What exactly is personality?
Just take a few minutes to try and describe your own personality. I can guess you probably listed a few adjectives like happy, stable, or funny. You also might have remembered how you reacted to a certain situation. The question is, is there more to personality than these sorts of attributes? Many theorists have tried to explain what personality is, with varying definitions, however, they all agree on one aspect, uniqueness.
To put it simply, personality refers to the characteristics, or combination of characteristics that make a person unique. One of the most effective ways of understanding personality is viewing it through its structure. personality can be divided into three different but related levels: a psychological core, typical responses, and role-related behavior.
Psychological core
This is the deepest component of personality, including your values and attitudes, motives and interests, and beliefs about yourself and your own self-worth. Simply, it is the real you and the centerpiece of your personality. It is not who you want others to think you are.
Typical responses
These relate to how we typically respond to the world around us and how we adjust to the environment. These are good indicators of your psychological core. If for example you always respond to social situations by being loud and confident, you are likely to be extroverted. These responses can be affected by the environment and can elicit different typical responses than usual. For example, you might usually be a loud person, but a certain situation might cause you to be quiet.
Role related behavior
This refers to how you act based on your perception of the social situation. Your behavior changes as your perception of the environment changes. Different situations require different roles. In one day you might play a variety of roles, such as a worker, friend, and athlete. You will behave differently in each of these roles, for example, you might be more empathetic when talking to a friend but be more aggressive when competing as an athlete.
Traits
Traits are the characteristics that make up a person's personality. The 'Big 5' model is widely accepted in personality research. It states there are five major dimensions of personality and found to be the most important general characteristics that exist, with more specific characteristics falling within the dimensions of these five.
Openness - One's motivation to try new things and be willing to try new ideas. Someone with a low level of openness might like a consistent routine and stay with what is familiar to them while someone with high openness would enjoy new experiences
Conscientiousness - This relates to goal-oriented behavior and impulse control. People with high conscientiousness could be described as organised or disciplined, whereas someone with low conscientiousness might struggle with structure and be more impulsive.
Extraversion - Refers to people's willingness to seek out social interaction. Someone with low extraversion might listen more, be more reserved and enjoy time on their own. Whereas someone with high extraversion is energised by being around other people and feels confident being around big groups of people.
Agreeableness - This considers people's focus on cooperation and how they act in relation to others. People with low levels of agreeableness might be more demanding of others, whereas more agreeable people can come across as helpful and sensitive to others' needs.
Neuroticism - Includes one's likelihood of experiencing emotional instability and measures emotional stability. A person with higher levels of neuroticism is likely to be more prone to stress, sadness, or anxiety while someone with lower levels may feel more resilient and calm in the face of adversity.
How does this impact performance?
There have been many research studies conducted to try and explain the relationship between the big 5 traits and performance. One research study found that personality traits varied for different sports however champions in team sports were found to have higher levels of openness and extraversion, with lower levels of neuroticism. What is interesting in the research is the difference in neuroticism levels of champions and other athletes. One study did find that levels of neuroticism decreased over time as athletes participated in their sport.
It is important that athletes understand their own personalities and how their traits impact their performance. Thankfully one's personality isn't fixed and changes over time. You can also utilise psychological skills to enhance certain characteristics, such as emotional stability. Enhancing one's own self-awareness can have a significant impact, helping you to understand yourself and develop a plan to enhance your performance and well-being. My overall aim for this blog is to help you understand that enhancing your self-awareness is vital in the process of performance enhancement. Understanding your personality and then putting strategies in place to enhance certain desired characteristics will ultimately lead to performance enhancement.
Working with a sport psychologist can support this process. Enabling you to discover more about yourself and support your own psychological development.