Trait Approaches

Trait Approaches

Trait approaches to personality focus on describing and characterising the basic components that make up personality. Instead of asking why people behave the way they do, these theories ask what the fundamental building blocks of personality are. The central idea is that while human beings show a vast range of psychological differences, these can be grouped into a smaller number of core personality traits.

This way of thinking is very close to our everyday experience. When you learn that someone is sociable, you naturally assume they will also be cooperative, friendly, helpful, and likely to engage in other social behaviours. The trait approach tries to identify exactly these kinds of primary characteristics in people.

A trait is defined as a relatively enduring attribute or quality on which one individual differs from another. Traits are not rigid; they include a range of possible behaviours that get activated depending on what the situation demands.