Almost on a day to day basis we describe and assess the personalities of those that we are constantly surrounded by (Cherry, 2011). Whether we are aware of it or not, “these daily musings” and why and how people behave in the manner in which they do are similar to that of the work that personality psychologists do (Cherry, 2011). While our unlearned assessments of personality tend to place more of a focus on individuals, personality psychologists instead make use of conceptions of personality that can apply, and is applicable to everyone. Research that has been done on personality has led to the development of a number of various theories that are helpful in explaining why and how “certain personality traits develop” (Cherry, 2011); but first we must define the term personality. According to McKinnon (1944), personality can be defined in two ways. On the one hand, personality refers to factors that are “within” people that can be used to explain certain behaviours. He listed these factors as being temperament- “genetically controlled dispositions that determine the fundamental pace and mood of a person’s actions” (Buss and Plomin, 1975) - as well as “the interpersonal strategies that people have developed to deal with others and find their way in the world” (Mckinnon, 1944, 469). On the other hand, McKinnon (1944) wrote that personality referred to a person’s “distinctive interpersonal characteristics,” more especially those characteristics that are described by those that have seen that person in various situations. This facet of personality is said to be “functionally equivalent to a person’s reputation” (McKinnon, 1944, p.469).
This facet of personality is also the source of the big-five personality factors (Digman, 1990; Goldberg 1993: McCrae and Costa, 1987). Although personality is defined in two very different ways, both definitions are important, and both bear references to individual differences in interpersonal style (McKinnon, 1944). Simply put,...