Personality what is it

These theorists, referred to as neo-Freudians, generally agreed with Freud that childhood experiences matter, but they reduced the emphasis on sex and focused more on the social environment and effects of culture on personality.

The perspective of personality proposed by Freud and his followers was the dominant theory of personality for the first half of the 20th century. Other major theories then emerged, including the learning, humanistic, biological, evolutionary, trait, and cultural perspectives.

In this chapter, we will explore these various perspectives on personality in depth. View this video for a brief overview of some of the psychological perspectives on personality. Personality has been studied for over 2, years, beginning with Hippocrates. Other perspectives then emerged in reaction to the psychodynamic perspective, including the learning, humanistic, biological, trait, and cultural perspectives. How would you describe your own personality? Do you think that friends and family would describe you in much the same way?

Why or why not? In everyday life we use terms such as character, identity or predisposition. Scientists use more extensive definitions of personality. 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 can be divided into different components and characteristics.

Over time, many different classifications have been made in personality characteristics. Literally hundreds! 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. A frequently asked question is: "Is personality innate or acquired? This issue has been debated by philosophers and other scientists for centuries.

According to John Locke 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 , 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.

Researchers have found that certain personality characteristics may be linked to illness and health behaviors. 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, among others.

By building a better understanding of how personality works, we can look for new ways to improve both personal and public health. Ever wonder what your personality type means? Sign up to find out more in our Healthy Mind newsletter. Bornstein RF. Personality assessment in the diagnostic manuals: On mindfulness, multiple methods, and test score discontinuities. J Pers Assess. Srivastava K, Das RC. Personality and health: Road to well-being.

Ind Psychiatry J. Carducci BJ. New York: Wiley Blackwell; Handbook of Personality: Theory and Research. New York: The Guilford Press; Your Privacy Rights. To change or withdraw your consent choices for VerywellMind. At any time, you can update your settings through the "EU Privacy" link at the bottom of any page. These choices will be signaled globally to our partners and will not affect browsing data.

In the field of behavioral genetics, the Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart—a well-known study of the genetic basis for personality—conducted research with twins from to These findings suggest the heritability of some personality traits, implying that some aspects of our personalities are largely controlled by genetics. Multiple twin studies have found that identical twins do have higher correlations in personality traits than fraternal twins.

While identical twins may have some similar personality traits, however, they still have distinct personalities, suggesting that genetics are not the only factor in determining personality. One study measuring genetic influence on twins in five different countries found that correlations for traits between identical twins were 0. Many personality studies today investigate the activation and expression of genes and how they relate to personality.

How DNA interacts with the environment determines what part of the DNA code is actually activated within an individual—in other words, which genes will be expressed. The biological approach to personality has also identified areas and pathways within the brain that are associated with the development of personality. A number of theorists, such as Hans Eysenck, Gordon Allport, and Raymond Cattell, believe that personality traits can be traced back to brain structures and neural mechanisms, such as dopamine and seratonin pathways.

Researchers using a biological perspective will seek to understand how hormones, neurotransmitters, and different areas of the brain all interact to affect personality. One of the first documented cases that demonstrated the link between personality and the brain was that of Phineas Gage. In , Gage was working as a blasting foreman for a railroad company. Due to a faulty blast, a railroad spike was blown through his head; miraculously, he survived the accident. One strength of the biological perspective is its strict adherence to scientific methodology.

All factors are reduced to quantifiable variables that can be reliably measured by personality trait models and questionnaires. The personality measures are standardized across measurements, and these measures of personality are very compatible with statistical analyses, providing an easily administered and measurable definition of personality.

This method can also be deterministic, meaning that some factors are identified as causal—i. Because of this, the biological perspective can be useful in identifying causes of and effective treatments for personality and mood disorders. For example, identifying seratonin imbalance as a cause of depression led to the development of selective seratonin reuptake inhibitors SSRIs , which have been found to be an effective treatment for depression. A limitation of this perspective is that it focuses almost exclusively on the nature side of the nature vs.

Because of this exclusive focus, other factors that are integral to personality are not included. Hormones, neurotransmitters, and genetics are the key factors in this focus; the effects of environmental and social factors, however, are often overlooked.

Twin studies have shown that heritable factors are not the only predictor of personality or even diseases such as schizophrenia; the biological perspective does not fully address non-heritable factors. In addition, the correlational studies used for measuring normal personality traits are subjected to the same rules as normal correlational research: they cannot be used alone to establish causation.

Just because two factors are shown to be related does not mean that one causes the other.