Trait Theory

Trait theory, having had an important impact on communication research, constitutes one of the main approaches to the study of human communication. Trait theory holds that people tend to exhibit certain communication styles and predicts that these traits make one communicate in a certain way. The characteristics of the trait approach arise from the very definition of a trait—a stable predisposition to exhibit certain behaviors. Human beings are conceived of primarily as bundles of predispositions that are relatively stable across time and across specified contexts.

The dispositional approach to personality tries to find those psychological characteristics that stay relatively constant for a person over time and across various situations. Roughly speaking, the trait approach to communication places the locus of action in the predispositions of individuals to initiate action or to react to behavior. Trait studies have looked at such tendencies as avoiding communication, persuasibility, self-esteem, dogmatism, Machiavellianism, cognitive complexity, and need for social approval.

In recent years, many personality theorists have reduced the range of variables to certain, more parsimonious super traits, derived from factor analysis. Resulting theories identify exact numbers of superfactors. Two superfactor theories are commonly adopted—Eysenck's three-factor model (consisting of extraversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism) and Digman's five-factor model [Page 964](neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness).

The trait approach contrasts with the situationist position. Is a person's behavior best accounted for by the situation or by the personality that guides behavior regardless of the situation? In the social sciences, a situationist believes that situations primarily determine behavior because situations are unique and present different demands on the individual. This position maintains that personality is overwhelmed by the situation. For instance, a person may not be as extroverted in one situation as in another because one situation is more task oriented and the participants simply do not have as much time or opportunity to act sociably.

The interactionist position emerges from the conflict between trait and situationist theorists. Interactionists maintain that behavior in a particular situation is a joint product of a person's traits and of variables in the situation. Traits and situations interact to influence behavior. According to this position, the trait and situationist perspectives are rather simplistic and do not reflect reality. In everyday life, different situations may affect people differently. Certain situations may allow expression of a person's personality traits. On the other hand, certain other situations may evoke a similar range of behavior from most people.

The person versus situation debate, however, has led to a more comprehensive approach to understanding how personality traits and situations may interact to produce a person's behavior. The trait approach is based on a laws perspective. The idea of traits—that behavior is cross-situationally consistent—is compatible with the assumptions of a laws approach and the communibiological perspective. Systems and human action researchers, on the other hand, have tended to be more situationist in terms of their study of communicative behavior. Thus, they have shown little interest in communication traits.