PERSONALITY THEORIES

Personality theories

Personality Theories

Introduction

The many existing theories of personality differ in causal explanations, description of behaviors, and perspective (differences vs. commonalities). Despite the number and variety of theories, some commonalities emerge: stages of development, temperament or genetic predisposition, impact and types of learning, motivational effects, impact of emotions on thinking and behavior, and a focus on conscious and unconscious processes.

Discussion

Many theorists describe personality in terms of individual differences. They focus on types and categories of people and behavior, for example, introversion versus extroversion, auditory versus visual learner, self-focus versus altruism. Other theories focus on the commonalities in people (Sedikides, 2007). ...