Theories of Personality
Reviewed by Psychology Today Staff
From Aristotle to Sigmund Freud and Abraham Maslow, countless theories and concepts for understanding personality have been proposed. Throughout history, these and other great minds sought to answer questions not only about what personality is and how best to describe it, but also what causes personality differences, including those that make people more or less functional and resilient.
Some theories are still being tested, while others have fallen out of favor. Some compete while others complement one another. A look at some major ideas in personality psychology, both historical and recent, offers a sense of the many ways to think and talk about this complex subject.
On This Page
- Five-Factor Theory
- Social Investment Theory
- Cognitive-Affective Theory
- Narrative Identity
- Psychodynamic Theories
- Humanistic Theories
Using the Big Five traits (or five-factor model) as a foundation, Five-Factor Theory proposes that the development of common personality traits is largely determined by biological factors, especially genetics. This view was inspired in part by research indicating that ratings on measures of personality are influenced by one’s genes and that other, non-genetic developmental factors (such as adoptive parents) seem to play a surprisingly small role.
The theory’s creators distinguish enduring personality traits from “characteristic adaptations,” such as attitudes or strivings, that are shaped by one’s innate disposition as well as external forces.
The theory was first proposed in the 1990s by psychologists Robert McCrae and Paul Costa Jr. McCrae and Costa also created the NEO Personality Inventory in the 1970s
Though they have similar names, the model (which is embraced by many researchers) is a way of describing how personality traits are organized—that is, into the Big Five personality dimensions. The theory is a way of explaining how personality traits develop and change.
While personality traits are clearly related to genetics, one’s inheritance does not account for all personality differences. The environmental influences shared by siblings, such as a certain kind of parenting or childhood household, appear to play a minor part. Other factors, potentially many, must be at work.
One view, sometimes called Social Investment Theory, proposes that individuals’ personal investment in new social roles, such as by becoming a spouse or starting a job, helps explain personality development and change over time. In new roles, people are exposed to costs and benefits of behaving in certain ways, potentially shifting a person’s way of being over time—even given that the person’s personality is influenced by genetics.
Multiple researchers have helped develop it. One proponent is psychologist Brent Roberts, who with colleagues in the ’00s, wrote about a “social investment principle." (They have also called their concept the Neo-Socioanalytic Model.)
In a new job, one may be rewarded for being punctual and putting in work to complete tasks, or incentivized to get along with others. Interpersonal or familial roles, such as being in a new relationship, may also affect personality traits.
Yes: The social investment view suggests that people with certain traits will be more drawn to and more likely to invest in certain kinds of roles. The experience of inhabiting those roles may in turn influence their personality, potentially by reinforcing existing tendencies—for example, a conscientious person might choose a career that ultimately makes her more conscientious.
Even someone who shows certain tendencies—to act aggressively or passively compared to others, for example—won’t necessarily behave the same way in every situation or kind of social interaction. (The authority of the person one confronts, or whether one is in public, may make a difference.) Some personality theorists have sought to weave situational factors into how personality is conceived.
In one theory, the cognitive-affective personality system (CAPS), “cognitive-affective mediating units” are thought to interact with each other and with the characteristics of different situations to produce the patterns of behavior that distinguish individuals. These “units” may include psychological factors such as an individuals’ expectations and beliefs, goals and values, and emotional responses.
CAPS was developed by psychologists Walter Mischel and Yuichi Shoda in the 1990s. They sought to resolve an apparent conflict between findings of both a level of consistency in individual characteristics and variability in behavior across different situations.
No. A person may be more aggressive, reserved, or energetic in some situations and less so in others. But across many different situations, the person may still tend to be, generally speaking, more or less aggressive, reserved, or energetic than other people are.
While traits are widely accepted as fundamental to personality, theorists often combine them with other elements as part of a multi-level view. Narrative identity is one of these elements. In short, some propose that the particular narrative details of a person’s important life experiences—and how the person relates them to each other and derives meaning from them—fills out the complex portrait of who one is compared to others. While each person’s self-composed life story contains countless pieces of information, researchers have tried to identify common factors that differentiate these narratives.
The psychologist most associated with narrative identity is Dan McAdams. In the 1990s, he developed a view of personality in which three levels coexisted: dispositional traits relevant to general tendencies; how one deals with challenges and tasks in specific contexts; and an identity based on stories about the self.
In a recent study, proponents of the narrative identity view offered evidence for a tentative “Big Three” factors: autobiographical reasoning, or change in one’s understanding of one’s self or past; structural aspects, including overall coherence of the life story; and motivational and affective themes, encompassing aspects like positive or negativity and sense of agency.
