Definition of trait - Structural models

Feature It is a scientific concept that summarizes the behaviors that people perform in different situations and occasions. The traits are constructs that allow describing individual differences. According to Eysenck they are provisions that allow people to describe and predict their behavior. They are not observable, but they are inferred from observing certain facts.

Definition of trait

Thus, trait is a behavior disposition expressed in consistent patterns of operation in a wide range of situations. Constitutes one dimension or continuous throughout which people are placed.

Behavior consistency

Consistency can be understood as the maintenance of behavior in different situations. A priori, since the traits are provisions that the individual has, one would expect a lot of consistency in the behavior. At present, traits theorists recognize that the situation has an influence on behavior, and therefore consider that such behavior will be similar in functionally similar situations. Nor would it be adaptive for people to always behave independently of the demands of the situation.

Training psychologists explain the obvious fact that two people behave differently in the same situation due to their different position in the dimension that constitutes the feature, and by the different configuration of the features that characterize them. The variables of the situation affect behavior, But not to the point of changing the position of the subjects in the dimension or trait.

Causal character of features

In order not to fall into an explanatory circularity (the trait is induced from behavior, and we use this trait to explain the same behavior of which we induce it), it is necessary that the mechanisms from which the response trends, which imply imply A feature, become behavior. Except for some exceptions, such as Eysenck or Gray, trait psychologists, in general, have not focused on explaining how traits produce behavior, limiting themselves to developing descriptive taxonomies based on the observation of recurring behaviors. This is one of the most important criticisms that are made from other perspectives of personality psychology.

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