Personality

Personality is the combination of traits and patterns that influence the behavior, thought,
motivation and emotion. It drives individuals to consistently think, feel and behave in specific
ways; in essence, it is what makes each individual unique. Over time, these patterns strongly
influence personal expectations, perceptions, values and attitudes.

Personality Psychology:

Personality psychology is the study of human personality and how it varies among individuals
and populations. Personality has been studied for over 2000 years, beginning with Hippocrates in
370 BCE and spamming through modern theories such as the psychodynamic perspective and
trait theory.

Philosophical Roots:

“Personality” word is originated from the latin word persona, which means “mask”. Personality
as a field of study began with Hippocrates, he theorized that personality traits and human
behavior are based on four separate temperaments associated with four fluids of body known as
“humors”. This theory is known as humorism and it proposed that an individual’s personality is
the result of the balance of these humors: Yellow bile, black bile, phlegm and blood, which are
corresponded to four dispositions: grumpy, melancholy, calm and cheer, respectively. While this
theory is no longer held to be trace, it paved the way for further discoveries and insight into
human personality.

Influences of Culture and Gender on Personality:

Personality is influenced by both biological and environmental factors and culture is one of the
most important environmental factors that shapes personality. Considering cultural influences on
personality is important because western ideas and theories are not necessarily applicable to
other cultures. Research shows that strength of personality traits varies greatly across culture.
People who live in individual cultures tend to value independence, competition and personal
achievement while people from collectivist cultures tend to value social harmony, respectfulness
and group needs. Similarly gender norms also emphasize different traits between genders and
thereby influence the development of personality. For Example: in many countries, aggression
and assertiveness are emphasized as positive traits for male while submissiveness and caretaking
are emphasized for females.

Structuring Personality: ID, EGO and Super EGO:

To describe the structure of personality, Freud developed a comprehensive theory that held
personality consists of three separate but interacting components the ID, the EGO and the super
EGO, all developing at different stages in our lives. According to this, Freud’s model of the
psyche, the ID is a primitive and instinctual part of the mind that contains sexual and aggressive
drives and hidden memories, the super EGO operates as a moral conscience and the EGO is the
realistic part that mediates between the desires of the ID and the super EGO.

Developing Personality: Psychosexual Development:

According to Freud’s psychosexual development, children progress through a series of stages of

personality development. At each stage, libidinal energy or the force that drives all human
behaviors, becomes focused on specific erogenous zones. Successful completion of each stage
results in moving on to the next phase of development, but failure at any particular stage can lead
to fixations that can impact adult personality. During each stage, the individual faces a
development crises that serves as a turning point in development.

Theories:

A number of different theories have emerged to explain various aspects of personality. Some
theories focus on how personality develops, while others are concerned with individual
differences in personality.

The Trait Theory of Personality:

A trait can be thought of as a relatively stable characteristic that causes individuals to behave in
certain ways. The trait approach to personality is one of the major theoretical areas in the study
of personality. The trait approach to personality is focused on differences between individuals
and what makes each individual unique.

Gordon Allport’s Trait Theory:

In 1936, psychologist Gordon Allport found that one English dictionary alone contained more
than 4,000 words describing personality traits.

Cardinal Traits:

These are the traits that dominate an individual’s whole life, often to the point that the person
becomes known specifically for that trait. People with such personalities can become so well-
known for these traits that their names are often synonymous with these qualities.

Central Traits:

Central traits are the general characteristics that forms the basic foundation of personality. These
central traits, while not as dominating as cardinal traits are major characteristics used to describe
another person. For Example: intelligent, shy and honest.

Secondary Traits:

Secondary traits are sometimes related to attitudes or preferences. They only appear in certain
situations or under specific circumstances.

Cattell and Eysenck: Factoring Out Personality:

Raymond Cattell 16 Personality:

Trait theorist Raymond Cattell reduced the number of main personality traits from Allport’s
initial list of over 4K down to 171. He did so by eliminating uncommon traits and combining
common characteristics. Next he rated a large sample of individuals for these 171 different traits.
Then, using a statistical technique known as factor analysis, he identified closely related terms
and eventually reduced his list to just 16 key personality traits.

Hans Eysenck’s Three Dimensions:

Hans Eysenck (1995) also used factor analysis to identify pattern of traits but he came to a very
different conclusion about the nature of personality. He found that personality can be best
described in terms of just three major dimensions: extraversion neuroticism and psychoticism.
The extraversion dimension relates to the degree of sociability, whereas neuroticism dimension
encompasses emotional stability. Finally, psychoticism refers to the degree to which reality is
distorted.
The Five-Factor Theory:

Both Cattell’s and Eysenck’s theory have been the subject of considerable research. This has led
some theorists to believe that Cattell focused on too many traits, while Eysenck focused on too
few. As a result, a new trait theory often referred to as the “Big Five” theory emerged. This five
factor model of personality represents five core traits that interact to form human personality.
While researchers often degree about the exact labels of each dimension, the following are
described most commonly:

1. Extraversion
2. Agreeableness
3. Conscientiousness
4. Neuroticism
5. Openness

Assessing the Trait Approach:

Most theorists and psychologists agree that people can be described based on their personality
traits. Yet, theorists continue to debate the number of basic traits that make up human
personality. While trait theory has an objectivity that some personality theories lack such as
Freud’s psychoanalytic theory, it also has weakness.

Some of the most common criticisms of trait theory center on the fact that traits are often poor
predicators of behavior. While an individual may score high on assessments of a specific trait,

he may not behave that same way in every situation. Another problem is that these theories do
not address how or why individual differences in personality develop or emerge.