Personality

Abstract

This research paper aims to describe the term personality in detail. Moreover, it also describes the elements of theories along with the famous theories of personality. The paper also covers the methods of assessing a personality, factors influencing personality development and the causes of personality disorders in detail.

Table of Contents

Abstract2

Introduction4

Discussion5

Elements of Personality5

Theories of Personality6

The Psychoanalytic Perspective7

The Trait Perspective9

The Social Cognitive Perspective9

The Humanistic Perspective10

Assessing Human Personality11

Factors Influencing Personality Development11

Personality Disorders13

Conclusions14

References15

Bibliography16

Personality

Introduction

Personality is concerned with the most imperative and the most conspicuous parts of a person's psychological life. Over the years, the term personality has been defined through a number of definitions. Majority of the definitions refer to a compilation of psychological elements counting emotions, motives and thoughts. The meanings differ a bit as to what those elements might be, but they fall into the idea that personality absorbs a prototype or global function of mental systems. Other than this, the apparent features of an individual are also used to define personality. However, psychologists apply it to mention the characteristic prototype of feeling, thinking and acting. Here characteristic prototype means the distinctive and consistent ways the feelings, actions and ideas of an individual are organized. When people talk about personality they generally refer to the whole or totality of the person. Therefore, the long-term pattern expressed by an individual in different situations and conditions is the hall mark of personality. It is interesting to know that the theories of personality surpass the literal and factual meaning of personality which stands for big masks used by Greek actors in ancient drama. Contrary to this the theorists of personality analyze personality as the quintessence and core of the person. It is defined as a person's real inner character. The unique and distinctive impression that an individual makes on others is coequally significant in comprehending personality. On the other hand the idea of personality has been described by psychologists in several ways and it is the theoretical position or perspective which directs the consideration to particular characteristics of personality. (Joseph, 1973)

Discussion

Personality is composed of the trait prototypes of behaviors, thoughts and feelings that make an individual unique. Other than this, personality emerges from within the person and remains adequately constant and steady throughout life.

Elements of Personality

Psychologists believe that there are several benefits of studying personality in terms of its elements since it systematize our thinking on the subject of personality. It lets us propose that personality has several different components, which has an impact on our overall behavior. When psychologists talk about personality, they are talking about those aspects of an individual that are long-term, stable and constant. If a person is aggressive today, the chances are high that he will be aggressive tomorrow as well. Similarly if a person is shy now, he will probably still be shy when he wake up tomorrow morning. Hence psychologists are mainly concerned about stable characteristics and so they study these characteristics using different techniques under the title of personality. Another aspect of personality or any attribute identified with personality ...