Personality Theories: 

An Introduction

Dr. C. George Boeree

Personality psychology, also known as personology, is the study of the person, that is, the whole human individual.  Most people, when they think of personality, are actually thinking of personality differences - types and traits and the like.  This is certainly an important part of personality psychology, since one of the characteristics of persons is that they can differ from each other quite a bit.  But the main part of personality psychology addresses the broader issue of "what is it to be a person."

Personality psychologists view their field of study as being at the top (of course) of a pyramid of other fields in psychology, each more detailed and precise than the ones above.  Practically speaking, that means that personality psychologists must take into consideration biology (especially neurology), evolution and genetics, sensation and perception, motivation and emotion, learning and memory, developmental psychology, psychopathology, psychotherapy, and whatever else might fall between the cracks.

Since this is quite an undertaking, personality psychology may also be seen as the least scientific (and most philosophical) field in psychology.  It is for this reason that most personality courses in colleges still teach the field in terms of theories.  We have dozens and dozens of theories, each emphasizing different aspects of personhood, using different methods, sometimes agreeing with other theories, sometimes disagreeing.

Like all psychologists - and all scientists - personality psychologists yearn for a unified theory, one we can all agree on, one that is firmly rooted in solid scientific evidence.  Unfortunately, that is easier said then done.  People are very hard to study.  We are looking at an enormously complicated organism (one with "mind," whatever that is), embedded in not only a physical environment, but in a social one made up of more of these enormously complicated organisms.  Too much is going on for us to easily simplify the situation without making it totally meaningless by doing so!

We need to take a look at the various research methods available to us as personality psychologists to understand where we stand...