Personality & types [ a short journey through human & nature ]
To answer the question "What is personality", three topics should be addressed:
How is personality defined?
What are key determinants of personality development and differences?
How are different personalities described?
What are key determinants of personality development and differences?
Personality is defined as the characteristic sets of behaviors, cognitions, and emotional patterns that evolve from biological and environmental factors. While there is no generally agreed upon definition of personality, most theories focus on motivation and psychological interactions with one's environment. On the other hand, more behaviorally-based approaches define personality through learning and habits. Nevertheless, most theories view personality as relatively stable.
Personality type refers to the psychological classification of different types of individuals. Personality types are sometimes distinguished from personality traits, with the latter embodying a smaller grouping of behavioral tendencies. Types are sometimes said to involve qualitative differences between people, whereas traits might be construed as quantitative differences.According to type theories, for example, introverts and extraverts are two fundamentally different categories of people. According to trait theories, introversion and extraversion are part of a continuous dimension, with many people in the middle.
The Big Five personality traits, also known as the five-factor model (FFM) and the OCEAN model, is a taxonomy for personality traits. When factor analysis (a statistical technique) is applied to personality survey data, some words used to describe aspects of personality are often applied to the same person. For example, someone described as conscientious is more likely to be described as "always prepared" rather than "messy". This theory is based therefore on the association between words but not on neuropsychological experiments. This theory uses descriptors of common language and therefore suggests five broad dimensions commonly used to describe the human personality and psyche.
The five factors are:
Openness to experience (inventive/curious vs. consistent/cautious)
Conscientiousness (efficient/organized vs. easy-going/careless)
Extraversion (outgoing/energetic vs. solitary/reserved)
Agreeableness (friendly/compassionate vs. challenging/detached)
Neuroticism (sensitive/nervous vs. secure/confident)
Nature vs Nurture
A frequently asked question is: "Is personality innate or acquired?" This question is also called the nature-nurture debate. This issue has been debated by philosophers and other scientists for centuries.
According to John Locke (1632-1704) and his followers, the development of personality was purely a question of 'nurture' or education. The newborn child would be like a clean slate ("tabula rasa"), which can be shaped as educators want it to be.
Pendants of this vision, such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778), oppositely claimed that heredity has the most important influence on personality. According to Rousseau, the development of a child follows an inner, biological time table. As parents you do not play a role in this, according to Rousseau. This is probably also the reason why Rousseau sent his own children to an orphanage.
Today, thanks to twins research, we know more and more about the nature-nurture issue. This type of research observes identical twins growing up separately, in different families and environments. Identical twins share 100% of their genes. When identical twins that grow up separately from each other, differ from each other on a certain characteristic, this must be due to environmental factors. We then know that that characteristic is (partly) learned.
Through this kind of research it is now generally known to what extent heredity and environment influence personality. For example, we now know that characteristics such as extraversion, conscientiousness, neuroticism, agreeableness and openness are innate for about 20 to 45%. For the rest these characteristics are formed by influences from the environment, such as parents, school, friends, and etcetera.
Cultural Influences On Personality
Besides influences from the immediate environment such as education and school, the culture in which you grow up also influences the development of your personality. The distinction between individualistic and collectivistic culture is particularly important. In individualistic cultures, such as the US and European countries, the emphasis is on the development of the individual. In collectivist cultures, such as Indonesia and Panama, much value is attached to the group interest.
Individualist cultures stimulate the development of qualities such as self-confidence, independence and assertiveness; in collectivist cultures this is particularly true of qualities such as friendliness, modesty and loyalty. This may lead Europeans, for example, to believe that Japanese react shyly and submissive. Japanese, on the other hand, may find Europeans bold and selfish.
Among bilingual people shows that cultural influences partly pass through language. The personality of bilingual people also depends on the language they speak. This study looked at Mexicans and Americans who speak both Spanish and English fluently. In general, Mexicans are less extroverted, a little less agreeable and less conscientious than Americans. Remarkably, if a bilingual Mexican or American speaks English, they reacted more extroverted, agreeable and conscientious than when they speak Spanish. It appears that by speaking another language, you also become someone else. You adapt your personality to be more in line with the culture that belongs to the language you speak.
