Personality Assessment

Traits

The most accessible and easily quantified level of personality is that of the trait or disposition. The primary objective when assessing personality traits or dispositions is the description and prediction of behavior.

The Meaning of Traits

Traits, the primary unit of personality description, are relatively enduring ways in which individuals differ. Assessment at the level of traits is variable centered and nomothetic, focusing on differences among individuals, as opposed to the person-centered and idio-graphic approach that focuses on individuals, and that typically characterizes assessment at deeper and more abstract levels of personality.

Because people differ in many ways, psychologists must decide which differences are worthy of study. While evolutionary, psychoanalytic, and behavioral perspectives have been influential in suggesting traits that are worthy of attention when assessing personality, a more pragmatic, data-driven approach has generally held sway. At the most basic level, trait attributions are made based upon simple summaries of past behavior, and because what has happened in the past is likely to recur, traits can serve as valid predictors of future behaviors. Beyond this summary approach, if one takes into account characteristics of the situation as well, traits can help explain behavior and contribute to an understanding of the person. For example, an observation that “Jane has panic attacks in crowds” might lead to an inference of the form that “Jane will not go to the party because she is agoraphobic.” Trait attributions can and frequently do go beyond the trivial and tautological.

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