What is Personality?

Do you ever wonder why whenever we describe someone’s personality, we usually

refer to the attitude and behavior? It is because our attitudes speak of our
personality. But there is more to behavior and attitude that comprises a person’s
character. Our emotional, mental, spiritual, and physical well-being all build up our
so-called personality.

We become observant of the people around us and those we interact with and study
each one’s personality. We usually describe another person’s personality as good or
bad. When someone has a rude and unlikeable behavior, we say that the person
possesses an undesirable personality. On the other hand, someone with a good heart
and an admirable demeanor has a good personality.

When we speak of personality, we pertain to the person’s character, wholeness, or

totality involving behavior, attitudes, qualities, and traits of an individual. It is, in
fact, one of basic foundations of the study of psychology. There have been many
definitions coined by psychologists about personality. Let us understand the general
understanding of this concept and what involves it.

Personality Defined

As earlier mentioned, personality is all about the most essential psychological

aspects of a person’s life – our thoughts, feelings, motives, skills, and behaviors. The
term is coined from the Latin word ‘persona’ meaning ‘mask’. This means that people
put on a ‘mask’ that distinguishes them from the rest. We can choose to portray
different personas which constitute to our personality but our inner selves have a
greater representation of our true characters.
Every human being possesses a personality that defines our essence as individuals in
every stage of development in our lives. It is what makes up a person and it is what
makes us unique from each other. In other words, no two individuals have the same
personalities and so you are being characterized by other people as to who you are
and what you are to them based on your personality.

Fundamental Characteristics of Personality

Our personalities may be collectively characterized into four fundamental

characteristics. First is that every individual’s personality manifests consistency. This
means that we demonstrate a pattern of regularity or uniformity to our behaviors as
recognized and identified by other people. In essence, we tend to act in similar ways
and respond similarly to various situations.

Another characteristic of our personality is that it is psychological and physiological.

A person’s character and identity is built up by the patterns of thoughts, feelings,
and behavior. However, some researches would mention that biological aspect also
affects or influences personality.

Our personalities are also said to be characterized by impact behaviors and actions.
It causes us to take action or respond to various situations and experiences in
certain ways aside from affecting how we act and react in certain situations.

The fourth characteristic of our personality is that it is demonstrated through

multiple or various expressions. It is more than just a person’s attitude or behavior
but also identified through patterns of thoughts, emotions, relationships, and
interaction with other people.
Essential Components or Layers of Personality

Out of curious research and study of our personalities, psychologists have found out
different components or layers of the human character. The first component is the
persona or the external layer in which people put on a personality that they want to
show to others which may not truly define their true image. We can be someone
else’s personality if we want to and hide our true nature.

The second layer or component of personality is the self or ego. It is also otherwise
known as the personal identity. This level is what we pertain to as our true
personality. It is this level that controls our consciousness. We are aware of the
experiences we encounter and the things we do and think of as our ‘self’ or ‘ego’ is
tied to our memory. With this layer of our personality, we are able to take control of
other mental processes and manifest or execute them.

The third component of our personality is what experts call the realm of
unconsciousness which is different from our ‘persona’ and the ‘personal identity’ or
our consciousness. Any activity that is not normally governed by the conscious mind
belongs to our unconscious self.

Component and aspects of our personality

An important part of understanding our personality is learning its components and its
essential aspects. Our personality comprises of different fundamental characteristics
and constituents that make up the totality of an individual’s whole being. We need to
understand what these factors are in order for us to better appreciate our unique
personalities.
The Three Components of Personality

Sigmund Freud is known for his study on the three basic components that greatly
affect our personality. He created the three levels of awareness that are congruent to
the three different parts of the mind: conscious mind, preconscious mind, and
subconscious mind. According to him, our conscious mind includes our current or
present mental processes contributing a major part in our current awareness.

The next level of mental awareness is our preconscious mind which, according to
Freud, comprises those that we are aware of, but we do not really give focus or pay
attention. We can either decide to take notice of these things and purposefully let
our conscious mind be aware of them. The third part of the human mind is the
subconscious where some of our thoughts surpass the conscious level.

From these levels of awareness by Freud, he then developed the three components
of our personality: the id, ego, and super ego. These are the results of our thinking,
feeling, and behaviors.

The id functions primarily based on pleasure principle wherein our mind seeks to
achieve pleasure and avoid any form of pain. Freud mentioned that the id consists of
two major instincts and these are eros and thanatos. The former is otherwise known
as the life instinct that urges us to seek for pleasurable activities while the latter is
our death instinct that stimulates us to cause to destroy.

The ego is the next component of our personality which is the heart of our
consciousness. It is characterized by either of the dominant functions which are
introversion or extraversion along with the other functions. It is based on the reality
principle which states that our mind acknowledges what is real and currently
existing. It also understands that there are corresponding consequences to our
behaviors.

The super ego is the last component of our personality in which our values and
morals are contained. Our super ego can also offset or compensate the id.

