To begin this essay, it is necessary to highlight the definition of personality, according to Carver and Scheier (2003) personality is considered as a pattern of behavior and thoughts that occur during different times and situations that vary from person to person. Personality has been classified many ways throughout history; the ancient Greeks assumed that biological differences indicated personality differences (Hippocrates, 400 BC). Franz Joseph Gall (1758) believed that the shape of the skull determined personality, a phenomenon known as phrenology. In this time period, it was identified that personality can only be measured indirectly by making observations of personality traits using personality tests. Traits can be defined as distinctive qualities used to evaluate and explain behavior. The trait approach to personality is a method of delineating a personality type by using individual differences, traits, as indicators of personality. This essay on defining personality will discuss two trait approaches that are widely used in modern society, which are Eysenck's giant three and the five-factor model. Such evaluation points that will be discussed in this essay imply, the nature-nurture debate, completeness and universality. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayEysenck took a theoretical approach in defining personality. He argued for the importance of genetic inheritance of personality and argued that biology was a major determinant of personality. Accordingly, he studied Hippocratic personality theory to reveal the structure of personality. He outlined whether Hippocratic "types" of biological differences could be found in combinations of high and low levels of two "super traits". Using factor analysis, he studied the spectrum of personality differences and delineated the two super traits, extraversion and neuroticism. This was then revised in 1967, where a third dimension, psychoticism, was introduced. People who demonstrate high levels of extraversion have a tendency to experience positive emotions by finding thrills in exciting activities. This correlates with Hippocratic body types; the sanguine fluid illustrates being cheerful, enthusiastic, all aspects indicative of an extroverted personality type. Those who display characteristics of neuroticism experience the opposite, experiencing negative emotions and feelings of anxiety and depression. This is also related to the melancholic fluid of Hippocrates, which demonstrates an anxious and moody person. Finally, those who demonstrate high levels of psychoticism are believed to have an unsympathetic personality as well as being inhumane and willful. To summarize, Eysenck's trait approach to conceptualizing personality involves three super traits that reveal the structure of personality, namely extraversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism. It can be argued that Eysenck's giant model of three is a comprehensive approach to the conceptualization of personality. This is due to the balance between nature and husbandry used. Eysenck examined many historical approaches to conceptualizing personality and argued forcefully that biology plays a significant role in the structure of personality. This can be supported by Shields (1976) where monozygotic twins were found to be more similar on the introvert, extrovert, and psychoticism scales than dizygotic twins. This suggests that biology must have some importance in determining personality structure due to majorpersonality similarity in monozygotic twins, supporting the debate about Eysenck's nature. However, Eysenck was known to be a key behaviorist and therefore placed much importance on how the environment influences how behavior is acquired. Loehlin, Wilerman, and Horn (1988) found that 50% of variations in personality dimensions were due to genetic heredity. This suggests that the remaining 50% is due to external factors such as the environment, which supports the Eysenck nature debate. This interactionist approach conveys that Eysenck's theory is more valid because it takes both debates into consideration and therefore allows the explanation to be more complete. However, it can also be argued that his theory is too parsimonious. For starters, personality itself is a broad term with many different definitions and opinions about it. Therefore, the fact that Eysenck's theory only has 3 factors to represent personality can be seen as a vague and consequently incomplete interpretation of personality, indicating that it is an incomplete approach to conceptualizing personality. On the contrary, a strength of this theory is that it is universal. Eysenck (1982) conducted a cross-cultural program exploring his theory and, through translating the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire into several languages, it was discovered that the factors were found in 24 nationalities, in both sexes. This universality demonstrates that the theory is applicable to all people, regardless of any race or gender, making it a more comprehensive approach to conceptualizing personality since personality types can be applied worldwide. The five-factor model, also known as the Big Five, takes a lexical approach like Eysenck. To ensure that a personality model has predicative value, psychologists increasingly agree that personality is composed of five factors rather than three as Eysenck suggested. Rather than taking a theoretical approach, the Big Five adopt a lexical model, meaning that it derives from statistical rather than theoretical research. This model also uses factor analysis; Costa and McCrae (1985-1997) provided supporting evidence involving a large sample of participants completing personality questionnaires in which data were factor analyzed, revealing multiple traits, particularly the five personality factors. These are known as openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism. People who score high in the openness category have a tendency to engage in intellectual activities and experiment with new ideas and sensations. Those who score high in conscientiousness have a tendency to be proactive and responsible. The extraversion factor describes an individual who experiences positive emotions and is a measure of his sociability, the more sociable an individual is, the more extroverted he is. Furthermore, the agreeableness factor indicates that an individual is friendly and kind-hearted. Finally, the last factor, neuroticism, measures emotional stability that tends to be negative, such as anxiety and depression. Each of the five factors includes six facets, an individual's score on the facets contributes to the final factor score. In closing, it can be said that this model consists of five traits that have become the agreed upon consensus in conceptualizing personality which consists of multiple facets leading to super traits. A clear strength of the five-factor model is that it is universally applicable to everyone. ethnicities and ages. Three cross-cultural studies were conducted for the five-factor model,.