Classification of Personality Theories- Discover 2 Insightful Classifications

Contents

What is Classification in Personality Theories?

To understand classification of personality theories we need to start understanding What is classification. Classification is the process by which objects, events, people, or experiences are grouped into classes on the basis of-

Characteristics shared by members of the same class.
Features distinguishing the members of one class from those of another.

Personality is the enduring configuration of characteristics and behavior that comprises an individual’s unique adjustment to life, including major traits, interests, drives, values, self-concept, abilities, and emotional patterns. Theories, in the philosophy of science, is a set of logically related explanatory hypotheses that are consistent with a body of empirical facts and that may suggest more empirical relationships.

Type Theories of Personality

Type theories advocate that we can classify human personalities into clear well defined types. According to Morgan et al. (1986), a type is simply a class of individuals said to share a common collection of characteristics. It means that people are classified into categories according to the characteristics they share in common. For example, some people prominently show tendencies of being outgoing, happy-go-lucky nature, mixing with people, less task orientation etc. These people are classified as extrovert. A number of thinkers have given their typological models to explain theories of personality, some of which include-

Hippocrates’ typology
Kretschmer’s typology
Sheldon’s typology
Jung’s Typology

Hippocrates’ Typology

In 400 B.C. Hippocrates attempted to explain personality in terms of body fluid or humors. He suggested that our body has four types of fluids; yellow bile, black bile, blood and phlegm.

Every person is characterized by the prominence of one type of fluid. This determines the temperament of the person concerned. Thus, he classified people into four types which are given below:

Choleric – people with predominance of yellow bile are irritable, restless and hot blooded, strong with active imagination..
Melancholic – people with high black bile are sad, depressed and devoid of hope in life.
Sanguinary – When blood content is high the person remains light hearted, hopeful, cheerful, active and is optimistic in life.
Phlegmatic – predominance of phlegm makes a person calm and quite and usually the behavior is marked by inactiveness.

Kretschmer’s Typology

Kretschmer used the physical constitution and temperament for this purpose. He based his classification on biological types which are based on physical structure. The four types he talked about included:

Pyknik type
Athletic type
Leptosomatic type

Pyknic Type – Such people are short in height with heavily built body type. They have short, thick neck. Temperament wise they exhibit characteristics of being social and cheerful. In fact, they are happy-go-lucky, they like to eat and sleep. Kretschmer called them “cycloid”, as they have high probability of falling prey to manic-depressive type of psychopathology.
Athletic Type – These are muscular types and have well built muscles and are neither tall nor short. Thus, they have stable and calm nature and are able to adjust themselves to changes in the environment. They are energetic, optimistic and adjustable.
Leptosomatic Type – They have a very lean and thin body structure. Their characteristics are unsociable, reserved, shy, sensitive and pessimistic.

Sheldon’s Typology

Sheldon on the basis of physical constitution categorized personality into somatotypes. For this he analyzed nude photographs of 4000 students and classified their personality into three basic types. These three types are:

Endomorphic
Ectomorphic
Mesomorphic

Endomorphic – Such people are short and fatty with a round shape of body. Endomorphic people are similar to “pyknic” type mentioned by Kretschmer. Not only do they like to eat and drink but also make merry. Although, they are gregarious by nature, they have a leisurely attitude towards life. People who have highly developed viscera (internal organs) but weak somatic structure. Thus, temperament wise Sheldon termed them as, “viscerotonia”. They are easy going, sociable and affectionate.
Mesomorphic – These people are muscular types. Their muscles and bones are quite well developed and they are physically well shaped. These people generally are considered to be toughminded, risk taking, assertive and aggressive, and adventurous. They like to boss over others. Sheldon called these personalities as “somatotonia”
Ectomorphic – Such people are tall but thin. They have weak somatic structure as well as undeveloped viscera. Sheldon called them “cerebrotonia”. Moreover, These people like to remain away from people. They are non- assertive, reserved and pessimistic.

Jung’s Typology

Carl Jung identified eight distinct personality types based on the combination of two attitudes (introversion and extraversion) and four psychological functions (thinking, feeling, sensation, and intuition).

