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PERSONALITY
Personality The word personality is derived from the Greek word “persona” which means to “speak through”. Personality is the combination of characteristics or qualities that forms a person’s unique identity. It signifies the role which a person plays in public. Personality is defined as the sum total of ways in which an individual reacts to and interacts with others. Organizations are concerned with the study of personality and various personality dimensions because they not only want individuals with right skill and knowledge that is required to perform the job but also that person should possess some amount of flexibility in his character to meet the changing situations. Characteristics of Personality (i) Personality is psychological in nature. (ii) Personality has both internal and external elements. Internal elements: thoughts, values and genetic traits. External elements are observable behavior that we notice. e.g. sociability (iii) An individual’s personality is relatively stable. If it changes at all, it is only after a very long time or as the result of some events. (iv) An individual’s personality is both inherited as well as shaped by the environment. (v) Each individual is unique in behavior. (vi) Personality may be changed under certain circumstances. e.g. An individual’s personality may be altered by major life events, such as birth of a child, the death of a loved ones, a divorce etc.
Determinants of Personality Every person has a different personality and there are a lot of factors which contribute to that personality. We call them the determinants of personality or the factors of personality. (i) Heredity Heredity means the transmission of characteristics from forefather to present generations through genes. Heredity factors not only affect the physical features of a person, but the intelligence level, attentiveness, gender, temperament, various inherited diseases and energy level, all get affected by them. Facial attractiveness, muscle composition, complexion etc. are the characteristics which are imported from one’s parents. The example of how heredity factors determine such a huge and significant part of an individual‘s personality can easily be observed in children. Many children behave exactly how their parents do. Similarly, twin siblings also have a lot of things in common. (ii) Environment Here, environment refers to the culture of the family that is passed along from one generation to another. For example, the individual’s behavior is affected by his family culture. If the family culture is well, then the individual will have good personality and vice-versa under normal situation. (iii) Family The family has considerable influence on personality development of an individual, particularly in the early stages. For example, children raised in orphanage are much more socially and emotionally maladjusted than their counterparts raised by parents in a warm and loving environment.
- Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud was the founding father of Psychoanalytic theory, a method for treating mental illness and also a theory which explains human behavior. Through his clinical work with patients suffering from mental illness, Freud came to believe that childhood experiences and unconscious desires influenced behavior. In his famous psychoanalytic theory of personality, personality is composed of three elements. These three elements of personality—known as the id, the ego, and the superego—work together to create complex human behaviors. The Id The id is the only component of personality that is present from birth. This aspect of personality is entirely unconscious. The id is driven by the pleasure principle, which strives for immediate gratification of all desires, wants, and needs. If these needs are not satisfied immediately, the result is a state anxiety or tension. For example, an increase in hunger or thirst should produce an immediate attempt to eat or drink. The id is very important early in life, because it ensures that an infant's needs are met. If the infant is hungry or uncomfortable, he or she will cry until the demands of the id are satisfied. Because young infants are ruled entirely by the id, there is no reasoning with them when these needs demand satisfaction. Imagine trying to convince a baby to wait until lunchtime to eat his meal. Instead, the id requires immediate satisfaction, and because the other components of personality are not yet present, the infant will cry until these needs are fulfilled. Although people eventually learn to control the id, this part of personality remains the same infantile, primal force all throughout life. The Ego
The ego's goal is to satisfy the demands of the id in a safe and socially acceptable way. For example, imagine that you are stuck in a long meeting at work. You find yourself growing increasingly hungry as the meeting drags on. While the id might compel you to jump up from your seat and rush to the break room for a snack, the ego guides you to sit quietly and wait for the meeting to end. Instead of acting upon the primal urges of the id. Once the meeting is finally over, you can satisfy the demands of the id in a realistic and appropriate manner. The Superego The last component of personality to develop is the superego. The superego develops during early childhood. The superego provides guidelines for making judgments. There are two parts of the superego: a. The ego ideal includes the rules and standards for good behaviors. These behaviors include those which are approved of by parental and other authority figures. Obeying these rules leads to feelings of pride, value, and accomplishment. b. The conscience includes information about things that are viewed as bad by parents and society. These behaviors are often forbidden and lead to bad consequences, punishments, or feelings of guilt and remorse. o The superego acts to perfect and civilize our behavior. It works to suppress all unacceptable urges of the id and struggles to make the ego act upon idealistic standards rather that upon realistic principles. According to Freud, the key to a healthy personality is a balance between the id, the ego, and the superego. Freud believed that an imbalance between these elements would lead to a maladaptive personality. An individual with an overly dominant id, for example, might become impulsive, uncontrollable, or even criminal. This individual acts upon his or her most basic urges with no concern for whether the behavior is appropriate, acceptable, or legal. An overly dominant superego, on the other hand, might lead to a personality that is extremely moralistic and possibly judgmental. This person may be very unable to accept anything or anyone that he or she perceives as "bad" or "immoral."
o Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt o 1½ - 3 years o This is the “me do it” stage. o During this stage children begin to assert their independence, by walking away from their mother, picking which toy to play with, and making choices about what they like to wear, to eat, etc. o If children in this stage are encouraged and supported in their increased independence, they become more confident and secure in their own ability to survive in the world. o If children are criticized, overly controlled, or not given the opportunity to assert themselves, they begin to feel inadequate in their ability to survive, and may then become overly dependent upon others, lack self-esteem, and feel a sense of shame or doubt in their abilities. o
o Initiative vs. Guilt o 3 – 5 years o Children begin to plan activities, make up games, and initiate activities with others. If given this opportunity, children develop a sense of initiative and feel secure in their ability to lead others and make decisions. o Conversely, if this tendency is squelched, either through criticism or control, children develop a sense of guilt; therefore, remain followers, lacking in self-initiative. o
o During this period, we begin to share ourselves more intimately with others. We explore relationships leading toward longer-term commitments with someone other than a family member. o Successful completion of this stage can result in happy relationships and a sense of commitment, safety, and care within a relationship. o Avoiding intimacy, fearing commitment and relationships can lead to isolation, loneliness, and sometimes depression. o https://youtu.be/BlYcroiA3VU Generativity vs. Stagnation o 40 - 65 years o Generativity refers to "making your mark" on the world through creating or nurturing things that will outlast an individual. o During this stage, middle-aged adults begin contributing to the next generation, often through childbirth and caring for others; they also engage in meaningful and productive work which contributes positively to society. o By failing to find a way to contribute, we become stagnant and feel unproductive. These individuals may feel disconnected or uninvolved with their community and with society as a whole. Integrity vs. Despair o 65+ years o People in late adulthood reflect on their lives and feel either a sense of satisfaction or a sense of failure. o People who feel proud of their accomplishments feel a sense of integrity, and they can look back on their lives with few regrets. o However, people who are not successful at this stage may feel as if their life has been wasted. They focus on what “would have,” “should have,” and “could have” been. They face the end of their lives with feelings of bitterness, depression, and despair.
- Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development
Piaget's theory of cognitive development explains how a child constructs a mental model of the world. To Piaget, cognitive development was a progressive reorganization of mental processes as a result of biological maturation and environmental experience. There Are Three Basic Components To Piaget's Cognitive Theory: a. A schema is any concept or idea of how the world works. In more simple terms Piaget called the schema the basic building block of intelligent behavior – a way of organizing knowledge. For example, a person might have a schema about buying a meal in a restaurant. The schema is a stored form of the pattern of behavior which includes looking at a menu, ordering food, eating it and paying the bill. This is an example of a type of schema called a 'script.' For example, babies have a sucking reflex, which is triggered by something touching the baby's lips. Piaget, therefore, assumed that the baby has a 'sucking schema.' b. Adaptation processes that enable the transition from one stage to another (equilibrium, assimilation, and accommodation). Assimilation: Assimilation is taking a new experience and adding it to a pre-existing schema. A 2-year-old child sees a man who is bald on top of his head and has long frizzy hair on the sides. To his father’s horror, the toddler shouts “Clown, clown”. Accommodation: Accommodation is changing something in a schema to fit a new experience. In the “clown” incident, the boy’s father explained to his son that the man was not a clown and that even though his hair was like a clown’s, he wasn’t wearing a funny costume and wasn’t doing silly things to make people laugh. With this new knowledge, the boy was able to change his schema of “clown” and make this idea fit better to a standard concept of “clown”. Equilibration:
Trait approach is one of the most vital areas of study in psychology that helps identify a person’s personality. Traits can be defined as a stable characteristic that causes a person to depict a response to any situations in certain ways. An individual, as a whole, doesn’t just have a single trait, but the variety of trait forms of personality. These trait forms are unique from one individual to another. The theory designated to identify and measure individual personality characteristics can be defined as trait theory. Trait theory approach focuses on personality differences between individuals. Gordon Allport’s Trait Theory In 1936, psychologist Gordon Allport found that one English-language dictionary alone contained more than 4,000 words describing different personality traits. He categorized these traits into three levels: (i) Cardinal Traits: These are traits that dominate an individual’s whole life, often to the point that the person becomes known specifically for these traits. People with such personalities can become so well-known for these traits that their names are often synonymous with these qualities. The cardinal traits are powerful, and few people possess personality dominated by a single trait. Such as Mother Teresa’s altruism. (ii) Central Traits: These traits are the general characteristics possessed by many individuals in the varying. Examples include kind, sincere, intelligent, dishonest. (iii) Secondary Traits: These traits are those that only come out under certain situations. An example would be getting nervous to speak in public. Eysenck’s Three Dimensions of Personality British psychologist Hans Eysenck developed a model of personality based upon just three universal trails.
