
Why Psychological Traits Impact How Successful You’ll Be
When you ask a 9-year-old what they want to be when they grow up, the answers are often broad and vary from a firefighter, to an astronaut, to batman. But how might personality traits channel individuals into the careers they actually choose? Answering this question involves distinguishing between who people are and who people want to become. In other words, there is a difference between psychological traits (descriptors) and motivations. One can view the relationship between traits and goals as separate--meaningful traits represent who we are and goals represent who we want to become--or as linked--traits are and goals are intimately related constructs.