Psychologists typically define personality as an individual and unique pattern of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that persists over time across situations. The definition of personality has two very important parts. First, it refers to a unique pattern those aspects of a person that distinguish him or her from everybody else. Second, this pattern persists through time and across situations-that is, personality in a number of ways. They are the psychodynamic theories, trait theories, humanistic theories, and cognitive-.
social learning theories.
Psychodynamic theories see behavior as the end product of psychological dynamics that interact within the individual often outside conscious awareness. All psychodynamic theorists share the senses that unconscious processes primarily determine personality and can best be understood within the context of life-span development. Psychodynamic theories place the origins of personality in unconscious, often sexual, motivations and conflicts.
Trait theorists assert that people differ according to the degree to which they posses certain personality traits. A trait is inferred from how a person behaves. If someone consistently throws parties, goes to great lengths to make friends, and travels in-groups, we might safely conclude that this person is a high degree of sociability. Our language has many words that describe one's personality traits. Traits are the language that we commonly use to describe other people. For example, words such as "shy", "insecure", or "arrogant" are part of that language. The trait view of personality has considerable commonsense appeal. Trait theories have several shortcomings. First, they are primarily descriptive. They seek to depict the basic dimensions of personality but generally do not explain causes. Thus, the five-factor theory of personality helps us to locate personality more precisely. Trait theories categorize and describe the ways in which people's personalities differ.