Theories and Measurement of Personality Characteristics

Whatever you call it, it’s about power and money. It has been known by a number of aliases such as nature, temperament, disposition, character, and even charisma. Here we call it personality. Knowing about it well gives power over others through being able to predict or manipulate their behaviour. That power might lead to wealth, especially by selling such knowledge to others who also want to use it for their own ends. This explains the proliferation of books about it. Construct a popular questionnaire and it too might make you rich. As with intelligence any science of personality needs to be clear about what we mean by it, how it is distinguished from other constructs, and how we might measure it. We also need to be clear about the theories underlying assessment methods. Theory and assessment always work