Personality traits

Personality traits and states are the characteristics of a person's personality. Traits are permanent; states are temporary. However, traits can be changed; doing so, however, requires a lot of work.

Personality traits
These are permanent characteristics. They are classified into three types:

Cardinal trait
This is a huge trait around which a person organises his/her entire life. People generally do not have more than one cardinal trait, if they have one at all.

Primary trait
These are smaller traits that most people would identify as 'what a person is like' in a non-psychology context. Examples would include affectionateness or loyalty.

Secondary trait
These have the smallest influence on a person's life and include minor traits like preferences.

Personality states
These are temporary characteristics; being in a 'bad mood' would be one, as a 'bad mood' is not a permanent characteristic.

Miscellaneous
States can sometimes eclipse traits; for example, a person who is normally cheerful might behave the opposite if he/she is in a 'bad mood'.

Also, traits can sometimes be like states. For example, tendency to hold a grudge, a trait, would be increased if the person is in a bad mood (a state). The increased tendency to hold a grudge is a state as it will not stay on permanently after the person is out of his/her bad-mood state.