(i) Introversion/Extraversion: Introversion involves focusing energy on inner experiences, while extroversion refers to focusing energy on environment and people. A person high in introversion might be shy, while an individual high in extraversion might be sociable. (ii) Neuroticism/Emotional Stability: This category is synonymous to "moodiness versus even-temperedness". A neurotic person is inclined to having changing emotions from time to time, while an emotionally stable person tends to maintain a constant mood or emotion. (iii) Psychoticism: Later, after studying individuals suffering from mental illness, Eysenck added a personality dimension he called psychoticism to his trait theory. This dimension refers to the finding it hard to deal with reality. A psychotic person may be considered hostile, manipulative, anti-social and non-empathetic. Raymond Cattell: Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire According to him, the sample of a large number of variables should be studied to have a proper understanding of the individual personality. He collected the life data (everyday life behaviors of individuals), experimental data (standardizing experiments by measuring actions), questionnaire data (responses gathered from the introspection of an individual’s behavior) and done the factor analysis to identify the traits that are related to one another. By using the factor analysis method, he identified 16 key personality factors:
- Abstractedness – Imaginative Vs Practical
- Warmth – Outgoing Vs Reserved
- Vigilance – Suspicious Vs Trusting
- Tension – Impatient Vs Relaxed
- Apprehension – Worried Vs Confident
- Emotional Stability – Calm Vs anxious
- Liveliness – Spontaneous Vs Restrained
- Dominance – Forceful Vs Submissive
- Social Boldness – Uninhibited Vs Shy
- Perfectionism – Controlled Vs Undisciplined
- Privateness – Discreet Vs Open
- Sensitivity – Tender Vs Tough
Ideal self: Who individuals think they would like to be. Ego is similar to one’s objective reality, so it is similar to actual self. Superego is defined by the way things should be and hence can be seen as a reflection of ideal self. Rogers’ person-centered theory emphasized the concept of self- actualization. Rogers believed humans are born with a desire to be the best they can. When or rather if they did so, self-actualization took place. Carl Rogers believed that for a person to achieve self- actualization, they must be in a state of congruence. Where a person’s ideal self and actual experiences are consistent or very similar a state of congruence exists. The closer our self-image and ideal self are to each other, the more consistent or congruent we are and the higher our sense of self-worth. For Carl Rogers, a person who has high self-worth, i.e. has confidence and positive feelings about himself or herself, faces challenges in life, accept failure and unhappiness at times, and is open with people. A person with low self-worth may avoid challenges in life, not accept that life can be painful and unhappy at times, and will be defensive and guarded with other people.
Rogers believed that we need to be regarded positively by others. Positive regard is to do with how other people evaluate and judge us in social interaction. Rogers made a distinction between unconditional positive regard and conditional positive regard. Unconditional positive regard is where parents, significant others accepts and loves the person for what he or she is. The consequences of unconditional positive regard are that the person feels free to try things out and make mistakes, even though this may lead to getting it worse at time. People who are able to self-actualize are more likely to have received unconditional positive regard from others, especially their parents in childhood. Conditional positive regard is where positive regard, praise and approval, depend upon the child, for e.g. , behaving in ways that the parents think correct. Hence the child is not loved for the person he or she is, but on condition that he or she behaves only in ways approved by the parents. For Rogers, people who can self-actualize are fully functioning persons. In many ways, Rogers regarded the fully functioning person as an ideal and one that people do not ultimately achieve. Rogers identified five characteristics of the fully functioning person:
- Open to experience: both positive and negative emotions accepted. Negative feelings are not denied, but worked through (rather than resort to ego defense mechanisms).
- Existential living: in touch with different experiences as they occur in life, avoiding prejudging and preconceptions. Being able to live and fully appreciate the present, not always looking back to the past or forward to the future (i.e. living for the moment).
- Trust feelings: feeling, instincts and gut-reactions are paid attention to and trusted. People’s own decisions are the right ones and we should trust ourselves to make the right choices.
