects of mass media on individuals.
 Concept of self- Allport argued for the notion of self as a major focus
of personality growth. This is a feature of clinical and cognitive
psychology today.
 Interaction of personality with social influence- Allport accepted
that social situations affect people, but the influence is unique to each
person: “The same heat that melts the butter hardens the egg.”
Allport’s definition of personality became the classic in psychology:
Personality is the dynamic organization within the individual of those
psychophysical systems that determine his unique adjustments to the
environment.
 Dynamic organization stresses active organization. Healthy people
become integrated, get it all together. This organization evolves
through life development. Pathological people never integrate their
personalities. Other theories tend to fragment the person into partsstimulus-response patterns, internal conflicts of parts. Psychoanalysis
promoted its entire theory based on studies of pathological people
who can’t be integrated and whole. He preferred to study healthy
personality, to see the organized and self-regulating whole.
 Psychophysical systems refers to the mind-body connection. There
are biological and psychological influences on the person. These
influences are united. Temperament refers to biologically based
differences in personality: reactivity to novelty, openness to others,
shyness or exploration. Allport believed this was inborn, a function of
biology. This has been verified by later researchers in infant behavior
such as Kagan. Allport believed that physique, intelligence, and
termperament were inherited and are the 3 raw materials of
personality. He believed every feature of personality is affected by
heredity. This influence was multiplicative, not additive. The formula:
Personality = f(Heredity) x (Environment)
This shows that each factor is essential- without either factor, there
would be no personality. So neither factor is independent. He really
anticipated the biological inroads made by later researchers into the
biological contributions to personality through twin studies.
 Determinative means personality is a cause of behavior. “Personality
is something and does something.” Traits are real physical entities,
and these dispositions determined neural systems of stress &
reactivity. (Other theories of traits suggested traits were merely
abstractions used to predict behavior, or that traits determining
behavior is a circular argument. The same behavior that determines a
behavior can’t be used to explain the behavior. The same trait can’t
cause the behavior that is the basis for inferring that the trait exists.
Labeling is not explaining.) Other theorists say that people
erroneously infer traits from behavior, underestimating the extent that
situations determine behavior- the correspondence bias. To
accurately determine a trait, one must observe the person across time
and situations.
 Unique- this is unique to Allport at this time, as he insisted that traits
are highly individualized to each person. People are not motivated by
a few instincts, such as Freudian sexual motivation. People have
multiple motivations that reflect the diverse traits they inherit. He also
believed that new motives could be learned and personality matures
and develops over the lifespan.
 Adjustments to the environment – Personality is the result of coping
with the environment. The central nervous system tries to establish
security and comfort for the person who is caught between his own
desires and the demands of the environment. (This is precisely what
Piaget was describing as the motivation for learning in his theory,
developed at the same time in France.) These adaptations are unique
to each person due to differences in heredity & environment.
Personality traits- the primary unit of personality is the trait. Listing one’s
traits describes the personality.
Trait is a generalized and focused neuropsychic system, unique to the
person, with the ability to initiate and guide consistent behavior. The
purpose is adaptation to the environment, so the trait is determinative of
motivation. Traits develop with time and experience, and may change when
the person learns new ways of adapting to the world. They are consistent
however, in contrast with states, such as mood changes.
Individual traits are possessed by one person, unique to that person.
Common traits are possessed by many people to varying extents.
Allport distinguished studying persons from person variables. Do we study
groups of people with similar traits, or tease out the unique traits of each
person.
Unique traits are the real units of personality within each person.
They are individualized adaptive entities, unique to each person. No two
people have exactly the same trait. So scoring people on a set of universal
traits loses the sense of uniqueness of each person. That’s why he stresses an
idiographic approach to understanding personality. This is very difficult to
conceptualize for research, however. Other researchers disagreed, saying by
definition, you compare a trait in one person to its appearance in other
people. What is learned in one person may not apply to other people, so
there is no general law described which could help others. But Allport
emphasized the need to individualize trait concepts. He also thought that
traits could be defined by others, given a set of traits to choose from to
describe a person. Allport also talked about metatraits which was the idea
that some people have a trait at different levels: high, medium, or low. Not
everyone has all the traits, however. If a trait applies, it may be found in
differing amounts.
Inferring traits – this refers to methods of determining what the traits are.
 From language- listing all trait words from the dictionary. Then the
17,000+ words were categorized into 4 categories. These dimensions
have been streamlined into the “big five” dimensions of personality.
