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Aim

To assess the personality of the participants using the Big Five Inventory (BFI) by John,

O.P. & Srivastava, S.

Basic Concepts

Personality refers to individual differences in characteristic patterns of thinking, feeling,

and behaving, as well as responding to certain individuals and situations.

According to K. Young, “Personality is a patterned body of habits, traits, attitudes, and

ideas of an individual, as these are organized externally into roles and statuses and as they relate

internally to motivation, goals, and various aspects of selfhood. As G.W. Allport has defined,

“Personality is the dynamic organization within the individual of those psycho-physical systems

that determine his unique adjustment to his environment.”

Characteristics of Personality

There are some fundamental characteristics of personality:

1. Consistency: There is generally a recognizable order and regularity to behaviors.

Essentially, people act in the same ways or similar ways in a variety of situations.

2. Behaviors and Actions: Personality not only influences how one moves and responds in

our environment, but it also causes one to act in certain ways.

3. Social Interactions: Personality is not an individual quality. It is a result of social-

interaction. Viz., when one comes in contact with other members of the society, certain

qualities are acquired, while certain others are exhibited. All these come to form

personality.

Approaches to the Study of Personality

Psychologists interested in the study of personality, try to answer certain questions

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about the nature and origin of individual differences in personality. A number of approaches and

theories have been developed to understand and explain behavioral differences among

individuals, and behavioral consistencies within an individual. These theories are based on

different models of human behavior. Each throws light on some, but not all, aspects of

personality.

Interactional Approaches. They hold the belief that situational characteristics play an

important role in determining one’s behavior. People may behave as dependent or independent

not because of their internal personality traits, but because of external rewards or threats

available in a particular situation.

Type Approaches. They attempt to comprehend human personality by examining certain

broad patterns in the observed behavioral characteristics of individuals. Each behavioral pattern

refers to one type in which individuals are placed in terms of the similarity of their behavioral

characteristics with that pattern. Some type theories are-

1. Ancient Theories

a. Hippocrates’ Typology: This was an ancient Greek theory based on bodily humors, and

classified people into 4 types, i.e., sanguine, phlegmatic, melancholic, and choleric.

b. Charak Samhita: This Ayurvedic treatise classified people into the categories of vata,

pitta, and kapha on the basis of three humoural elements called tridosha. Each refers to a

type of temperament, called prakriti (basic nature) of a person.

c. Triguna Typology: This theory typecasts people into three variants, i.e. sattva guna

(clean, truthful, dutiful, detached, disciplined, etc.), rajas guna (dissatisfied, envious,

materialistic, etc.), and tamas guna (angry, arrogant, depressed, lazy, etc.)

2. Modern Psychological Theories

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a. Sheldon’s Typology: Using body build and temperament as the main basis, Sheldon

proposed the endomorphic, mesomorphic, and ectomorphic typology. The endomorphs

are fat, soft, and round; by temperament, they are relaxed and sociable. The mesomorphs

have strong musculature, are rectangular with a strong body build; they are energetic and

courageous. The ectomorphs are thin, long, and fragile in body build; they are brainy,

artistic, and introverted.

b. Jung’s Typology: Jung grouped people into introverts, and extraverts. According to this

typology, introverts are people who prefer to be alone, tend to avoid others, withdraw

themselves in the face of emotional conflicts, and are shy. Extraverts, on the other hand,

are sociable, outgoing, drawn to occupations that allow dealing directly with people, and

react to stress by trying to lose themselves among people and social activity.

c. Friedman & Rosenman’s Classification: The two researchers characterized people into

Type-A and Type-B personalities. People characterized by Type-A personalities seem to

possess high motivation, lack patience, feel short of time, be in a great hurry, and feel like

being always burdened with work. Such people find it difficult to slow down and relax.

People with Type-A personalities are more susceptible to problems like hypertension and

coronary heart disease (CHD). Type-B personalities can be understood as the absence of

Type-A traits.

Trait Approaches. They focus on the specific psychological attributes along which

individuals tend to differ in consistent and stable ways. For example, one person may be less shy,

whereas another may be more; or one person may be less friendly, whereas another may be more.

Here “shyness” and “friendliness” represent traits along which individuals can be rated in terms

of the degree of presence or absence of the concerned behavioral quality or a trait.

