Research Round 1- How is one’s personality formed?

Hi everyone,

This is my first round of research with my question “How is one’s personality formed?”. For this round, I will be looking into different parts of a personality. This includes different personality traits, personality types, etc. 

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What is personality?

A personality is all the characteristics/qualities that combine to form a person’s character. It also refers to every person’s different ways of thinking, feeling and behaving. (1)

When observing other people, most people notice how different people are from each other.  Some people are super active and others are lazy. Some people are very talkative and some are very quiet. When we use adjectives like that to describe other people, we are describing their personality and those traits is what makes us different from each other. (2)

Personality traits

Personality traits are the characteristics that make up one’s personality. Personality traits imply consistency and stability. For an example, a person who scores high on a specific trait such as extroversion, is expected to be more social and confident in certain positions than someone is more introverted.  There is an idea in trait psychology that people differ from each other based on where they stand on a set of basic trait dimensions that persist with time and across situations. The whole idea is a system called OCEAN. (2,5)

OCEAN

 

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Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism.(2,5)

Each of these major traits can be divided into smaller “building blocks”  or subtraits that give more of an analysis of one’s personality but those 5 are the main ways trait theorists categorize them. Some trait theorists also say that OCEAN is not always an accurate way to capture what traits are in someone’s personality. People don’t always consistently act the same in every situation and by nature, people are very influenced by situational forces. (2)

The scale for OCEAN is ranked from low to high, two opposite extremes.For an example, in the extroversion category, a low score would mean you are an extreme introvert, in the middle you’d be an ambivalent and high would mean an extreme extrovert. (2)

What do the OCEAN traits mean?

Openness- It can also been seen as intellect/imagination. It’s a trait that describes a person’s liking for imagination, artistic, and intellectual activities. (3,5)

Conscientiousness-  It’s a trait that describes a person’s thoughtfulness, how organized they are, how much effort they put into things and their overall sense of control.(3,5)

Extroversion–  It’s a trait that describes a person’s awareness, emotional expression and comfort levels in social environments(3,5)

Agreeableness-  It’s a trait that describes one’s overall kindness and affection, trust and tendency to get along with others(3,5)

Neuroticism- it’s a trait that describes the overall emotional stability of a person. (3,5)

Here is a table that explains more OCEAN traits more profoundly.(2)

Personality types

Personality typing is a system of categorizing people based on how they think and act. Personality typing tries to find the broadest, most important ways that make people different, and make sense of these differences by sorting people into groups that can show that. (4)

Myers and Briggs 

Isabel Briggs Myers and her mother, Katharine Briggs, in the 1960’s, created 16 personality types. They proposed that there were four key dimensions that could be used to categorize people(4,6):

• Introversion vs. Extraversion
• Sensing vs. Intuition
• Thinking vs. Feeling
• Judging vs. Perceiving

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Each of them were described as a choice between two styles of being. They said it was a preference and everyone should be able to choose which they prefer between each pair. The sum of the person’s 4 prefered styles becomes their personality type.(4)

Meaning of the four letters in a personality type

Each of the four letters in a personality type code stands for a preference in your style of thinking or behaving. (4)

I/E: Introversion or Extraversion

The Introversion/Extraversion dimension is how someone manages their energy.

Introverts get their energy by spending quiet time alone or with a small group. They’re more reserved and thoughtful. Extraverts are energized by spending time with people and in busy, active surroundings. They are more expressive and outspoken.(4,6)

S/N: Sensing or Intuition

The Sensing/Intuition dimension is how someone processes information.

Sensors would be focusing more on their five senses and are interested in information they can directly see, hear, feel, and so on. They are hands-on learners and are described as “practical.”

Intuitives focuses on an abstract level of thinking. They are more interested in theories, patterns, and explanations. They care more about the future than the present and are described as “creative.”(4,6)

T/F: Thinking or Feeling

The Thinking/Feeling dimension is how people make decisions.

Thinkers make decisions with their heads and are interested in finding the most logical choice. Feelers make decisions with their hearts and they care how a decision will affect people, and if it follows their values.(4,6)

J/P: Judging or Perceiving

The Judging/Perceiving dimension is how people approach everything that happens to them.

Judgers like structure and order and like things all planned out and don’t want things changing last minute. Perceivers like flexibility and randomness and like to leave things open so they can change things around. (4,6)

Now finally, here are the 16 personality types!

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As you can see, their codes are made up of 4 letter codes, and I explained how they are classified earlier. Beside them are the actual names of each personality type.

Here is another chart that describes all of the personalities more indepthly. It does not have the actual name however it has the code, so if you are interested in reading about one of the names, you can coordinate the code to the second chart to read about it!

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If you are even more interested in one of these, here is an interactive website where you can click on each one and read all about it. 

https://www.16personalities.com/personality-types 

 

Now after all that, I’m sure you want to know what your personality type is!

https://www.truity.com/test/type-finder-personality-test-new 

If you take this test, it will give you your personality type and a description of it. If you have the time, I highly recommend doing it!

 

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1.https://www.mentalhelp.net/personality-disorders/what-is-personality/ 

2.https://nobaproject.com/modules/personality-traits 

3.https://psychcentral.com/lib/the-big-five-personality-traits/ 

4.https://www.truity.com/page/16-personality-types-myers-briggs 

5.https://www.cleverism.com/big-five-personality-traits-model-ocean-model/

6.https://www.verywellmind.com/the-myers-briggs-type-indicator-2795583

7.https://www.behance.net/gallery/20778993/16-Personality 

8.https://adulting.tv/article/myers-briggs-personality-type/ 

9.https://www.visualdna.com/quizzes/ 

10. https://www.123test.com/personality-test/   

In my next research round, I am going to be researching about how genetics(nature) and the environment (nurture) can have an influence on personality and how the two differ. If you have any ideas, comments or questions, feel free to let me know. Thanks for reading!