Comparison of Personality Theories

Running head: COMPARISON OF PERSONALITY THEORIES
Comparison of personality theories
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1COMPARISON OF PERSOALITY THEORIES
Personality may be defined as the numerous behavioral tendencies, cognitive patterns,
traits, emotional patterns and thoughts that make up a person’s character. These traits of
personality usually emanate from environmental and biological factors. Personality psychology
may be explained as the branch of psychology which deals with the study of personality traits
and behavioral patterns that shape human beings. It can be asserted that the various theories of
personality strive to predict and control human behavior, which is invariably the result of one’s
individual personality traits. The first theories of personality would include the psychodynamic
approaches to personality, which drew upon the ideas and concepts of Sigmund Freud, Alfred
Adler and Erik Erikson. Every since then, there have been several other theories that have
emerged, like that of Gray’s theory of personality or Eysenck’s PEN personality theories
(Figueredo et al., 2015). The essay will study the two aforementioned theories of personality and
provide a comparative study of the same.
Both Jeffrey Gray and Hans Eysenck have been regarded as the chief proponents of the
hypothesis that personality characteristics of a human being provide an insight into the various
minute differences in the brain functioning of the individual. Both theorists assume that it is
possible to characterize the brain functioning of a person based on a conceptual nervous system,
which consists of human behavioral tendencies and personality. Gray and Eysenck emphasize
the biological basis of personality. Yet, there are a few differences between the two proposed
theories. While Gray studies the concepts of anxiety and impulsivity and the factors, Eysenck
mainly focuses on the personality traits related to neuroticism, psychoticism and extraversion
(Jackson, 2001). The prime difference between the two theories is the fact that Eysenck’s theory
is more explanatory and descriptive in nature while Gray is more specific and focuses on
behavioral activation and inhibition.

2COMPARISON OF PERSOALITY THEORIES
Hans Eysenck (1916 -1997) came up with the biological theory of personality which
is also known as the PEN personality theory. According to Eysenck (2017), there are three
main aspects of an individual’s personality – namely, extraversion, neuroticism and
psychoticism. Furnham and Petrides (2014) opined that in Eysenck’s theory, biological factors
(which include hormone levels and cortical arousal) coupled with environmental factors (like
conditioned behavior or learning) would affect the personality traits of an individual. The three
aspects of the PEN model must be better explained to grasp an understanding of Eysenck’s
perspective. On the extraversion – introversion scale, an individual with higher levels of
extraversion is more likely to be sociable, outgoing and have a more positive outlook towards
life. Such a person is also more likely to harbor a positive and motivational approach towards
challenging and stressful situations, possessing more potential for healthy coping strategies (Gao
et al., 2013). Additionally, such individuals are talkative and fit in better into groups. They
usually have large circles of friends and acquaintances and enjoy being the center of attention.
On the other hand, introverted people tend to be shy, meek, quiet and tend to avoid social
gatherings or interactions with large groups of people. They are not comfortable meeting or
socializing with strangers and would prefer to have a tighter and smaller group of friends
(Halverson et al., 2014). Eysenck believed that the extraversion scale of an individual would
depend on his levels of cortical arousal. Extraverts experience lower cortical arousal, and as a
result, they tend to seek arousal from other external stimuli. On the other hand, introverts have
higher cortical arousal levels, which would make them avoid similar stimuli.
On the emotional stability – neuroticism scale, the personality traits related to
emotional aspects of an individual can be measured. A person with higher neuroticism levels is
more likely to be immature, emotionally unstable, prone to emotional outbursts, stress and

3COMPARISON OF PERSOALITY THEORIES
anxiety (Ormel et al., 2013). Such people are likely to lose their calm over trivial matters and are
usually unable to cope with the stressful life situations in a mature and composed manner. They
are also likely to feel jealous and envious and avoid confrontation or challenging situations
(Barlow et al., 2014). On the other hand, a person with lower levels of neuroticism is likely to be
more tolerant, more stable in their expression of emotions and more capable of dealing with high
pressure situations. On the psychoticism – normality scale, a person with higher scores in
psychoticism is more likely to indulge in behavior that is miscalculated or irresponsible. They
are likely to ignore social norms and conventions and would act without consideration of the
consequences. However, such a person is expected to be more creative.
Gray, on the contrary, was opposed to the concept that biological factors like
cortical arousal were solely responsible for the personality traits of a person (Nebylitsyn &
Gray, 2013). Eysenck was more focused on the reticular activating system which plays a crucial
role in personality traits. However, Kennis, Rademaker and Geuze (2013) argued that Gray
disagreed with the perspective of Eysenck because he believed that certain aspects of the human
personality cannot be explained through theories of classical conditioning. In other words,
certain personality traits are innate and cannot be acquired as part of a learning process.
According to Tremblay (2017), Gray’s biopsychological theory of personality is one of the
most popular and commonly accepted theories which study human behavior. The theory which
was introduced by Jeffrey Alan Gray in the year 1970, comprises two basic systems which
predict and control human behavior. They are the behavioral activation system and the
behavioral inhibition system or BAS and BIS respectively. BAS, as the name suggests, entails
punishments as reinforcement and considers punishment to be one of the factors behind
avoidance motivation whereas BIS entails approach motivation and rewarding system.