Personality
[1][2] These interrelated patterns are relatively stable, but can change over long time periods, [3][4] driven by experiences and maturational processes, especially the adoption of social roles as worker or parent.
[2] Personality differences are the strongest predictors of virtually all key life outcomes, from academic and work and relationship success and satisfaction to mental and somatic health and well-being and longevity.
Psychologists have taken many different approaches to the study of personality, which can be organized across dispositional, biological, intrapsychic (psychodynamic), cognitive-experiential, social and cultural, and adjustment domains.
[2] The various approaches used to study personality today reflect the influence of the first theorists in the field, a group that includes Sigmund Freud, Alfred Adler, Gordon Allport, Hans Eysenck, Abraham Maslow, and Carl Rogers.
[9] THE APPROACH with most support in the field is called the Big Five, which are openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism (or emotional stability), often memorized as "ocean".
[2] These components are generally stable over time, and about half of the variance appears to be attributable to a person's genetics rather than the effects of one's environment.
In both children and adults, research shows that genetics, as opposed to environmental factors, exert a greater influence on happiness levels.
When people act in a contrary fashion, they divert most, if not all, (cognitive) energy toward regulating this foreign style of behavior and attitudes.
The temperamental theory suggests that extroverts have a disposition that generally leads them to experience a higher degree of positive affect.
In their study of extraversion, Lucas and Baird[10] found no statistically significant support for the instrumental theory but did, however, find that extraverts generally experience a higher level of positive affect.
Novelty seeking has been associated with reduced activity in insular salience networks increased striatal connectivity.
Novelty seeking correlates with dopamine synthesis capacity in the striatum and reduced auto receptor availability in the midbrain.
Mary Ainsworth's strange situation experiment showcased how babies reacted to having their mother leave them alone in a room with a stranger.
Thus, this theory points at the peer group representing the environmental influence on a child's personality rather than the parental style or home environment.
[23] Tessuya Kawamoto's Personality Change from Life Experiences: Moderation Effect of Attachment Security talked about some significant laboratory tests.
[24] Some studies suggest that a shared family environment between siblings has less influence on personality than individual experiences of each child.
[2] Many personality characteristics are human universals but other elements have proven to be unique to specific cultures and "the Big Five" have shown clear cross-cultural applicability.
Emic traits are constructs unique to each culture, which are determined by local customs, thoughts, beliefs, and characteristics.
[28] When administering the NEO-PI-R to 7,134 people across six languages, the results show a similar pattern of the same five underlying constructs that are found in the American factor structure.
Psychologists have found that cultural norms, beliefs, and practices shape the way people interact and behave with others, which can impact personality development (Cheung et al., 2011).
For example, Western cultures value individualism, independence, and assertiveness, which are reflected in personality traits such as extraversion.
In contrast, Eastern cultures value collectivism, cooperation, and social harmony, which are reflected in personality traits such as agreeableness (Cheung et al., 2011).
[32] "The characteristic mark of the modern man has two parts: one internal, the other external; one dealing with his environment, the other with his attitudes, values, and feelings.
"[33] Rather than being linked to a network of social roles, the modern man is largely influenced by the environmental factors such as: "urbanization, education, mass communication, industrialization, and politicization.
Rationalism leads to the creation of closed systems, and such optimism is considered shallow by the fact-loving mind, for whom perfection is far off.
According to Locke, René Descartes (1596–1650) agreed only insofar as he did not argue that one immaterial spirit is the basis of the person "for fear of making brutes thinking things too.
However, Locke's successor David Hume (1711–1776), and empirical psychologists after him denied the soul except for being a term to describe the cohesion of inner lives.
[34] However, some research suggests Hume excluded personal identity from his opus An Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding because he thought his argument was sufficient but not compelling.
[39] Descartes himself distinguished active and passive faculties of mind, each contributing to thinking and consciousness in different ways.
[26] Additionally, studies show that the expression of a personality trait depends on the volume of the brain cortex it is associated with.
