How Many Personality Traits Are There?

Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsHow Many Personality Traits Exist?Allport: Thousands of TraitsCattell: 16 TraitsEysenck: 3 TraitsModern View: 5 Dimensions

Table of ContentsView All

View All

Table of Contents

How Many Personality Traits Exist?

Allport: Thousands of Traits

Cattell: 16 Traits

Eysenck: 3 Traits

Modern View: 5 Dimensions

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Just how many personality traits are there, anyways? How many personality traits can you list just off the top of your head?Outgoing,friendly,kind,cranky,lazy,mean. You can probably rattle off a lot of different descriptions that apply to personality, but do each of these really represent a specific personality trait?

Psychologists have tried to determine just how many personality traits there might be, and the numbers vary dramatically from one expert to the next. For example, Gordon Allport suggested that there were more than 4,000 different personality traits. Hans Eysenck, however, proposed that there were just three.

Today, the most popular theory suggests there are five broad dimensions of personality.Many of the terms we might use to describe a person’s personality would fall under one of these five core dimensions.

At a GlanceHow many personality traits there are depends on who you ask and how you define a “personality trait.” Many numbers have been suggested over the years, ranging from as few as three to as many as 4,000. Many experts today suggest that the answer lies somewhere in between.So instead of thinking of personality as made up of thousands of different individual traits, many experts would suggest that it is made up of several broad groups that encompass all of these trait descriptors.Instead of worrying about how many individual traits make up your personality, focus on understandingyour unique broad tendenciesand preferences.Knowing more about your own personalitycan help give you a better understanding of the things that make you happy and what you need to succeed.

At a Glance

How many personality traits there are depends on who you ask and how you define a “personality trait.” Many numbers have been suggested over the years, ranging from as few as three to as many as 4,000. Many experts today suggest that the answer lies somewhere in between.So instead of thinking of personality as made up of thousands of different individual traits, many experts would suggest that it is made up of several broad groups that encompass all of these trait descriptors.Instead of worrying about how many individual traits make up your personality, focus on understandingyour unique broad tendenciesand preferences.Knowing more about your own personalitycan help give you a better understanding of the things that make you happy and what you need to succeed.

How many personality traits there are depends on who you ask and how you define a “personality trait.” Many numbers have been suggested over the years, ranging from as few as three to as many as 4,000. Many experts today suggest that the answer lies somewhere in between.

So instead of thinking of personality as made up of thousands of different individual traits, many experts would suggest that it is made up of several broad groups that encompass all of these trait descriptors.

Instead of worrying about how many individual traits make up your personality, focus on understandingyour unique broad tendenciesand preferences.Knowing more about your own personalitycan help give you a better understanding of the things that make you happy and what you need to succeed.

The trait theory of personality suggests that personality is composed of a number of broad traits. Outgoing, kind, aggressive, and energetic are just a few of the terms that might be used to describe some of these traits. But just how many different personality traits are there?

PsychologistGordon Allportwas one of the first to categorize these characteristics: He created a list of more than 4,000 personality traits. Allport grouped these traits into three different categories: cardinal traits, central traits, and secondary traits.

You might find it helpful to consider your central and secondary traits. Which traits do you think dominate your own personality? Are there any specific traits that tend to emerge only when you are in a certain type of situation or under stress?

What Are Cardinal Traits?

Later, psychologistRaymond Cattellnarrowed this expansive list down to 16. Using a statistical technique known as factor analysis, Cattell whittled down Allport’s original list of approximately 4,000 traits to what Cattell called the 16 “source traits.” He believed that these underlying traits were what influenced the behaviors that are referred to as personality.

His list of 16 factors included apprehension, emotional stability, openness to change, self-reliance, and sensitivity. Each factor represents a dimension, and he suggested that people could be high or low (or in the middle) with regard to a particular trait.

The 16PF Personality Questionnaire is an assessment based on the 16 traits that Cattell identified. It is still widely used today as a tool in couples therapy, career counseling, and employee selection.

If you want to learn more, consider taking afree version of the 16PF Questionnaire. (Remember, this isn’t a mental health test or diagnostic tool!).

Analyzing Personality Factors

PsychologistHans Eysenckbelieved that Cattell’s system still included too many similar traits. So he narrowed down the list of traits even further, suggesting that there were just three.

Eysenck originally proposed that human personality could be explained using just two factors, although he later added a third. The three traits he identified were:

Today, one of the most popular theories is Costa and McRae’s five-factor theory. Often referred to as “the Big 5,” this theory suggests there are five broad personality dimensions.

Each dimension exists as a continuum, and an individual’s personality can lie at any point on that continuum for that particular trait.

The five dimensions are:

As an example, if you listed traits such as cheerful, happy, kind, and helpful, those might fall under the broad categories of agreeableness and conscientiousness.

It is important to remember that each of these dimensions represents a continuum. People may be high in a dimension such as extroversion, while they are low in a dimension such as neuroticism.

It is where people fall on the continuum for each dimension that helps make up their unique personality.

What Is the Keirsey Temperament Sorter?

6 Sources

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Han S, Pistole MC.Big Five Personality Factors and Facets as Predictors of Openness to Diversity.J Psychol. 2017;151(8):752-766. doi:10.1080/00223980.2017.1393377

Fleeson W, Jayawickreme E.Whole trait theory.J Res Pers. 2015;56:82–92. doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2014.10.009

Cattell HEP, Mead AD.The sixteen personality factor questionnaire (16PF). In: Boyle GJ, Matthews G, Saklofske DH, eds.The Sage Handbook of Personality Theory and Assessment: Volume 2 - Personality Measurement and Testing. Sage, 2016. doi:10.4135/9781849200479.n7

McCrae RR, Sutin AR.A five-factor theory perspective on causal analysis.Eur J Pers. 2018;32(3):151–166. doi:10.1002/per.2134

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