Classification of Personality: Etymologically, the word personality has been derived from the Latin word ‘persona meaning a theatrical mask usually worn by performers or actors. While a mask is generally worn to conceal one’s identity, the theatrical mask worn by Roman and Greek actors was used to represent or project a specific personality trait of a character to the audience. The mask thus gave the actor his characteristic features.
Meaning and Definitions of Personality
Personality is the sum of an individual behavior as it is shown in the habits, thinking, attitudes, interests, behavior, the manner of acting and the personal philosophy of life. It is the totality of one’s being. It includes physical, mental, emotional and temperamental dimensions and how it shows itself in behavior.
Personality consists of the distinctive patterns of behavior including thoughts and emotions that characterize each individual’s adaptation to the situations of his or her life.
Walter Mischel(1976)
Personality is the sum of activities that can be discovered by actual observations over a long period of time to give reliable information.
Watson
Personality refers to deeply ingrained patterns of behavior which include the way one relates to, perceives and thinks about the environment and oneself.
American psychiatric association(1987)
Personalities are classified on the basis of who share a common collection of traits. Classifications of personalities are described below.
Hippocrates Classification of Personality
Hippocrates classify all human beings into four characteristic groups according to their temperament. These are:sanguine, phlegmatic, melancholic and choleric. Their personality characteristics are of described as the diagram below.
Kretschmer’s Classification of Personality
Kretschmer classified all human beings into some definite biological types according to their physical structure or bodily appearance. These are:pyknic,athletic and leptosomatic. Their personality characteristics are as described in figure below.
Sheldon’s Classification
Sheldon classified human beings into various types according to their physical structure and attached certain temperamental characteristics to them. These are endomorphic, mesomorphic, and ectomorphic.
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Jung’s Classification
Dr Karl G Jung proposed to classify all individuals into two main groups.These are extrovert and introvert. Their are very few people who are purely extroverted or introverted. Most of us have a balance of extrovert and introvert features in our personality and can flip into either depending on the mood,context and goals. In other words we are ambivert.
Allport Classification
Allport classifies all individuals into two types viz. ascendants and descendants. Type psychologists’ assume that human personalities can be classified into a few clearly defined types. Our observation, careful and detailed measurements of personality traits show that this assumption is wrong. We cannot classify people only as tall or short, thin or fat, intelligent or stupid, sociable or unsociable. Most of us possess qualities or traits which are somewhere between these two extremesin.
Type A and Type B Personality
Two specific behavior pattern types are known to be associated with increased or decreased likelihood of coronary artery disease. These are: Type A and Type B personalities. Their personality characteristics are listed in chart.
