Personality: 5 traits that define it
The personality it is an abstract concept difficult to define and delimit, it is something that we can not see, that we can only deduce through the observation of people's behaviors, attitudes and ways of being. But, the truth is that when someone has an overwhelming personality, it does not go unnoticed. Why, what defines it?
The personality has been studied since ancient times and from various disciplines such as psychology, medicine, anthropology, sociology, psychiatry, or philosophy, with different theories that have tried to explain this concept. Among them the model of the Big Five or Big Five, explains the five major factors of personality.
Personality, what defines a person with personality?
The personality can be defined as the set of characteristics or internal psychological traits that describe the way of being of the person and determine how they behave in different situations.
The personality It is a psychological construct that encompasses the set of attitudes, thoughts, feelings and behaviors, which has some stability, so that it allows us to predict the way people are and to react to a certain degree.
How is personality formed? Character and temperament
Each person has his own personalityIt is something that makes us unique. At birth we do not have a defined personality, we have a certain genetic disposition to be in one way or another that will be configured with experience. We can say that the personality has a part determined by the genes, the temperament, which is configured according to the experiences that each person experiences and gives rise to the character. Temperament and character define the personality of each person.
- Temperament. The temperament is innate. People are born with one type or another of temperament. The temperament is the part of the personality that is determined genetically and therefore is inevitable and can not be changed.
- Character Character is the acquired part of the personality. Character refers to the behaviors and reactions that have developed and become habits as a result of life experiences. The character can be modified.
Although we are all born with a certain genetic predisposition, the temperament, it is molded with the life experiences that we live, giving rise to the character
The model of the Five Great Personality Traits
The Five Great Traits Model, or Big Five, is a model that explains personality as the result of the combination of 5 major traits or factors.
In order to obtain the five main features, an investigation was made where some people had to define the personality of others (Golberg 1993). After the data obtained, 5 major traits were identified that, when combined, give rise to the personality of each person: extraversion (or sociability), responsibility, openness, kindness and neuroticism.
Each of the features is a continuum with two extremes, and depending on the place where the person is placed will give rise to one type or another of personality or way of responding.
1. Openness to new experiences. This feature indicates whether the person tends to seek new experiences or not. If you like to do new things or not. Open people tend to seek new experiences continuously, while those less open are more conventional in their interests.
2. Extroversion or sociability. This characteristic tells us if the person is more or less sociable. Extroverted people will be very sociable and will seek the company of other people, on the opposite side are the introverted people will be less sociable, who will tend to isolate themselves and enjoy their solitude.
3. Responsibility This feature tells us if the person is focused or not with their personal goals and objectives. It is the ability to direct and control one's own impulses and one's own behavior. Responsible people control their impulses and draw up plans to achieve their goals, whereas irresponsible people are more impulsive and have difficulties in achieving their goals.
4. Friendliness Kindness indicates whether the person shows sympathy, and good manners with others or not. Kind people tend to cooperate with others and sympathize with others, at the opposite pole are less kind people, are critical people, who do not know how to cooperate with others and are often suspicious.
5. Emotional stability or neuroticism. This feature refers to the way people deal with the problems of life. People with emotional stability are calm before problems, maintain a stable state of mind, which allows them to face problems and find solutions. On the other hand, people with little emotional stability, usually vary their moods, have a tendency to negative emotions (anger, fear, shame, guilt, etc.), in adverse situations.
Celia Rodríguez Ruiz. Clinical health psychologist. Specialist in pedagogy and child and youth psychology. Director of Educa and Learn. Author of the collection Stimulate Reading and Writing Processes.
