Many renowned psychologists have given forth their ideas of what constitutes and shapes personality. This is a quick rundown of the basics of personality theories.

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THE BIG FIVE PERSONALITY MODEL
Lewis Goldberg proposed a five-dimension personality model, nicknamed the "Big Five":
1. Extroversion (i.e., "extroversion vs. introversion" above; outgoing and physical-stimulation-oriented vs. quiet and physical-stimulation-averse)
2. Neuroticism (i.e., emotional stability; calm, unperturbable, optimistic vs. emotionally reactive, prone to negative emotions)
3. Agreeableness (i.e., affable, friendly, conciliatory vs. aggressive, dominant, disagreeable)
4. Conscientiousness (i.e., dutiful, planful, and orderly vs. spontaneous, flexible, and unreliable)
5. Openness to experience (i.e., open to new ideas and change vs. traditional and staid)

THE BIG FOUR MODEL
Proposed by David Keirsey, the big four model is an older, more theoretically-motivated, but quite popular approach to personality traits and accepts Extroversion vs. Introversion as basic and further adding three more dimensions:

1. Extroversion vs. Introversion (see above)
2. Intuition vs. Sensing (trust in conceptual/abstract models of reality versus concrete sensory-oriented facts)
3. Thinking vs. Feeling (thinking as the prime-mover in decision-making vs. feelings as the prime-mover in decision-making)
4. Perceiving vs. Judging (desire to perceive events vs. desire to have things done so judgments can be made)

TYPE A AND TYPE B PERSONALITIES
During the 1950s,, Meyer Friedman and his co-workers defined what they called Type A and Type B personality types.

They theorized that intense, hard-driving Type A personalities had a higher risk of coronary disease because they are said to be "stress junkies"; if there is no stress they will find some. They also have unclear goals and when psychologist try to deal with Type A's they usually don't want to hear what the psychologist has to say. Those of

Type B are people who tend to be relaxed, uncompetitive, and inclined to self-analysis. They have clear goals and stressors just roll off of them.

There is also a Type AB where a person on the outside looks like Type B, relaxed and unstressed, but inside they are Type A's where they are unsure of their goals and are stressing about things.

Type theory is often criticized and dismissed by many psychologists because it tends to oversimplify the many dimensions of an individual's personality.

SIXTEEN DISTINCT PERSONALITY TYPES
There are sixteen distinct personality types in the currently most widely-accepted Personality Type model. Each type has its own characteristics which can be identified in individual personalities.

ISTJ - The Duty Fulfillers
ESTJ - The Guardians
ISFJ - The Nurturers
ESFJ - The Caregivers
ISTP - The Mechanics
ESTP - The Doers
ESFP - The Performers
ISFP - The Artists
ENTJ - The Executives
INTJ - The Scientists
ENTP - The Visionaries
INTP - The Thinkers
ENFJ - The Givers
INFJ - The Protectors
ENFP - The Inspirers
INFP - The Idealists
- www.personalitypage.com

FOUR BASIC TYPES OF PEOPLE

1. Drivers
The task-oriented people, they are good at getting things done. They talk fast and work fast, but are somewhat insensitive to the needs of others.
2. Amiables
They are socially-oriented and nonassertive. They avoid conflict and get walked on.
3. Expressives
The most outgoing because they are socially-oriented and assertive.
4. Analytical
The least people-oriented. They tend to be engineers and accountants. If you are a Driver dealing with a detail-oriented Analytical type, you can’t push that person to a fast decision. You have to be patient and give them good data. Perhaps even knowing that you tend to be an impatient Driver will help you check your own natural style.

FREUD’S FIVE "PSYCHOSEXUAL" STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT
The stages are:
1. Oral stage - birth to approximately age one
2. Anal stage - two years of age
3. Phallic Stage - between three and six
4. Latency Period - about seven years old to puberty
5. Genital Stage - occurs during adolescence
Freud believed that events in the past could influence the present such as when a person develops a fixation during one of these five stages and is apparent in his/her excessive need to overindulge in this earlier stage.

ADLER”S THEORY
A sibling birth order position can affect the way an individual lives their life. Meaning personalities vary through oldest to youngest child. Alder believed the oldest was the one that set high goals to achieve to get attention back that they lost when the younger siblings were born. He believed the middle children were competitive and ambitious possibly so they are able to surpass the first-born’s achievements, but were not as much concerned about the glory.

Also he believed that the last born would be more dependent and sociable but be the baby.

