Personality

By Dr. Edwin van Thiel, updated May 21, 2019

To answer the question "What is personality", three topics should be addressed:

How is personality defined?

What are key determinants of personality development and differences?
How are different personalities described?

How is personality defined?

When you look up the meaning of the word personality in layman's terms, you may find
something like ‘that what characterizes a person’. In everyday life we use terms such as
character, identity or predisposition.

What's my personality?
Find out more about you and your strengths.

Take the test

Scientists use more extensive definitions of personality. One of these definitions, by the
American psychologists Randy Larsen and David Buss1, goes something like: “personality is a
stable, organized collection of psychological traits and mechanisms in the human being that
influences his or her interactions with and modifications to the psychological, social and
physical environment surrounding them." Key words in this definition of personality are:

Personality is stable
Your personality does not change just from one day to another, actually it changes hardly at all.
If there are any changes these are very limited and slow. If they occur they may be caused by
trauma or life changing experiences.

Personality is made up of properties and mechanisms

Personality can be divided into different components and characteristics. Over time, many
different classifications have been made in personality characteristics. Literally hundreds!

Personality is ever present

Your personality is something that you always take with you, it affects your thinking, feelings
and behavior, where and with whom you are, in any situation at any time. Personality helps you
to adjust. Your personality helps you to "survive" and deal with the daily challenges surrounding
you. In a sense your personality is in part psychological but also physiological. Research
suggests that your personality is also influenced by all kinds of biological processes and needs.

What are key determinants of personality development and differences?

Nature vs nurture
A frequently asked question is: "Is personality innate or acquired?" This question is also called
the nature-nurture debate. This issue has been debated by philosophers and other scientists for
centuries.

According to John Locke (1632-1704) and his followers, the development of personality was
purely a question of 'nurture' or education. The newborn child would be like a clean slate
("tabula rasa"), which can be shaped as educators want it to be.

Pendants of this vision, such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778), oppositely claimed that
heredity has the most important influence on personality. According to Rousseau, the
development of a child follows an inner, biological time table. As parents you do not play a role
in this, according to Rousseau. This is probably also the reason why Rousseau sent his own
children to an orphanage.

Today, thanks to twins research, we know more and more about the nature-nurture issue. This
type of research observes identical twins growing up separately, in different families and
environments. Identical twins share 100% of their genes. When identical twins that grow up
separately from each other, differ from each other on a certain characteristic, this must be due
to environmental factors. We then know that that characteristic is (partly) learned.
Through this kind of research it is now generally known to what extent heredity and
environment influence personality. For example, we now know that characteristics such as
extraversion, conscientiousness, neuroticism, agreeableness and openness are innate for about
20 to 45%. For the rest these characteristics are formed by influences from the environment,
such as parents, school, friends, and etcetera.

3rd. Based on what I have read and understood, personality has a broad ..
According to Dr. Edwin van Thiel, a PhD degree holder in artificial intelligence which
focuses on cognitive psychological research, Personality
According to two American psychologists Randy Larsen and David Buss
One can simply say that personality is defined as something that characterizes a person

When you look up the meaning of the word personality in layman's terms, you may find
something like ‘that what characterizes a person’. In everyday life we use terms such as
character, identity or predisposition.

What's my personality?
Find out more about you and your strengths.

Take the test

Scientists use more extensive definitions of personality. One of these definitions, by the
American psychologists Randy Larsen and David Buss1, goes something like:
“personality is a stable, organized collection of psychological traits and mechanisms in
the human being that influences his or her interactions with and modifications to the
psychological, social and physical environment surrounding them." Key words in this
definition of personality are:
What Is Personality and Why
Does It Matter?
Almost every day we describe and assess the personalities of the people around us. "She has such
a great personality," you might say about a friend. "He gets his personality from his dad," you
might say about your rambunctious son. While we spend a lot of time talking about personality,
many people are not quite sure exactly how and what personality psychology is really all about.

Whether we realize it or not, these daily musings on how and why people behave as they do are
similar to what personality psychologists do. While our informal assessments of personality tend
to focus more on individuals, personality psychologists instead use conceptions of personality
that can apply to everyone. Personality research has led to the development of a number of
theories that help explain how and why certain personality traits develop.

Let's take a closer look at exactly what psychologists mean when they talk about personality,
how they study human personality and some of the key theories of personality.

Definitions

While there are many theories of personality, the first step is to understand exactly what is meant
by the term personality. The word personality itself stems from the Latin word persona, which
referred to a theatrical mask worn by performers in order to either project different roles or
disguise their identities.

A brief definition is that personality is made up of the characteristic patterns of thoughts,

feelings, and behaviors that make a person unique. In addition to this, personality arises from
within the individual and remains fairly consistent throughout life.

