Practice question · Multiple choice
Allport described cardinal traits as rare and central traits as ordinary. Why would a personality organised around a single cardinal trait be unusual rather than simply an extreme case of having a strong central trait?
Hints
- Ask what a cardinal trait does to the OTHER traits, not just how strong it is.
- The tell is that we use such people's names as adjectives. What does that imply about the range of their behaviour?
Show the answer
A. Because a cardinal trait organises the whole personality around itself.
Why
The difference is structural rather than one of degree: a high central trait is one strong disposition among several, and a cardinal trait has become the organising principle. Allport's examples are people whose names became adjectives — Machiavellian, quixotic — because the trait accounts for so nearly all of what the person did.
Practise Introduction to Personality and Traits
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