Search results
- Psychodynamic theories. Sigmund Freud laid the foundation for psychodynamic personality theories with his proposal of the id, the ego, and the superego.
- Trait theories. Trait theory is one of the most popular types of personality theories. It proposes that people’s personalities vary according to which basic personality traits are more dominant.
- Humanistic theories. The humanistic approach to theories of personality involves understanding not only behavior and thought patterns, but also what someone believes gives their life meaning.
- Social cognitive theories. Social cognitive theories of personality include several schools of thought like behaviorism, social learning theory, and expectancy-value theory.
- Conscientiousness
- Agreeableness
- Extraversion
- Openness to Experience
- Neuroticism
- New Research on Media and Technology
- Critical Evaluation
- History and Background
- References
- Keep Learning
Conscientiousness describes a person’s ability to regulate impulse control to engage in goal-directed behaviors (Grohol, 2019). It measures elements such as control, inhibition, and persistence of behavior.
Agreeableness refers to how people tend to treat relationships with others. Unlike extraversion which consists of the pursuit of relationships, agreeableness focuses on people’s orientation and interactions with others (Ackerman, 2017).
Extraversionreflects the tendency and intensity to which someone seeks interaction with their environment, particularly socially. It encompasses the comfort and assertiveness levels of people in social situations. Additionally, it also reflects the sources from which someone draws energy.
Openness to experience refers to one’s willingness to try new things as well as engage in imaginative and intellectual activities. It includes the ability to “think outside of the box.”
Neuroticism describes the overall emotional stability of an individual through how they perceive the world. It takes into account how likely a person is to interpret events as threatening or difficult. It also includes one’s propensity to experience negative emotions.
Openness to experience predicted preferences for complex movies (e.g., documentaries) and unconventional books (e.g., philosophy).Conscientiousness was associated with a preference for informational books.Agreeableness predicted liking for conventional genres such as family movies and romance books.Neuroticism only correlated with a preference for light books, not movies.Cross-Cultural Validity
Although the Big Five has been tested in many countries and its existence is generally supported by findings (McCrae, 2002), there have been some studies that do not support its model. Most previous studies have tested the presence of the Big Five in urbanized, literate populations. More research on illiterate and non-industrialized populations is needed to clarify such discrepancies.
Gender Differences
Differences in the Big Five personality traits between genders have been observed, but these differences are small compared to differences between individuals within the same gender. Another interesting finding was that bigger gender differences were reported in Western, industrialized countries. Researchers proposed that the most plausible reason for this finding was attribution processes. They surmised that the actions of women in individualistic countries would be more likely to be attribu...
Factors that Influence the Big 5
Like with all theories of personality, the Big Five is influenced by both nature and nurture. Twin studies have found that the heritability (the amount of variance that can be attributed to genes) of the Big Five traits is 40-60%. Such twin studies demonstrate that the Big Five personality traits are significantly influenced by genes and that all five traits are equally heritable. Heritability for males and females does not seem to differ significantly (Leohlin et al., 1998). Studies from dif...
The Big Five model resulted from the contributions of many independent researchers. Gordon Allport and Henry Odbert first formed a list of 4,500 terms relating to personality traits in 1936 (Vinney, 2018). Their work provided the foundation for other psychologists to begin determining the basic dimensions of personality. In the 1940s, Raymond Catte...
Ackerman, C. (2017, June 23). Big Five Personality Traits: The OCEAN Model Explained. PositivePsychology.com. https://positivepsychology.com/big-five-personality-theory Buecker, S., Maes, M., Denissen, J. J., & Luhmann, M. (2020). Loneliness and the Big Five personality traits: A meta–analysis. European Journal of Personality, 34(1), 8-28. https://...
McCrae, R. R., & Terracciano, A. (2005). Universal features of personality traits from the observer’s perspective: data from 50 cultures. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 88(3), 547.Cobb-Clark, DA & Schurer, S. The stability of big-five personality traits. Economics Letters. 2012; 115(2): 11–15.Marsh, H. W., Nagengast, B., & Morin, A. J. (2013). Measurement invariance of big-five factors over the life span: ESEM tests of gender, age, plasticity, maturity, and la dolce vita effects. Develo...Jan 29, 2024 · 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.
Jan 8, 2024 · Sigmund Freud pioneered psychodynamic theories of personality. He believed that the personality was not something that just appeared on the surface of our consciousness. The personality comprises three parts, two hidden in the unconscious mind. These three parts include the id, the superego, and the ego. The id wants to act upon aggressive life ...
May 21, 2024 · 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.
Personality Psychology Theories. There are a lot of personality theories—too many to cover them all here. Some of the most prominent theories include psychodynamic, trait/type theories, behaviorism, social-learning, humanistic, and biological. Each of these theories offers explanations for behavior related to personality.
People also ask
What is a behavioral personality theory?
Who invented personality theory?
What is a trait theory of personality?
What are social cognitive theories of personality?
What are the different types of personality theories?
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 ...
