Mar
13

Positive & negative trait tables

Category: Character Development, Writing tips Tags: traits Leave a Comment

We’ve posted an article about character personality traits before, but here’s several tables which focusses on the postive and negative versions of the same trait. Sometimes it’s fun to pair characters up with their opposites, so here’s a list of traits and their opposites.

(Go directly to: Attitudes, Attributes, Social Endowments, Skills)

Attitudes

Trait-Positive	Trait-Negative
accepts authority, loyal, devoted	rebellious
accepts what’s given	ignores, rejects what’s given
affectionate	distant, cold, aloof
aspiring, ambitious, motivated	self-satisfied, unmotivated
candid	closed, guarded, secretive
caring	uncaring, unfeeling, callous
change; accepts, embraces-	rejects change
cheerful	cheerless, gloomy, sour, grumpy
considerate, thoughtful	inconsiderate, thoughtless
cooperative	uncooperative, unhelpful, combative
courageous	cowering, fearful
courteous	rude, impolite
decisive	indecisive
devoted	uncommitted, uncaring, hostile
determined	indecisive, unsure
does what is necessary, right	does what is convenient
perseveres, endures	relents, gives up
enthusiastic	unenthusiastic, apathetic, indifferent
expansive	kept back, tight, constricting
faith in life	life can’t be trusted
faith in oneself	lack of faith in self
faith in others	others can’t be relied on
flexible	inflexible, rigid, unbending, stubborn
forgiving	unforgiving, resentful, spiteful
focused	unfocused, scattered
freedom given to others	authoritarian, controlling
friendly	unfriendly, distant, aloof, hostile
frugal, thrifty	wasteful, spendthrift
generous	stingy, miserly, selfish
goodwill	ill-will, malice, hatred
grateful	ungrateful, unappreciative
hard-working	lazy
honest	dishonest, deceiving, lying
humble	arrogant, conceited, ego-centric
interested	indifferent, uncaring
involved	complacent, indifferent
jealous, not	jealous, envious, covetous
kind	unkind, uncaring, cruel, mean
mature	immature
modest	vain
open-minded, tolerant	narrow, close, small-minded, intolerant
optimistic	pessimistic
perfects	allows imperfection
persistent, sustaining	flagging, fleeting, unsustaining
positive	negative
practical	impractical, not viable
punctual	late, not on time
realistic	unrealist, impractical
reliable	unreliable, undependable
respectful	disrespectful, rude, impolite
responsibility; takes-	blames others
responsible	unreliable, undependable
responsive	unresponsive, unreceptive
self-confident	lack of self confidence, insecure
self-directed	directed by externals
self-disciplined	undisciplined, unrestrained, indulgent
self-esteem, high	self-esteem, confidence – low
self-giving	self-centered
self-reliant	dependent
selfless	selfish
sensitive	Insensitive, indifferent
serious	frivolous, silly, trivial
sincere	insincere, dishonest
social independence	social approval required
sympathetic	unsympathetic, unfeeling
systematic	unsystematic, disorganized, disorderly, random
takes others point of view	insists on own view
thoughtful towards others	thoughtless, inconsiderate, callous
trusting	suspicious, mistrusting
unpretentious	pretentious, affected, ostentatious
unselfish	selfish
willing does, willingness	unwilling, reluctant, recalcitrant
work-oriented	convenience first

