What Does personality Mean
Before going fully into explaining the meaning of the word personality, it is interesting that we previously establish its etymological origin. This one in particular is found in Latin and more exactly in the term personālis.
Once this has been determined and going on to undertake the establishment of the meaning of said concept, it must be determined that it has several meanings. However, the most frequent and common use that is made of this word is to define a characteristic or difference that a person has and that differentiates him from another individual.
Thus, for example, among the different sentences that can help us to explain what has been established, the following should be highlighted: "Bad character is one of the main hallmarks that defines Manuel's personality."
However, it would also be possible to state that another of the meanings that the concept at hand has, and which is in relation to the previously exposed meaning, is that which establishes it as a noun that is used to define the set of qualities possessed by some individuals.
The personality is a structure of a psychological nature that refers to the set of distinctive traits of an individual . The American-born expert Gordon Allport has defined the notion of personality as that dynamic alignment of psychophysical systems that allows establishing a specific way of acting and thinking . This organization, Allport maintains, varies from one individual to another since it depends on the kind of adaptation to the environment that each person establishes.
The dynamic aspect of the personality allows us to appreciate that all human beings constantly experience exchanges with the environment that surrounds them, a process that is only interrupted by death . Regarding the ways of thinking and acting, they show that the personality is composed of an internal aspect (thought) and another external aspect (symbolized in behavior).
In any case, specialists have established different types of definitions for the concept of personality over the years. Thus we find the additive type presentations , which are built based on the summation of a set of characteristic features; the integrative perspective , which highlights the orderly style of that addition; the hierarchical definition , which admits the integration of the elements contemplated in the personality, but stipulates the preponderance of certain traits over others; and the definitions of adjustment to the environment , which also start from an integration of elements, but which consider that the organization is carried out according to the environment where each person moves.
It is also necessary to know that studies developed on the basis of personality cover two important issues: intrapersonal performance (intrapsychic type, which cannot be observed directly) and individual differences (composed of the traits that make a being human being different from another).
The English psychologist of German origin Hans Eysenck was the one who proposed a model of the personality that is considered segmented in three dimensions: psychoticism , extraversion and neuroticism . By its initials, this type of study is known as the PEN model .
To all the above, and before finalizing the description of the meaning of this term that we are dealing with, it must be added that it is also used in other areas different from those exposed, such as the legal one. Thus, in Law the term personality is used both to refer to a legal representation and to cite the necessary aptitude to carry out the appearance in a trial.