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Personality can be defined as a dynamic and organized set of characteristics possessed by a person that uniquely influences his or her cognitions, motivations, and behaviors in various situations (Ryckman, 2004). The word "personality" originates from the Latin persona, which means mask. Significantly, in the theatre of the ancient Latin-speaking world, the mask was not used as a plot device to disguise the identity of a character, but rather was a convention employed to represent or typify that character.

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The pioneering American psychologist, Gordon Allport (1937) described two major ways to study personality, the nomothetic and the idiographic. Nomothetic psychology seeks general laws that can be applied to many different people, such as the principle of self-actualization, or the trait of extraversion. Idiographic psychology is an attempt to understand the unique aspects of a particular individual.

The study of personality has a rich and varied history in psychology, with an abundance of theoretical traditions. Some psychologists have taken a highly scientific approach, whereas others have focused their attention on theory development. There is also a substantial emphasis on the applied field of personality testing.

Philosophical assumptions

Many of the ideas developed by historical and modern Personality Theorists stem from basic philosophical assumptions they hold. Psychology is not a purely empirical discipline, as it brings in elements of art, science, and philosophy to draw general conclusions. The following five categories are some of the most fundamental philosophical assumptions where theorists disagree:

Freedom versus Determinism

The debate over whether we have control over our own behavior and understand the motives behind it (Freedom), or if our behavior is basically determined by some other force over which we might not have control (Determinism). We may merely respond to external forces like government, parents, professors, the economic system, etc; or we may even be constrained to behave in certain ways by our genetics, upbringing, etc.

Heredity versus Environment

Personality is thought to be determined largely by either genetics and heredity, or environment and experiences. There is evidence for both possibilities.

Uniqueness versus Universality

The argument over whether we are all unique individuals (Uniqueness) or if humans are basically similar in their nature (Universality).

Proactive versus Reactive

Do we primarily act through our own initiative (Proactive), or do we react to outside stimuli (Reactive)?

Optimistic versus Pessimistic

Finally, whether or not we can alter our personalities (Optimistic) or if they remain the same throughout our whole lives (Pessimistic).

Personality theories

There are several theoretical perspectives on personality in psychology, which involve different ideas about the relationship between personality and other psychological constructs, as well as different theories about the way personality develops.

Critics of personality theory claim that personality is "plastic" across time, places, moods, and situations. Changes in personality may indeed result from diet (or lack thereof), medical effects, significant events, or learning. However, most personality theories emphasize stability over fluctuation.

Trait theories

According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association, personality traits are "enduring patterns of perceiving, relating to, and thinking about the environment and oneself that are exhibited in a wide range of social and personal contexts." Theorists generally assume that a) traits are relatively stable over time, b) traits differ among individuals (e.g. some people are outgoing while others are shy), and c) traits influence behavior.

The most common models of traits incorporate three to five broad dimensions or factors. The least controversial dimension, observed as far back as the ancient Greeks, is simply extraversion vs. introversion (outgoing and physical-stimulation-oriented vs. quiet and physical-stimulation-averse).

• Gordon Allport delineated different kinds of traits, which he also called dispositions. Central traits are basic to an individual's personality, while secondary traits are more peripheral. Common traits are those recognized within a culture and thus may vary from culture to culture. Cardinal traits are those by which an individual may be strongly recognized.

• Raymond Cattell's research propagated a two-tiered personality structure with sixteen "primary factors" (16 Personality Factors) and five "secondary factors." A different model was proposed by Hans Eysenck, who believed that just three traits - extraversion, neuroticism and psychoticism - were sufficient to describe human personality. Differences between Cattell and Eysenck emerged due to preferences for different forms of factor analysis, with Cattell using oblique, Eysenck orthogonal, rotation to analyse the factors that emerged when personality questionnaires were subjected to statistical analysis. Today, the Big Five factors have the weight of a considerable amount of empirical research behind them. Building on the work of Cattell and others, Lewis Goldberg proposed a five-dimension personality model, nicknamed the "Big Five":

