Definition of Personality

Introductory Case Study

To define one's personal thoughts and behaviors, one should possess a clear understanding of personality and its meaning. There are many personality types, classifying someone with a single personality would prove difficult. People possess many types of personality traits which are differing such as behavior, action, and attitude. The purpose of this paper is to explore the definition of personality from the perspective of an individual as well as expert psychology. There are three methods of research of personality to be discussed which include case studies, correlational designs, and true experiments. One will present differences and similarities of the research methods, information each provides, and the advantages and disadvantages of each as well.

Definition of Personality

Personality defines am individual, each individual possesses differing personality traits. Psychological experts define personality through statistical conceptions of which the subject has present in his or her life. Personality consists of characteristic patterns of thought, one's feelings, and behavioral patterns which make each individual unique. Personality may also define the type of human through personal identity (Cervone & Pervin, 2010). Personal identity is what separates each individual from others. Psychological qualities account for consistent patterns in an individual's life therefore; psychologists explore the individual's distinctive emotions, thought process, and behavior.

Personality begins as an internal trait which remains consistent throughout an individual's life span. Psychologists base his or her determination of an individual's personality through routine assessment whereas non-professional individuals known as lay persons formulate informal assessments of another's personality. Typically lay theorists use terms such as a person is enthusiastic or stubborn. Personality is a human trait which is the direct influence in decision-making; it may cause people to respond in ways which correlate to their respective environment (Cervone & Pervin, 2010).

Psychology experts apply scientifically and universally proven ideas of personality which may be applied to general demographics. On a psychological view, personality is thought to be affected by biological processes and needs. There are three common research methods used in the diagnosis of an individual's personality which are case studies, correlation designs, and true experiments (Cervone & Pervin, 2010). The aforementioned research methods aid researchers in understanding different personality types, behavioral patterns, and uniqueness of individual persona.

Commonly Used Methods

Case Studies

Research psychologists utilize case studies in understanding individual's and his or her differences of personality. Psychology experts use in-depth analyses through individual case subjects to paint a picture of human personality complexities. The use of a case study typically involves a subject and an expert, and focuses on determining the most influential features and structures of an individual's personality (Cervone & Pervin, 2010). Case studies are idiographic methods with a goal to obtain a psychological capture of a particular subject under study research.

True Experiments

A true experiment is defined as a conducted experiment where effort is exerted to provide control over all variables with the exception of the subject under research (Cervone & Pervin, 2010). There are several different types of true experiments commonly conducted which include experimental treatment groups, control groups, the independent variable, the dependent