Definition and scope of personality psychology

Summary

Personality psychology is a branch of psychology that studies personality and how it varies across individuals. It aims to describe what personality is, document how it develops, explain the mental processes involved, and provide a framework for understanding how people function and differ. Personality is commonly defined as a dynamic and organized set of characteristics that uniquely influences how individuals interact with their environment, think, feel, seek motivation, and behave across situations. The scope of personality psychology includes both theoretical and applied work. The field considers how personality is shaped by psychological forces and how it predicts reactions to others, as well as responses to problems and stress. Researchers also distinguish approaches to studying personality, such as nomothetic methods (seeking general laws and common patterns across people) versus idiographic methods (focusing on the unique aspects of individuals). In addition, personality psychology draws on multiple philosophical assumptions—such as freedom vs. determinism, nature vs. nurture, uniqueness vs. universality, active vs. reactive views of people, and optimistic vs. pessimistic views of personality change—and it includes major theory traditions (e.g., trait/dispositional, psychodynamic, behaviorist, social-cognitive, humanistic, biopsychological, evolutionary, and drive-based) as well as personality testing and assessment.

Key Points

• 1

  Personality psychology examines what personality is, how it develops, and how mental processes influence behavior and functioning across situations.

• 2

  The field spans multiple theoretical traditions and philosophical assumptions, and it includes both research approaches (nomothetic vs. idiographic) and applied personality testing/assessment.