Personality

The Big Five traits are neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness.

Psychodynamic theories are based on the work of Sigmund Freud. They all emphasize unconscious motives and desires and the importance of childhood experiences in shaping personality.

In Freud’s view, anxiety is caused by the inability of the ego to balance adequately the demands of the id and the superego.

Self-actualizing people tend to be both aware and accepting of themselves. They are open and spontaneous. They tend to enjoy their work and typically feel they have a mission to fulfill. They have close friendships without being overly dependent on other people. They also tend to have a good sense of humor. They are more likely than other people to have peak experiences that are spiritually or emotionally satisfying.

Sharing a family environment is not likely to lead to similarities in personality. This is probably because parents don’t act the same way with all their children. Children’s temperaments influence how a parent behaves toward them. A child’s gender and place in a birth order can also affect how that child is treated.