In contrast to modern trait theories, those rooted in psychoanalytic ideas have tended to emphasize the potential role of early development in shaping personality. Sigmund Freud , the father of psychoanalysis, described personality, in part, as comprising three components: the instinct-driven “id,” the morality-bound “super-ego,” and the relatively temperate “ego.” The interactions between these elements were proposed to help explain an individual’s behavior. He also believed that childhood experiences have a major impact on a person’s personality.
Many theorists who followed Freud (and whose thinking is often described using the term psychodynamic rather than psychoanalytic) refined or branched out from his ideas. One of them was Carl Jung, who proposed psychological “types” that inspired the popular test known as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator .
While they have influenced popular understanding of personality, they generally lack the empirical support of contemporary theories and do not have a central place in current personality science. However, some researchers continue to work in areas informed by psychodynamic ideas—such as those who study attachment orientation and the extent to which it relates to childhood.
Traumatic events or internal conflicts during early development were proposed as influences on personality. Identification, or adopting characteristics of someone else in one’s life, was another factor thought to play a role.
Freud-inspired theorists have emphasized different proposed factors in personality formation. For example, “Neo-Freudians” such as Jung, Alfred Adler, and Karen Horney challenged Freud’s emphasis on sexual and aggressive impulses, focusing more on social and cultural factors.
Humanistic psychology, developed in the mid-20th century by figures such as Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers, focused the spotlight on individuals and their positive qualities, including their drive to achieve their full potential.
Maslow is famously known for his hierarchy of needs, with basic needs, such as nourishment and safety, toward the bottom, and self-actualization at the top. He argued that people who reach self-actualization—activating their self-perceived human potential, exhibit what he called a “coherent personality syndrome.” Rogers framed a healthy personality as the result of a match between one’s perceived self and the self one should be.
Among other characteristics, Maslow proposed that self-actualized people tended to be creative, compassionate, realistic, and drawn to helping others. As he described it, self-actualization is a relatively rare achievement—he cited historical figures such as Lincoln and Einstein as examples of self-actualized people.
The ideas of humanistic psychologists bear similarities to existential psychologists (such as Viktor Frankl)—theorists in both fields share an interest in the capacity of individuals to shape their own lives. Humanistic psychology also helped inspire positive psychologists, who have sought to focus attention on individuals’ character strengths and virtues.
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Theories of Personality: Hans Eysenck, Gordon Allport & Raymond Cattell
Saul Mcleod, PhD
Editor-in-Chief for Simply Psychology
BSc (Hons) Psychology, MRes, PhD, University of Manchester
Saul Mcleod, PhD., is a qualified psychology teacher with over 18 years of experience in further and higher education. He has been published in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Clinical Psychology.
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Key Takeaways
- Personality tests date back to the 18th century, when phrenology, measuring bumps on the skull, and physiognomy, analyzing a person’s outer appearance, were used to assess personality (Goldstein & Hershen, 2000).
- Beginning in the late 19th century, Sir Francis Galton, a British polymath (an expert in many fields) estimated the number of adjectives in the English dictionary that described personality. Louis Leon Thurstone eventually refined the list to 60 words, and through analyzing roughly 1,300 participants, the list was reduced again to seven common factors (Goldberg, 1993).
- Similarly, British-American psychologist Raymond Cattell developed a Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire, a 185 multiple-choice self-report questionnaire used to measure personality in both clinical and non-clinical settings.
- In the 1980s, after an almost four-decade-long hiatus, Lewis Goldberg and colleagues (1980) revived Ernest Tupes and Raymond Christal’s (1961) exploration of five major personality traits : openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism (commonly abbreviated as the acronym OCEAN).
- This new model significantly contributed to the wide acceptance and increased popularity the five-factor model received.
What is this thing we call personality? Consider the following definitions, what do they have in common?
“Personality is the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine his characteristics behavior and thought” (Allport, 1961, p. 28). “The characteristics or blend of characteristics that make a person unique” (Weinberg & Gould, 1999).
Both definitions emphasize the uniqueness of the individual and consequently adopt an idiographic view.
The idiographic view assumes that each person has a unique psychological structure and that some traits are possessed by only one person; and that there are times when it is impossible to compare one person with others. It tends to use case studies for information gathering.
The nomothetic view, on the other hand, emphasizes comparability among individuals. This viewpoint sees traits as having the same psychological meaning in everyone.
This approach tends to use self-report personality questions, factor analysis, etc. People differ in their positions along a continuum in the same set of traits.
