Personality psychology investigates patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that distinguish individuals and shape their interactions with the world. Understanding personality helps explain why people respond differently to similar situations, make diverse choices, and pursue varied goals. Individual differences are influenced by genetics, environment, experiences, and culture, highlighting the complexity of human uniqueness.
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Theories of personality provide frameworks for describing and predicting behavior. Trait theory, popularized by Gordon Allport and Raymond Cattell, identifies stable characteristics, such as extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness, which persist over time and influence behavior. The Five-Factor Model (Big Five) organizes personality traits into five broad dimensions: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. These dimensions capture key aspects of individual variation and have been linked to outcomes in health, career, and relationships.
