Personality Traits

What are Personality Traits

Traits are distinguishing qualities or characteristics of a person. Traits are a readiness to think or act in a similar fashion in response to a variety of different stimuli or situations.

 The traits that people possess and the degree to which they possess them are part of their psychological feature . Traits or characteristic is stable and enduring attribute of person that is revealed consistently in a variety of situations .

Cattell: Source & Surface Traits

Raymond Cattell: from Devon, England, believed that there were two basic categories of traits: Surface Traits: Features that make up the visible areas of personality

Source Traits: Underlying characteristics of a personality

Cattell also constructed the 16PF, a personality test identifying 16 personality factors (source traits).

Raymond Cattell

The Sixteen Personality Factors

Cattell: The Big Five

Cattell believed that five factors were most important:
Openness Conscientiousness Extraversion Agreeable Neuroticism

Graphic: The Big Five