We must also consider the influence and interaction of nature (biology, genetics, etc.) and nurture (the environment, upbringing) with respect to personality development.
Trait theories of personality imply that personality is biologically based, whereas state theories, such as Bandura’s (1977) Social Learning Theory , emphasize the role of nurture and environmental influence.
Sigmund Freud’s psychodynamic theory of personality assumes there is an interaction between nature (innate instincts) and nurture (parental influences).
Trait Approach to Personality
This approach assumes behavior is determined by relatively stable traits, the fundamental units of one’s personality.
Traits predispose one to act in a certain way, regardless of the situation. This means that traits should remain consistent across situations and over time, but may vary between individuals.
It is presumed that individuals differ in their traits due to genetic differences.
These theories are sometimes referred to as psychometric theories, because of their emphasis on measuring personality by using psychometric tests. Trait scores are continuous (quantitative) variables. A person is given a numeric score to indicate how much of a trait they possess.
Eysenck’s Personality Theory
Eysenck (1952, 1967, 1982) proposed a theory of personality based on biological factors, arguing that individuals inherit a type of nervous system that affects their ability to learn and adapt to the environment.
During the 1940s, Eysenck was working at the Maudsley psychiatric hospital in London. His job was to make an initial assessment of each patient before their mental disorder was diagnosed by a psychiatrist.
Through this position, he compiled a battery of questions about behavior, which he later applied to 700 soldiers who were being treated for neurotic disorders at the hospital (Eysenck (1947).
He found that the soldiers” answers seemed to link naturally with one another, suggesting that there were a number of different personality traits which were being revealed by the soldier’s answers. He called these first-order personality traits.
He used a technique called factor analysis. This technique reduces behavior to a number of factors which can be grouped together under separate headings, called dimensions.
Eysenck (1947) found that their behavior could be represented by two dimensions: Introversion / Extroversion (E); Neuroticism / Stability (N). Eysenck called these second-order personality traits.
Each aspect of personality (extraversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism) can be traced back to a different biological cause. Personality is dependent on the balance between the excitation and inhibition process of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) .
Extraversion/Introversion
- Extraverts are sociable and crave excitement and change, and thus can become bored easily. They tend to be carefree, optimistic, and impulsive.
- They are more likely to take risks and be thrill seekers. Eysenck argues that this is because they inherit an under aroused nervous system and so seek stimulation to restore the level of optimum stimulation.
- Introverts lie at the other end of this scale, being quiet and reserved. They are already over-aroused and shun sensation and stimulation.
- Introverts are reserved, plan their actions and control their emotions. They tend to be serious, reliable, and pessimistic.
Neuroticism/Stability
A person’s level of neuroticism is determined by the reactivity of their sympathetic nervous system . A stable person’s nervous system will generally be less reactive to stressful situations, remaining calm and level headed.
Someone high in neuroticism on the other hand will be much more unstable, and prone to overreacting to stimuli and may be quick to worry, anger or fear.
They are overly emotional and find it difficult to calm down once upset. Neurotic individuals have an ANS that responds quickly to stress.
Psychoticism/normality
Eysenck (1966) later added a third trait (dimension) called psychoticism, characterized by lacking of empathy, being cruel, being a loner, aggressive and troublesome.
This has been related to high levels of testosterone. The higher the testosterone, the higher the level of psychoticism, with low levels related to more normal balanced behavior.
He was especially interested in the characteristics of people whom he considered to have achieved their potential as individuals.
According to Eysenck, the two dimensions of neuroticism (stable vs. unstable) and introversion-extroversion combine to form a variety of personality characteristics.
Critical Evaluation
Twin studies can be used to see if personality is genetic. However, the findings are conflicting and non-conclusive.
Shields (1976) found that monozygotic (identical) twins were significantly more alike on the Introvert – Extrovert (E) and Psychoticism (P) dimensions than dizygotic (non-identical) twins.
Loehlin, Willerman, and Horn (1988) found that only 50% of the variations of scores on personality dimensions are due to inherited traits. This suggests that social factors are also important.
One good element of Eysenck’s theory is that it takes into account both nature and nurture. Eysenck’s theory argues strongly that biological predispositions towards certain personality traits combined with conditioning and socialization during childhood in order to create our personality.
This interactionist approach may, therefore, be much more valid than either a biological or environmental theory alone.
It also links nicely with the diathesis-stress model of behavior which argues for a biological predisposition combined with an environmental trigger for a particular behavior.
Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI)
Cattell’s 16PF Trait Theory
Raymond Cattell (1965) disagreed with Eysenck’s view that personality can be understood by looking at only two or three dimensions of behavior.
