Personality

1. Personality

2. The term “Personality” originates from the Greek word Persona, meaning a mask • In the ancient Greek theater, the actors carried a mask attached to a stick, it represented the character they played

3. Definitions: J.P. Guilford (1959) • “An individual’s personality, then, is his unique pattern of traits.” • A trait is “any distinguishable, relatively enduring way in which one individual differs from others.”

4. Definitions: Mackinnon (1959) • Personality refers to “factors” inside people that explain their behavior • The sum total of typical ways of acting, thinking, and feeling that makes a person unique.

5. Definitions: R.B. Cattell (1950) • The personality of an individual is that which enables us to predict what he will do in a given situation”

6. 3 Facts to Consider When Defining “Personality” • Individuals are unique • Individuals behave differently in different situations • Although individuals are unique and behave inconsistently across situations, there is considerable commonality in human behavior

7. Factors Determining Personality Development • Heredity • Constitutional Factors : • The constitution of an individual is an effective factor in determining the type of his Personality. There can be 3 bodily types of personality- (1) short and stout, (2) tall and thin, (3) muscular and well Proportioned. One is always impressed by an individual who has a muscular and a well proportioned body. Height, Weight, physical defects, health and strength affect Personality. • Biological Factors: •  The working of the nervous system, glands and blood chemistry determines our characteristics and habitual modes of behavior. These factors form the biological basis of our personality. Adrenal gland, thyroid gland, pituitary gland and endocrine gland affect personality. It is this ability which enables him to mould the social environment according to his requirements.

8. Heredity • Intelligence: •  Intelligence is mainly hereditary. Persons who are very intelligent can make better adjustment in home, school and society than those who are less intelligent.4. • Sex Differences: • Sex differences play a vital role in the development of personality of individual. Boys are generally more assertive and vigorous. They prefer adventures. Girls are quieter and more injured by personal, emotional and social problems.

9.  Environments • The sociologists emphasize that the personality of the individual develops in asocial environment. It is in the social environment, that he comes to have moral ideas, social attitudes and interests. This enables him to develop a social‘ self which is another term for personality. • Physical Environment: •  It includes the influence of climatic conditions of a particular area or country on man and his living.  • Social Environment: •  The child has his birth in the society. He learns and lives there. Hence, the social environment has an important say in the personality development of the child.

10.  Environments • Family Environment: •  Family is the cradle of all social virtues. The first environment, the child moves in, is his home. Here the child comes in contact with his parents and other family member his likes, dislikes, stereotypes about people, expectancies of security and emotional responses all are shaped in early childhood. The type of training and early childhood experiences received from the family play an important role in the development of personality.

11.  Environments • Cultural Environment: •  The cultural environment refers to certain cultural traditions, ideals, and values etc., which are accepted in a particular society. All these factors leave a permanent impression on the child's personality. • School Environment: •  Schools play an important role in molding the personality of the children because a significant part of a child's life is spent in school between the ages of 6 and 20 years. In the school, the teacher substitutes the parents. The school poses new problems to be solved, new taboos to be accepted into the superego and new models for imitation and identification, all of which contribute their share in molding personality

12. Other determinants of personality • Self Concept • Inter-personal Relations • Psychological Factors • These include one’s motives, acquired interests, attitudes, will and character, intellectual capacities such as intelligence i.e., the abilities to perceive, to observe, to imagine, to think and to reason. These factors determine one’s reactions in various situations and thus affect one’s personality, growth and direction. An individual with a considerable amount of will power will be able to make decisions more quickly than others.

13. Techniques of improving Personality • Appearance • Communication Skills • Self discipline • Spontaneity, simplicity and naturalness • Accepts and recognize weak points • Attending social gathering • Good listener • Positive in thoughts • Knowledge

14. Confidence • Avoids expressing envy and bitter criticism • Keeps away anger and irritation • Serves and helps others • Avoid judging people • Appreciate and praise others • Developing courage

15. Role of education in personality development educa

37. “Personality” as a construct may include: • Emotional responses • Social behavior • Emotional thoughts and behaviour • Motivations • Values • Interests • Methods of Measuring Personality: • Paper & pencil tests: questionnaires, inventories • Situational exercises • Field or natural observations • Projective measures

38. Value of Personality Questionnaires • Value to the individual (face validity) • Self-insight • Points of discussion • Norms provide comparison info

39. Value of Personality Questionnaires • Value to research (construct validity) • Study relationships of personality w/ other variables • Study changes over time • Value for Counseling - marital therapy - university counseling centers • Value for personnel management • Screening • Prediction of success • Placement & counseling

40. Disadvantage of Personality Tests • Social Desirability • Faking “Good” • Faking “Bad” • Random Responding

41. Two Main Personality Theories 1. Trait theory: people differ based on stable attributes (called “traits”) • characteristics lie on a continuum • e.g., the Big Five 2. Type theory: people can be sorted into categories (either one type or the other) • There are many different personality inventories that measure traits or types

42. The Big Five • OCEAN • Openness to Experience • Conscientiousness • Extraversion • Agreeableness • Neuroticism

43. The NEO PI-R (cont.) • Examples of Items: Neuroticism - Frightening thoughts sometimes come into my head. Extroversion - I don’t get much pleasure from chatting with people. Openness - I have a very active imagination Agreeableness - I believe that most people will take advantage of you if you let them. Conscientiousness - I pay my promptly and in full.

44. The NEO PI-R (cont.) • Example Neuroticism facet: Anxiety • I am not a worrier. • I am easily frightened. • I rarely feel fearful or anxious. • I often feel tense and jittery. • I am seldom apprehensive about the future. • I often worry about things that might go wrong. • I have fewer fears than most people. • Frightening thoughts sometimes come into my head.

45. List of Domain and Facet Scores NeuroticismExtraversion Openness Anxiety Warmth Fantasy Angry Hostility Gregariousness Aesthetics Depression Assertiveness Feelings Self-Consciousness Activity Actions Impulsiveness Excitement-Seeking Ideas Vulnerability Positive Emotions Values Agreeableness Conscientiousness Trust Competence Straightforwardness Order Altruism Dutifulness Compliance Achievement Striving Modesty Self-Discipline Tender-Mindedness Deliberation

46. Type Theories of Personality • Type A - Coronary-prone behavior pattern: aggressive, need to achieve more and more, workaholic, hidden lack of self-esteem (always need to prove self), always hurried, hostile • Type B – easygoing, noncompetitive, relaxed • People fall on a continuum somewhere between the two • Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

47. Myers-Briggs Type Indicator • Myers-Briggs: based on Jungian theory of personality • Classifies individuals along 4 theoretically independent dimensions.

48. MBTI (cont.) 1. Introversion / Extroversion(E-I) : How is your general attitude toward the world? 2. Sensing / Intuition (S-N) : How do you acquire information? 3. Thinking / Feeling (T-F) : How is information processed? 4. Judging / Perceiving (J-P): How do you make decisions?

49. MBTI Scales Extroversion-Introversion Scale E: Oriented primarily toward the outer world; focus on people and objects I: Oriented primarily toward the inner world; focus on concepts and ideas Sensing-Intuition Scale S:Individual reports observable facts through one or more of the five senses N: Reports meanings, relationships and/or possibilities that have been worked out beyond the reach of the conscious mind

50. MBTI Scales Thinking-Feeling Scale T: Judgment is impersonally based on logical consequences F: Judgment is primarily based on personal or social values Perception-Judging Scale P: Preference for using a perceptive process for dealing with the outer world J: Preference for using a judgment process for dealing with the outer world