The 16 Myers-Briggs Personality Type
ISTJ – The Duty Fulfillers
Quiet, serious, earn success by thoroughness and dependability. Practical, matter-of-fact, realistic, and responsible. Decide logically what should be done and work toward it steadily, regardless of distractions. Take pleasure in making everything orderly and organized - their work, their home, their life. Value traditions and loyalty.
ISFJ – The Nurturers
Quiet, friendly, responsible, and conscientious. Committed and steady in meeting their obligations. Thorough, painstaking, and accurate. Loyal, considerate, notice and remember specifics about people who are important to them, concerned with how others feel. Strive to create an orderly and harmonious environment at work and at home.
INFJ – The Protectors
Seek meaning and connection in ideas, relationships, and material possessions. Want to understand what motivates people and are insightful about others. Conscientious and committed to their firm values. Develop a clear vision about how best to serve the common good. Organized and decisive in implementing their vision.
INTJ – The Scientists
Have original minds and great drive for implementing their ideas and achieving their goals. Quickly see patterns in external events and develop long-range explanatory perspectives. When committed, organize a job and carry it through. Skeptical and independent, have high standards of competence and performance - for themselves and others.
ISTP – The Mechanics
Tolerant and flexible, quiet observers until a problem appears, then act quickly to find workable solutions. Analyze what makes things work and readily get through large amounts of data to isolate the core of practical problems. Interested in cause and effect, organize facts using logical principles, value efficiency.
ISFP – The Artists
Quiet, friendly, sensitive, and kind. Enjoy the present moment, what's going on around them. Like to have their own space and to work within their own time frame. Loyal and committed to their values and to people who are important to them. Dislike disagreements and conflicts, do not force their opinions or values on others.
INFP – The Idealists
Idealistic, loyal to their values and to people who are important to them. Want an external life that is congruent with their values. Curious, quick to see possibilities, can be catalysts for implementing ideas. Seek to understand people and to help them fulfill their potential. Adaptable, flexible, and accepting unless a value is threatened.
INTP – The Thinkers
Seek to develop logical explanations for everything that interests them. Theoretical and abstract, interested more in ideas than in social interaction. Quiet, contained, flexible, and adaptable. Have unusual ability to focus in depth to solve problems in their area of interest. Skeptical, sometimes critical, always analytical.
ESTP – The Doers
Flexible and tolerant, they take a pragmatic approach focused on immediate results. Theories and conceptual explanations bore them - they want to act energetically to solve the problem. Focus on the here-and-now, spontaneous, enjoy each moment that they can be active with others. Enjoy material comforts and style. Learn best through doing.
ESFP – The Performers
Outgoing, friendly, and accepting. Exuberant lovers of life, people, and material comforts. Enjoy working with others to make things happen. Bring common sense and a realistic approach to their work, and make work fun. Flexible and spontaneous, adapt readily to new people and environments. Learn best by trying a new skill with other people.
ENFP – The Inspirers
Warmly enthusiastic and imaginative. See life as full of possibilities. Make connections between events and information very quickly, and confidently proceed based on the patterns they see. Want a lot of affirmation from others, and readily give appreciation and support. Spontaneous and flexible, often rely on their ability to improvise their verbal fluency.
ENTP – The Visionaries
Quick, ingenious, stimulating, alert, and outspoken. Resourceful in solving new and challenging problems. Adept at generating conceptual possibilities and then analyzing them strategically. Good at reading other people. Bored by routine, will seldom do the same thing the same way, apt to turn to one new interest after another.
ESTJ – The Guardians
Practical, realistic, matter-of-fact. Decisive, quickly move to implement decisions. Organize projects and people to get things done, focus on getting results in the most efficient way possible. Take care of routine details. Have a clear set of logical standards, systematically follow them and want others to also. Forceful in implementing their plans.
ESFJ – The Caregivers
Warmhearted, conscientious, and cooperative. Want harmony in their environment, work with determination to establish it. Like to work with others to complete tasks accurately and on time. Loyal, follow through even in small matters. Notice what others need in their day-by-day lives and try to provide it. Want to be appreciated for who they are and for what they contribute.
