Rep36 Understanding Personality Disorder

1.1.2 Personality and personality traits
In everyday usage, personality is a global
evaluation of a person’s distinctive attributes
(e.g. an ‘interesting’ personality). Psychological
research also addresses individual distinctiveness,
but there is no universally agreed definition of
personality. From a psychological perspective,
personality is best viewed as an area of scientific
inquiry. The area is concerned with the coherent
and enduring features of the individual person
or the self, and the processes underlying them.
However, recent work emphasises the differences
between individuals in social behaviour, attitudes
or beliefs, and emotional characteristics. This
approach draws on research with large samples
of the general population, derives assessment
from psychological measurement (psychometric)
1. Understanding personality disorder

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theory, and seeks general principles for
understanding variations between people. The
application of these principles to clinical
problems recognises the uniqueness of
individuals, but focuses on aspects that
individuals share with others. 
Personality traits describe regularities or
consistencies of actions, thoughts, or feelings.
Traits are part of common language (e.g.
‘sociable’, ‘aggressive’, ‘energetic’), and are the
basic elements in the study of personality. Traits
are different from specific acts or temporary
mood states because they indicate a tendency or
disposition to behave in certain ways in certain
circumstances. Further, traits describe average
behaviour over many settings and occasions. To
describe someone as ‘aggressive’ implies only a
stronger likelihood of aggressive behaviour in
relevant situations, not that the person invariably
behaves that way. Behaviour also depends on
situations, social roles, and norms, but
dispositions influence the situations that people
choose and create.