Allport's theory of personality includes-
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Cardinal, central, secondary traits
Option (1) Factor, source, surface traits — Incorrect. These terms belong to Raymond Cattell. Using factor analysis, he found 16 primary or source traits, the stable building blocks of personality, and a number of surface traits that result from their interaction.
Option (2) Cardinal, central, secondary traits — Correct. Gordon Allport, the pioneer of the trait approach, categorised traits into cardinal, central, and secondary:
cardinal traits are highly generalised dispositions around which a person’s entire life seems to revolve, such as Gandhi’s non-violence;
central traits are less pervasive but still quite generalised, such as warm, sincere or diligent;
secondary traits are the least generalised characteristics, such as ‘likes mangoes’.
Option (3) Neuroticism, extraversion, introversion dimensions — Incorrect. These are the dimensions of H.J. Eysenck, who reduced personality to two broad dimensions, neuroticism vs. emotional stability and extraversion vs. introversion, and later added psychoticism. Allport spoke of traits, not of dimensions.
Option (4) Endomorphic, mesomorphic, ectomorphic typology — Incorrect. This is Sheldon’s type approach, based on body build and temperament: endomorphs are fat and soft, mesomorphs muscular, ectomorphs thin and fragile. It is a typology, not a trait theory.
NCERT (2025-26): “Trait Approaches … Allport, based on this, categorised traits into cardinal, central, and secondary. Cardinal traits are highly generalised dispositions. They indicate the goal around which a person’s entire life seems to revolve. Mahatma Gandhi’s non-violence and Hitler’s Nazism are examples of cardinal traits. Such traits often get associated with the name of the person so strongly that they derive such identities as the ‘Gandhian’ or ‘Hitlerian’ trait. Less pervasive in effect, but still quite generalised dispositions, are called central traits. These traits (e.g., warm, sincere, diligent, etc.) are often used in writing a testimonial or job recommendation for a person. The least generalised characteristics of a person are called secondary traits. Traits such as ‘likes mangoes’ or ‘prefers ethnic clothes’ are examples of secondary traits.…” “Trait Approaches … He applied a statistical technique, called factor analysis, to discover the common structures. He found 16 primary or source traits. The source traits are stable, and are considered as the building blocks of personality. Besides these, there are also a number of surface traits that result out of the interaction of source traits.…” |