ABSTRACT
Psychologists have long been interested in dispositional or trait approach and typically use the questionnaire method to measure dispositions. Dispositions are also relatively enduring aspects of personality that may change over a longer period of time rather than on a day-to-day basis. Gordon Allport is widely regarded as the founding father of the modern dispositional approach to personality. Whilst Allport is classified as a psychologist within the dispositional approach to personality, it can also be seen from the little we have read about his concern to see people as individuals that Allport falls into the category of humanistic psychology. Whilst dispositions or personality traits are some kind of hypothetical construct that cannot be seen or observed, behaviour, by contrast, can be measured and observed objectively. Cattell's statistical and scientific approach to personality has gained wide acceptance amongst psychologists, with the 16 PF being both highly regarded and widely used as a psychometric tool to measure personality.