Instead, he argued that it was necessary to look at a much larger number of traits in order to get a complete picture of someone’s personality.
Whereas Eysenck based his theory based on the responses of hospitalized servicemen, Cattell collected data from a range of people through three different sources of data.
- L-data – this is life record data such as school grades, absence from work, etc.
- Q-data – this was a questionnaire designed to rate an individual’s personality (known as the 16PF).
- T-data – this is data from objective tests designed to “tap” into a personality construct.
Cattell analyzed the T-data and Q-data using a mathematical technique called factor analysis to look at which types of behavior tended to be grouped together in the same people. He identified 16 personality traits (factors) common to all people.
Cattell made a distinction between source and surface traits. Surface traits are very obvious and can be easily identified by other people, whereas source traits are less visible to other people and appear to underlie several different aspects of behavior.
Cattell regarded source traits are more important in describing personality than surface traits.
Cattell produced a personality test similar to the EPI that measured each of the sixteen traits. The 16PF (16 Personality Factors Test) has 160 questions in total, ten questions relating to each personality factor.
Allport’s Trait Theory
Gordon Allport’s theory of personality emphasizes the uniqueness of the individual and the internal cognitive and motivational processes that influence behavior. For example, intelligence, temperament, habits, skills, attitudes, and traits.
Allport (1937) believes that personality is biologically determined at birth, and shaped by a person’s environmental experience.
He categorized traits into three levels: cardinal traits (dominant traits shaping a person’s entire life), central traits (characteristics influencing behavior in various situations), and secondary traits (specific traits that have minimal impact).
Allport emphasized the importance of studying individuals holistically and understanding the complexity of human personality beyond mere trait labels.
Adorno, T. W., Frenkel-Brunswik, E., Levinson, D. J., & Sanford, R. N. (1950). The authoritarian personality . New York: Harper and Row (pp. 228).
Allport, G. W. (1937). Personality: A psychological interpretation . New York: H. Holt and. Company.
Bandura, A. (1977). Social learning theory . Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Cattell, R. B. (1965). The scientific analysis of personality . Baltimore: Penguin Books.
Eysenck, H. J. (1952). The scientific study of personality .
Eysenck, H. J. (1966). Personality and experimental psychology. Bulletin of the British Psychological Society .
Eysenck, H. J. (1967). The biological basis of personality (Vol. 689) . Transaction publishers.
Eysenck, H. J. (1982). Personality, genetics, and behavior : Selected papers.
Freud, S. (1905). Three essays on the theory of sexuality . Se, 7.
Freud, S. (1920). Beyond the pleasure principle . SE, 18: 1-64.
Freud, S. (1923). The ego and the id . SE, 19: 1-66.
Goldberg, L. R. (1980). Some ruminations about the structure of individual differences: Developing a common lexicon for the major characteristics of human personality. In Invited paper, convention of the western psychological association, honolulu, hawaii .
Goldberg, L. R. (1993). The structure of phenotypic personality traits. American Psychologist, 48 (1), 26.
Goldstein, G., & Hersen, M. (Eds.). (2000). Handbook of psychological assessment. Elsevier.
Hyman, H. H., & Sheatsley, P. (1956). Attitudes Toward Desegregation. Scientific American , 195:35-39.
Loehlin, J. C., Willerman, L., & Horn, J. M. (1988). Human behavior genetics. Annual Review of Psychology , 39(1), 101-133.
Pervin, L. A. (1993). Personality: Theory and research . John Wiley & Sons.
Shields, J. (1976). Heredity and environment. In A textbook of human psychology (pp. 145-160) . Springer Netherlands.
Weinberg, R. S., & Gould, D. (1999). Personality and sport. Foundations of Sport and Exercise Psychology , 25-46.
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Lesson 5: Theories of personality. Theories of Personality Questions. Situational approach. Psychoanalytic theory. Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Humanistic theory. Biological theory. Behavioral theory. Trait theory. Observational learning: Bobo doll experiment and social cognitive theory.
Those influenced used his ideas but changed them slightly. Example: Carl Jung (Analytic Psychology) is more optimistic. Less sexualized. Turned more to life instinct rather than sexual instinct.
Possible essay questions for test 2Theories of personality. What are the components of the human psyche as developed by Sigmund Freud and what does eachdo for the individual? What events, according to Freud, lead up the development of the superego? What were some of the differences between Freud and Adler's views?
Study with Quizlet and memorize flashcards containing terms like 1. List and explain characteristics of a fully functioning person., 2. Contrast deficiency motivation with being motivation. Include a discussion of the differences between D-love and B-love., 3. Discuss research testing the concept of Maslow's need hierarchy. Include a list and explain the levels of Maslow's need hierarchy. Give ...
