ABSTRACT
This chapter traces the concepts of personality and individuality back to their historical roots. It opens and closes with observations concerning the impact of personality in everyday and professional life, as well as in research. Both etymological and historical interpretations of the related concepts of character, temperament and personality are given, emphasizing morality, equilibrium, and reputation as important characteristics. Throughout its history, the main appeal of the study of personality, particularly in Western society, has been in the individual person, rather than in parts or slices of the person such as in the study of the perceptual system, the nervous system, or unconscious processes. The concepts of individuality and personality have permeated everyday and professional life. Personality and individuality have alternatively been referred to by “temperament” and “character”. The different concepts have etymological and historical connotations that are important both for the understanding of the differences of those concepts and of the differences between the related contemporary research traditions.
