Section 2: Other Major Approaches to Personality: In Search of Human Uniqueness

3. Traits are enduring dimensions of personality characteristics along which people differ. Since each person probably possesses certain traits, what makes them different is the degree to which a given trait applies to a single person. Traits allow us to compare one person with another and provide an explanation for a person's behavioral consistency. Assigning certain negative traits to a person may cause a person to be stigmatized by others. Assigning other, more positive traits to a person may raise peoples' expectations of them and cause them undo pressure in many situations.

Section 3: Assessing Personality: Determining What Makes Us Special

6. Personality tests might be useful to both the employer and the employee as one more source of information in trying to make employment decisions. Test should be used to find ways to include people and place them in appropriate work situations. In this way both parties would gain. No single test should be used alone to exclude anyone from obtaining a position. Tests are helpful to distinguish personality disorders when they are one of several assessment tools. They are not accurate enough to make conclusive judgments on their own. Anyone who is going to be excluded from a job, placed in or excluded from a program should have a means to appeal the decision and have other means of assessment available to determine if the decision is valid.