ENFJ – The Givers
Warm, empathetic, responsive, and responsible. Highly attuned to the emotions, needs, and motivations of others. Find potential in everyone, want to help others fulfill their potential. May act as catalysts for individual and group growth. Loyal, responsive to praise and criticism. Sociable, facilitate others in a group, and provide inspiring leadership.
ENTJ – The Executives
Frank, decisive, assume leadership readily. Quickly see illogical and inefficient procedures and policies, develop and implement comprehensive systems to solve organizational problems. Enjoy long-term planning and goal setting. Usually well informed, well read, enjoy expanding their knowledge and passing it on to others. Forceful in presenting their ideas.
How Are Different Personalities Described?
The lexical hypothesis states that all personality traits have rooted in a given language. Over the course of time, people come up with words to describe personality traits and to talk about them. The lexical hypothesis therefore states that the more important a characteristic is considered, the more words (synonyms) will exist for it. By studying a language you can find out which traits matter most in a certain language area, often a country. Moreover, you can compare languages with each other. You can then find out which traits are considered important in all language regions (or countries), and which traits are seen as important in one language area but not so much in another.
Researchers who take the lexical hypothesis as a starting point, are faced with a huge task. By means of dictionaries they have to try to group all words in a language that describe characteristics of people into clusters. They then do this for multiple different languages. Recent lexical research3, in which twelve languages were studied, shows that at least three clusters of personality traits arise. These are the clusters of extraversion, conscientiousness and agreeableness.
In the description of the Big Five personality theory below you can read more about what these clusters exactly mean and what characteristics they include.
In the past, researchers have debated fiercely on exactly how many personality traits truly exist. Early researchers such as Allport suggested as many as 4,000 different and distinct personality traits, others such as Raymond Cattell proposed only sixteen. Today, the majority of personality researchers support the Five Factor theory of personality, which describes five broad personality dimensions that compose human personality - These are:
Openness
Extraversion
Agreeableness
Conscientiousness
Neuroticism
Some things on personality disorders and illnesses
There are several factors that may cause personality disorders, or signal the presence or onset.
Genetic predisposition
Verbal abuse by parents or colleagues
Your relationships with your peers
Childhood trauma
High sensitivity (sound, smell, emotions)
Some personality traits are connected to certain illnesses neurotic personality traits and five illnesses. These are headaches, asthma, arthritis, peptic ulcers and heart disease. Shyness is supposed to be connected to a shorter life span!
How Is Personality Defined?
When you look up the meaning of the word personality in layman's terms, you may find something like ‘that what characterizes a person’. In everyday life we use terms such as character, identity or predisposition. Key words in the definition of personality are:
Your personality does not change just from one day to another, actually it changes hardly at all. If there are any changes these are very limited and slow. If they occur they may be caused by trauma or life changing experiences.
Personality can be divided into different components and characteristics. Over time, many different classifications have been made in personality characteristics. Literally hundreds!
Your personality is something that you always take with you, it affects your thinking, feelings and behavior, where and with whom you are, in any situation at any time. Personality helps you to adjust. Your personality helps you to "survive" and deal with the daily challenges surrounding you. In a sense your personality is in part psychological but also physiological. Research suggests that your personality is also influenced by all kinds of biological processes and needs.
The biggest lesson here should probably be just how fluid and changeable your personality is. Science isn't saying you have one personality type that you're stuck with for life. In fact, the study captures just how much our personalities shift over time. So, if you wish you had a different personality type, you're fully capable of evolving.
That being said, the authors do think a scientifically validated personality type test like this may help business leaders make sure employees are well-suited to their jobs. The Department of Defense Army Research Office helped support the study, for instance, and it's not hard to guess why they might be interested in a research-backed measure of leadership potential.
But those practical applications are still a ways in the future. For now the main takeaway is just that a quest that's been ongoing since at least the time of the ancient Greeks seems finally to be over -- it appears there really are personality types. Now scientists just have to work out how to put that information to use.
Despite the popularity of personality quizzes, psychologists have long been skeptical of personality typing. We're all bundles of traits like extraversion and agreeableness, we all fall along a spectrum. Plus, our personalities change mightily over time. All of which means makes it difficult to nail down meaningful groupings.
"People have tried to classify personality types since Hippocrates's time, but previous scientific literature has found that to be nonsense," notes study co-author William Revelle.