Theories of personality Exam 3 Essay Questions. Describe Bandura's Bobo doll experiment and what was discovered. The bobo doll experiment was done to show how aggression can be learn by modeling. Children were shown a video of an adult being aggressive to a bobo doll, the children were shown three different endings to the film (no consequence ...
Personality theories seek to explain how personality forms, changes, and impacts behavior. Five key personality theories focus on biological, behavioral, psychodynamic, humanistic, and trait approaches. While these theories offer different explanations for personality, each offers important insights that help us better understand ourselves.
Potential essay questions for personality theory test 1. What is personality? A stable set of behavioral & experimental characteristics of an individual Combination of how people think, feel, and behave -western, some cultures that have no word for "I" organization- central characteristics, consistency-see over & over, observable qualities and characteristics, past versus new behaviors ...
Pos sible essa y questions f or tes t 4. Theories of per sonality. 1. Discuss the five principles of the humanistic psychology. 2. What are the givens of existence as delineated 1 by the existentialist's writers. Death. taking responsibility can be bur densome. own meanings, roles, prescriptions, and v alues.
6 theories. Controversy. Recap. Psychodynamic, humanistic, and evolutionary are just a few of the many personality theories that have attempted to explore and explain human personality traits ...
Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, described personality, in part, as comprising three components: the instinct-driven "id," the morality-bound "super-ego," and the relatively ...
Trait theories of personality imply that personality is biologically based, ... The 16PF (16 Personality Factors Test) has 160 questions in total, ten questions relating to each personality factor. Allport's Trait Theory. ... Three essays on the theory of sexuality. Se, 7. Freud, S. (1920). Beyond the pleasure principle. SE, 18: 1-64.
Psychoanalytic Perspective. Humanistic Perspective. Trait Perspective. Social Cognitive Perspective. The study of personality is one of the significant topics of interest in psychology. Numerous personality theories exist, and most major ones fall into one of four major perspectives. Each of these perspectives on personality attempts to ...
personality is best explained by a variety of theories. personality refers mostly to surface appearance. there is a single best definition of personality. genetics account for nearly all differences among people. personality. a general trait. a specific trait. a genetic predisposition.
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List of Personality Topics. You can also come up with questions about your own about different topics in personality psychology. Some that you might explore include: Big 5 personality traits. The id, ego, and superego. Psychosocial development. Hierarchy of needs. Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Personality disorders.
The structural theory of personality assembles personality into 3 systems; the id, ego and superego. The balance of these 3 structures results in one's personality. The id, which is in the unconscious mind, is the instinctive and primitive component of personality. Life instincts (Eros) and death instincts (Thanatos) are the basic instincts ...
Paper Type: 700 Word Essay Examples. The fictional character "Joker" from the Batman series has a very complex and multidimensional personality and has been studied by hundreds of theorists, philosophers, movie fans, and the like. The Joker has an unpredictable, murderous and psychopathic personality.
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Moving against people 19. This theory places more importance on consistent patterns of interpersonal relationships and tends to be more maternal, stressing the intimacy and nurturing of the mother. a. Object Relations Theory b. Psychoanalytic Social Theory c. Person-Centered Theory d. Social Cognitive Theory 20.
Personality Theory The objective of this study is to focus on two perspectives of personality theory and for this study chosen are the two of: (1) traits; and (2) psychodynamic. The limitations and weaknesses of each will be examined and a preference for one chosen and the reason provided. Narratives The work of Johns, Robbins, and Pervin (2008) states in regards to the question of 'what does ...
Study Questions: Midsemester Exam II Introduction to Theories of Personality Students will have an hour and 15 minutes for the exam. Exam will be 35 multiple choice (2 points each = 70 points) and 3 out of 5-6 essay questions (up to 10 points each= 30 points).
The South African College of Applied Psychology (Pty) Ltd Theories of Personality Amended Assessment Term 2, 2021 1 Theories of Personality Amended Assessment 2: Reflective Essay Session due: Session 11 Length: Maximum of 3000 words Marks: 100 (40%) Reflection is a critical component in one's professional and personal life. It provides a sense of meaning to experiences, an opportunity to put ...
Possible essay questions for test 4 Theories of personality. Discuss the five principles of the humanistic psychology. Individuals should be viewed from a holistic perspective Individuals are acutely aware of their existence Individuals tend to seek meaning, value, & creativity in their lives Individuals live in material, social, cultural, spiritual dimensions Individuals are capable of ...