Traits Characterstics of Personality-Organizational Behavior

Question

Personality traits are enduring characteristics that describe and individual's behavior. The more consistent the characteristic and the more frequently it occurs in diverse situations, the more important that trait is in describing the individual.

Several attempts have been made to isolate personality traits and in this process, several thousands of traits have been pointed out. But it would better if the traits are confined to a manageable number to understand their impact. Cattell listed 171 personality traits, but concluded that they were superficial and lacking in descriptive power. What he sought was a reduced set of traits that would identify underlying patterns. The result was the identification of sixteen personality factors, which he called source or primary traits. The sixteen source traits have been presented in table below:

Sixteen primary traits

I.   Reserved                              outgoing

II.  Less intelligent                     more intelligent

III. Affected feelings                   emotionally more stable

IV.  Submissive                          dominant

V.   Serious                                happy-go-lucky

VI.  Expedient                            conscientious

VII. Timid                                  venturesome

VIII. Tough-minded                    sensitive

IX.  Trusting                               suspicious

X.   Practical                               imaginative

XI.  Forthright                            shrewd

XII. Self-assured                        apprehensive

XIII. Conservative                      experimenting

XIV.  Group dependent               self-dependent

XV.   Uncontrolled                       controlled

XVI. Relaxed                             tense