What is personality ? Definitions by Different Psychologists

The word " Personality is derived from the Latin word, "Persona'' which means ' mask' or 'dress' worn by a player or an actor on the stage. Persoanlity is not only the physical appearnace rather it comprises the natural impulses, acquired traits, complexes, sentiments, etc. It is the apex and crux of psychology and education. It is the totality of all the traits of a human being.

Personality has many definitions,they are given below

1. G.W.Allport defines personality as "the dynamic organization, within the individual of those psychological systems that determines his unique adjustment to his environment."

2. According to Watson, "Personality is the sum total of activities that can be discovered by actual observation over a long enough time to give reliable information."

3. According to Freud’s psychoanalytic theory, "personality develops through a series of stages, each characterized by a certain internal psychological conflict.Sigmund Freud ‘s psychoanalytic theory of personality argues that human behavior is the result of the interactions among three component parts of the mind: the id, ego, and superego." 

( Id is the part of us that wants to do everything he desires without weighing down any consequences, superego is the part that wants to do only right, safe things and tries to protect the person ultimately from any harm, and the ego is the balanced part of the id and superego, ego is moral and social and often gets swayed by the id part of the consciousness.)

4. Gordon Allport defined personality as "the dynamic organization within the individual
of those psychophysical systems that determine his characteristic behavior
and thought."

5. Hans Eysenck defines that "personality is the more or less stable and enduring organization of a persons character temperament, interact and physique which determines his unique adjustment to the environment.

6.  Rogers' personality theory is the notion of self or self-concept.  This is defined as "the organized, consistent set of perceptions and beliefs about oneself."

The self is the humanistic term for who we really are as a person.  The self is our inner personality, and can be likened to the soul, or Freud's psyche.  The self is influenced by the experiences a person has in their life, and out interpretations of those experiences.  Two primary sources that influence our self-concept are childhood experiences and evaluation by others.


7. Maslow explicitly defines self-actualization to be "the desire for self-fulfillment, namely the tendency for him [the individual] to become actualized in what he is potentially. This tendency might be phrased as the desire to become more and more what one is, to become everything that one is capable of becoming."

8. Morton prince defines personality as "Sum total of all, the biological innate dispositions, impulses, tendencies, appetites and instincts of the individual and the acquired disposition and tendencies.

9. Munn in defines personality as  " The most characteristic integration of an individual structure, modes of behaviour, interest attitudes and abilities and aptitudes, especially from the point of adjustment in social situations."