But that was before the internet. Thanks to social media and the insatiable human thirst for distracting quizzes, these days it's perfectly possible to get 1.5 million people to take a research-validated personality test, generating a massive data set. And it turns out, if you crunch through enough data, you can succeed where so many others have failed.
When the researchers sifted through the data, they found some people are indeed personality unicorns -- strange and beautiful unto themselves and not much like any significant group of others -- but most of us cluster into just four distinct groups. That's not to say these groups describe everyone, the researchers caution, just types that are particularly common.
So don't get out the pitchforks if you don't feel you fall into one of these types. You may not. But chances are pretty darn good that you, or at least most of the people you know, do. What are they?
Average: These people are high in neuroticism and extraversion, while low in openness. This is the most common personality type.
Reserved: This type is emotionally stable but not open or neurotic. They are not particularly extraverted but are somewhat agreeable and conscientious.
Role models: These folks score low in neuroticism and high in all the other traits. They are good leaders, dependable, and open to new ideas.
Self-centered: This group scores very high in extraversion and below average in openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. In everyday life we call these people jerks.
While all four of these types are super common, they're not all equally distributed among the population. Women are more likely to be role models, for instance (the group best suited to leadership). Teenage boys, you'll not be surprised to hear, are over represented among the self-centered. Thankfully, they'll mostly grow out of it. The older you get, the more likely you are to fit into the role model group.
Openness is a general appreciation for art, emotion, adventure, unusual ideas, imagination, curiosity, and variety of experience. People who are open to experience are intellectually curious, open to emotion, sensitive to beauty and willing to try new things. They tend to be, when compared to closed people, more creative and more aware of their feelings. They are also more likely to hold unconventional beliefs. High openness can be perceived as unpredictability or lack of focus, and more likely to engage in risky behaviour or drug taking. Moreover, individuals with high openness are said to pursue self-actualization specifically by seeking out intense, euphoric experiences. Conversely, those with low openness seek to gain fulfillment through perseverance and are characterized as pragmatic and data-driven—sometimes even perceived to be dogmatic and closed-minded. Some disagreement remains about how to interpret and contextualize the openness factor.
Sample items
I have excellent ideas.
I am quick to understand things.
I use difficult words.
I am full of ideas.
I am not interested in abstractions. (reversed)
I do not have a good imagination. (reversed)
I have difficulty understanding abstract ideas. (reversed)
Conscientiousness is a tendency to display self-discipline, act dutifully, and strive for achievement against measures or outside expectations. It is related to the way in which people control, regulate, and direct their impulses. High conscientiousness is often perceived as being stubborn and focused. Low conscientiousness is associated with flexibility and spontaneity, but can also appear as sloppiness and lack of reliability. High scores on conscientiousness indicate a preference for planned rather than spontaneous behavior. The average level of conscientiousness rises among young adults and then declines among older adults.
Sample items
I am always prepared.
I pay attention to details.
I get chores done right away.
I like order.
I follow a schedule.
I am exacting in my work.
I never forget my belongings.
I always end up being helpful to most things.
I often remember where I last put my things.
I give attention to my duties.
Extraversion is characterized by breadth of activities (as opposed to depth), surgency from external activity/situations, and energy creation from external means. The trait is marked by pronounced engagement with the external world. Extraverts enjoy interacting with people, and are often perceived as full of energy. They tend to be enthusiastic, action-oriented individuals. They possess high group visibility, like to talk, and assert themselves. Extraverted people may appear more dominant in social settings, as opposed to introverted people in this setting.
Introverts have lower social engagement and energy levels than extraverts. They tend to seem quiet, low-key, deliberate, and less involved in the social world. Their lack of social involvement should not be interpreted as shyness or depression; instead they are more independent of their social world than extraverts. Introverts need less stimulation, and more time alone than extraverts. This does not mean that they are unfriendly or antisocial; rather, they are reserved in social situations.
Generally, people are a combination of extraversion and introversion, with personality psychologist Eysenck suggesting that these traits are connected somehow to our central nervous system.
Sample items
I am the life of the party.
I don't mind being the center of attention.
I feel comfortable around people.
I start conversations.
I talk to a lot of different people at parties.