Extraverted Thinking Type– They are logical, objective, and rational in dealing with the external world. They are highly organized and prefer structure and order. They are concerned with facts, external data, and objective truths. They are often seen as efficient, analytical, and driven by external rules or systems.
Introverted Thinking Type– They are thought-oriented, but more focused on internal logic and ideas rather than external facts. They analyze situations deeply from their internal perspective. They are conceptual and theoretical thinking. They may appear aloof, private, and less concerned with practical realities, focusing more on abstract concepts.
Extraverted Feeling Type– They are emotionally expressive and sensitive to social harmony and external values. They tend to be warm, outgoing, and attuned to the feelings of others. They are guided by external societal norms and expectations, and they seek to create positive emotional connections. They are often highly sociable, empathetic, and nurturing, but may struggle with personal authenticity.
Introverted Feeling Type– They are quiet, reserved, and deeply focused on their own internal values and emotions. They may appear distant but possess strong inner convictions. They are focused on internal values, personal beliefs, and emotional depth. They often appear reserved, with a rich inner life, and are driven by a strong personal moral code.
Extraverted Sensation Type– They are strongly focused on the external world and the present moment. They are highly attuned to sensory experiences and enjoy engaging with the world through their senses. They are focused on immediate, tangible experiences and practical realities. They are often action-oriented, lively, and spontaneous, but may neglect deeper reflection or future planning.
Introverted Sensation Type– They are focused on internal sensory impressions and personal interpretations of experiences. They tend to be reflective and value personal perceptions over external facts. They are focused on subjective interpretation of sensory experiences. They may appear quiet, observant, and detail-oriented, often placing personal meaning on experiences rather than outward engagement.
Extraverted Intuition Type– They are future-oriented and focused on possibilities. They are imaginative, open to new ideas, and thrive on novelty and innovation. They like exploring new possibilities and seeing potential outcomes in external situations. They are often enthusiastic, adventurous, and inventive, but may be scattered or struggle with following through on ideas.
Introverted Intuition Type– They are deeply introspective and focused on inner visions and future possibilities. They tend to have a strong sense of foresight and are drawn to abstract and symbolic thinking. They are focused on inner vision and personal interpretation of future possibilities. They often appear mysterious, insightful, and visionary, but may be disconnected from the practicalities of the present.

These personality types are explored in the MBTI test.

Trait Theories of Personality

Traits are psychological dimensions such as extroversion, tidiness, emotional stability, and curiosity.

Classification of Traits

The main goal of trait approach to personality is to catalog all of the dimensions (traits) on which people vary and create a classification of traits that reflects which traits tend to go together. Example: Talkativeness, sociability, assertiveness, and gregariousness are all distinct traits, but they also have a lot in common.

The trait approach leads to a classification system that tells us what groups of traits exist and which traits are in which groups. However, these groups composed of personality traits are often called personality factors.

Traits have proven extremely useful for describing personality and predicting people’s characteristic patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving.

Historical Trait theories of personality

Gordon Allport Trait Theory of Personality

Allport considered personality traits to be predispositions to respond, in the same or a similar manner, to different kinds of stimuli. In other words, traits are consistent and enduring ways of reacting to our environment. Furthermore, He summarized the characteristics of traits as follows,

Personality traits are real and exist within each of us. They are not theoretical constructs or labels made up to account for behavior.
Traits determine or cause behavior. They do not arise only in response to certain stimuli. Moreover, they motivate us to seek appropriate stimuli, and they interact with the environment to produce behavior.
Traits can be demonstrated empirically. By observing behavior over time, we can infer the existence of traits in the consistency of a person’s responses to the same or similar stimuli.
Even though, traits are interrelated; they may overlap, even though they represent different characteristics. For example, aggressiveness and hostility are distinct but related traits and are frequently observed to occur together in a person’s behavior.
Traits vary with the situation. For example, a person may display the trait of neatness in one situation and the trait of disorderliness in another situation.

