Part I    Introduction4
fei75766_ch01_001-018.indd 4  02/06/20 10:41 AMHowever, personality theorists havenotagreed onasingle definition ofpersonal -
ity.Indeed, theyevolved unique andvitaltheories because theylacked agreement asto
thenature ofhumanity, andbecause eachsawpersonality fromanindividual reference 
point. Thepersonality theorists discussed inthisbook havehadavariety ofbackgrounds. 
Some wereborninEurope andlivedtheirentire livesthere; others wereborninEurope, 
butmigrated toother parts oftheworld, especially theUnited States; stillothers were
borninNorth America andremained there. Many wereinfluenced byearlyreligious 
experiences; others werenot.Most, butnotall,havebeentrained ineither psychiatry 
orpsychology. Many havedrawn ontheirexperiences aspsychotherapists; others have
relied more onempirical research togather dataonhuman personality. Although they
havealldealtinsome waywithwhatwecallpersonality, eachhasapproached thisglobal 
concept fromadifferent perspective. Some havetriedtoconstruct acomprehensive 
theory; others havebeenlessambitious andhavedealtwithonlyafewaspects ofperson -
ality.Fewpersonality theorists haveformally defined personality, butallhavehadtheir
ownviewofit.
Although nosingle definition isacceptable toallpersonality theorists, wecan
saythatpersonality isapattern ofrelatively permanent traits andunique character -
istics thatgivebothconsistency andindividuality toaperson’s behavior (Roberts 
&Mroczek, 2008). Traits contribute toindividual differences inbehavior, consis -
tency ofbehavior overtime, andstability ofbehavior across situations. Traits maybe
unique, common tosome group, orshared bytheentire species, buttheirpattern is
different foreachindividual. Thus eachperson, though likeothers insome ways, has
aunique personality. Characteristics areunique qualities ofanindividual thatinclude 
attributes suchastemperament, physique, andintelligence.Notwopeople, notevenidentical twins, haveexactly thesame personalities. 
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