1. Extraversion - outgoing and stimulation-oriented vs. quiet and stimulation-avoiding
2. Neuroticism - emotionally reactive, prone to negative emotions vs. calm, imperturbable, optimistic
3. Agreeableness - affable, friendly, conciliatory vs. aggressive, dominant, disagreeable
4. Conscientiousness - dutiful, planful, and orderly vs. laidback, spontaneous, and unreliable
5. Openness to experience - open to new ideas and change vs. traditional and oriented toward routine

• John L. Holland's RIASEC vocational model, commonly referred to as the Holland Codes, stipulates that there are six personality traits that lead people to choose their career paths. This model is widely used in vocational counseling and is a circumplex model where the six types are represented as a hexagon where adjacent types are more closely related than those more distant.

Trait models have been criticized as being purely descriptive and offering little explanation of the underlying causes of personality. Eysenck's theory, however, does propose biological mechanisms as driving traits, and modern behavior genetics researchers have demonstrated a clear genetic substrate to them. Another potential weakness with trait theories is that they lead people to accept oversimplified classifications, or worse offer advice, based on a superficial analysis of one's personality. Finally, trait models often underestimate the effect of specific situations on people's behavior. It is important to remember that traits are statistical generalizations that do not always correspond to an individual's behavior.

Type theories

Personality type refers to the psychological classification of different types of people. Personality types are distinguished from personality traits, which come in different levels or degrees. According to type theories, for example, there are two types of people, introverts and extraverts. According to trait theories, introversion and extraversion are part of a continuous dimension, with many people in the middle. The idea of psychological types originated in the theoretical work of Carl Jung.

Building on the writings and observations of Carl Jung, during WWII Isabel Briggs Myers and her mother Katharine C. Briggs delineated personality types by constructing the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. This model was later elaborated further by David Keirsey. It is an older, more theoretical approach to personality, accepting Extraversion vs. Introversion as basic and further adding three more dimensions:

1. Extraversion vs. Introversion (see above)
2. Intuition vs. Sensing (trust in conceptual/abstract models of reality versus concrete sensory-oriented facts)
3. Thinking vs. Feeling (thinking as the prime-mover in decision-making vs. feelings as the prime-mover in decision-making)
4. Perceiving vs. Judging (desire to perceive events vs. desire to have things done so judgements can be made)

This personality typology has some aspects of a trait theory: it explains people's behaviour in terms of opposite fixed characteristics. In these more traditional models, the intuition factor is considered the most basic, dividing people into "N" or "S" personality types. An "N" is further assumed to be guided by the thinking or objectication habit, or feelings, and be divided into "NT" (scientist, engineer) or "NF" (author, human-oriented leader) personality. An "S", by contrast, is assumed to be more guided by the perception axis, and thus divided into "SP" (performer, craftsman, artisan) and "SJ" (guardian, accountant, bureaucrat) personality. These four are considered basic, with the other two factors in each case (including always extraversion) less important. Critics of this traditional view have observed that the types are quite strongly stereotyped by professions, and thus may arise more from the need to categorize people for purposes of guiding their career choice. This among other objections led to the emergence of the five factor view, which is less concerned with behavior under work stress and more concerned with behavior in personal and emotional circumstances. Some critics have argued for more or fewer dimensions while others have proposed entirely different theories (often assuming different definitions of "personality").

Type A personality: During the 1950s, Meyer Friedman and his co-workers defined what they called Type A and Type B behavior patterns. They theorized that intense, hard-driving Type A personalities had a higher risk of coronary disease because they are "stress junkies." Type B people, on the other hand, tended to be relaxed, less competitive, and lower in risk. There was also a Type AB mixed profile. Dr. Redford Williams, cardiologist at Duke University, refuted Friedman’s theory that Type A personalities have a higher risk of coronary heart disease; however, current research indicates that only the hostility component of Type A may have health implications. Type A/B theory has been extensively criticized by psychologists because it tends to oversimplify the many dimensions of an individual's personality.

