Personality, understood as the relatively stable set of tendencies and patterns of thinking, information processing and behavior that each of us manifests throughout life and through time and different situations, is one of the main aspects that have been studied and analyzed by Psychology. Different currents and authors have established different theories and models of personality.
Some of the main theories of personality are briefly explained below which start from different approaches such as internalist, situationist and interactionist or correlational, experimental or clinical.
The most important personality theories in Psychology
Personality is one of the most important concepts approached from Psychology, and specifically from one of its branches: the Psychology of Individual Differences. However, there is no single way to understand what personality is, but rather a plurality of approaches and categories to use.
Therefore, below we will review the contributions to the study of personality that have traditionally had more weight throughout the history of Psychology. However, not all of them are still valid today.
1. Freud’s personality theory
The psychodynamic current has provided various theories and models of personality, the best known being those of the father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud. For him, behavior and personality are linked to the existence of impulses that we need to put into practice and the conflict that this need entails and the limitation that reality represents for its fulfillment. It is a clinical and internalist model.
In his first topic, Freud proposed that The human psyche was structured in three systems an unconscious one governed by the search for tension reduction and works through the pleasure principle, a conscious one that is governed by the perception of the outside world and logic and the reality principle and a preconscious in which unconscious contents can become conscious and vice versa.
In the second topic, Freud determines a second major personality structure compatible with the previous one, in which the psyche is configured by three psychic instances, the Id or It, the Ego and the Superego. The It is our most instinctive part, which governs and directs internal energy in the form of impulses and from which all other structures start.
The Self would be the result of the confrontation of impulses and drives with reality, being a mediating structure and in continuous conflict that uses different mechanisms to sublimate or redirect the energies coming from the impulses. Finally, the third instance is the Superego or the part of the personality that is given by society and whose main function is to judge and censor behaviors and desires that are not socially acceptable.
The personality is built throughout development, in different phases, based on the existing conflicts between the different instances and structures and the defense mechanisms applied to try to resolve them.
2. Jung’s personality theory
In addition to Freud, Many other components of the psychodynamic current have proposed their own personality structures For example, Carl Jung proposed that personality was configured by the person or part of our personality that serves to adapt to the environment and that is related to what others can observe and the “shadow” or the part in which those elements are included. of the Self that are not admissible for the subject himself.
Likewise, according to this author, from the archetypes acquired by the collective unconscious (formed throughout the accumulation of cultures of many generations) and the different complexes that we adopt in our development towards identity, different types of personality are generated. depending on whether the concerns are directed internally or externally. That is, individuals reflect different types of personality depending on if they are more sensitive or intuitive and if they tend to focus more on thinking or feeling being thinking, feeling, intuiting and perceiving the main psychological functions.
Although the approach used by Jung when investigating human behavior has become outdated and is not part of the current science of Psychology, his ideas served as inspiration for one of the most used and current personality models today: the Big Five model (or Big Five), which we will see later.
3. Phenomenological theory of Carl Rogers
From a humanistic-phenomenological perspective with a clinical approach, Carl Rogers proposes that each person has their phenomenological field or way of seeing the world, depending on the behavior of said perception
Personality is derived from the self-concept or symbolization of the experience of one’s own existence, which arises from the integration of the tendency to update or the tendency to improve oneself with the needs to feel love from the environment and self-esteem derived from the contrast between their behavior and the consideration or response it receives from the environment. If there are contradictions, defensive measures will be used such with which to hide said inconsistency.
4. Kelly’s theory of personal constructs
As example of personality theory derived from cognitivism and constructivism We can find Kelly’s theory of personal constructs, also of clinical focus. For this author, each person has their own mental representation of reality and acts in a scientific manner, trying to give an explanation to what surrounds them.
It is considered that personality is constituted as a hierarchical system of dichotomous personal constructs that have influence on each other, which form a network with nuclear and peripheral elements through which we try to respond and make predictions for the future. What motivates behavior and the creation of the system of constructs is the attempt to control the environment thanks to the predictive capacity derived from them and the improvement of said predictive model through experience.
5. Allport’s idiographic personality theory
Allport considers that each individual is unique in the sense that they have an integration of different characteristics that is different from other people (it is based on the ideographic, on what makes us unique), as well as that We are active entities that focus on achieving goals
This is one of the authors who considers that personality works based on structural and stable elements, traits. For him, we try to make our behavior consistent and act in such a way that we create a system from which we can make different sets of stimuli equivalent, so that we can respond in a similar way to different stimulations.
Thus, we develop ways of acting or expressing behavior that allow us to adapt to the environment. These traits have different importance depending on the influence they have on our behavior which can be cardinal, central or secondary.
The set of traits would be integrated into the propium or self, which is derived from self-perception and self-awareness generated and composed of the experience of identity, perception, corporality, interests and self-esteem, rationality and intentionality.