How would you define personality? The following are just a few of the definitions that have been
put forth by some different psychologists:

 "That which permits a prediction of what a person will do in a given situation." -Raymond B.
Cattell, 1950
  "The dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine
his characteristic behavior and thought." -Gordon W. Allport, 1961
 "The distinctive patterns of behavior (including thoughts and well as 'affects,' that is, feelings, and
emotions and actions) that characterize each individual enduringly." -Walter Mischel, 1999
 "Personality refers to individuals' characteristic patterns of thought, emotion, and behavior,
together with the psychological mechanisms -- hidden or not -- behind those patterns." -Funder,
2001
 "Although no single definition is acceptable to all personality theorists, we can say that
personality is a pattern of relatively permanent traits and unique characteristics that give both
consistency and individuality to a person's behavior." -Feist and Feist, 2009

While there are many different definitions of personality, most focus on the pattern of behaviors
and characteristics that can help predict and explain a person's behavior. Explanations for
personality can focus on a variety of influences, ranging from genetic explanations for
personality traits to the role of the environment and experience in shaping an individual's
personality.

Environmental factors that can play a role in the development and expression of personality
include such things as parenting and culture. How children are raised can depend on the
individual personalities and parenting styles of caregivers as well as the norms and expectations
of different cultures.

Components

So what exactly makes up a personality? As described in the definitions above, you would expect
that traits and patterns of thought and emotionplay important roles. Some of the other
fundamental characteristics of personality include:

 Consistency: There is generally a recognizable order and regularity to behaviors. Essentially,

people act in the same ways or similar ways in a variety of situations.
 Psychological and physiological: Personality is a psychological construct, but research suggests
that it is also influenced by biological processes and needs.
 It impacts behaviors and actions: Personality does not just influence how we move and respond
in our environment; it also causes us to act in certain ways.
  Multiple expressions: Personality is displayed in more than just behavior. It can also be seen in
our thoughts, feelings, close relationships, and other social interactions.

Theories

There are a number of theories about how personality develops. Different schools of thought in
psychology influence many of these theories. Some of these major perspectives on personality
include:

 Type theories are the early perspectives on personality. These theories suggested that there are a
limited number of "personality types" which are related to biological influences.
 Trait theories tend to view personality as the result of internal characteristics that are genetically
based.
 Psychodynamic theories of personality are heavily influenced by the work of Sigmund
Freud and emphasize the influence of the unconscious mind on personality. Psychodynamic
theories include Sigmund Freud’s psychosexual stage theory and Erik Erikson’s stages of
psychosocial development.
 Behavioral theories suggest that personality is a result of interaction between the individual and
the environment. Behavioral theorists study observable and measurable behaviors, often ignoring
the role of internal thoughts and feelings. Behavioral theorists include B. F. Skinner and John B.
Watson.
 Humanist theories emphasize the importance of free will and individual experience in
developing a personality. Humanist theorists include Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow.

Psychology Applications

Research on personality can yield fascinating insights into how personality develops and
changes over the course of the lifetime. This research can also have important practical
applications in the real-world.

For example, personality assessments are often used to help people learn more about themselves
and their unique strengths, weaknesses, and preferences. Some assessments might look at how
people rank on specific traits, such as whether they are high in extroversion, conscientiousness,
or openness. Other assessments might measure how specific aspects of personality change over
the course of development. Such personality assessments can also be used to help people
determine what careers they might enjoy, how well they might perform in certain job roles, or
how effective a form of psychotherapy has been.

A Word From Verywell

Understanding the psychology of personality is much more than simply an academic exercise.
The findings from personality research can have important applications in the world of medicine,
health, business, economics, technology, and other areas. Researchers have found that certain
personality characteristics may be linked to illness and health behaviors. By building a better
understanding of how personality works, we can look for new ways to improve both personal
and public health.

What's My Personality Type?

From eccentric and introverted to boisterous and bold, each human
personality is a constellation of traits that generally remain stable across one's
lifetime. Different personality traits or, colloquially, personality types, reflect
different behavioral strategies.

The degree to which people express the so-called Big Five personality traits—
openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism—
can consistently predict behavior in certain situations, and in some cases
correlates with life outcomes. High conscientiousness, for example, is
associated with higher lifetime earnings.

The desire to understand and capture personality through a specific

framework or test is enticing. But some of the most popular ideas—including
the Myers-Briggs Personality test—are not reliable tools. Nor, even, is the
concept of personality "type."

Many people associate a "Type A" personality with a more organized, rigid,
competitive, and anxious person, while a type B personality signals
flexibility, creativity, and relaxation. Yet there’s little empirical support for the
idea. In fact, it didn’t even emerge from psychology—two cardiologists created
the concept as a way to understand the connection between stressed patients
and the likelihood of developing heart disease and high blood pressure.
  Take This Quick Personality Test
 How to Reinvent Yourself
 The Truth About Myers-Briggs
 The Most Important Personality Trait You’ve Never Heard Of

What Are the Big Five Personality Traits?

The dominant paradigm in the study of personality today is the five-factor model,
which consists of the “Big Five” traits.

Openness is the desire to seek out new and unfamiliar experiences.

Conscientiousness represents the tendency toward self-discipline and planning
over impulsivity. Extroversion refers to whether one draws energy from time
spent with others or time spent alone. Agreeableness is how cooperative, polite,
and kind one tends to be, while neuroticism encompasses emotional stability and
one’s tendency toward anxiety and self-doubt.

The field has yet to settle, however, on a single test or model that can completely
capture the full range of human personality.