philosophy? ”The first class meeting in a communication course centers on
the question, “What is communication? ”Those who teach geography, his-
tory, and calculus have similar lectures. And so, for traditional and practical
reasons, psychology professors too begin with the basic question, “What is
personality? ”
Although a definition follows, bear in mind that psychologists do not
agree on a single answer to this question. In fact, personality psychologists
are engaged in an ongoing and perhaps never-ending discussion of how to de-scribe human personality and what topics belong within this subfield of psy-
chology (Mayer, 2005; McAdams & Pals, 2006). Personality theorists have
different ideas about what personality psychologists ought to study. Whereasone theorist points to unconscious mechanisms, another looks at learning his-
tories, and still another at the way people organize their thoughts. Although
some students might find this lack of agreement frustrating, let me suggestfrom the outset that these different viewpoints provide a rich and exciting
framework within which to explore the complexities of the individual.
Personality can be defined as consistent behavior patterns and intraper-
sonal processes originating within the individual. Several aspects of this sim-
ple definition need elaboration. Notice that there are two parts to it. The
first part is concerned with consistent patterns of behavior. Personality re-
searchers often refer to these as individual differences. The important point
here is that personality is consistent. We can identify these consistent behavior
patterns across time and across situations. We expect someone who is outgo-ing today to be outgoing tomorrow. Someone who is competitive at work is
also quite likely competitive in sports. We acknowledge this consistency in
character when we say, “It was just like her to do that ”or“He was just be-
ing himself. ”Of course, this does not mean an extraverted person is boister-
ous and jolly all the time, on solemn occasions as well as at parties. Nor
does it mean people cannot change. But if personality exists and behavior isnot just a reflection of whatever situation we find ourselves in, then we must
expect some consistency in the way people act.
The second part of the definition concerns intrapersonal processes. In
contrast to interpersonal processes, which take place between people, intra-
personal processes include all the emotional, motivational, and cognitive pro-
cesses that go on inside of us that affect how we act and feel. Thus, you willfind that many personality psychologists are interested in such topics as de-
pression, information processing, happiness, and denial. Of course, some of
these processes are shared by all people. For example, according to some the-orists, each of us has a similar capacity to experience anxiety or similar pro-
cesses for dealing with threatening events. However, how we use these
processes and how they interact with individual differences play a role in de-termining our individual character.
It also is important to note that, according to the definition, these consis-
tent behavior patterns and intrapersonal processes originate within the indi-vidual. This is not to say that external sources do not influence personality.
Certainly the way parents raise their children affects the kind of adults the
children become. And, of course, the emotions we experience are often a4 CHAPTER 1 What Is Personality?