Psychoanalytic theories

Psychoanalytic theories explain human behaviour in terms of the interaction of various components of personality. Sigmund Freud was the founder of this school. Freud drew on the physics of his day (thermodynamics) to coin the term psychodynamics. Based on the idea of converting heat into mechanical energy, he proposed that psychic energy could be converted into behavior. Freud's theory places central importance on dynamic, unconscious psychological conflicts.

Freud broke the human personality down to three significant components: the ego, superego, and id. The id is the source of sexual energy that builds up and needs to be released or expressed in some way. The id is motivated by the pleasure principle. The ego is the structure that helps the id express itself. It emerges in order to realistically meet the wishes and demands of the id in accordance with the outside world. It operates according to the reality principle. Finally, the superego exercises moral judgement and societal rules in keeping the ego and id in check. The superego is the last function of the personality to develop and may be seen as an outcome of the interactions with one's parents during the long period of childhood dependency. According to Freud, personality is based on the interaction of these three components.

Sexuality is a major component of Freud's theory. He believed that humans are sexual throughout childhood, though it is important to note that Freud's broad understanding of sexuality included all kinds of pleasurable feelings experienced by the human body. Freud proposed five psychosexual stages of personality development:

1. Oral Stage - birth to approximately age one
2. Anal Stage - two years of age
3. Phallic Stage - between three and six
4. Latency Period - about seven years old to puberty
5. Genital Stage - occurs during adolescence

Freud believed that adult personality is determined by early childhood experiences. He suggested that events in the past could influence the present, such as when a person develops a fixation during one of these five stages and is unable to develop further.

One of Sigmund Freud's earlier associates, Alfred Adler, did agree with Freud that early childhood experiences are important to development, and believed that birth order may influence personality development. Adler believed the oldest was the one that set high goals to achieve to get attention back that they lost when the younger siblings were born. He believed the middle children were competitive and ambitious possibly so they are able to surpass the first-born’s achievements, but were not as much concerned about the glory. Also he believed that the last born would be more dependent and sociable but be the baby. He also believed that only children love being the center of attention and mature quickly, but in the end fail to become independent.

Heinz Kohut thought similarly to Freud’s idea of transference. He used narcissism as a model of how we develop our sense of self. Narcissism is the exaggerated sense of one self in which is believed to exist in order to protect one's low self esteem and sense of worthlessness. Kohut had a significant impact on the field by extending Freud's theory of narcissism and introducing what he called the 'self-object transferences' of mirroring and idealization. In other words, children need to idealize and emotionally "sink into" and identify with the idealized competence of admired figures such as parents or older siblings. They also need to have their self-worth mirrored by these people. These experiences allow them to thereby learn the self-soothing and other skills that are necessary for the development of a healthy sense of self.

Another important figure in the world of personality theory would be Karen Horney. She is credited with the development of the "real self" and the "ideal self". She believes that all people have these two views of their own self. The "real self" is how you really are with regards to personality, values, and morals; but the "ideal self" is a construct you apply to yourself to conform to social and personal norms and goals. Ideal self would be "I can be successful, I am CEO material"; and real self would be "I just work in the mail room, with not much chance of high promotion".

Margaret Mahler agreed with Klein's theory of linking relationships children have with their mothers to mental disorders of disturbed children. Certain disorders directly relate to what kind of relationship they had with their mothers. An example of this would be people diagnosed with schizophrenia. They are often too attached to their mother as children and even become obsessed, and never get over the "Oedipus" or "Electra" complex. Another example would be autistic children. Autistic children show no interest in their mother, relating to her, and so on. Both of these are very opposite reactions, but both have to do with the outcome of the mental disorder.

Freud used the term "object" to refer to any target that an infant uses to satisfy his or her needs. In Object Relations Theory the object is the aim of "relational needs" in human development. These objects are most often people, such as primary caretakers and significant others. However, in young children these objects may include a blanket, favorite toy, pacifiers, etc. The child becomes attached to the object because it provides pleasure for the child. When very young he is unable to distinguish himself from the object. For the child, the transitional object provides a connection between the child's inner and outer worlds. The child learns about separateness between subjective and objective. From birth through life, object relations theorists propose that individuals seek to develop human relationships and form attachments that may aid or hinder their development.