Difference Between Personality and Behaviour

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Personality vs Behaviour

There are various things that would make up the nature of certain human beings.Many things influence one’s way of life, be it the environment in which a person grows up in, the kind of influence he or she had been subjected to,etc. Behaviour and personality are two such traits that can be thus influences which play a large part in fashioning an individual into who he or she is.

What is Behaviour?

Behaviour can be defined as the wide array of mannerisms and actions that a certain entity, biological or otherwise displays by themselves or towards other entities within certain environments. It is often a result of beliefs and values and mostly occurs in response to certain stimuli or input and can be overt, covert, conscious or subconscious and voluntary or involuntary. Out of this, the human behaviour is said to be affected by the nervous system and endocrine system. Behaviour is often an expression of oneself, a manifestation of one’s personality. However, behaviour is prone to change according to situations, contexts and also due to age and maturation. Behaviour can be discussed in terms of humans, animals, chemicals and other inanimate components. As such, behaviour is useful in fields such as psychology, earth sciences as well as in the field of management.

What is Personality?

According to Wright, personality is “the relatively stable and enduring aspects of individuals which distinguish them from other people and form the basis of our predictions concerning their future behaviour.” However, there is no definite definition to describe personality. It can merely be described as the individual differences that exist among people when it comes to their cognition, behaviour patterns and emotion. It is usually broken into five compartments known as the Big Five; conscientiousness, agreeableness, openness to experience, extraversion, and neuroticism. These components are said to get stable overtime and are often the results of a person’s genetics rather than being attributable to one’s environment.

There are various tests such as the Rorschach Inkblot test, self-report inventory, Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2), or the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) that are often used in order to determine one’s personality.

What is the difference between Behaviour and Personality?

Behaviour and personality are interrelated. They are both elements that define an individual. While one may be helpful in defining the other, it is important to state that behaviour and personality are very different from one another.

• Behaviour tends to change with age, maturity, wisdom, etc. Personality is often stable.

• Behaviour is an expression of one’s personality. Personality can be gauged by behaviour.

• However, there are times when the behaviour of a person may not be in line with their personality. For example, someone that is said to have a calm and composed personality may exhibit tense and explosive behaviour under certain situations.

• Behaviour can be discussed in terms of humans, animals, chemicals and other inanimate components. Personality is often only discussed with regards to that of humans.