Personality: Concept and Definitions

When we try to explain why some sportspeople succeed against all odds, we reach for words like determined, persistent, courageous, dynamic and robust. Behind all of these lies something more general — a stable, consistent pattern of behaviour that marks one athlete out from another. Sports psychologists study this pattern through theories of personality.

The word personality comes from the Latin word persona, the mask worn by actors in Roman theatre to change their appearance for a role. The audience read the mask and expected the character to behave in a certain way — even though the actor did not truly possess those qualities. Over time, the idea of the “mask” came to stand for an individual's characteristic way of responding to other people and to different situations. When we describe someone as shy, cheerful, courageous or aggressive, we are naming components of their personality.

Personality can therefore be understood as the relatively stable and unique characteristics of an individual across different situations and over time. More fully, it is the characteristic set of behaviours, thoughts (cognitions) and emotional patterns that grow out of both biological and environmental factors — the integration of the systems and habits through which a person adjusts to their environment.

Several psychologists have defined personality in their own way:

• Robert A. Baron — personality is an individual's unique and relatively stable pattern of behaviour, thoughts and feelings.
• Pervin (1993), quoted by Matt Jarvis (2006) — personality represents the structural and dynamic properties of an individual as they show themselves in characteristic responses to situations.
• Carl Jung (1933) — personality as an attitude is a predisposition to behave in a certain manner.
• William Herbert Sheldon (1942) — offered a topology of personality based on three body types (Endomorph, Ectomorph, Mesomorph), each linked to a different temperament.
• Cattell (1950) — personality is that which permits a prediction of what a person will do in a given situation.
• Guilford (1959) — personality is an individual's unique pattern of traits.
• Allport (1961) — personality is the dynamic organisation within the individual of the psychological systems that determine his unique adjustment to his environment.
• Eysenck (1953) — personality is the more or less stable and enduring organisation of a person's character, temperament, intellect and physique that determines his adjustment to the environment.
• Robert A. Baron (2008) — personality is an individual's unique and relatively stable pattern of behaviour, thoughts and feelings. …