PERSONALITY
PERSONALITY MEANING:-
“Personality” word came from the Latin word “persona” which means a mask worn by
person.
Definition:-
Personality is the dynamic organization within the individual, of those psycho-physical systems
that characterization his/ her characteristic adjustment to the environment
Nature of personality:-
1. ” Dynamic Organization-Psychological elements of the system are independent but function
in a linking manner. it can change
2. Psycho-physical Systems – Psychological elements of the system are traits, emotions,
intellect, temperament, character are based in the neurology and endocrinology of the body.
3. Unique- Everyone will have different personality.
4. Consistent Pattern- an individual behaves in the same way in different situations.
5. Thinking (cognition), Feeling (affect), Behaving (behavior)
Characteristics of a ‘Good’ Personality Theory:-
1. It should help us to understand and explain individual differences
2. It should help us in predicting human behavior at home, school, workplace and other social
settings
3. Should be testable empirically
4. It should grow over time by incorporating research findings and constructive criticism
5. It should be widely applicable
Classification of personality theories:-
Trait Theories of Personality-
A group of people believed that our personality is a combination of traits that determine our
behaviour.
Allport’s trait theory– According to the theory, three types of traits govern our personality.
They named these three categories of traits as:
Cardinal traits, central traits, and secondary traits.
Cattell’s Trait Theory- Cattell identified ‘source traits’ as the most important, and ‘surface
traits’ as the less important traits. Cattell also identified between common traits and unique
traits. He came up with sixteen trait dimensions of human personality.
Eysenck’s Trait Theory- , He proposed that our personality is comprised of two major
dimensions: Extroversion Vs Introversion; and Neuroticism Vs Stability. According to his
theory, different combinations of these dimensions lead to the development of different
personalities. Later, he added the third dimension to his model and named it as Psychoticism
Vs Socialization.
Introduction to Self Concept:-
The self concept is the way we perceive ourselves and the ideas we hold about our competencies
and attributes. In this article, we will discuss all about nature, its theories and most importantly
its role in our social life.
It is the accumulation of knowledge about the self, such as beliefs regarding –
Personality traits
Physical characteristics
Abilities
Values
Goals
Roles
Definitions of Self Concept:-
Harter (1996)- ‘The self concept is our total image of us. It is our total picture of our abilities
and traits. It is basically cognitive construct which determines how we feel about ourselves
and guides our actions’.
Purkey (1988) – ‘Self concept is defined as the totality of perceptions each person has of
themselves’.
According to Symonds (1957) self is the way individual reacts to himself. There
are four aspects –
Nature of Self Concept:-
In order to understand the nature of self concept, we need to be aware that there is a difference
between ‘self’ and ‘self concept’ A person’s self-image is based on how they see themselves. On
the other hand, self-concept is a more comprehensive evaluation of the self. Moreover, it is
largely based on how a person sees themselves, values themselves, thinks about themselves, and
feels about themselves.
The development of self concept of a person happens keeping various aspects in mind. Aspects
like Motivation, Need, Attitude, Temperament, etc. hence, the self concept is quite subjective.
What fuels this development or change? The answer is introspection. We often look back and
introspect our thoughts, behaviors and actions. This helps in fueling the change that is needed in
an individual’s self concept. Consequently, it plays a huge role in molding one’s personality.
The structure of self is subsequently shaped through interaction with the environment,
particularly the environment composed of important others ( e.g. parents, siblings, relatives). In
other words, as the child becomes socially sensitive and as his or her cognitive and perceptual
abilities mature. The self concept becomes increasingly differentiated and complex. To a large
extent, then the pleased of one’s self concept is a social product.
