What is the origin of the theories/tools of personality?

How did the theories emerge over a period of time?

Personality can be defined as Deeply Ingrained patterns of behaviour that include the way one
relates to, perceive, and thinks about the environment and the self. It is used in different ways by
different authors. different model definitions are based on different underlying hypothesis.

From the ancient ages, people have tried to define theories to explain different types of
personalities. The Geetha describes Gunatraya vibhaga (three types of characters) and possession of
demon and divinic qualities in human which describes human behaviour. Astrology also tells much
about the personality and the time of birth. The 12 horoscope signs falls in one of the four element-
Air, Fire, Water, Earth.

Hippocrates, a Greek philosopher and a physician of the 5th century BC, from the recent times says
that personalities are of four types. They are choleric (hot tempered), sanguine (confident),
melancholic (moody), and phlegmatic (slow to act). German psychiatrist Ernst Kretschmer wrote in
his book, physique and character, first published in 1921

Psychosocial Theories:

Sigmund Freud’s(1856– 1939) Classical psychoanalytical theory had its emphasis on topographical,
structural, dynamic, genetic, and economic aspects of mind, libido, object relations, infantile
sexuality, primary process, secondary process and the instinctual theory talks about the personality
as a composite of biological aspects represented by ID, psychological aspects represented by ego,
and social aspects represented by super ego and selfish.

Psychobiological Model:
In the 2nd century AD, early form of personality type indicators was the four temperament system s
(melancholic, phlegmatic, sanguine, and choleric) of Galen’s based on the four humors’ models of
Hippocrates. Character handles with the symbolization and abstraction. Hippocampus and the
Neocortex, these are brain spots that can influence and control the character.

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) tool was developed by Katherine Cook Briggs and her
daughter Isabel Briggs Myers in the 1940s and 1950s. It is a 100-question test that assesses how
people perceive or respond to different situations based on which people are classified into 16
different personality types. Four factors are used to define a certain personality type, namely –
Extraverted(E) Vs Introverted(I), Sensing(S) Vs Intuitive(I), Thinking(T) Vs Feeling(F) and Judging(J) Vs
Perceiving(P). Although, studies have shown that the results of MBTI test are not very reliable to be
used in career counselling, this tool still remains one of the most popular psychological instruments
in use today.

The Big Five theory or the OCEAN theory defines five basic personality traits, namely – Openness,
Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism. These traits are measured in their
intensity as high to low through a test which give a good insight into expected behaviours of people
with different personality traits.
Evidence of this theory has been growing for many years, beginning with the research of D. W. Fiske
(1949) and later expanded upon by other researchers including Norman (1967), Smith (1967),
Goldberg (1981), and McCrae & Costa (1987).
Ref source 1- Power RA, Pluess M. Heritability estimates of the Big Five personality traits based on
common genetic variants. Transl Psychiatry. 2015;5:e604.

Ref source 2- Historical Perspectives on Personality – The Past and Current Concept: The Search is
Not Yet Over, written by Krishnamurthy Kavirayani Department of Psychiatry, College of Medical
Sciences, Bharatpur, Chitwan, Nepal

Ref source 3- From the book Personality theories written by DR. C. George Boeree , Psychology
Department Shippensburg University