Temperament vs. Personality — What's the Difference?

Temperament refers to the basic, inherited characteristics that influence how a person reacts emotionally to the world.

Personality encompasses the array of mental, emotional, and behavioral characteristics that define an individual’s distinctive nature.

Temperament is generally consistent across different contexts and stages of life.

It is often assessed through psychological evaluations to understand how individuals interact with their environment.

It is the aspect of an individual’s personality that is genetically programmed.

Personality is how temperament, environment, and cultural influences converge to form an individual’s identity.

It shapes the initial substrate from which personality grows and develops.

Personality can evolve and change over time through personal development and life experiences.

Temperament involves the intensity and speed of emotional reactions.

It includes the attitudes, habits, and emotional responses acquired through life experiences.

In psychology, temperament broadly refers to consistent individual differences in behavior that are biologically based and are relatively independent of learning, system of values and attitudes. Some researchers point to association of temperament with formal dynamical features of behavior, such as energetic aspects, plasticity, sensitivity to specific reinforcers and emotionality.

Personality is defined as the characteristic sets of behaviors, cognitions, and emotional patterns that evolve from biological and environmental factors. While there is no generally agreed upon definition of personality, most theories focus on motivation and psychological interactions with one's environment.

A person's or animal's nature, especially as it permanently affects their behaviour

The combination of characteristics or qualities that form an individual's distinctive character

The adjustment of intervals in tuning a piano or other musical instrument so as to fit the scale for use in different keys; in equal temperament, the octave consists of twelve equal semitones

A celebrity or famous person

The manner of thinking, behaving, or reacting characteristic of a specific person

The quality or fact of being a person as distinct from a thing or animal.

The distinguishing mental and physical characteristics of a human according to medieval physiology, resulting from dominance of one of the four humors.

Disparaging remarks about an individual.

Excessive irritability or sensitiveness

The totality of qualities and traits, as of character or behavior, that are peculiar to a specific person.

(Music) See equal temperament.

The totality of behavioral traits that are peculiar to a specific nonhuman animal

A person's usual manner of thinking, behaving or reacting.

The totality of qualities that distinguish a group, organization, or place

A tendency to become irritable or angry.

The collection of distinctive qualities of a person, especially those distinguishing personal characteristics that make one socially appealing

(music) The altering of certain intervals from their correct values in order to improve the moving from key to key.

The quality or condition of being a person.

(psychology) Individual differences in behavior that are biologically based and are relatively independent of learning, system of values and attitudes.

A person as the embodiment of distinctive traits of mind and behavior.

(obsolete) A moderate and proportionable mixture of elements or ingredients in a compound; the condition in which elements are mixed in their proper proportions.

A person of prominence or notoriety

(obsolete) Any state or condition as determined by the proportion of its ingredients or the manner in which they are mixed; consistence, composition; mixture.

The distinctive characteristics of a place or situation

Internal constitution; state with respect to the relative proportion of different qualities, or constituent parts.

Personalities An offensive or disparaging personal remark

Due mixture of qualities; a condition brought about by mutual compromises or concessions.

(of people) A set of non-physical psychological and social qualities that make one person distinct from another.

The act of tempering or modifying; adjustment, as of clashing rules, interests, passions, or the like; also, the means by which such adjustment is effected.

(of inanimate or abstract things) A set of qualities that make something distinctive or interesting.

Condition with regard to heat or cold; temperature.

An assumed role or manner of behavior.

A system of compromises in the tuning of organs, pianofortes, and the like, whereby the tones generated with the vibrations of a ground tone are mutually modified and in part canceled, until their number reduced to the actual practicable scale of twelve tones to the octave. This scale, although in so far artificial, is yet closely suggestive of its origin in nature, and this system of tuning, although not mathematically true, yet satisfies the ear, while it has the convenience that the same twelve fixed tones answer for every key or scale, C$ becoming identical with D$, and so on.

A celebrity, especially one with a strong media presence.

Your usual mood;

Charisma, or qualities that make a person stand out from the crowd.

Excessive emotionalism or irritability and excitability (especially when displayed openly)

Something said or written which refers to the person, conduct, etc., of some individual, especially something of a disparaging or offensive nature; personal remarks.

An adjustment of the intervals (as in tuning a keyboard instrument) so that the scale can be used to play in different keys

(legal) That quality of a law which concerns the condition, state, and capacity of persons

That which constitutes distinction of person; the externally evident aspects of the character or behavior of a person; individuality.

Something said or written which refers to the person, conduct, etc., of some individual, especially something of a disparaging or offensive nature; personal remarks; as, indulgence in personalities.

That quality of a law which concerns the condition, state, and capacity of persons.

A person who is famous or notable; a celebrity.

The complex of all the attributes--behavioral, temperamental, emotional and mental--that characterize a unique individual;

A person of considerable prominence;

Temperament refers to the inherent part of an individual's psychological makeup, evident from early life and consistent throughout.

Temperament is about inherent traits primarily linked to biological factors, whereas personality is shaped by both innate qualities and external experiences.

Yes, personality can evolve based on new experiences, personal choices, and other external factors.

Yes, aspects of a person's temperament can be observed even in infancy, such as regularity in sleep and feeding patterns.

Personality is the complex layer of characteristics that includes emotional patterns, behaviors, and thoughts that evolve from both inherent dispositions and life experiences.

Temperament can be assessed through observation of emotional and physiological responses, while personality assessments often involve psychological testing.

Yes, temperament provides the baseline characteristics on which personality traits are built and expressed.

Culture significantly influences personality by shaping the values, behaviors, and social norms that an individual adopts.

Temperament is generally stable, but certain aspects might slightly adapt due to life circumstances.

Examples of personality traits include openness, conscientiousness, and agreeableness.

Common temperament traits include sensitivity, activity level, and emotional reactivity.