Trait Theory in Personality Development: A Review Study

Trait theory is one of the major theories in personality psychology, which is described with summarizing, predicting and explaining behavior, and is developed by the efforts of two groups of psychologists: The first group, with a clinical approach, has been theorized about the traits, and the second group considered the experimental method as the basis for achieving the traits. The purpose of this descriptive-analytic study conducted after studying various related books and articles is to introduce and compare these approaches, with emphasize on the views of the three great psychologists, Allport, Eysenck and Cattell, and the big five-factor model of personality traits, as a theory that has been developed over the past two decades and has been researched and supported by researchers more than other theories. Despite the clinical and research implications of this theory, there are some limitations and criticisms about it. Therefore, the use of this approach in explaining the development of personality in addition to positive points requires consideration of the limitations and criticisms imposed on it.