The term personality is not only used in the scientific, psychological and moral discussion environments, but also people always emphasize on it in their daily utterances and almost everybody knows its meaning. However, the precise, clear and detailed definition of the term personality is very difficult, and for this reason, today psychologists have introduced very different definitions for it, and it is interesting that according to one of the psychologists, hundreds definitions are presented by scientists for this term that each of them has studied this complicated concept from a particular point of view.
From among the suggested definitions, followings could be taken into account:
1- Personality is the total of all effects of an individual in the society, and in other words, personality of each individual is his social effect.
The problem of this definition and such like is not merely for the point that it denies existence of personality in the individuals not having a social effect (like dissociable and seclusive or disabled persons). Rather, it is for this reason that personality in this definition has only a practical aspect, not descriptive. While usually personality is considered as one of the mental qualities.
2- Personality is the general quality of an individual's behavior which is manifested in his specific habits, thought and interpretation, desires, procedure of action and philosophy of life.
Although this definition, which is narrated from Marcois, the famous psychologist, is free from the problem of denial of personality in the dissociable individuals, but it shares with that definition in view of giving an active or passive aspect as well as external effect and impression to personality.
3- The other definition being presented by some of psychologists is that personality is the internal discipline of motives, reactions, perceptions and remembrances which determines man's manner in the behavior.
Since this definition pays attention to internal and descriptive aspect of personality is free from the previous problems, but if we say: personality is the total of attributes, conditions and mentalities having a humanistic value which could be the source of valuable individual and social external effects, it will be closer to its real sense.
Character: Most of psychologists have applied personality and character in the same meaning, and assume both of them as indicating the same reality, but some of recent psychologists have considered a difference between these two terms, and have selected character for the moral aspects and virtuous habits and vices. In other words, character is for evaluation of personality with the moral scales that is goodness and vice, while they consider personality as indicator of all mental, moral, intellectual, emotional and even physical qualities.
1- Developmental personality, page 453
