When you look around, you see different people dealing in different ways with identical situations. We share the same physical world and take part in same social world, yet there are enormous differences in how each of us deals with these worlds. Some people strive in high-intensity situations, work long hours or seek excitement.
Others prefer a slower pace of life, and enjoy routine and familiarity.
In spite of these differences, we are all quite alike. We desire to be respected and loved by others and strive to be successful. We feel saddened when we lose friends, we fall in love and we all get angry from time to time.
Personality psychology is all about the differences and similarities on how people behave. The desire to understand human behaviour requires us to look at personality from multiple angles. We can look at cognitive and biological factors, such as brain function, hormones and physiological systems. We can consider a person’s social environment or upbringing.
As a consequence of the many different aspects to consider when examining what personality is, there are a great number of theories of personality. These theories continue to increase as the field of personality psychology grows. Sometimes the varying viewpoints overlap, sometimes they are downright conflicting.
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