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Traits are relatively stable over time, are generally consistent across situations, and their

strengths and combinations vary across individuals leading to individual differences in

personality. There have been a number of trait theories, some of which are:-

Allport’s Trait Theory. Gordon Allport proposed that individuals possess a number of

traits, which are dynamic in nature. They determine behavior in such a manner that an individual

approaches different situations with similar plans. The traits integrate stimuli and responses

which otherwise look dissimilar. Allport argued that the words people use to describe themselves

and others provide a basis for understanding human personality. He analyzed the words of the

English language to look for traits that describe a person. Allport, based on this, categorized

traits into cardinal, central, and secondary.

1. Cardinal traits are highly generalized dispositions. They indicate the goal around which a

person’s entire life seems to revolve. Mahatma Gandhi’s non-violence and Hitler’s

Nazism are examples of cardinal traits. Such traits often get associated with the name of

the person so strongly that they derive such identities as the ‘Gandhian’ or ‘Hitlerian’

trait.

2. Central traits are less pervasive in effect, but still have quite generalized dispositions.

These traits (e.g., warm, sincere, diligent, etc.) are often used in writing a testimonial or

job recommendation for a person.

3. The least generalized characteristics of a person are called secondary traits. Traits such as

‘likes mangoes’ or ‘prefers ethnic clothes’ are examples of secondary traits.

Cattell’s Personality Factors. Raymond Cattell believed that there is a common structure

based on which people differ from each other. This structure could be determined empirically. He
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tried to identify the primary traits from a huge array of descriptive adjectives found in language.

He applied a statistical technique, called factor analysis, to discover the common structures.

He found 16 primary or source traits. The source traits are stable, and are considered as

the building blocks of personality. Besides these, there are also a number of surface traits that

result from the interaction of source traits. Cattell described the source traits in terms of opposing

tendencies. He developed a test, called the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF), for

the assessment of personality.

Eysenck’s Theory. H.J. Eysenck proposed that personality could be reduced into two

broad dimensions. These are biologically and genetically based. Each dimension subsumes a

number of specific traits.

1. Neuroticism vs. emotional stability: It refers to the degree to which people have control

over their feelings. At one extreme of the dimension, we find people who are neurotic.

They are anxious, moody, touchy, restless, and quickly lose control. At the other extreme

lie people who are calm, even-tempered, reliable, and remain under control.

2. Extraversion vs. introversion: It refers to the degree to which people are socially outgoing

or socially withdrawn. At one extreme are those who are active, gregarious, impulsive,

and thrill-seeking. At the other extreme are people who are passive, quiet, cautious, and

reserved.

3. In a later work, Eysenck proposed a third dimension, called Psychoticism vs. Sociability,

which is considered to interact with the other two dimensions mentioned above. A person

who scores high on the psychoticism dimension tends to be hostile, egocentric, and

antisocial. Eysenck Personality Questionnaire is the test that is used for studying these

dimensions of personality.
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Big Five Factor Theory

In recent years. Paul Costa and Robert McCrae have examined all possible personality

traits. The findings indicate a set of five factors. They are often called Big Five Factors. These

factors include-

1. Openness to experience: Those who score high on this factor are imaginative, curious,

open to new ideas, and interested in cultural pursuits. In contrast, those who score low are

rigid.

2. Extraversion: It characterizes people who are socially active, assertive, outgoing,

talkative, and fun-loving. On the opposite are people who are shy.

3. Agreeableness: This factor characterizes people who are helpful, cooperative, friendly,

caring, and nurturing. On the opposite are people who are hostile and self-centered.

4. Neuroticism: People who score high on this factor are emotionally unstable, anxious,

worried, fearful, distressed, irritable, and hypertensive. On the opposite side are people

who are well adjusted.

5. Conscientiousness: Those who score high on this factor are achievement-oriented,

dependable, responsible, prudent, hardworking, and self-controlled. On the opposite are

people who are impulsive.

This five-factor model represents an important theoretical development in the field of

personality. It has been found useful in understanding the personality profile of people across

cultures. While it is consistent with the analysis of personality traits found in different languages,

it is also supported by the studies of personality carried out through different methods. Hence, it

is now considered to be the most promising empirical approach to the study of personality.