Mental Health Minute

“Personality has power to uplift, power to depress, power to curse, and power to bless.” - Paul P. Harris

What is personality? The word personality itself stems from a Latin ing on them. Those were gifts, and I hope to always word, “persona,” which refers to a theatrical mask worn by performSo, how do you know if dog ers in order to either training is for you? For me, project different roles or it was the fact that God had disguise their identities. put so many dogs in my life At its most basic level, and given me the confidence personality is the char-and experience through the acteristic patterns of Army to deal with people thoughts, feelings, and and different scenarios. It behaviors that make a also comes from the dogs person unique. It is beI’ve had. Although I’m not lieved that personality crazy about cats, I’ve had a is a genetic trait, which few that chose me and try remains fairly constant as I might to run them off, throughout a person’s it never worked…LOL. So, life. While there are many different definiI’ll leave everyone with this tions of personality, most focus on the pattern of behaviors and coming a dog trainer, they characteristics that can will need patience and love help predict and explain -- not only for dogs, but also a person’s behavior. Exfor the people who have the planations for personaldogs. And if money is your ity traits can focus on a driving principle, it will not variety of influences in work, not without patience addition to genetic exand love. “Greed will get planations, to include the role of environment and experiences in shap “Remember to love your ing the individual. Characteristics of personalyou. Maybe not the way ity include patterns of thought and emotions, chewing up your favorite which are observed through behaviors. The fundamental character-ing. Be thankful for the istics of personality are time you have with them consistency, psychological/physiological actions, and multiple ex-

Personality

by Lisa Philippart, Licensed Professional Counselor

pressions. Consistency, as a personality characteristic, means that there is generally a recognizable order and regularity to behaviors. In other words, people act in the same ways or similar ways in a variety of situations. Actions are predictable. Personality is a psychological construct. Intelligence, motivation, anxiety, and fear are examples of psychological constructs. Research also suggests that personality is influenced by biological processes and needs. For example, even though you can’t directly observe anxiety, you can tell someone is anxious if they are trembling, sweating, or restless. Personality is not only influenced by how we respond in our environment, but it causes us to act in certain ways. Personality is observable by our behaviors. But it is also displayed through our words, our expression of feelings and thoughts, relationships, and other social interactions. There are a number of theories about how personality develops. One of the early perspectives on personality is type theory. These theories suggest that there are a limited number of personality types, related to biological influences. You may have heard of the Type A personality, who tends to be impatient, competitive, work-obsessed, driven, and achievement-oriented. But did you know there are Types B, C, and D? Type B personality is low-stress, eventempered, flexible, creative, patient, and has a tendency to procrastinate. Type C personality is highly conscientious, perfectionist, and struggles to express emotions (both positive and negative). Type D personality struggles with feelings of worry, sadness, irritability, a pessimistic outlook, negative selftalk, and avoidance of social situations. Trait theory tends to view personality as the result of internal characteristics that are genetically based. These traits are: agreeable (cares about others, feels empathy), conscientiousness (thoughtfulness, goal-directed), eager-toplease (accommodating, conforming), extraversion (social, talkative, emotionally expressive), introversion (quiet, reserved), neuroticism (dramatic shifts in mood, anxious, easily upset), and openness (creative, likes to try new things). Behavioral theories suggest that personality is a result of interaction between the individual and the environment. Behavioral theorists (think B.F. Skinner) study observable and measurable behaviors, often ignoring the role of internal thoughts and feelings. Humanist theories on personality development emphasize the importance of free will and individual experience. Carl Rogers and Abraham Malow are humanist theorists. Personality assessments are often used to help people learn more about themselves and their unique strengths, challenges, and preferences. Two of the most popular assessments are available online: the MyersBriggs Type Indicator and the Enneagram.

Lisa Philippart is a Licensed Professional Counselor, who divides her time between her own private practice in Huntsville and providing personal counseling services at Athens State University.