The Big Five Factors

Our various personality traits are generally categorized into what is referred to as the
Big Five Factors: extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and
openness to experience.

Extraversion pertains to being outgoing, sociable, full of energy, enthusiasm, and

action-oriented. Introversion, on the other hand, refers to lack of liveliness and
energy.

Agreeableness manifests our differences in terms of cooperation and social harmony.

Agreeable people like getting along with each other well 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 is evident in individuals who are emotionally reactive and may have
gone through or are going through a particular strong negative feeling.
Openness to experience is a trait that characterizes people who are creative,
imaginative, curious, and intellectuals.

Essential Characteristics of Personality

Our personality is characterized not just by one aspect of our whole character such
as our behaviors or attitude but also by our patterned thoughts and feelings. It is
said that whatever behavior an individual has is consistent and becomes a regular
pattern even in different types of situations. It is associated with an individual’s
natural stimuli to a circumstance. For example, when there is a deadline to meet,
most of us cram during the completion process.

Another characteristic is that our personality is both psychological and physiological.

We have known personality to be a major element in the study of psychology but
experts also found that our biological aspect also affects the way we shape our
personality.

Although we closely associate a person’s behavior and values with personality, the
way we think and even physical appearance are also expressions of human
personality. Our physical appearance is the initial impression of people when
identifying our personality. And then it can possibly change when the inner
personality comes out through other aspects such as our attitude and communication
skills.
Different Personality Types
Every human being is indeed unique and has different sets of individual traits and
characteristics. Even twins are not completely the same with each other based on
studies. We all possess different types of personalities yet we manage to understand
each other and interact regardless of these differences. However, not all of us are
aware of our individual personality types.

In this article, we will learn the different personality types of human beings according
to research and careful observation or study of psychological experts. As you go
along, learn to discover what type suits you the most and how you can relate to
people with the kind of personality you possess.

Hippocrates’ Theory of the Four Personality Types

A noted figure in the study of our personality is Hippocrates who theorized the four
human temperaments to determine the differences in our personality. These are: the
Sanguines, the Cholerics, the Melancholic, and the Phlegmatic. His theory is still very
evident and relevant even after thousands of years of conducting this study.

The Sanguines are charming people and fun to be with because they have a good
sense of humor. They are the life of the party and they make friends easily. They
love to socialize and enjoy the company of people around them.

Choleric individuals are extroverts who take control of their lives and are task-
oriented. They are strong-willed who love to take challenges, and opinionated
people. They are born to be leaders and they have the motivation to reach for their
goals.
A person with a Melancholy personality is quite a perfectionist and very organized.
Melancholies are introverts who tend to be highly sensitive to others and are faithful
to the point of self-sacrificing. They are very creative and talented people. However,
they have tendencies to generate low self-esteem because of being judgmental of
their own abilities.

Phlegmatic individuals are introverts who are more concerned with relationships with
people. They are laid back, possessing low profile personality, but lovers of peace
and calmness. They are easygoing and relaxed who can readily make friends
because they are warm and friendly.

Jung’s Eight Personality Types

Carl Jung believed that individuals each have different psychological types. According
to him, we have two basic “functions” in our lives: knowing how to perceive things
and how to make decisions. From these two types, we function differently through
our senses or through our intuition. He firmly believes that all of these functions we
apply them in our lives. However, we have varying ways in using these functions
with different outcomes and amount of success.

But he created an order of preference for these varying functions wherein the
frequently used function is the “dominant” one which can either be extraverted or
introverted. He stressed that the dominant function is very important since it
overshadows the rest of the functions in all of the eight personality types. The
following are the eight personality types he created:
1. Extraverted Sensing
2. Introverted Sensing
3. Extraverted Intuition
4. Introverted Intuition
5. Extraverted Thinking
6. Introverted Thinking
7. Extraverted Feeling
8. Introverted Feeling

These types of personalities were further researched and studied by a mother and
daughter tandem wherein they created a combination of the abovementioned
personality types based on the four major preferences of individual personality.

The Four Preferences of Individual Personality

Katharine Briggs, along with her daughter Isabel Briggs Myers, developed the four
personality types of today based from Jung’s eight personality types. These are
extroversion and introversion, sensing and intuition, thinking and feeling, and
judging and perceiving.

Extroverts possess high energy and they talk more than listen. They prefer to be
around people and they are more of the outgoing and enthusiastic type. Introverts,
on the other hand, have a quiet energy and they prefer being on their own.

Sensors are pragmatic and practical people who have good common sense. Intuitives
are more of the inventive type and trust their instincts more than experiences.
Thinkers are objective in making decisions and they prefer analytical, logical
reasoning. They are reserved, but honest and fair. Feelers base their decisions on
their feelings and values. They are warm and friendly people who deal with
diplomacy and tact.

Judgers are quick to make decisions and they stick to plans and schedules. They are
serious and conventional type of people. Perceivers, on the contrary, tend to have
difficulty in making decisions. They are playful and flexible who prefer spontaneity in
what they do.