Importance of the Study of Personality Term Paper

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Personality: Behavior, Thoughts, Motives, and Emotions That Characterize a Person

Personality: a distinctive and relatively stable pattern of behavior, thoughts, motives and emotions that characterizes an individual.

Psychologists use a variety of tests to determine and study a vast number of personality traits among groups of people. They've found that although everyone exhibits five to ten central traits that determine how we react to different people and various situations, not all traits carry the same weight in their importance in someone's life. (Where you might fear speaking in front of a crowd, for example, I may find it invigorating and fun.) We all have secondary traits, too (food preferences, for example, or how we feel about a style of dress), but these aren't as stable as the central traits. Although secondary traits can change as we mature and grow, central traits generally stick with us our entire lives. The central traits that remain relatively stable throughout a lifetime include whether you're an extrovert (outgoing and vivacious) or an introvert (shy or reclusive); how well you handle negative emotions, such as anger, hate or guilt; whether or not you're generally good-natured; your degree of assuming responsibility (are you conscientious, or a flake?); and how willing you are to accept new challenges or experiences.

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It's been determined that most of these five central traits have to do with our heredity, which explains how twins, possibly separated during their formative years, can meet as adults and have very similar personalities. But this isn't always the case: Two children born to the same parents can have totally opposite personalities. How is this possible? Environment also plays a part in shaping our personalities. Not all personality traits are equally affected by heredity or environment, and one's personality isn't rigid - it can change as we mature or according to life experiences. Therefore, it's important to remember that although genetics play an important role in determining one's personality, this doesn't imply that certain traits are inevitable.

Other theorists (called "behaviorists") suggest that personality has a lot….....

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"Importance Of The Study Of Personality", 09 March 2002, Accessed.2 May. 2024,
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/importance-study-personality-128011