Cattell’s basic personality traits

Personality Development 2(1+1)

Lesson 5 : Development of Personality- Trait Perspective

Cattell’s basic personality traits

Raymond Cattell (1950, 1966, 1973) used behavioral observation records of people’s life histories, questionnaires and objective tests to arrive at trait descriptions. He describes two types of traits.

  1. Surface traits - reflected in consistent patterns of behavior.
    Eg. Curiosity, altruism
  2. Source traits- originate from deeper part of the person.
    Eg. Dominance, submissiveness, ego-strength, capacity to withstand pressure. Source traits give rise to surface traits.

A person with dominance and ego strength as source traits might show surface traits such as persistence and leadership in decision- making situations.
Cattell, on the basis of extensive research concluded that there are 16 basic source traits, which lead to differences in behavior.

Index
Previous
Home
Next
Last modified: Tuesday, 13 March 2012, 9:51 AM