What Is Personality?

It is a daily process to assess and describe the behavior of individuals around us. Although many times we do not understand this we on a daily basis discuss and predict the behavior of various individuals around us. This is nothing but very much what psychologists who deal with behaviors do. The difference being that when we assess personality informally it tends to focus more towards the individual and the psychologists, instead, tend to use rules to devise analysis of the given individuals’ personality. When personalities are researched various theories are developed that help to explain why and how certain traits in personalities develop.

 

Components of Personality

 

There are various theories for various personalities and different ways to understand what exactly one means by the word personality. A short introduction can be in simple words described as; personality comprises of characteristic patterns, that of feelings, behaviors and thoughts that make any person different from another. Personality generally arises from the deep core of any individual and more or less remains constant through the journey of life. 

 

There are a few fundamental characteristics traits that differentiate one from the other: 

 

Consistency – Behaviors are usually recognizable due to their regularity and order. Any given individual might act similarly in a given situation repeatedly.

 

Physiological and psychological – It is true that personality is a byproduct of psychological changes but a lot of research also says that biological factors could also influence the making of a personality. 

 

Impact actions and behaviors – It is not just the movement and response of an individual to the environment that is influenced but the certain way an individual acts. 

 

Theories of Personality

 

A variety of theories are derived till date on how a personality is developed. All of these theories belong to different schools of thought and have come from various psychological theories. The major ones include:

 

Type theory is the oldest perspective. This one concludes that very limited types of personalities are due to biological influences.

 

The trait theory views personality to be the end result of characteristics that are genetic and internal in nature. 

 

The behavioral theory concludes that it is the result of the reaction between the environment and the individual. These theorists usually get their conclusions after analyzing measurable and observable behaviors. 

 

The humanist theory emphasizes the individual experience and free will that result in the development of any personality.