Personality is static, while your attitude is dynamic. Who you are is who you are, and you cannot change that. That’s your personality. However how you behave towards a person or a situation is something that’s absolutely at your discretion. That defines your attitude. Your attitude usually depends upon the kind of personality you have.

Definitions

Types of personality

Your personality is defined by the qualities or traits that you possess, since that’s what makes you “You”. Expert psychologists say that personality is something that is defined by numerous factors like your thoughts, behaviour, feelings and individual qualities. This is why everyone has a different personality.

Not only psychological, but certain physiological factors also influence one’s personality.

Talk about attitude, and it is defined by how you respond to or treat something or someone. It is possible that you have an outgoing and extrovert personality, but you behave in a reserved manner with some people. Maybe because they are not trustworthy according to you or you have some issue with them. It is equally possible that you have a humble and understanding personality, but with some people, you are not nice simply because they have treated you badly or lied to you.

Your attitude is definitely not “everything”. But, it is one inevitable factor for sure that decides your success or failure in different situations.

Personality vs Attitude

What’s the difference between personality and attitude?

Personality and attitude are undeniably two different terms that are often interchanged for each other. Personality concerns what kind of emotions, thoughts, and qualities a person holds. It generally lets people predict a person’s behaviour in different situations. Thus, it is a broad term. As compared to personality, attitude is how a person behaves at a certain point of time. One’s attitude may always differ with different people, different events and different places.

Your personality is developed as you live your life and grab things from your surroundings. On the other hand, a host of internal as well as external factors may influence your attitude. When discussing a variety of subjects related to society such as politics, corruption or abortion, people won’t change their personalities, but their attitudes would surely differ from one another.

Personality, in particularly, comprises five major traits i.e. Openness to experience, Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism, which are also referred to as the Big Five, or you can use a mnemonic approach of O-C-E-A-N to keep these in mind. The attitude of a person can, however, either be positive or negative.

Comparison Table