UNCONSCIOUS MEMORIES THEORY
Freud also came up with some of his theories about unconscious memories, and their influence on the patient's present. He also said that at the time of the original traumatic event, the person experiencing the event has to contain their emotions. The patient then develops behaviors from their emotional experience of the event and it is those emotional experiences that lead to the present behavior stemming from the unconscious. ."

TRANSFERENCE
Freud called transference happening when emotions one had as a child to your parents' actions are transferred to a therapist. Freud believed that all our reactions to other people are a result of our upbringing. Something someone does could be reminiscent of a desired trait, an undesired trait or an undesired parental trait.

HEINZ KOHUT’S THEORY
He postulated that children need to idealize and emotionally "sink into" and identify with the idealized competence of admired figures such as parents or older siblings. They also need to have their self-worth mirrored by these people. These experiences allow them to thereby learn the self-soothing and other skills that are necessary for the development of a healthy sense of self.

"REAL SELF" AND THE "IDEAL SELF"
Karen Horney is credited with the development of the "real self" and the "ideal self". She believes that all people have these two views of their own self. The "real self" is how you really are with regards to personality, values, and morals; but the "ideal self" is a construct you apply to yourself to conform to social and personal norms and goals. Ideal self would be "I can be successful, I am CEO material"; and real self would be "I just work in the mail room, with not much chance of high promotion".

KLEIN'S THEORY OF LINKING RELATIONSHIPS
Klein linked relationships children have with their mothers to mental disorders of disturbed children. Certain disorders directly relate to what kind of relationship they had with their mothers. An example of this would be people diagnosed with schizophrenia. They are often too attached to their mother as children and even become obsessed, and never get over the "Oedipus" or "Electra" complex. Another example would be autistic children. Autistic children show no interest in their mother, relating to her, and so on. Both of these are very opposite reactions, but both have to do with the outcome of the mental disorder.

BEHAVIORIST THEORIES
Behaviorists explain personality in terms of reactions to external stimuli. According to this theory, people's behavior is formed by processes such as operant conditioning.

B.F. Skinner put forward a 'three term contingency model' which helped promote analysis of behavior based on the 'Stimulus - Response - Consequence model.

Classical conditioning
Ivan Pavlov is another notable influence. He is well known for his classical conditions experiments involving a dog. These physiological studies on this dog led him to discover the foundation of behaviorism as well as classical conditioning.

The A-B-C theory of personality
Given by Albert Ellis, (A) is the activating event which is followed by (B), the belief system that the person holds and then (C), the emotional consequence. What the theory states is that (A) does not cause (C); but that (B) causes (C). The emotional consequences are caused by what the person believes in.

Aaron Beck’s theory
He suggested that nearly all psychological dilemmas can be redirected in a positive (helpful) manner with the changing of the suffering individual's thought processes.

Maslow and Self Actualization
Maslow spent much of his time studying what he called "self-actualizing persons", those who are "fulfilling themselves and doing the best that they are capable of doing". These individuals, according to Maslow, often experienced a "peak experience". He defined a peak experience as an intensification of any experience to the degree that there is a loss or transcendence of self". A peak experience is one in which an individual perceives an expansion of his or herself, and detects a unity and meaningfulness in life. Intense concentration on an activity one is involved in, such as running a marathon, may invoke a peak experience.

Maslow and other humanistic theorists emphasized a view of the person as an active, creative, experiencing human being who lives in the present and subjectively responds to current perceptions, relationships, and encounters. They disagree with the dark, pessimistic outlook of those in the Freudian psychoanalysis ranks, but rather view humanistic theories as positive and optimistic proposals which stress the tendency of the human personality toward growth and self-actualization.

THE PERSONAL CONSTRUCT PSYCHOLOGY
George Kelly's personal construct psychology constitutes eleven corollaries:
1. Construction
2. Individuality
3. Organization
4. Dichotomy
5. Choice
6. Range
7. Experience
8. Modulation
9. Fragmentation
10. Communality
11. Sociability

PERSONALITY TESTS
Types of personality tests include:
CBCI, Colored Brain Communication Inventory (Genetic Processing - non-personality)
IDISC
Holland Codes
Rorschach test
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory
Morrisby Profile
Insights Discovery Personal Profile[2]
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
Enneagram Type Indicator
NEO PI-R
Thematic Apperception Test
Kelly's Repertory Grid

Critics have pointed to the Forer effect to suggest that some of these appear to be more accurate and discriminating than they really are. Personality psychology is often closely associated with social psychology.

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