In this article, we will Explain Allport’s Trait Theory.
Allport’s Trait Theory.
Allport is regarded as one of the most important and influential personality theorists. Several years ago, Allport went through the English Dictionary and painstakingly recorded a list of 17,953 words that described personal traits (Alport & Odbert, 1936). It would be impractical to describe persons in terms of where they fall on roughly 18,000 traits. However, based on these words, an attempt was made to propose traits like dominance, self-esteem, friendliness, etc. This is called the lexical approach to defining personality traits.
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Allport, traits are the building blocks of personality as well as the source of individuality. He is known as an idiographic trait theorist who has a strong belief that each person has some unique as well as some common characteristics that together form a unique combination of traits. For Allport, the trait is something that exists but remains invisible. It’s located somewhere in the nervous system (Ryckman).
Allport recognised two major categories of traits. 1. Common traits and 2. Individual traits.
1. Common Traits are those traits which we share in common with many others in our culture. For example, being quiet, making polite behaviour to others and showing due respect to seniors are the traits we share with others in Indian culture. This illustrates the common traits.
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2. Individual Traits or also called personal dispositions are those traits that are unique to the person concerned. Allport viewed individual traits to be more important than common traits.
According to Allport, there are three types of individual traits. i) Cardinal Traits, ii) Central Traits and iii) Secondary Traits.
i) Cardinal Traits are a trait that is so dominant, pervasive and outstanding in life that every behaviour seems traceable to its influence. Most people don’t have cardinal traits but those who have them, are well-known for those traits. For example, Mahatma Gandhi was having the cardinal traits of peace-loving and strong faith in non-violence for which he is well known.
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ii) Central Traits are those traits that are generally listed in a carefully written letter of recommendation. Any trait name like friendliness, self-centeredness, dominance would be the example of the central trait. Every person has several central traits and there are 5 to 10 most outstanding traits in each person around which a person’s life focuses.
iii) Secondary Traits are traits that are less visible, less consistent, less generalised and less relevant to the definition of personality. For example, hairstyle, food habits, and specific attitudes are examples of secondary traits. All these traits are energetic in the sense that they possess motivational power.
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According to Allport, all these individual traits form the structure of the personality which, in turn, determines the behaviour of an individual. In his view only by focussing upon the uniqueness of the individual, a scientific and substantial understanding of personality is possible.
Allport also held that personality isn’t only a bundle of unrelated traits, it embodies unity, consistency and integration of traits. This integration work is accomplished by self or ‘Proprium’ as Allport has named it. In his view, the Proprium or self develops continuously from infancy to death. During this period it moves through a series of stages.
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