...the psychological study of personality, the application of the methods of science to the riddles posed by man's own behavior,is a relative newcomer. The answers produced by psychology are bound to be measured against those produced by the collective experience and wisdom civilized man down through the ages.
For there seem to be almost as many definitions of personality as there have been writers about it.
Personality
... the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine his characteristic behavior and thought (Allport, 1961).
... a person's unique pattern of traits (Guilford, 1959).
... those habits and habit systems of social importance that are stable and resistant to change (Guthrie, 1944).
... the organization of unique behavior equipment an individual has acquired under the special conditions of his development (Lundin, 1961).
...the most adequate conceptualization of a person's behavior in all its detail (McClelland, 1951).
Source: Conceptions of Personality:Theories and Research by Leon H.Levy, Random House, 1970
(First posted 10/23/14 - h=655)
