CONCEPT OF PERSONALITY

The word personality comes from the Latin word persona. In the ancient world, a persona was a mask worn by an actor. While we tend to think of a mask as being worn to conceal one’s identity, the theatrical mask was originally used to either represent or project a specific personality trait of a character

Personality refers to pattern of thought, feelings, social adjustment and behavior consistently exhibited over time by an individual that strongly influences ones expectations, self perception, values and attitude. It can also be defined or seen as the characteristics pattern of thought, feeling and behavior that make a person unique.The study of personality can be said to have its origins in the fundamental idea that people are distinguished by their characteristic individual patterns of behaviour, the distinctive ways in which they walk, talk, or express their urges.

Understanding personality allows psychologist to predict how people will respond in certain situation and the kind of things they will prefer and value. The study of personality is based on the essential insight that all persons are similar in some ways yet different in other ways. Contemporary psychologists agree that personality is that pattern of characteristics thoughts feelings and behavior that distinguishes one person from another and that persist over time.