The Personality Psychologists

Personality Psychology is essentially the study of traits. Personality psychologists want to know “What
accounts for the differences in individuals and in their behavior?” and laypeople want to know “How can |
correctly predict others’ behavior and make judgments accordingly?" Is human nature determined from
within or from without? Are our minds and behavior the products of inner forces, or are we shaped and
prodded into thought and action by the stimuli of the environment? This is, once more, the classic nature
versus nurture question. These debates have always been a part of psychology, since Plato, and likely
always will be. Most psychologists now lean toward the interactionist view of the nature/nurture question-
that most everything a person does results from an interaction between their personality and the situation
they happen to be in.