Personality
is the characteristic sets of thoughts, feelings, cognitions, and behaviors
that make a person unique.
Personality psychology attempts to study similarities and differences in these patterns among different people and groups.
What is Personality in Psychology?
Introduction to Personality in Psychology
The personality is a set of appearances, mental, physical, emotional, and social characteristics that an individual possesses in a way that differs from those around him so that he is distinguished from others.
Personality can be defined as a set of personal characteristics, thoughts and emotions, in addition to social behaviors and attitudes that mix with each other in a certain consistency.
Personality
is the state of integration and functional adaptation of all behavioral and response
patterns that an individual learns while practicing various activities in his
life within groups such as family, school and work; So that makes him possess
distinct personality traits.
Personality
is a combination of an individual's responses, habits, goals, and orientations,
his self-understanding, and the criteria for his evaluation of them.
Personality
can also be described as the result of the internal forces of the individual,
which in turn interacts with external forces and influences, and factors.
Many factors
share in the formation of personality, including what is inherent in an individual from birth, such as genetics, or acquired through parenting or
experiences. The personality of the individual is constantly affected by all
forms of these factors.
Personality
is one of the most prominent subjects dealing with psychology with various
theories and studies.
The
importance of studying personality in psychology has emerged because it is
the main component of psychological formation, which is constantly growing and
interacting throughout all stages of a person’s life. Therefore, modern
psychological studies deal with all aspects of personality with study and
analysis.
Definition of Personality
in Psychology
It is well
known that the human personality is a complex mixture that contains many
different components and aspects such as inherited characteristics, habits, and
environmental motivations, in addition to tendencies, interests, hobbies,
beliefs and many more.
The study of
personality focuses on two broad areas: The first is an understanding of
individual differences in certain personality characteristics, such as social
contact or irritability. The second is understanding how the different parts of
a person come together as a whole.
Definitions
of personality differ according to the difference between psychologists and the difference in the scientific and theoretical aspects in psychological studies
that may prefer research in one aspect over the other. The most prominent of
these definitions are:
J. P.
Guilford's definition: Personality is the set of styles and features that
distinguish an individual from others.
Hans
Eysenck's Definition: Personality is the personal aspect that distinguishes an individual in his compatibility with his environment, and appears in morals,
physical strength, mood, and mental abilities
J.B.
Watson's definition: Personality is the sum of activities performed by the
individual, which can be directly observed during his interaction, and this
observation must be long enough and sufficient to know and fully understand the
personality of the individual.
B.F.
Skinner's definition: Personality is simply human nature that we behave in
such a way that we would receive rewards or favorite things. It is a set of developmentally
observed patterns of behavior and responses, with the emergence of
predictability and severity, in addition to the ability to control them using
several principles such as reinforcement.
Cyril Burt's
definition: Personality is the integrated organization that contains a set
of tendencies, physical skills, mental and physical interests, and
aptitudes and is relatively fixed in which the individual's style of
interaction and adaptation to his physical and social environment is determined.
Ralph
Linton's definition: Personality is a collection of an individual's mental
capabilities, beliefs, habits, rational faculties, perceptions, ideas, and
conditional emotional responses.
Personality Traits in
Psychology
The
following points mention the five traits that contribute to the formation of
the personality, with a simple explanation of each trait:
Openness:
Openness expresses the extent of a person's acceptance of new things and
experiences. It shows those who have a high degree of openness, a love for
adventure and challenges, not to mention freedom from social and cultural
restrictions.
Conscientiousness:
Conscientiousness represents the motivation for a person to adhere to his
duties towards himself and others.
People with
conscience plan well before undertaking a task, taking into account the
potential impacts on the personal and societal levels, in contrast to the
indifferent (people with a schizoid personality disorder) who act with absolute
freedom without regard for anything.
Extraversion:
Extraversion is the most prominent feature of the five traits, and it means a
person's interest in appearing in the outside world beyond his own limits, in
contrast to introversion, which some may misunderstand.
Introversion is
the psychological dimension that makes a person tend to do tasks alone, or with
the participation of a small number of people.
Neuroticism:
Neuroses suffer from constant anxiety and tension, even if their affairs are
going well, they will certainly find what worries him, and neuroses often
resort to alcohol or smoking, to be able to cope with their anxiety, which
explains their premature death.
Agreeableness:
Agreeableness is one of the personality traits manifesting itself in individual
behavioral characteristics that are perceived as warm, friendly, sympathetic,
cooperative, tactful, and considerate.
Agreeableness
expresses the sense of affection that makes a person more sympathetic and
cooperative with others.
Methods of Personality
Assessment
The following points deal with some of the methods that can be used to analyze a
person’s personality:
Personal
interview: A personal interview is a foremost tool for judging a person's
abilities. The personal interview allows the study of gestures and body
language, as well as the stories narrated by the subject. The interview may be
for research purposes, or to treat a patient suffering from mental disorders.
Performance
rating scale: The principle of the performance rating scale is based on an
analysis of a person's choice of a specific thing selected from a set of
suggested options and this assessment can be used on its own or by
specialists.
Rating
scales are used to indicate a student's or employee's level of performance or
achievement. These scales are commonly used because they are relatively easy to
analyze and provide quantitative assessments.
Projective
tests: In this type of test, a person is presented with a certain element, it
maybe a picture or a random shape, for example, and he is asked to prevent it
from expressing it according to his personal vision. What distinguishes this method is the freedom of expression that makes the analysis more accurate.