PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY: CONCEPT, DIVISION AND ELEMENTS - PSYCHOLOGY - 2025

The psychology of personality is a specialization of psychology that is responsible for studying the character and the differences between individuals. Studies the psychological traits that identify an individual or a group of individuals, their formation, structure and functions from their origin to their disappearance

There are many definitions of the word personality, but they all share a series of common features that allude to the internal, to the global, to identity and coherence, among other issues.

Personality is that which is found within the individual and gives it organization, in addition to providing continuity and idiosyncrasy. This topic has been studied by various authors with different approaches.

In addition, this discipline must explain how the personality originates, develops, organizes and evolves through the theoretical developments available and the research that is being carried out.

One of the maxims of personality psychology is that people are the same, different and unique. In this way, it must cover the circumstances of each individual and take it into account.

Personality Psychology Division

Vicente Pelechano, a Spanish psychologist specialized in personality psychology, developed a division of Personality Psychology into three sub-fields. They are as follows:

General Psychology of Personality

It is that specialty of personality psychology that is dedicated to the study of common processes and structures in all people.

Differential psychology of personality

It focuses on the differences between individuals and / or groups from a normative, descriptive and quantitative perspective.

Individual psychology of personality

It analyzes the individual with respect to himself, without comparing him with his group, studying the person, his temporal changes and his constant elements.

Elements of personality

The personality is composed of a series of basic, stable and durable components that organize the personality of individuals.

In addition, this dimension is related to the psychological processes with which it produces a series of functional exchanges of the forces involved in temporal relations with the environment. These psychological processes are motivation, cognition, emotion, etc.

Allport listed a number of elements that make up the personality. Among them are the following: intellectual abilities, temperamental traits, unconscious motives, social attitudes, cognitive methods and patterns of functioning, interests and values, expressive and stylistic traits, pathological tendencies, and groups of traits.

The personality is manifested in any behavior that the subject performs. It is a global whole, it is organized and shows coherence.

It is influenced in multiple ways, since there are biological influences to cultural ones, passing through social ones. In addition, it gives distinctiveness and identity to the person.

Behaviors in personality

Regarding the behaviors and behaviors typical of the personality, Alfredo Fierro (psychologist and Spanish university professor) distinguished three types:

Self-referral behaviors

They are those that are directed to oneself. Some of them are usually called self although they are not necessarily psychic.

Social presentation behaviors

They refer to the characteristics of the presentation of the self to another and are associated with the concepts of role and status. They derive from the concept of the mask as representation and function as an element of simulation.

Self-protection and coping behaviors

They are the analogy of biological immunological processes. Its main function is to face the environment to favor the survival and development of individuals.

Control locus

The locus of Control (place of control) is one of the best known concepts in the field of personality psychology. This concept refers to how the individual thinks and acts depends on the control he has over himself (internal locus of control) and the environment (external locus of control).

The first scientist to address this concept was Julian Rotter (1954) with his theory of social learning.

A certain behavior is likely to occur depending on the expectation that there is a certain reinforcement and the value of this reinforcer for the subject.

Factors that are related to the internal locus of control are ability, effort, strength, etc. When it comes to the external locus of control, we find luck and destiny, as well as the power of others around us.

Internal locus of control

That a person has an internal locus of control means that he considers that the things that can happen to him depend on him. These types of people are usually more responsible and take control of their lives.

For example, people of this type, if they are actively looking for a job, will do everything in their power to find it. Also, when they work, they are committed people who have no problem taking on new challenges.

External locus of control

When it comes to people with external locus of control, following the job search example above, they are likely to give up more easily. In the case of not finding a job, they will attribute this situation to the crisis or to other factors that do not depend directly on it.

Normally, these people tend to be more dissatisfied with their life and believe that they will not be able to overcome the adversities to which they will appear throughout their trajectory.

Theory of perceived self-efficacy

Later, Albert Bandura's theory of perceived self-efficacy appeared. Bandura stated that self-regulation begins with the self-observation of the behavior and the judgment that the individual emits about himself and that ends in a specific response that leads to the restart of the cycle.

That is, to start over with the self-observation process. The variable that mediates between the judgment and the response is the perceived self-efficacy that is derived from the background or previous history about whether the individual has been able, or not, to carry out that action previously and the results obtained.

