PERSONALITY: DEFINITION, CONCEPTS, TRAITS AND THEORIES - PSYCHOLOGY - 2025

The personality is a set of ways of behaving and thinking that involve individual differences and are affected by the development of the individual. It includes attitudes, ways of relating to others, skills, habits and ways of thinking.

It is a concept that, like intelligence, has generated numerous investigations. Throughout history, many people have tried to define it, as well as to propose possible theories that facilitate the understanding of a concept, which at first glance seems easy.

Although the most common use is in psychology, the word personality has other meanings in popular language: to say that someone has character, to define someone important or that of "legal personality."

Definition from psychology (different authors)

As we see the term is used to designate different aspects but, really, what do we understand by personality according to psychology? There are different definitions:

• It is about the dynamic organization or set of processes that integrate the flow of experience and behavior.
• Others define it in relation to self-concept (how the individual defines himself), or the individual's sense of who he is.
• Characteristic way of thinking and behaving; habits, attitudes and the peculiar form of adaptation to the environment.

Pervin and Jhon

For their part, Pervin and Jhon define personality as the characteristics that account for the consistent patterns of feeling, thinking and acting. These patterns fulfill the function of adapting the individual to the environment, showing their usual way of facing situations.

Allport

Allport said that it was the dynamic intraindividual organization of systems that determine their unique fit to the environment.

Eysenck

On the other hand, Eysenck understands personality as the sum of behavior patterns determined by heredity and the environment, which originate and develop through the interaction of the sectors: cognitive or intelligence, attitude or temperament, character and constitution.

Fundamental aspects

In short, based on the definitions of personality that have been proposed over time, the following fundamental aspects are extracted:

• Personality is a hypothetical construct that includes a series of traits, relatively stable over time, consistent (they do not vary from one situation to another) and that allow behavior to be predicted.
• The personality includes other elements such as cognitions, affects and motivations that determine behavior and that may explain that sometimes the personality is not so consistent and stable in some circumstances.
• It covers all the functions and behavioral manifestations, which will be the result of stable and dynamic elements, personal, social and cultural influences. It is something distinctive and unique to each individual.

Uses of the term personality

The word personality has different uses:

-To define those competent people in your life "Mateo is a boy with a lot of personality."

-To refer to some eminence who has done something important "Eysenck is a personality in his field."

-To refer to someone who is different from others, and who does not get carried away by what others say "Marta has a lot of personality"; or else the opposite "Rocío has no personality"…

-Legal personality: ability to have responsibilities before justice, either by a person or an organization.

Related constructs / concepts

To understand personality it is important to take into account what is a trait, what is temperament and what is character, since they are related concepts.

Personality trait

We understand by personality trait, those fundamental elements to understand personality. They are elements that are not directly observable, they are inferred from behaviors.

They are also latent dispositions, that is, they are not normally present, but depend on the relevance of the situation. They are of a general nature and are continuous over time (stable) and present continuity in different situations (trans-situational consistency).

As an example we can think of an extroverted person, of whom we would say that he is someone who seeks contact with others, but we can ask ourselves, do you always seek contact with others?

The answer would be no (dispositional character). On the other hand, we could ask ourselves, can you see at first glance if someone is funny or not? No, it is something that has to be inferred (underlying character).

Temperament

Temperament refers to the constitutional style of behavior, that is, to the differences of a constitutional nature that occur in the processes of physiological reactivity and self-regulation, and that are influenced over time by heredity, maturation and experience.

Characteristics associated with temperament:

• Biological dimension: innate and constitutional influences that influence the personality.
• Genetic origin and biological basis.
• Temporary development, that is, it is subject to processes of maturation and experience.
• Early appearance (in the first years of life before the personality).
• Linked to the sphere of emotions, including dimensions of the form and style of behavior.

To better understand what temperament consists of, let's think about the newborn tests that evaluate temperament, how long it takes to wake up and how long to calm down.

Character

Character, unlike temperament, is a function of the values ​​of each society, its educational system and how they are transmitted. It is a set of customs, feelings, ideals or values, which make the reactions of an individual relatively stable and predictable.

Character includes values ​​(affective and cognitive components), motivational and behavioral components.

An example would be: «If I have an idea, a habit, a value, that can do or will influence the behavior that I have or the goals that I intend to achieve.

Theories about personality traits

The models of personality traits that have been developed to try to explain personality follow two different lines: biological models and lexical models.

