This essay will briefly discuss the Personality. It will define what personality is and how it can be measured. The essay will show scientifically why a person cannot be compared to another and that in every given scenario each person who will have to go through a specific situation will react differently and will have or encounter different kinds of emotions. Personality is molded and formed on various reasons. These can come from social, cultural or environmental, it can even be formed based on the past experiences of a person, may it be a good or a bad experience or something that was directly or indirectly made.
In the book “Introduction to Psychology” by Edward Smith, Susan Nolen-Hoeksema, Barbara Fredrickson and Geoffrey Loftus, “Personality can be defined as the distinctive and characteristic patterns of thought, emotion and behavior that make up an individual’ personal style of interacting with physical and social environment ( Smith, Nolen-Hoeksema, Fredrickson and Loftus, 2003, p. 454). ” It has always been said that one can never compare an individual to another. Human beings were created in their own uniqueness having their own traits and characteristics.
People react and behave differently even if they are faced in the same exact situation or scenario. An individual’s personality can be rated as aggressive, passive or submissive and the likes. For example, one’s reaction to the challenges of work pressures as an opportunity to grow and develop and another may react the opposite, depending on the person’s way or style of living. There are many ways or methods to describe and measure personality. These traits are measured in three ways: 1.
) psychologists seek to reduce the potential set of trait terms to a manageable set that will encompass the diversity of personality, 2. ) attempt to ensure that their instruments to measure personality are valid and reliable, and 3. ) they do empirical research to discover the relationships among traits and specific behavior (Smith, Nolen-Hoeksema, Fredrickson and Loftus, 2003). ” An individual’s reaction or behavior differs on the sociological, physiological, and cultural background. A person’s personality will start from his home from the parents.
As an individual grows and matures, and later own goes out to the world, the many experiences of meeting others and eventually discovering and learning about different cultures from these people they meet, one’s personality evolves. On measuring personality, psychologists will have to take into consideration biology (especially neurology), evolution and genetics, sensation and perception, motivation and emotion, learning and memory, developmental psychology, psychopathology, psychotherapy, and whatever else might fall between the cracks (Boeree, C. G. 2007). ” Over the years methods of measuring personalities have been devised.
Gordon Allport identifies many personality traits, categorizing these into three groups, namely: cardinal, central and secondary traits. Cardinal traits are the ones that rule over person’s personality, these are the traits that come out or usually developed at the later part of a person’s life and is based on the experiences of the person. The central traits are traits that pertain to a person’s personality over the years, like happiness, friendliness or thoughtfulness. Personality theories or studies that psychologists have and made through the years were based on traits that fall under central traits.
Secondary traits are an individual’s characteristics that are not dominant. Secondary traits are seen in some situations only (as cited Smith, Nolen-Hoeksema, Fredrickson and Loftus, 2003, p. 454). And from Allport, Raymond Cattell simplified all of Allports categorized traits and summed it up to sixteen traits using the Statistical Method of Factor Analysis. Then, Hans Eysenck argues that only two traits are essential to explain an individual’s personality or differences. These are the introversion-extraversion, and neuroticism (as cited Smith, Nolen-Hoeksema, Fredrickson and Loftus, 2003, p. 454)
Common threads of personality models are as follows: the sixteen basic personality of Cattell or the 16PF that was mention earlier; the Big five factor, which is the five basic traits from the 16 traits of Cattell ( as cited, Smith, Nolen-Hoeksema, Fredrickson and Loftus, 2003); the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), this is the pencil-paper version of the psychiatric interview (Smith, Nolen-Hoeksema, Fredrickson and Loftus,2003); the Type A and Type B personalities, that speaks about living at a higher or lower stress levels, respectively (as stated, http://www. changingminds.org/explanations/preferences/typea_typeb.
htm and Smith, Nolen-Hoeksema, Fredrickson and Loftus,200 ); and Sigmund Freud’s Personality Factor which focuses on the personality structure of “the ID,” “the Ego,” and “the Superego. ” (Smith, Nolen-Hoeksema, Fredrickson and Loftus, 2003). An individual’s traits or characteristics can be measured; a person’s being assertive and competitive can be matched up to a particular personality category. A person’s characteristic are molded from the experiences and the lessons learned in life apart from the teachings and discipline people get and receive from our parent and ancestors.
Cultural and social factors play a big role in ones characteristic and personality. But even such things are said to be justified scientifically and logically, people have the freedom to choose what kind of character, trait or personality we wish to have. Individuals can help themselves by training their frame of mind, the control is within.
References
Smith, E. ; Noelen-Hoeksema, S. ; Fredrichson, B. ; and Loftus, G. (2003). Introduction to psychology, 14th Edn. Singapore: Wadsworth Boeree, C. G. (2007). Personality Theories: An Introduction. webspace. ship. edu/cgboer/personalityintroduction. html