Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you should be able to:
Define personality.
Describe early theories about personality development.
Explain how ideas about personality have changed over time.
What Is Personality?
Personality refers to the long-lasting patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving that make each person unique. It influences how we respond to situations, interact with others, and view ourselves and the world.
Psychologists believe that personality is generally:
Stable over time.
Relatively consistent across different situations.
Responsible for the characteristics that make each individual unique.
The word personality comes from the Latin word persona, meaning a theatrical mask. In ancient theatre, masks represented different character traits rather than hiding a person's identity.
Historical Perspectives on Personality
Psychologists and philosophers have studied personality for over 2,000 years. Early theories attempted to explain why people behave differently.
1. Hippocrates' Four Temperaments (370 BCE)
The Greek physician Hippocrates believed personality was determined by four bodily fluids, called humors.
| Temperament | Body Fluid | Typical Personality Traits |
|---|---|---|
| Choleric | Yellow bile | Ambitious, bold, passionate |
| Melancholic | Black bile | Serious, anxious, thoughtful |
| Sanguine | Blood | Cheerful, optimistic, sociable |
| Phlegmatic | Phlegm | Calm, reliable, patient |
Although modern psychology has shown this theory to be scientifically inaccurate, it was one of the earliest attempts to explain personality.
2. Galen's Theory
Several centuries later, the Greek physician Galen expanded Hippocrates' ideas.
He believed:
Everyone mainly possessed one temperament.
Personality differences resulted from imbalances in the body's humors.
Physical health and personality were connected.
His ideas remained influential for over 1,000 years.
3. Franz Gall and Phrenology
In the late 1700s, Franz Gall proposed that bumps on a person's skull revealed their personality and mental abilities.
This practice became known as phrenology.
Gall believed skull measurements could identify traits such as:
Kindness
Intelligence
Pride
Aggression
Language ability
Modern View
Today, phrenology is considered pseudoscience because scientific research found no evidence that skull shape predicts personality or intelligence.
4. Kant and Wundt
Immanuel Kant
Kant accepted the four temperament theory and described personality using sets of characteristic traits.
Wilhelm Wundt
Wundt suggested personality could be understood using two dimensions:
Strong emotions ↔ Weak emotions
Changeable ↔ Unchangeable
This approach was an important step toward modern personality psychology because it viewed personality as existing along dimensions rather than fixed categories.
Freud's Psychodynamic Theory
During the early 1900s, Sigmund Freud developed the first comprehensive theory of personality.
Freud believed personality develops through:
The unconscious mind.
Childhood experiences.
Internal conflicts between instincts and society.
He proposed three parts of personality:
Id
Present from birth.
Driven by pleasure and basic instincts.
Wants immediate satisfaction.
Ego
Makes realistic decisions.
Balances the id with reality.
Operates according to the reality principle.
Superego
Represents morals and conscience.
Learns right and wrong from parents and society.
Encourages responsible behaviour.
Freud believed these three parts constantly interact and shape our behaviour.
Neo-Freudians
Many psychologists agreed with Freud that childhood experiences are important but disagreed with his emphasis on sexuality.
These psychologists became known as the Neo-Freudians.
They focused more on:
Social relationships.
Family influences.
Culture.
Personal growth.
Modern Perspectives on Personality
As psychology developed, several new approaches emerged:
Learning (Behavioural) Perspective – Personality develops through learning and experience.
Humanistic Perspective – Emphasises personal growth, free will, and self-actualisation.
Biological Perspective – Personality is influenced by genetics and brain function.
Evolutionary Perspective – Personality traits evolved because they helped humans survive and reproduce.
Trait Perspective – Personality consists of stable traits that can be measured.
Cultural Perspective – Society and culture shape personality development.
These perspectives continue to influence personality research today.
Key Terms
Personality – The consistent patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving that make each person unique.
Temperament – Natural patterns of emotional and behavioural responses.
Humors – The four bodily fluids believed by Hippocrates to determine personality.
Phrenology – The discredited belief that personality could be determined by the shape of the skull.
Psychodynamic Theory – Freud's theory that unconscious processes and childhood experiences shape personality.
Neo-Freudians – Psychologists who expanded Freud's ideas while placing greater emphasis on social and cultural influences.
Trait – A consistent characteristic or tendency in a person's behaviour.
Strengths and Limitations
Strengths
Shows how ideas about personality have evolved over time.
Introduced the study of individual differences.
Freud's work inspired modern psychotherapy and counselling.
Led to scientific research on personality traits.
Limitations
Early theories such as the four humors and phrenology lack scientific evidence.
Freud's theory is difficult to test scientifically.
Modern personality psychology relies much more on evidence-based research.
Summary
Personality is the unique combination of thoughts, feelings, and behaviours that remain relatively stable throughout life. Early theories by Hippocrates and Galen attempted to explain personality through bodily humors, while Gall's phrenology incorrectly linked personality to skull shape. Freud introduced the influential psychodynamic theory, emphasising the unconscious mind and childhood experiences. Today, psychologists study personality using a range of evidence-based perspectives, including biological, trait, learning, humanistic, evolutionary, and cultural approaches.
Remember
Hippocrates → Four humors.
Galen → Expanded the four temperaments.
Gall → Phrenology (now considered pseudoscience).
Kant → Personality trait descriptions.
Wundt → Personality dimensions.
Freud → Id, Ego, Superego, unconscious mind.
Modern psychology → Multiple scientific theories explain personality.
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