How Personality is Defined

Our personality is what sculpts us into who we truly are, that which makes us unique, our various character traits, qualities, and shortcomings. Basically without our personalities we would be like robots that only did what we were told and not what we feel. Our personality is what gives our life direction. How does someone make the decision to become a doctor or teacher? They use their personal feelings and interests to research and seek out their desired field.   Therefore without our personalities we would never find the right job or even the right spouse. Dating sites often use members personality traits to find suitable mates for each individual. Around 400 B.C. a famous Greek physician Hippocrates,  thought personality was made up of four temperaments: 

• Sanguine ( cheerful and active)
• Melancholic (sad)
• Choleric (angry and aggressive)
• Phlegmatic (calm and passive)

These temperaments were influenced by fluids or “humors” in the body. If a person’s humors were out of balance, the doctor would do something to increase the deficient humor or perhaps use bloodletting to decrease the excess humor.  Today personality psychologists study differences in traits such as anxiety, self-esteem, and aggressiveness among people. They use a series of different personality tests designed to measure individual aspects of your personality. Some of these consist of extroversion, emotional stability and left brain right brain test. 

Extroversion measures preferences and attitudes in dealing with people. Extroverts tend to be outgoing, active, and high spirited. Introverts tend to be reserved and cautious. 

Emotional Stability is often referred to as confidence, anxiety or neuritics. The evidence supporting the importance of the anxiety personality factor in determining success at work is impressive. High scorers are generally more sensitive, emotional and prone to feelings that are upsetting, such as guilt or sadness. Low scorers are emotionally secure, resistant and relaxed individuals even under very stressful conditions. 

Left Brain Right Brain tests explain how the left and right side of your brain process information differently. The left side is more analytical and uses a linear approach while the right side is more conceptual and uses a holistic approach. By discovering your dominant side you will be able to locate your strengths and weaknesses and discover new learning strategies. 

There are numerous tests that can be done to observe a person’s personality, some of which can be found on the Internet for anyone to use. Taking these test on the Internet can help you prepare for job interviews. If you apply for a job in a medium to large organization, the chances are three to one that you will be required to take a psychometric test at some stage during the selection process. 

How personality is defined is a question that has become easier to answer and understand with the help of psychology today. However despite all this research, there are still gaps in the knowledge. The reason you may notice that there are so many ways to explain the same thing is because unlike the natural sciences, there is no absolute truth. If you are ever offered the chance to assist a professor or doctoral student in his or her research, you should see that as an opportunity and as a privilege to help mold the direction of psychology. 

If you enjoyed this article you should check out my cognitive psychology article as well, you will find it at this link.       http://socyberty.com/psychology/cognitive-psychology/