The essence of allport's trait approach is best described as what? a trait is an internal structure that causes different stimuli to appear to be equivalent in their meaning thus leading people to react to situations that appear to be similar in similar ways. traits can be categorized using mathematical processes; if applied to people, these traits will correlate with certain repetitive behaviors. traits are not inherent (born with) to the person, repetitive situations over time lead people to adapt rarely changing behavior patterns that are labeled traits. a trait is the definition of a recurring behavior, without taking into account any internal processes that may have contributed to the occurrence of the behavior. allport did not agree nor believe in the study of traits and their possible relation to behavior.