Personality Traits

The accurate definition of personality has been a point of discussion amongst many different philosophers within many different disciplines since the beginning of civilization. Personality can be defined as "the relatively stable set of psychological characteristics that influences the way an individual interacts with his or her environment" (Johns , 1996: 75). Personality has a rocky history within the workplace and organization behavior because of measurement problems. There is now a renewed interest because of the emphasis on service jobs with customer contact, concerns about ethics and integrity and contemporary interest in teamwork and cooperation. All of these point to the potential contribution of personality.

WHAT MOTIVATES HUMAN BEHAVIOUR?: According to Carl Rogers (1999), self actualization, or the impulse to realize ones own potential, motivates human behavior. A search for meaning and the reduction of uncertainty are needed to deal with the world. Internalized conditions of worth affect life choices, yet the future and present choices can have a larger effect than the past on destiny. For as Victor Frankl (1999) said, through suffering, one is called to fulfill the deepest meanings in life. Hopelessness is only suffering without meaning. The finiteness of human life must contribute to human life. The clock begins to tick upon creation so that man can try to stand out to the rest of the world in a positive regard and in-line with our destiny.

Carl Rogers' theory saw people in a basic form, which was relatively simple. They were either healthy or good, or at the very least, they were not bad or ill. This essay will outline his contributions to the field of psychology of personality and point out some of his simple theories.

I want to begin by giving you some background on Carl Ransom Rogers. He was born in Oak Park, Illinois on January 8, 1902. At an early age he demonstrated signs of intelligence; he was able to read before kindergarten, so he started