Bandura did not relate perceived self-efficacy to expectation of results. He stated that it is difficult to estimate how capable a person is of doing something if they do not know why it happens (attribution) or who or what it depends on (locus of control).

Self

This concept was introduced by William James in 1890 when he said that the self is the center of all experience. Human beings divide the world into "me" and "not me" (based on the comparisons we make).

According to the author, there were many selves depending on the context in which the individual was at that time. Some people have more and others less.

This concept has been widely studied throughout the history of psychology and it can be said that it is a very important axis of psychological science and is present in the daily work of psychoanalysis and of therapists who are based on cognitive behavioral therapy.

The self makes sense in everyday life and within phenomenological experience. Often times, it appears with other terms such as self-conscious, self-worth, selfish, etc.

All these dimensions are forged throughout the lives of individuals and, thus, they are shaping their personality.

It is an important part of the way a person interprets the world. It appears in childhood when the self-concept begins to be created and one begins to differentiate between the self and others.

This item is required. The self serves to understand what otherwise appear to be discrepant or unrelated findings. It also helps to understand the different moods depending on a certain moment or situation.

Trait concept

Traits are one of the fundamental elements within the psychology of personality. They are the stable and trans-situational (pre) dispositions (they occur at different times and contexts) of individuals to respond in a certain way.

This property is proper to the subject, that is, internal, and furthermore, it is common to all individuals. The trait encompasses a wide range of behaviors. In this way, traits make it possible to define a behavior.

What differentiates one person from another is the value of each trait. This means that each person has a level (percentile) of each of the traits listed according to this theory.

There are various theories and authors that speak of the traits. Some of them are as follows.

Catell's theory

This theory is the first to speak of lexical traits. It is known worldwide.

Biographical data, self-report data (that is, the person completes it in writing or in an interview with the psychologist) and observation of behavior are obtained through a questionnaire (16 FP).

In this way, three types of traits are obtained. They are as follows:

• Temperamental traits that regulate the action.
• Dynamic features that ensure the functioning of the system. They are goal oriented.
• Traits “Capability” are the abilities, aptitudes and intelligence of the individual.

Pentafactorial models

The origin of this model was to develop a taxonomy (classification) of the basic dimensions of personality. Through correlations, different personality traits are shown that are located between two extremes.

Costa and McCrae developed various tests to know the traits in the evaluation of the personality of individuals. Between them, they created the NEO-PI-R in which they stated 5 traits with their corresponding opposite pole. They are as follows:

Factor O

Openness to Experience (Openness). This factor shows how the person seeks new experiences and uses creativity for their future. People who score high in this trait are attracted to art and aesthetics, they also like to try new foods and travel.

In contrast to openness to experience, there are people who are Closed to Experience. These types of people prefer to live the routine, without major changes.

Factor C

Responsibility (Conscientiousness). It refers to whether the person is focused and disciplined to achieve the goal that has been proposed. When you get a high score on this trait, you are talking about organized people. The opposite is the lack of responsibility.

Factor E

Extraversion (Extraversion). This trait tells us about the subjects who like to be surrounded by more people and feel comfortable in these types of situations. They are usually cordial and assertive people.

At the extreme opposite of extraversion, we find introversion. An introvert is not the same as shy. Introverts do not want to be around people, they are less impulsive than extroverts and they enjoy more the company of few people or being alone.

Factor a

Agreeableness. It shows the degree to which the person shows trust, a conciliatory and altruistic attitude with the people around him.

These types of people tend to have a vocation to help others. On the other side is oppositionism, which tends to respond to a more aggressive pattern.

Factor N

Neuroticism. Also known as emotional instability. People with a high score for neuroticism tend to be anxious and show depressive symptoms.

In small doses, neuroticism does not have to be a problem, you have to learn to handle it properly.

At the opposite extreme, there is emotional stability, which is when a person is able to face the challenges that life is putting in the way and manage their emotions appropriately.

Each trait (or factor) is named after a letter for the first letter of that word in English. In this way, the theory known as The Big Five (the big five, referring to the traits) is given. As a mnemonic, the word OCEAN is used.

References

1. CATTELL, RB, (1947). Confirmation and clarification of primary personality factors. Psychometrika.
2. Cognitive and Social Approach. Julian Rotter. Website: actiweb.es.
3. PELECHANO, Vicente. (2000). Systemic psychology of personality. Ariel.