- Biological factorial models of personality

Biological factorial models are oriented to affirm that individual differences in personality are found in the biological bases underlying basic psychological processes.

They are models that attempt to formulate an explanatory and causal model of personality. The Eysenck model, the Gray model, the Zuckerman model and the Cloninguer model stand out.

Eysenck model or PEN model (Psychoticism, Extraversion and Neuroticism)

Eysenck considers that Extraversion, Neuroticism and Psychoticism are the three types that account for the hierarchical structure of the personality. These traits group the rest of the personality traits in an interrelated way.

Extraverts are sociable, active, vital, assertive, dominant, sensation seekers, and easy-going people. In resting conditions, they show a chronically low level of arousal (unlike introverts).

Neurotics are anxious people, with a depressed mood, guilty, with low self-esteem. They are those whose autonomic nervous system has a maximum level of lability, that is, they are those in whom this system is easily activated and changes the direction of its activity quickly.

Psychotics are aggressive, self-centered, impulsive, antisocial, unsympathetic, and cold. They are those that have low levels of serotonin.

J. Gray model

For Gray the basic dimensions of personality are two: Anxiety and Impulsivity, which arise from a combination of the dimensions defined by Eysenck (E and N).

The anxious are introverted people, susceptible to punishment, that is, they are better conditioned with punishment, while the impulsive are extroverted people, susceptible to reward, more sensitive to reward signals.

There are two biological bases behind these dimensions: the behavioral approximation or activation system (BAS) and the behavioral inhibition system (BIS).

The functioning of these systems are self-regulating and maintain the level of arousal or activation of the nervous system. The anxious have a BIS system, and the impulsive a BAS system.

Zuckerman model

Zuckerman works on this model with a new dimension: "the search for sensations."

This trait is defined by the search for intense, novel, varied and complex experiences and sensations, the will to experiment and participate in experiences that involve physical, social, legal and financial risk. This trait has higher scores in males.

This trait is made up of four sub-dimensions: search for adventure and risk, search for experiences, disinhibition and susceptibility to boredom. It is associated with low levels of monoamine oxidase (MAO).

When these levels are low, subjects have orientation responses to low stimuli, weak defense responses, and a greater brain response under intense stimuli.

Cloninger model

In this model, Cloninger says that the personality is made up of 7 broad traits that can be divided into two groups: 4 temperamental traits (search for novelty, avoidance of pain, dependence-reward and persistence) and 3 characteristic traits (self-determination, cooperativity and spirituality).

It is the interaction between these temperamental and character traits that determines the appearance of specific responses to specific situations.

Thus the variability of the normal personality, the alterations of the personality and the development of the same are justified.

The biological systems that support personality traits are the following:

• Search for novelty: low dopamine, that is, it responds intensely to new stimuli and reward signals.
• Pain avoidance: high serotonin, that is, it responds intensely to aversive stimuli.
• Reward dependence: low norepinephrine, that is, it responds to rewards and rewards.

- Lexical factorial models

Lexical factorial models consider that in language we can find the only reliable source of data related to the characteristics that can define or constitute personality. The model of the big five of Costa and Mcrae stands out.

Big Five Model

This model proposes the existence of five personality traits: anxiety, extraversion, cordiality, responsibility and openness. The facets that characterize these people are the following:

It is not a biological model, although its authors believe that basic personality tendencies must have a certain genetic support. This model is applicable cross-culturally and has universal value.

With regard to these features, it is important to highlight:

• Extraversion and neuroticism: these are the clearest features (with the greatest consensus). They are about the core character of the personality (as opposed to cordiality and responsibility with a limited consensus)
• Aperture: feature highly questioned because it contains elements related to intelligence. McCrae and Costa consider that either intelligence predisposes to openness or it collaborates in the development of intelligence.
• The independence of the hostility and impulsiveness facets is discussed.
• Eysenck suggests that responsibility, cordiality, and openness equate to the psychoticism trait he proposes.
• It has also been suggested that responsibility and warmth are not traits of temperament, but of character.

References

1. Bermúdez Moreno, J. (2014). Personality psychology: theory and research. UNED.
2. Pueyo, A. (1997). Differential Psychology Manual. Barcelona: McGraw-Hill
3. Pueyo, A. and Colom, R. (1998). Science and politics of intelligence in modern society. Madrid: New Library.
4. Sánchez-Elvira, MA (2005). Introduction to the study of individual differences. Madrid: Sanz and Torres.