TRAIT THEORY

Trait theory, as the name gives away, is an approach to studying human personality that identifies and measures the degree to which certain personality traits-recurring patterns of thought and behavior, such as anxiousness, shyness, openness to new things-exist from individual to individual. The study involves a set number of personality traits (although the number of traits can vary wildly) and assigns the degree that a trait exists, which then determines the individual's personality... While psychologists currently have settled on some basic truths of the theory, such as introversion versus extroversion, over the years of study and research there have been a number of approaches to trait theory... What does Trait Theory teach us about ourselves and others? How can we better understand our culture with this fascinating psychological paradigm?