Personality
- Definition of personality
- Constituents of personality
- Origin of personality
- Factors that make individuals to differ
Definition of Personality
Personality is the combination of characteristics or qualities that form an individual’s distinctive character. It is also referred to as individual differences in characteristic patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving
Constituents/Traits of Personality (The Big Five Factors)
Various personality traits are generally categorized into what is referred to as the Big Five Factors.
- Extroversion: pertains to being outgoing, sociable, full of energy, enthusiastic and action-oriented. Introversion on other hand refers to lack of liveliness and energy
- Agreeableness: agreeable people like getting along with each other while disagreeable individuals are more concerned with self-interest and personal well being
- Conscientiousness: focuses on how we manage and control our impulses and desires. Conscientious people are intelligent, organized and persistent
- Neuroticism/Emotional stability: evident in individuals who are emotionally reactive and is characterized by anxiety, fear, moodiness, worry; emotional stable individuals are less reactive and tend to be calm and even tempered
- Openness to experience: trait that characterizes people who are creative, imaginative, curious and intellectuals
Sigmund Freud is known for his study on 3 basic components that greatly affect our personality. He is also attributed to 3 levels of mental awareness that are congruent to the 3 different parts of the mind:
Level 1: Conscious mind- includes our current or present mental processes contributing a major part in our current awareness
Level 2: Preconscious mind-comprises those that we are aware of but we don’t really give focus or pay attention
Level 3: Subconscious mind- where some of our thoughts surpass the conscious level
From these 3 levels of awareness by Freud, he then developed the 3 components of our personality
- Id: functions primarily based on pleasure principle wherein our mind seeks to achieve pleasure and avoid any form of pain
- Ego: it is the heart of our consciousness. Based on reality principle which states that our mind acknowledges what is real and currently existing. Also understands that there are corresponding consequences to our behaviors
- Super Ego: where our values and morals are contained. It can offset or compensate id