Personality

Personality is one of the psychological attributes which make an individual’s characteristics and behavior distinct and unique. Although there is no single definition of personality, but In general we can say that personalities are those relatively permanent traits, dispositions or characteristics that give both consistency and individuality to a person’s behavior.”

There are mainly 3 factors that influenced an individual’s personality:

1.  Biological factors: It relates with body builds, physical defects ,Health issues etc.
2.  Psychological factors: It relates with intellectual thinking, emotional factors, achievement, aspiration etc.
3.  Environmental factors: Education, social acceptance, social deprivation, family etc.

As all these above factors determine individual’s personality so these factors are known as determinants of personality. Many approaches and theories have been developed by psychologists to understand the behavioral differences among individual. They are described below.

a) Type approach: This approach suggests that there are separate and discontinuous categories into which  a person fits. MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) typology is modern one and based on Carl Jung’s theory of personality types. Types are not descriptive of the individual and place the individual into a preconceived category.

b) Trait approach:- This approach tries to describe the personality of an individual in terms of traits. Traits are the building blocks of personality and having continuous dimension. They are source of individuality. Under this approach, the proposals of Allport, Catell, Eysenck Guilford and the five factor model are taken into consideration.

c) Psychodynamic approach: This approach proposed that individual’s unconscious motives, desires , unsolved conflicts that has been repressed or childhood experiences play a very important role in shaping one’s personality. Sigmund Freud, a noted psychologist, provided the core concepts for this perspective.

d) Behavioral approach: According to this, behaviorists like Skinner and Pavlov believe that personality can be best understood as the response of an individual to the environment. They proposed that learning experiences are the main reason behind our individual differences in our behavior.

e) Cultural approach: Culture refers to the shared values, beliefs and norms of a specific group of people. This approach tells that culture plays a vital role in behavioral variations among individuals.

f) Humanistic approach: This emphasize on individual’s tendency to express his potential, talents and capabilities that basically directs him to actualize his inherited nature. The humanist approach to personality has been developed by famous theorists like Rogers, Kelly and Maslow.

Personality assessment
A formal test that is done to analyze the personality of an individual is known as assessment of personality. The goal of the test is to predict an individual’s behavior with a high degree of accuracy. Personality assessment measures are classified into three categories.

1. Self report measures of personality.
2. Projective or Indirect measures of personality.
3. Situational measures of personality.