 From behavior- as people are observed, using a time-sampling
procedure, preferred behaviors can be keys to traits of personality.
o Expressive traits are about style of behavior- fast, slow,
energetic, graceful. Measuring many behaviors allowed
researchers to determine traits that included various behaviors.
Later research has determined that the Type A expressive styleimpatient, time conscious, hostile, & aggressive is predictive of
coronary heart disease.
 From documents- Allport believed traits could be inferred from
documents written by the person. He had an extensive written
relationship with a woman who was the mother of his roommate in
college. Using his structural-dynamic approach to assessment of
the letters, he coded traits indicated by her letters, and defined her
personality. This content coding is time consuming work, although
some computer programs are able to code material more easily today.
It allows for personality assessment of people who are dead or
inaccessible for research.
 From personality measurement: the Study of Values – Allport
believed that the most important characteristics that distinguish people
from one another are their values- those things toward which they
strive. He developed a self-report instrument to measure values. Using
large norm groups, he assessed answers to derive one’s values. He
also found that scores on values taken from students in college could
be associated with occupations chosen 25 years later. (This method
has been used to develop means of career counseling,) Even so,
Allport found that values can change over time. Religious values
scores declined during college years, stabilizing after that.
Inconsistency in making trait inferences – traits and behaviors do not
perfectly correspond. People choose in various situations what traits they
will display, since we have a variety of traits from which to pick. We also
hold traits which may be conflicted. In which cases, the trait that seems most
useful will be chosen. One trait may be dormant at the time, while another
be in a state of active tension.
Phenotypical appearances of traits are the actual behavior displayed.
Genotypical traits are the underlying motives, which may or may not
be displayed.
Allport’s Attitude toward methodology was negative in general. He
believed that rigorous experimentation in this area lost the unique feel of the
person involved. He did not like complicated statistical procedures like
factor analysis for discovering traits. Factor analysis gives us an average,
which may not actually apply to any one person. He liked content analysis,
as it kept researchers close to the data related to the actual person. He
suggested traits were the basic units of personality. Other researchers
believed motivations were the basics of personality (Murray). Allport was
unusual for a trait-oriented theorist in his insistence on the uniqueness of the
human being. He preferred case studies to group studies in this arena, but
fewer people were doing case studies in any depth. He believed psychology
should be problem-centered, not method-centered. Method loses sight of the
individual.
Pervasiveness of traits makes the difference in understanding how central a
trait is to personality. How broad is the influence of a trait? Some traits are
very specific and not very informative or predictive of behavior. Other traits
are more overriding in their influence on behavior.
 Central traits are at the intermediate level of influence. These traits
do affect many behaviors- self-confidence, for example. Central traits
could summarize personality with a few words. They are central
because many behaviors are affected by it.
 Secondary traits are consistent, but don’t affect so much of what a
person does. They are less consistent, less generalized. These may
include personal preferences, which are consistent, but don’t affect
many life choices or behaviors.
 Cardinal traits are so pervasive that they dominate everything the
person does. It is the ruling passion, the master-sentiment of life. They
are so pervasive that they often make the possessor famous, becoming
a prototype for a disposition. They may even produce language related
to the original person known for the trait: Machiavellian, Calvinistic,
sadistic. Other theorists suggest this is not a unique trait in some
people, but an extreme score on a common trait.
Levels of integration of personality are the continuum of pervasiveness of
traits. There is a spectrum of aspects of personality which moves from less
pervasive influences (reflexes and habits) to a unified philosophy of life at
the top of the hierarchical structure. Reflexes are simply conditioned
reflexes, as Pavlov described. Those become associated into habits. The idea
of self or personal identity within roles one fills is a higher level of
integration. At the top is a unified system of personality.
Personality development
 Functional autonomy is the idea that a trait may be developed by
modeling another, particularly a parent, but at some point it becomes
individualized and functions independently of its origins. Traits begin
as adaptive strategies to satisfy needs, but eventually they lose their
connections to their origins. Allport doesn’t see any point in studying
childhood origins of traits, say naivete as developed in infancy with an
oral fixation, when the trait now functions independently in the
person. So traits are autonomous from their origins. These traits get
attention within the person and become internalized due to the
reinforcement the individual gains from them. So Allport really
disagreed with the psychodynamic theorists that understanding the
person requires dredging up early origins of behaviors. People live
their lives forward, are becoming themselves, and the focus on the
past does not integrate the forward directedness of the developing
person. Allport described functional autonomy as “a declaration of
independence for the psychology of personality.” This was also a
good approach for studying the healthy individual’s traits.