Attributes

Trait positive	Trait negative
achieved; has-	hasn’t achieve
adventurous	conventional
substance-free	substance-abuse (alcohol, drug)
alert	dull
aware of opportunities	ignorant of opportunities
calm	excitable, nervous
clean	dirty, unkempt
clear goals	lack of, jumbled goals; directionless
clear thoughts	muddled thoughts, confused
completes	leaves hanging, doesn’t complete
comprehends	doesn’t comprehend
conscious	unconscious
conscious of one’s weaknesses	unconscious of one’s strengths
constructive	destructive, complaining
content-oriented	outer, surface, form-oriented
creative	uncreative
delegates	tries to do everything
deliberative	reckless
detail-oriented	scrimps on details
develops mental capabilities	leaves mental capacities as is
directed, has direction	directionless, unfocused
disciplined	dissipating
dynamic	passive
educated	uneducated
education exceed previous generation	education not exceed previous generation
education greater than present level of achievement	education less than present level of achievement
education greater than previous generation	education less than previous generation
efficient	inefficient
effort taking	lack of effort
effort achieves results	effort wasted
energetic	listless
enterprising	enterprising, not
entrepreneurial	entrepreneurial, not
envisions the unseen	visionless
experienced (in area)	inexperienced (in area)
fatigue-free	tired, fatigued
focused	unfocused, addled, scattered
goal-oriented	goalless, directionless
good	evil
graceful	clumsy
has enough time	never has enough time
health robust, strong constitution	poor health, weak constitution
high goals	low, no goals
higher social interests	lower, no social interests
idea-driven	ideas don’t motivate to act
imaginative	unimaginative
improves self	stays the same
in rapidly expanding field of work	in static or declining field
initiates (has initiative)	lacks initiative
innovative	conservative
insightful	lacks insight, blind to, ignorant of
intelligent	stupid
knowledgeable	ignorant, uniformed
knowledgeable in a particular area	no knowledge in a particular area
leads others	submits, yields to others
lives from the depths of life	lives on the surface of life, superficial
lucky; things go your way	unlucky
money circulated for improvement	money hoarded for security
motivated	unmotivated
nerves strong	nerves weak
objective	subjective, biased
observant	blind to, oblivious to
organized	disorganized
patient	impatient, expectant
personable	non-engaging, distant, cold
physical stamina	lack of stamina
polite, mannered	impolite, ill mannered, rude
previous success in family life	previous failure in family life
previous success in school	previous failure in school
previous success in work	previous failure in work
productive interactions with others	chit-chatting
professional (acts)	amateurish (acts)
professional qualification achieved	no professional qualification
punctual	late
regular	irregular, erratic
relationship with other(s) positive	relationship with other(s) negative
resourceful	unresourceful, helpless
responsible	irresponsible
results-oriented	does for doing’s sake, being merely occupied
risk-taker	averse to risk
sees the whole picture	seeing only parts of the picture
seeks improvement	self-satisfied
spiritual, inner connection	lacks any spiritual, inner connection
stamina	lack of stamina
strong; physically-	weak; physically-
strong; psychologically-	weak; psychologically-
stress-free, relaxed	stressed, tense
(has had) supportive family or friends	(has had) indifferent, uncaring family or friends
systematic	unsystematic, disorganized, disorderly, random
tough	weak, soft
trustworthy	untrustworthy
wealthy	impoverished
wealth in present generation	poverty in present generation
well-behaved	ill behaved
work is in harmony with personal life	work is in conflict with personal life

Social Endowments

Trait Positive	Trait Negative
affectionate family upbringing	indifferent, hostile family upbringing
high mental abilities in family	poor mental abilities in family
parents attained high social status	parents have low social status
parents motivated, gave direction	parents demotivated, gave no direction
parents rose & accomplished	parents remained in same position
(inheritance) physical attributes are fine	(inheritance) physical attributes are poor
(had) previous success (in school, work, family life)	(had) previous failure (in school, work, family life)
prosperity in family upbringing	poverty in family upbringing
psychological health and well-being	psychological problems
prosperity in surrounding society	poverty in surrounding society
supportive social environment	indifferent social environment

Skills

Trait Positive	Trait Negative
capacity to judge others	unable to judge others
careful, graceful with objects	careless, clumsy
communication skills	communication skills, lack of
(can) exercise authority	cannot exercise authority
delegation skills	delegation skills, lack of
leadership skills	leadership skills, lack of
listening skills	listening skills, lack of
management skills	management skills, lack of
motivating skills	motivating skills, lack of
negotiating skills	negotiating skills, lack of
organization skills	organization skills, lacks
planning skills	planning skills, lack of
problem-solving skills	problem-solving skills, lack of
public speaking skills	public speaking skills, lack of
reconciling problems, conflicts at higher level skills	reconciling problems, conflicts at higher level skills, lack of
skilled	unskilled
skilled, talented exceptionally in particular area	not skilled, talented exceptionally in particular area
speaking skills	speaking skills, lack of
teamwork skills	teamwork skills, lack of
technical work skills	technical work skills, lack of
time management skills	time management skills, lack of
verbal skills	verbal skills, lack of
writing skills	writing skills, lack of

Source: http://www.gurusoftware.com/GuruNet/Personal/Factors.htm