Personality Development

Personality psychology is considered the study of individual differences in behavior—how individuals behave differently from one another in various situations. Developmental personality psychologists are interested in understanding the ways individuals develop their unique patterns of responding to the environment based on genetic endowments and social histories. Also of interest is identifying the ways in which personality changes or is stable across development, as well as identifying early behavioral precursors that are predictive of later individual differences. From these multiple interests have come a number of perspectives on personality development relevant to the age period spanning infancy through adolescence (birth to twenty years of age).