Qualities of normal, mature adult- the healthy personality
 Extension of the sense of self meant becoming so involved in goals
that one loses himself in the enterprise. These goals are extensions of
the self. Today we have an entire study of Flow as a result of this.
 Warm human interaction is recognized from sincere, friendly
interactions with others, not limited to rigid roles.
 Emotional security (Self-acceptance) is seen by self acceptance of
all parts of the personality. High self-esteem follows.
 Realistic perception, skills, & assignments – the healthy person
holds realistic expectations of success or failure based on past
experiences, knowledge of the world, etc.
 Self-Objectification: Insight and humor – the healthy person can
see himself objectively, warts and all, but even through a lens of
humor and insight, to come to self-acceptance.
 Unifying philosophy of life may be religious philosophy, but is not
necessarily religious in nature. This was tested regarding ego levelintrapsychic development. It’s not always easy going against the
culture to hold independent views about life.
Unity of personality occurs to some degree with maturity. We do hold
different social roles, with specific behaviors expected in each one, but there
is consistency across roles. Integration comes through “master-sentiments”
which are philosophies of life- the person’s core consistency. This serves to
transform earlier motives, so the person becomes more guided by purpose.
This may be due to religious practices. People who are more active in
practicing their religion describe greater well-being in life. There can also be
crisis of values when unification is threatened. Personal growth can be jumpstarted by a crisis, followed by greater unification of personality. More
integrated personalities are better adjusted & more effective in life. Allport
didn’t talk about the difficulties of minorities being affected by strong
cultural messages about what traits are desirable. Also Allport didn’t
distinguish the types of goals that align personality. There can be integrated
personalities, but they are united behind obsessive values or beliefs.
Generally, though, Allport was right in suggesting that more integrated
personalities are healthier.
 Unitas Multiplex is the unity of multiples. This means that in the
healthy person, there is integration of diverse elements, interests,
traits, & predispositions. Allport believed people should be studied in
total, not analyzed into separate parts. The parts all work together
toward some adaptive purpose. Allport believed the study of
personality should integrate the separate studies of psychologycognition, perception, learning, social relations, even biology. All
these disciplines could help us better understand the individual.
 The Proprium includes all the aspects of personality that make for
unity. Others would use the term ego or self. This is the striving part
of our being that gives direction to our efforts.
Stages of development- the proprium develops over time. A newborn lacks
personality since s/he hasn’t developed any modes of adjustment that
comprise personality. The hereditary bases of personality are seen in
infancy, however, such as activity level, emotionality (temperament.) Using
these aspects as a base, the baby’s personality develops as s/he interacts with
the environment. So Allport developed a stage like model of development,
but cautioned against taking the ages as set in concrete. This is a model of
self development.
 Bodily sense- in infancy the baby differentiates between his body and
others, to develop the ‘bodily me.’
 Self-identity- from ages 1 to 2 the baby develops self-identity which
is the sense of existence as a separate person, recognizing themselves
by name.
 Ego-enhancement- occurs from ages 2 to 3, as the child develops
self-esteem from pride following achievements, or humiliation
following failures, or reprimands due to selfishness.
 Ego-extension – during the 3 – 4 years the child identifies with egoextensions- possessions. Some people never separate from their
possessions as extensions of themselves, but others extend into loved
ones, beliefs & loyalties, causes.
 Self-image- is evaluation of our present abilities and roles and our
aspirations for the future. This is a function of the period from 4 to 6,
as children understand good and bad, goals and achievements.
 Rational agent – occurs during the school years, 6 – 12, as the child
becomes a rational coper, someone who solves problems and plans
solutions.
 Propriate striving – begins in adolescence, and is motivation that
shows intentionality- the person begins career planning and some
defining goal drives life choices and motivation.
 The Knower – what occurs as the person integrates all the previous
aspects of self into a unified whole. Mature people show unity of
personality. Humanist theorists describe this healthy, integrated self as
a hallmark of the developed, mature person.
Continuity and change in personality development – Allport believed
there is little personality change after age 30. Research has supported Allport
in this for some personality traits, such as extraversion in longitudinal
studies. There is also evidence that groups of people change in a trait over
time. Even so, the individual usually stays the same compared to the group.
