In biology, a particular character of a phenotype as opposed to a character mode. For example, in fruit flies, eye colour is a character mode, while a red eye colour is a trait. Traits can be auMethotosomal or sex-linked, and determined by a single locus or by polygenes. In psychology, the term is a theoretical concept used to denote enduring characteristics or qualities of an individual (e.g., aggressive, friendly), which has a role in accounting for that person‚was observed regularities in behavior relative to others, but not for the regularities themselves. In 1936, Gordon W. Allport (1897-1967) and Henry S. Odbert (1909-1995) reported 4,505 trait names indicating psychological differences between individuals.
See Character, Five factor model, Method bias, Multitrait-multimethod matrix, Neuroticism, Personality, Polygenic mode of inheritance, Polygenes, Quantitative genetic theory, Temperament