Abstract: This review of literature on children's conceptions of personality traits examines three assessing methods extensively employed in the past three decades:(a) free descriptions, (b) behavior predictions, both of which were regarded as the main approaches before 1990s, and (c) psychological predictions newly developed in 1990s influenced by the research of theory of mind. It is suggested that future research in this area requires further exploration of fundamental issues theoretically and empirically.

Key words: conceptions of personality traits, free descriptions, behavior predictions, psychological predictions, children