Literature ReviewTrait theory is “an individual's relatively consistent way of thinking, feeling, and behaving in situations” when it comes to communication ( Littlejohn & Foss, 2011). Trait theory could also be classified as personality theory, since personality is what causes a person to behave in a certain way because of their emotional qualities, or the way they think and feel. Communication is “the act or process of using words, sounds, signs, or behaviors to express or exchange information or to express ideas, thoughts, feelings, etc. to someone else” (“communication,” 2013). Komarraju et al. (2011) define communication as a process of encoding, recalling, organizing and applying information. Comparing the definitions of trait and communication, it becomes clear that personality is an important factor in communication since both use behaviors due to thoughts and feelings. Although thoughts and feelings are associated with emotions, emotions and personality are not synonymous, although emotions are often confused with an individual's personality (Hall, Gunnery, & Andrzejewski, DATE). When researching trait theory and how traits affect communication, a particular trait theory stands out most in both ease of application and the amount of research done on that particular theory. The five-factor model of personality, or The Big Five, appears to be the most relevant theory studied, although few studies have been done on the theory in direct application to communications. Existing research has correlations to communication that make the theory relevant. in studies of trait theory for communication. These studies concern all forms of communication. Due to the definition of the Five Factor Model of personality... middle of article ...... experiences have greater access to a variety of feelings, thoughts, perspectives and ideas. " (George and Zhou, 2001). When considering the definition of communication with the traits of individuals scoring high on openness, this would imply that open individuals should be better at expressing themselves than others, and therefore communicate better in some ways than others Since communication is not limited to words, the highly artistic and creative traits of open-minded individuals would indicate that these individuals might be better at communicating visually than those with traits. less open However, when looking at communication, openness appears to have less influence on certain types of communication than other traits. For example, openness had little impact on. social media use than other traits (Source, DATE).).