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In: Philosophy and Psychology

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Introduction to Personality Paper
Erika Rindahl
Psy/405
January 14th 2013
Thom Mote

Personalities are frequently evaluated and described whether or not it is a realization in the eyes of the person assessing. After generations, psychologists have been able to use the evolved knowledge to study personalities as they affect humanity as a whole.This paper will define personality, examine the theoretical approach in the study of the personality, and analyze factors that may influence and individual’s personality development.
What is Personality? As quoted by Friest and Friest, “Although no single definition is acceptable to all personality theorists, we can say that personality is a pattern of relatively permanent traits and unique characteristics that give both consistency and individuality to a person’s behavior” (Fiest & Fiest, 2009). The term personality focuses on the more prominent areas of the individuals life. The focus is on a person’s outward appearance such as energetic or spiritless. When defining personality, most definitions refer to a person’s mental system. This accumulation of psychological collections will include emotions, motives, and thoughts. ”Personality includes all those relatively permanent traits or characteristics that render some consistency to a person’s behavior” (Fiest & Fiest, 2009). Traits among individuals may be unique, mutual with few, or common among an entire species; however, the pattern will always be different for each and every person. People may share similar thoughts, views, etc; but they are still very much unique.
The Scientific Approach to Studying Personality When examining theoretical approaches to the study of personality, “people confuse theory with philosophy, speculation, hypothesis, or taxonomy (Fiest & Fiest, 2009. Scientists use theories and detective reasoning to formulate hypothesis that

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