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THEORIES  
PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY
The Psychology of Personality Formation
By 
Kendra Cherry 
 Medically reviewed by 
Steven Gans, MD 
Updated on May 11, 2020

Personality is something that people tend to think a lot about. When we meet new people,
whether through work, school, or social events, it is often their personality on which we
immediately focus. Whether they are nice, helpful, outgoing, or shy are just a few of the
things that we assess as we evaluate the people around us.

What Is Personality Development?

It is our personality that makes us who we are, but how exactly do our personalities form?
Personality development has been a major topic of interest for some of the most prominent
thinkers in psychology. Since the inception of psychology as a separate science, researchers
have proposed a variety of ideas to explain how and why personality develops.

Personality development refers to how the organized patterns of behavior that make up each
person's unique personality emerge over time. Many factors go into influencing personality,
including genetics, environment, parenting, and societal variables. Perhaps most importantly,
it is the ongoing interaction of all of these influences that continue to shape personality over
time.

Key Theories
Our personalities make us unique, but how does personality develop? How exactly do we
become who we are today? What factors play the most important role in the formation of
personality? Can personality ever change?

To answer this question, many prominent theorists developed theories to describe various
steps and stages that occur on the road of personality development. The following theories
focus on various aspects of personality development, including cognitive, social, and moral
development.

Freud’s Stages of Psychosexual Development

In addition to being one of the best-known thinkers in the area of personality
development, Sigmund Freud remains one of the most controversial. In his well-known
stage theory of psychosexual development, Freud suggested that personality develops in
stages that are related to specific erogenous zones. Failure to complete these stages, he
suggested, would lead to personality problems in adulthood.

Freud’s Structural Model of Personality

Freud not only theorized about how personality developed over the course of childhood, but
he also developed a framework for how overall personality is structured. According to Freud,
the basic driving force of personality and behavior is known as the libido. This libidinal
energy fuels the three components that make up personality: the id, the ego, and the superego.

 The id is the aspect of personality present at birth. It is the most primal part of the
personality and drives people to fulfill their most basic needs and urges.
 The ego is the aspect of personality charged with controlling the urges of the id and
forcing it to behave in realistic ways.
 The superego is the final aspect of personality to develop and contains all of the
ideals, morals, and values imbued by our parents and culture. This part of personality
attempts to make the ego behave according to these ideals. The ego must then
moderate between the primal needs of the id, the idealistic standards of the superego
and reality.

Freud's concept of the id, ego, and superego has gained prominence in popular culture,

despite a lack of support and considerable skepticism from many researchers. According to
Freud, it is the three elements of personality that work together to create complex human
behaviors.

 What Are the Id, Ego, and Superego?

Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development

Erik Erikson’s eight-stage theory of human development is one of the best-known theories in
psychology. While the theory builds on Freud’s stages of psychosexual development, Erikson
chose to focus on how social relationships impact personality development. The theory also
extends beyond childhood to look at development across the entire lifespan.

At each stage of psychosocial development, people face a crisis in which a task must be
mastered. Those who successfully complete each stage emerge with a sense of mastery and
well-being. Those who do not resolve the crisis at each stage may struggle with those skills
for the remainder of their lives.

Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development

Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development remains one of the most frequently cited in
psychology, despite being subject to considerable criticism. While many aspects of his theory
have not stood the test of time, the central idea remains important today: children think
differently than adults.
According to Piaget, children progress through a series of four stages that are marked by
distinctive changes in how they think. How children think about themselves, others, and the
world around them plays an important role in the formation of personality. 

Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development

Lawrence Kohlberg developed a theory of personality development that focused on the
growth of moral thought. Building on a two-stage process proposed by Piaget, Kohlberg
expanded the theory to include six different stages.

The theory has been criticized for a number of different reasons. One primary criticism is that
it does not accommodate different genders and cultures equally, Kohlberg’s theory remains
important in our understanding of how personality develops.

A Word From Verywell

Personality involves not only inborn traits but also the development of cognitive and
behavioral patterns that influence how people think and act. Temperament is a key part of the
personality that is determined by inherited traits.

Character is an aspect of personality influenced by experience that continues to grow and

change throughout life. While personality continues to evolve over time and respond to the
influences and experiences of life, much of personality is determined by inborn traits and
early childhood experiences.