According to the theory, three types of traits govern our personality. However, they named these three categories of traits as cardinal traits, central traits, and secondary traits. Allport organized these traits in a hierarchy

Three Categories of traits

Cardinal Traits: These are the dominant traits of one’s personality. They stand at the top of Allport’s trait hierarchy and are the master controller of one’s personality. However, these traits may dominate personality to such an extent that the person may become known for those traits only. Such as Mother Teresa for altruism and M.K. Gandhi for his honesty. According to Allport, cardinal traits are rare i.e., very few people have personalities dominated by cardinal traits, a majority of the people have personality composed of multiple traits.
Central Traits: They come second in the hierarchy. According to Allport, every person possesses 5-10 central traits in varying degrees. These can easily be noticed and are responsible for shaping our personality. Traits such as intelligent, loyal, dependable, aggressive etc.
Secondary Traits: These are less relevant traits of personality. These are basically situational or circumstantial traits. For instance, an aggressive child may not speak much in front of his/her teacher. These can be numerous in number and are responsible for behaviors incongruent to an individual’s usual behavior. However, according to Allport, these traits are “aroused by a narrower range of equivalent stimuli and they issue into a narrower range of equivalent responses”.

Allport’s Theory of Personality

Raymond Cattell Trait Theory of Personality

Cattell defined traits as relatively permanent reaction tendencies that are the basic structural units of the personality. He classified traits in several ways.

Cattell identified ‘source traits’ as the most important, and ‘surface traits’ as the less important traits. Cattell also identified between common traits and unique traits.

Cattell’s Theory of Personality

A common trait is one that everyone possesses to some degree. For example, Intelligence, extraversion, and gregariousness. Whereas, Unique traits are the traits possessed by one or a few persons.

He came up with sixteen trait dimensions of human personality. However, he used factor analysis to identify 16 personality traits. Although, the degree to which a person possesses each trait, forms his or her unique personality profile.

Cattell’s Source Traits (Factors) of Personality

Eysenck’s Trait Theory of Personality

Hans Eysenck used factor analysis to determine basic factors, which included introversion versus extroversion and emotionality versus stability.

According to his theory, different combinations of these dimensions lead to the development of different personalities. Later, he added the third dimension to his model and named it as Psychoticism Vs. Socialization.

Extroversion-Introversion Dimension- refers to the degree to which one seeks external or internal stimulation. People who are extroverts are social, seek adventures and prefer company when in stress. Whereas, people who are introverts are shy, enjoy their own company and turns inwards when in stress.

Neuroticism Vs. Stability Dimension– describes people in the context of their emotionality and maladjusted behavior. However, individuals who are high on neuroticism, tend to be emotionally unstable, moody and maladjusted. Whereas, people at the opposite end of the neuroticism dimension, tend to be calm.

Psychoticism Vs. Socialization Dimension– people who are high on psychoticism tend to be aggressive, egocentric, anti-social and impulsive. Whereas, people who lie on the socialization end, are altruistic, empathetic and conventional.

Eysenck’s Theory of Personality

McCrae and Costa’s Five Factor (Big-Five) Theory of Personality

McCrae and Costa believed that all human personality traits can be reduced to five factors only:. Openness to experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism.

Openness to experience- Such people love novelty and creativity. They have a curious mind and have an appreciation for art. They are independent thinkers and prefer to do a variety of things instead of routine activities.
Conscientiousness- People high on this factor are more goal-directed, self-disciplined, hard-working, honest and competent. They prefer planned activity instead of spontaneous behavior.
Extraversion- Seeks external stimulation and tend to be socially interactive, outgoing, energetic and optimistic.
Agreeableness- People who score high on agreeableness have a tendency to be cooperative and compassionate. Such people are generally helpful and trustworthy.
Neuroticism- People high on this factor are worrisome, insecure and self-pitying people. Whereas, people who score low on neuroticism are self-satisfied and secure.

Related: Neo-FFI-3

Big 5 Theory of Personality

References

Morgan, C. T., King, R. A., Weisz, J. R., & Schopler, J. (1986). Introduction to Psychology (7th ed.). McGraw-Hill.

Shultz, D. P., & Shultz, S. E. (2016). Theories of Personality (11th ed.). Cengage Learning.

Hall, C. S., Lindzey, G., & Campbell, J. B. (1998). Theories of Personality (4th ed.). Wiley.