I don't talk a lot. (reversed)
I think a lot before I speak or act. (reversed)
I don't like to draw attention to myself. (reversed)
I am quiet around strangers. (reversed)
I have no intention of talking in large crowds. (reversed)
The agreeableness trait reflects individual differences in general concern for social harmony. Agreeable individuals value getting along with others. They are generally considerate, kind, generous, trusting and trustworthy, helpful, and willing to compromise their interests with others. Agreeable people also have an optimistic view of human nature.
Disagreeable individuals place self-interest above getting along with others. They are generally unconcerned with others' well-being, and are less likely to extend themselves for other people. Sometimes their skepticism about others' motives causes them to be suspicious, unfriendly, and uncooperative. Low agreeableness personalities are often competitive or challenging people, which can be seen as argumentative or untrustworthy.
Because agreeableness is a social trait, research has shown that one's agreeableness positively correlates with the quality of relationships with one's team members. Agreeableness also positively predicts transformational leadership skills. In a study conducted among 169 participants in leadership positions in a variety of professions, individuals were asked to take a personality test and have two evaluations completed by directly supervised subordinates. Leaders with high levels of agreeableness were more likely to be considered transformational rather than transactional. Although the relationship was not strong, (r=0.32, β=0.28, p<0.01) it was the strongest of the Big Five traits. However, the same study showed no predictive power of leadership effectiveness as evaluated by the leader's direct supervisor.
Conversely, agreeableness has been found to be negatively related to transactional leadership in the military. A study of Asian military units showed leaders with a high level of agreeableness to be more likely to receive a low rating for transformational leadership skills. Therefore, with further research, organizations may be able to determine an individual's potential for performance based on their personality traits. For instance, in their journal article "Which Personality Attributes Are Most Important in the Workplace?" Paul Sackett and Philip Walmsley claim that conscientiousness and agreeableness are “important to success across many different jobs."
Sample items
I am interested in people.
I sympathize with others' feelings.
I have a soft heart.
I take time out for others.
I feel others' emotions.
I make people feel at ease.
I am not really interested in others. (reversed)
I insult people. (reversed)
I am not interested in other people's problems. (reversed)
I feel little concern for others. (reversed)
Neuroticism is the tendency to experience negative emotions, such as anger, anxiety, or depression. It is sometimes called emotional instability, or is reversed and referred to as emotional stability. According to Eysenck's (1967) theory of personality, neuroticism is interlinked with low tolerance for stress or aversive stimuli. Neuroticism is a classic temperament trait that has been studied in temperament research for decades, before it was adapted by the FFM. Those who score high in neuroticism are emotionally reactive and vulnerable to stress, also tending to be flippant in the way they express emotion. They are more likely to interpret ordinary situations as threatening, and minor frustrations as hopelessly difficult. Their negative emotional reactions tend to persist for unusually long periods of time, which means they are often in a bad mood. For instance, neuroticism is connected to a pessimistic approach toward work, confidence that work impedes personal relationships, and apparent anxiety linked with work. Furthermore, those who score high on neuroticism may display more skin-conductance reactivity than those who score low on neuroticism. These problems in emotional regulation can diminish the ability of a person scoring high on neuroticism to think clearly, make decisions, and cope effectively with stress. Lacking contentment in one's life achievements can correlate with high neuroticism scores and increase one's likelihood of falling into clinical depression. Moreover, individuals high in neuroticism tend to experience more negative life events, but neuroticism also changes in response to positive and negative life experiences. Also, individuals with higher levels of neuroticism tend to have worse psychological well being.
At the other end of the scale, individuals who score low in neuroticism are less easily upset and are less emotionally reactive. They tend to be calm, emotionally stable, and free from persistent negative feelings. Freedom from negative feelings does not mean that low-scorers experience a lot of positive feelings.
Neuroticism is similar but not identical to being neurotic in the Freudian sense (i.e., neurosis.) Some psychologists prefer to call neuroticism by the term emotional instability to differentiate it from the term neurotic in a career test.
Sample items
I get irritated easily.
I get stressed out easily.
I get upset easily.
I have frequent mood swings.
I worry about things.
I am much more anxious than most people.
I am relaxed most of the time. (reversed)
I seldom feel blue. (reversed)