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The Three Perspectives Of Trait Theory And The Humanistic Theory

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Personality can be defined as a “dynamic and organized set of characteristics possessed by a person that uniquely influences his cognitions, motivations, and behaviors in various situations”. A number of personality theories provide several approaches in attempt to illustrate how personality establishes inside us. The trait theory and the humanistic theory are the two ideas that explain personality.

Trait theory sees personality as a product of a blend of multiple traits. The degree of existence of the traits determines an individual’s personality. Traits are stable and consistent characteristics of a person that induce behaviors to express personalities. They are bipolar and can be located along a continuum. The leading theorists in trait theory include Hans Eysenck, Raymond Cattell and Gordon Allport. Particularly, the Three Factor Theory is the most well-known work of Eysenck.

The Eysenck model suggested personality can be measured across two dimensions named extraversion trait and neuroticism trait. Extraversion trait indicates sociability, so scoring high mark suggests being out-going. Neuroticism trait refers to emotional unstableness, meaning a low score implies having a high stability on mood. The two dimensions interact to form four personality types: choleric, sanguine, melancholic and phlegmatic, according to high or low level of the dimensions. Each type has certain traits that associate with it as shown below. Later the third dimension of psychoticism trait

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