Introduction to Personality

Personality is what makes each individual unique.  Personality is a complex subject and not easily understood.  Many individuals have attempted to attach a simply put definition to the word, without success.  According to The Penguin Dictionary of Psychology (2009), “each author's meaning of the term tends to be coloured by his or her theoretical biases and by the empirical tools used to evaluate and test the theory” (para. 1).  Personality itself is a hard concept to define in psychology. The reason for this is that there are a wide variety of perceptions regarding what personality is and where it originates from, whether it is from within a person, from the world around, or a combination of both.  The word “personality is derived from the Latin persona.  According to Feist and Feist (2009), this word refers to a, “theatrical mask worn by Roman actors in Greek dramas” (p. 3).  The actors were portraying a character and acting out that character’s personality.  In modern day psychology, this definition is unacceptable. 

Feist and Feist (2009) define personality as “a pattern of relatively permanent traits and unique characteristics that give both consistency and individuality to a person’s behavior” (p. 4).  Each person individual traits, which evolve over time, and show differences in each person’s behavior.  Traits give insight into an individual’s consistency in behavior as time passes and stability of behavior throughout circumstances.  Although traits can be associated with a public, every individual has his or her own model of traits. In the same way, each individual is similar to others, yet everyone has his or her own unique personality.  Characteristics are distinguishing qualities of a person, like warm-hearted, outspoken, and driven.

Theoretical Approaches in Studying Personality

There are four main categories of personality theories with several theories under each of those categories.  All personality theories fall under psychodynamic, human/existential, dispositional, and learning theories. 

The psychodynamic theory describes personality as being a combination of conscious and unconscious factors.  Sigmund Freud is one of the best well-known psychologists in history.  He describes personality as being comprised of the id, the ego, and the superego.  According to Feist and Feist (2009), “the id is unconscious, chaotic, out of contact with reality, and in service of the pleasure principle” (p. 63).  It is constantly seeking pleasure and striving to meet basic desires.  The ego is the only dimension of the psyche that is in touch with reality. “It grows out of the id during infancy and becomes a person’s sole source of communication with the external world” (Feist & Feist, 2009, p. 29).  The superego is part conscious and part unconscious and is the part of the psyche that aims to obey rules that society and parents put into place, moral values, guilt, and conscience.  Freud developed a theory called psychoanalysis, which attempts to unmask unconscious desires and thoughts.  Psychodynamic theories, in general, describe personality as being shaped through childhood experiences. 

Humanistic personality theories suggest that all matter develops from simple to complex.  Actualization and self-actualization are common terms in humanistic theories.  The actualization tendency is what motivated animals and people to fulfillment.  “Self-actualization develops after people evolve a self-system and refers to the tendency to move toward becoming a fully functional person” (Feist & Feist, 2009, p. 339).  Maslow’s holistic-dynamix theory and Rogers’ person-centered theory are both humanistic personality theories.  “Maslow’s hierarchy of needs concept assumes that lower level needs must be satisfied or at least relatively satisfied before higher level needs become motivators” (Feist & Feist, 2009, p. 280).  Rollo May developed an existential personality theory, which suggests that what people are, is less important than what they do.  May believed that individuals are liable for who they are and who they ultimately will become, and that they look to answer meaningful questions about life.   They know that death is imminent and make the choice to live life in the moment. 

“Each person has stable, long-lasting dispositions to display certain behaviors, attitudes, and emotions” (Westmont College, 2002, para. 1).  If a person is asked to describe him or herself or another individual, he or she would likely name a list of traits, like caring, giving, and outgoing.  “Each person has a different set of dispositions or at least a set of dispositions of varying strengths, which implies a unique pattern” (Westmont College, 2002, para. 1).  These dispositions explain why people act in specific ways under difference circumstances.  Dispositional theories look at the differences in individuals through types, traits, and factors.  Trait theories describe each individual with a list of the traits he or she possess in different amounts.  Gordon Willard Allport “believed that attempts to describe people in terms of general traits rob them of their unique individuality” (Feist & Feist, 2009, p. 375).  Hans Eysenck produced the Five-Factor Theory and which describes personality as being a combination of psychometric and biological factors.

