ABSTRACT
The study of personality is concerned with the total person and how the various aspects of an individual's functioning are related to one another. It is implicit in any definition that behavior is to some degree determined by personality, since the people must make inferences about personality by observing behavior. Although the people have emphasized that consistency of behavior is a defining factor of personality, it is self-evident that this is really an adult characteristic and that personality has to develop during the early years of life. Most personality theorists are concerned with describing the adult personality and, as yet, only the psychodynamic theories contain a detailed account of it. However, theories of child development, while not explicitly addressing personality issues, do consider the way in which, for example, a child acquires a sense of right and wrong, and these should not be overlooked. Personality tends to be the more important determinant in situations that have the opposite characteristics.