6. Cattell’s personality theory
Raymond Cattell’s theory of personality is one of the most famous and recognized factorial theories of personality. He is a structuralist, correlational and internalist like Allport and starting from the analysis of the lexicon, he considers that personality can be understood as a function of a set of traits, which are understood as the tendency to react in a certain way to reality
These traits can be divided into temperamental (the elements that tell us how to act), dynamic (the motivation for the behavior or attitude) or aptitude (the subject’s abilities to carry out the behavior).
The most relevant are the temperamental ones, from which Cattell would extract the sixteen primary personality factors that are measured in the 16 PF (which would refer to affectivity, intelligence, ego stability, dominance, impulsivity, daring, sensitivity, suspicion, conventionality , imagination, cunning, rebellion, self-sufficiency, apprehension, self-control and tension).
Personality dynamics also depend on motivation finding different components in the form of dynamic traits or attitudes among which are ergs (way of acting when faced with specific stimulations such as sex or aggression) and feelings.
7. Eysenck’s personality theory
From an internalist and factorial position centered on the biological, Eysenck generates one of the most important explanatory hypotheses of personality from a correlational approach This author generates the PEN model, which proposes that personality differences are based on biological elements that allow processes such as motivation or emotion.
Personality is a relatively stable structure of character, intellect, temperament and physique, each of them respectively providing will, intelligence, emotion and the biological elements that allow them.
Eysenck finds and isolates three main factors into which all the others can be grouped, these being psychoticism or tendency to act harshly, neuroticism or emotional stability and extraversion/introversion or focus on the external or internal world.
The author would consider that the level of extraversion depended on the activation of the ascending reticular activating system or SARA, neuroticism of the limbic system and psychoticism, although a clear correlate has not been identified, tends to be linked to the level of androgens or the relationship between dopamine and serotonin.
The three factors of the PEN model They integrate the different personality traits and allow the organism to react in certain ways to environmental stimulation based on more or less specific and frequent behavioral responses.
8. Costa and McCrae’s Big Five Theory
Another of the great factorial theories based on a lexical approach (based on the idea that the terms with which we explain our behavior allow, after a factor analysis, to establish the existence of groupings of characteristics or personality traits), Costa and McCrae’s Big Five theory is one of the most widespread personality models
Through factor analysis, this model indicates the existence of five major personality factors that we all have to a greater or lesser degree. Its about neuroticism or emotional adjustment extraversion as the quantity and intensity of personal relationships, cordiality as the qualities expressed in the interaction, responsibility or awareness, organization, control and motivation towards goals and openness to experience or interest in experimenting.
Each of these major factors is made up of traits or facets. The different traits are related to each other, and together they account for the way we perceive the world and react to it.
Gray proposes a factorial and biological model in which he considers that there are two dimensions that allow elements such as emotion and learning, based on the combination of Eysenck’s extraversion and neuroticism factors
In this case, it is proposed that anxiety, as a combination of introversion and neuroticism, would act as a behavioral inhibitory mechanism (BIS or Behavior Inhibition System), while impulsivity (which would be equivalent to a combination between extraversion and neuroticism) would act as a mechanism approach and motivation to action (BAS or Behavior Approximation System). Both systems would act together to regulate our behavior.
10. Cloninger Model
This model contemplates the existence of temperamental elements, these being the avoidance of pain, dependence on reward, novelty seeking and persistence. These elements of a biological and acquired nature would account for the behavioral pattern that we apply in our lives, and depend largely on the neurochemical balance of the brain in terms of neurotransmitters.
It also incorporates elements of character that help place one’s self in reality, these being cooperation as social behavior, self-direction or autonomy, and self-transcendence as an element that integrates us and gives us a role in the world.
Related article: “Claude Robert Cloninger: biography of this famous personality psychologist”
11. Rotter’s social learning theory
This author considers that the pattern of behavior that we usually use is an element derived from learning and social interaction It considers the human being an active element and uses an approach close to behaviorism. We act based on the existence of needs and the visualization and assessment of both these and the possible behaviors that we have learned to carry out. Although close to interactionism, it is situated in a situationist perspective
Behavior potential is the probability of performing a certain behavior in a specific situation. This potential depends on elements such as expectations (both the ability to influence the results and the result itself and the possible obtaining of benefits after the behavior) and the consideration or value given to the consequences of carrying out the behavior in question, as well as the way in which the person processes and evaluates the situation (known as psychological situation).
Related article: “Rotter’s social learning theory”
12. The interactionist approach
Throughout history there have been many authors who have held one of two positions: that personality is something innate or that it is derived from learning. However There is a third option, defended by authors such as Mischel in which personality is formed by the interaction between innate elements and the phenomena we experience.
This position explores personality characteristics through the study of the existence of consistency of behavior across situations, temporal stability, and the predictive validity of traits. The conclusions indicated that Other types of categorizations different from traits should be used, since these do not reflect a totally valid predictive model as they are more innate in nature. He argues that it is more efficient to talk about competencies, values, expectations, constructs and self-control.
Other authors such as Allen reflect that consistency can vary depending on the person, as well as the main values ​​and aspects that best predict behavior. In this way, the traits would be consistent but only if those that are most relevant for each person are taken into account.
