Types Of People: 13 Basic Personality Characteristics
One of the most famous branches of psychology is Psychology of individual differences also known as Differential Psychology.
This is responsible for researching the psychological differences that exist between individuals and, sometimes, the way in which these are related to other individual characteristics of a non-psychological nature. In other words, allows us to distinguish between types of people taking into account different characteristics of their body or their behavior.
Now, throughout the history of this psychological field, different criteria have been created with which to classify different types of people. In fact, there is not a single model or personality test, but several, which are used depending on the desired objective. For example, there is the 16 PF, the Big 5 personality traits model, etc.
In this article we will do a general review of the main types of people defined by several of the most used personality dimensions That means that each category of which a portion of these types of people can live inside oneself in certain quantities, although one of them will stand out more than the rest, depending on each case.
1. Extraverted
This type of person is defined by the constant need for look for sources of activation through interaction with the environment In practice, this means that extraverted people enjoy the company of others, because dialogue (verbal or non-verbal) is a source of constant stimuli. Likewise, they tend to prefer moving rather than staying in the same place.
Although they are often confused, introverts are not technically shy people, although they are very often both. What defines introverts is that they do not need to be exposed to external stimuli constantly and if these are very intense or last over time, they tend to cause discomfort before other people.
Introverts live focused on their mental life, their imagination and their memories, that is, towards actions that can only be carried out through mental processes that do not produce muscle movements.
3. Emotionally stable
This is one of the types of people with a greater ability to manage difficult or stressful moments, since these types of experiences They do not have such a noticeable impact on your way of thinking, feeling and acting However, this does not mean that they necessarily have to be cheerful. In fact, in some cases they could seem quite the opposite and present emotional flattening.
4. Rebels
Although these days it seems that the word “rebel” is only used in advertising campaigns and marketing strategies, it is also part of one of the most used personality measurement instruments: Cattell’s 16PF. This type of person tends to be more receptive to ways of thinking and doing that are shocking and innovative and shows much less respect for authority than the rest.
5. Conservative
Conservative people also appear in 16PF, and are the antithesis of the rebels. They tend to accept the customs and ways of doing things that have been practiced for a long time and they distrust the news.
Cyclothymia is a concept that is used to refer to high affectivity and great sensitivity in general. This type of persons They are capable of experiencing the most intense emotions from the most everyday and insignificant experiences. For example, they could cry quite easily when remembering a movie.
7. Schizothymic
These types of people are the opposite of cyclothymic people, and they experience emotions in a very weak way. In addition, they show a tendency toward isolation, among other things because informal interaction with others does not give them as much of a sense of well-being.
This is a characteristic that, when very extreme, is linked to schizophrenia, although not in all cases it has to lead to this disease.
8. Cunning
Astute people are characterized by having the ability to see things with a distance that allows them to discover alternative explanations about what is happening and what can happen. Thus, They will not think from a mental framework that comes to them from other people but they build their own.
9. Naive
Naive people are the complete opposite of clever people. They are much more confident and They accept the ideas and proposals of others, thinking from this kind of discourse imposed from outside. This means that they can be manipulated relatively easily, or even apologize for what is not their fault. They are also sensitive to a type of deception called gaslighting.
10. Obsessive
Obsessive people tend to get stuck in thought loops that they have a hard time getting out of, a phenomenon known as rumination. For that reason It is more difficult for them to make decisions and put their proposals into practice or they remain stagnant due to analysis paralysis.
Hostile people experience anger more easily than others, and Your frustration tolerance threshold tends to be low Consequently, they are especially prone to creating conflictive situations and expressing their disagreement with the opinions, intentions or attitudes of others. This is a personality characteristic that is often high in people with disorders such as Intermittent Explosive Disorder, although this is a clearly pathological category.
12. Cynics
This is one of the types of people who could be related to pessimism, although they are not exactly the same. Cynical people tend to think that others have less than noble motivations that they want to hide, although without falling into the extreme of persecution mania, since they do not place themselves at the center of a specific narrative about what is happening around them.
13. Neurotic
Neuroticism is a broad concept that brings together several psychological characteristics. related to emotions and the way in which stress is experienced, some of which are already represented in the rest of the personality dimensions. Specifically, neurotic people are those who have a low tolerance for frustration, experience anger easily, are prone to depressive states and anxiety, change their mood easily and frequently feel unpleasant emotions such as fear. .
