Character is formed by moral traits of an individual that determine the constant way a person acts and reacts. Personality is a set of psychological characteristics that dictate how a person thinks, feels and acts.
Broadly speaking, character constantly drives the way a person acts. Briefly, it can be said that character has to do with the nature of the individual, as well as the firmness of his willpower.
Personality, in general, distinguishes outstanding characteristics of a person. It's your individuality. That is, it determines how the person relates socially, with a unique style in the way of thinking, feeling and acting.
What is character?
Character is a set of traits linked to an individual's morals. In this sense, their attitudes will be consistent with their nature, nature and temperament.
The qualities that make up a person's character can be good or bad. Thus, they determine the concept of morality that will govern a person's attitudes. Therefore, the expressions exist:
- Good character
- Of character
- Bad character
- without character
The first two expressions refer to an individual with a good and solid moral formation. The last two refer to someone of questionable nature. This is because it demonstrates, in its attitudes, traces of dishonesty and its concept of morality would not be solid.
That is, for an individual of "bad / without character", his personality would lack principles to fully develop morals.
Also understand the difference between ethic and moral.
example of character
One way to understand well the role of the person's character is how he would react to a proposal that would be morally unacceptable.
For example, imagine a politician who claims to be in favor of the environment. Suddenly, he receives a proposal that involves bribery to vote against a bill that would give more protection to the Amazon rainforest.
If he is a person of weak character, he will most likely accept the bribe, going against the principles he claimed to have. If you have a strong character, you will not succumb to bribery and will do what is necessary to protect the forest.
It's a broad example, but character is an important part of every human being's life. Skipping the queue at the bank and not returning the extra change you received at the supermarket are also forms of having “bad character”.
Other uses of the word “character”
The word “character” can also be used as a synonym for a brand or symbol in the IT context. In this case, the letters you read in this text are “characters”.
Another use given to the word is in the expression “à character”. With the meaning of how a person should dress for a certain event, depending on the place and time. That is, the fashion in effect at a given time.
What is personality?
Personality is a set of outstanding psychological characteristics of an individual. From the personality determines the individuality of a person, the way he relates socially and the way he thinks, feels and acts.
This set of personal characteristics makes an individual unique, as each person has their own personality, psychologically distinguishing human beings from each other. These characteristics influence the attitudes one has towards the world around him.
In this sense, many scholars have come to the conclusion that the human personality has several aspects. It can even be influenced by physical form. Check out:
personality aspects
- Physical form: a person's body type would influence their self-esteem and, thus, each body shape would have a different personality;
- Temperament: how the person behaves in relation to those around him, influencing affectivity, excitement and attention;
- Skills or Skills: several ways for someone to have the ability to achieve certain goals;
- Provisions linked to the action: motives, interests and needs that lead the individual to perform such action. The person's convictions and the way he deals with stress also fit here;
- Value judgment: the value that someone gives to a certain object (physical or figurative) is capable of generating preferences, which determines their behavior;
- Provisions linked to the person: the image that the individual has of himself, as well as self-esteem and well-being, influence personality traits.
personality development
Personality is not something fixed. Certain traits change over time and can be influenced by the social environment in which the individual is inserted.
There are personality traits that are more stable than others, such as intelligence, while self-esteem can fluctuate from time to time.
A child, who begins to create a perception of self-image in the first years of life, may show some instability in certain personality traits.
However, over time, not just personality traits, but how the personality in general tends to become more stable.
See also the difference between:
- Ego, Superego and Id
- emotion and feeling