Definition

🧠 Full Definition

Personality refers to the consistent patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviours that make each person unique. It influences how individuals perceive the world, relate to others, and make decisions.
 

🔹 Major Theories of Personality
 

1. Trait Theory (The Big Five / OCEAN Model)

One of the most widely accepted models:

• Openness to Experience – Imaginative, curious, creative

• Conscientiousness – Organized, responsible, disciplined

• Extraversion – Sociable, energetic, outgoing

• Agreeableness – Compassionate, cooperative, trusting

• Neuroticism – Emotionally sensitive, anxious, moody
   

Most personality assessments today (like the NEO-PI or IPIP) are based on this model.
 

2. Psychoanalytic Theory (Freud)

Personality is shaped by unconscious drives and childhood experiences.

• Id – Instinctual desires

• Ego – Rational self-balancing id and reality

• Superego – Moral conscience
   

3. Humanistic Theories (Maslow, Rogers)

Focuses on personal growth and self-actualization.

• People are inherently good and strive for fulfillment and authenticity.

• Carl Rogers: Emphasized unconditional positive regard and the “self-concept.”
   

4. Behavioural & Social Learning Theories (Skinner, Bandura)

• Personality develops from learning and environment rather than innate traits.

• Bandura’s concept of reciprocal determinism: behaviour, environment, and internal factors all influence each other.
   

🔸 Nature vs. Nurture

Both genetics and environment shape personality. Twin studies show that about 40–60% of personality variation can be attributed to genetics.
 

🔹 Personality Assessment
 

Common methods:

• Self-report questionnaires (e.g., Big Five Inventory, MBTI)

• Projective tests (e.g., Rorschach inkblot, TAT)

• Behavioural observation

🔸 Stability and Change

• Personality is relatively stable over time but can evolve with major life experiences, trauma, or personal growth.

• Maturity tends to increase conscientiousness and emotional stability with age.
   

🧩 In Summary

Human personality is:

The unique blend of enduring characteristics — shaped by biology, experience, and environment — that guide how we think, feel, and act.

 

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