Consistency is less the longer the period of time studied, however. But
people tend to be more consistent, the older they grow. Children are least
consistent. Cultural pressures may distinguish one cohort from others on
certain traits (Depression babies- the Greatest Generation often are more
saving and industrious than other generations, the Baby Boomers are more
individualistic and rejecting of authority than other generations. Generation
X women are more autonomous and goal-driven than earlier generations of
women.) So personality is developed in a social context, which cannot be
ignored.
Factors contributing to consistency in personality
 Environment – stable environments, such as job or family
 Genes – genetic influences throughout life, twin studies
 Psychological factors – ego resiliency, competence, stability
 Person-environment transactions – good fit between personality &
environment
o Reactive transactions- we interpret experiences in sync with
our personality
o Evocative transactions- others evoke reactions from us in sync
with our personality
o Proactive transactions – we select roles/ environments that fit
our personality (and this tends to distill our personality traits
more purely)
o Manipulative transactions – we try to change the environment
to suit our preferences (this may or may not be effective in
interpersonal relationships.)
 Identity structure - strong identity- giving off consistent messages
and picking up consistent messages from others based on their
personality/ identity.
Influence of personality on Social Phenomena- Allport looked for causes
of behavior within the person rather than in the social environment, even
though he valued the environment as an influence. Even though he studied
social phenomena such as rumor transmission, prejudice and religion, he
emphasized personality as the structure, not social causes.
 Prejudice – Allport studied prejudice from the perspective of the
individual- our preference of in-groups to out-groups. He believed
different races when they worked together for the common good,
could interact without prejudice and could dismantle their prejudice
after such equal-status contact. He studied the influence of common
goals, no intergrou0p competition and authority sanctions for
prejudice on the individual display of prejudice. He didn’t recognize
that prejudiced attitudes may not produce discriminatory behavior,
however.
 Religion and prejudice – Allport was interested in how religion
relates to racial prejudice. Since religions teach love, they should
reduce prejudice. This is not the case. People who attend church more
regularly are more prejudiced than those who do not. Allport
recognized that brotherhood and bigotry were intertwined in religion.
So he studied differing orientations toward religion:
o Extrinsic religious orientation was when people used religion
for a selfish purpose- for raising status in the community, or
bolstering sales, a business. These people could be defined by
testing and they showed greater prejudice.
o Intrinsic religious orientation was when people incorporated
the religious values of loving others into their identity. But this
trait was not always associated with less prejudice. So it’s
possible that racial tolerance is more a function of empathy,
which also correlates with an intrinsic orientation. Also, even
though some intrinsically religious people showed less racial
prejudice, they often showed increased prejudice against
homosexuals due to religious teachings. This is somewhat
gender-influenced, as women tended to show less
discrimination against gays. This also showed up in tolerance of
domestic abuse by intrinsically religious people who followed a
traditionally patriarchal religion. So the target of prejudice
seems to make a difference in the attitude of prejudice. Newer
research suggests that intrinsically religious people are
motivated by impression management and unconscious selfdeception. Rather than trying to manipulate others’ impression
of them, or even pure altruism, they were trying to enhance
their own esteem. Other researchers don’t believe you can fully
understand prejudice without understanding group dynamics.
Prejudice is not really a specific function of personality. Finally
some researchers studied religious orientation from the
perspective of religion as quest. Those people who scored high
in this trait did help others without discriminating.
Discrimination against gays was lower in people who scored
high on religion as quest. These people are actively searching
for answers to existential questions, who want to understand the
mysteries of the universe, tragedies, and pain. For these people,
active questioning of the nature of God is part of the religion’s
meaning for them. Immanence is a religious orientation that
involves “motivation to transcend boundaries, awareness, and
acceptance of experience, and emphasis on the present
moment.” These people accept that their dark side may be
necessary to drive them toward growth spiritually, which many
traditional religions don’t address. This trait is also related to
low levels of prejudice.
 Rumor transmission was a concern during the War, especially after
the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Allport studied the cognitive
processes of leveling and sharpening, which distort information. He
also discovered that eyewitness testimony can be significantly
distorted in the telling. People distort their actual experiences with
their biases. Stereotypes lead to erroneous eyewitness testimony.
Eclecticism means pulling information, truth from many areas. But Allport
qualified that in that he believed one must be selective in drawing
information, holding information up to examination in order to make a
whole out of many pieces.