Personality is defined as the distinct variations in individual patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving. (Rathus, 210) The study of personality can be divided into two broad areas. The first is to understand individual differences in certain personality characteristics, such as agreeableness or petulance. The other is understanding how the different parts of a person come together to form a whole. There are five general perspectives in psychology, each emphasizing different factors in attempting to understand how a personality develops and relates to others. These are biological, psychodynamic, social and cultural (or sociocultural), learning and cognitive perspectives. This article describes how each of these perspectives would describe the development and maintenance of a traditional marital relationship (husband and wife). The Biological PerspectiveBateson (198-233) states that the basic biological perspective is that all human behavior is biogenetic at its core. Thus, people form relationships and marry those who are perceived to be best for the survival of their genes. Following this line of thinking, men are attracted to women who signal fertility and women are attracted to men who signal not only fertility but also the ability to care for a family. Specifically, there is a neurobiological structure that allows attachment bonds to be created in a way that motivates reproduction and, with it, a sense of security, reduced anxiety, and an ability to cope. This bonding mechanism, developed from the earliest years, guides a person throughout his life. Thus, the creation and maintenance of a loving marital relationship arises from and is reinforced by the biological wiring involved in the formation of attachment bonds from early to middle of paper ......viors. Their thoughts about the future outcomes of their current interactions are reasonable, and their assumptions about how the world works are grounded in reality. They do not selectively pay attention to aspects of the world that only support their beliefs and thinking, but rather are open to conflicting information. It is this type of thinking that helps develop and maintain a lasting romantic relationship. The Psychodynamic Perspective The psychodynamic perspective of marriage holds that stable, lasting relationships are formed and sustained when people are relatively free of neuroses and have a good ego or self. -operation (Ringstrom 159-182). In other words, it is the same factors that ensure healthy mental functioning in general that make two people function in a marriage in a way that expresses their love and protects their stability..