Learning theories suggest that an individual’s interaction with his or her environment results in personality.  Skinner’s behavioral analysis theory suggests that behavior is learned through operant and classical conditioning.  Operant conditioning is learned behavior through reinforces, which either increases or decreases the chances of the behavior occurring again.  Bandura’s social cognitive theory suggests that people learn through observing others and consequences of behavior.  Bandura believed that people have control over the quality and nature of their lives, and they regulate behavior through external and internal factors.  “The cognitive social learning theories of both Rotter and Mischel attempt to synthesize the strengths of reinforcement theory with those of cognitive theory” (Feist & Feist, 2009, p. 545).  Rotter believed that behavior is a result of a combination of the strength of needs and expectations of reinforcements.  George Kelly’s theory of personal constructs suggests “the idea of constructive alternativism, or the notion that our present interpretations are subject to change” (Feist & Feist, 2009, p. 573).  Kelly’s basic postulate suggests that the anticipation of events directs all psychological processes. 

Personality Development

Several personality theories describe different aspects of personality development, including social, moral, and cognitive development.  Sigmund Freud developed a controversial theory known as the stages of psychosexual development.  This theory suggests that the development of personality directly relates to an individual’s erogenous zones.  For example, the first stage in Freud’s stages of psychosexual development is the oral stage.  During the oral phase “infants obtain life-sustaining nourishment through the oral cavity, but beyond that, they also gain pleasure through the act of sucking” (Feist & Feist, 2009, p. 39).  Freud believed that if this stage, along with others, were not completed there would be personality problems during adulthood. 

Erik Erikson developed stages of psychosocial development, also known as the post-Freudian theory.  “Erikson suggested that at each stage a specific psychosocial struggle contributes to the formation of personality” (Feist & Feist, 2009, p. 243).  Erikson used Freud’s theory as a foundation for his eight-stage psychosocial theory.  Erickson looked at the entire lifespan to reveal how personality is developed through social relationships.  Alfred Adler believed that people have a choice regarding who they are.  “The creative power endows humans, within certain limits, with the freedom to be either psychologically healthy or unhealthy and to follow either a useful or useless style of life” (Feist & Feist, 2009, p.79).  He also believed that running from difficulties interferes and stops personality development, which he called withdrawal. 

Jung believed that personality development occurred throughout an individual’s lifespan in a series of stages.  These stages result in self- realization, or individuation.  “In contrast to Freud, he emphasized the second half of life, the period after age 35 or 40, when a person has the opportunity to bring together the various aspects of personality and to attain self-realization” (Feist & Feist, 2009, p. 120).  This stage also holds the chance of rigid reaction and degeneration.  In order to progress from one stage to another the individual must learn to balance “the poles of the various opposing processes” (Feist & Feist, 2009, p. 120). 

Conclusion

With so many personality theories, it is hard to describe personality in a simple form.  One thing is for sure, personality is intricate and complex.  It is what makes us individuals, unique from any other person.  Psychodynamic, human/existential, dispositional, and learning theories do a good job of describing just how complex personality is, looking at it from several vantage points.  Personality development occurs in many ways throughout each stage of life.  This includes (psychosexual) development, social relationships or psychosocial development, and self-realization. 

References

Feist, J., & Feist, G. J. (2009). Theories of personality (7th ed.) [University of Phoenix Custom Edition eBook]. New York, NY: McGraw Hill. Retrieved from University of Phoenix, PSY405 website.

Personality. (2009).  In The Penguin Dictionary of Psychology.  Retrieved from
http://www/credoreference.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com/entry/penguinpsyc/personality

Westmont College. (2002). Theories of Personality. Retrieved from http://www.westmont.edu/~bsmith/general/lectureoutlines/15personality/dispositional.html