INTRODUCTION
TO PERSONALITY
B.Ed. Teaching Notes
Prepared by
SABARISH-P
M.Sc., M.Ed.,NET
Lecturer in Physical Science, Arafa Institute for Teacher Education
Attur, Thrissur.
Introduction
The word personality is derived from
the Latin word ‘Persona’ means mask, used by the actors to change their
appearance but in Roman period it was taken to mean the actor. The meaning of the word personality has
changed little since classical times. We
often say ‘fine personality’, ‘good personality’, ‘poor personality’ etc. on
the basis of physical make up, manner of walking, talking, drawing and other
similar characteristics of the individual.
However this is a very limited view and the psychological concept of
personality goes further and deeper than mere appearance or out ward behavior.
Different View
Points to define Personality
1) Philosophical
view point
Philosophers are of the view that the
personality is ideal of perfection or self-realization or the internal self.
2) Sociological
View Point
This view point thinks that the
individual is nothing but a reflection of the society. Personality is the integration of all traits
which determine the role of the status of the person in society, ie. “Social
effectiveness”. In the Warren’s dictionary it is defined that “Personality is
the integrative organization of all the cognitive, affective, conative and
physical characteristics of an individual as it manifests itself in local
distinction from others.
3) Layman
View Point
From this point of view, personality
means those qualities which cast their influence on others. How an individual affects other persons with
whom he comes in contact or the effect or impact which an individual leaves on
other people is called personality. It is also understood that personality is
the stimulus value which one individual has for others or the total picture of
an individual’s organized behavior.
4)
Psycho analytic view point
According to Freud, personality is the
combination of three components ie. Id, Ego and Super Ego which are manifested through behavior.
5) Psychological
view point
Psychologists are of the view that personality
is the sum total of all the biological innate disposition, impulses,
tendencies, aptitudes, attitudes and instincts of the individual and the acquired
dispositions and tendencies acquired by experience. This approach was criticized and other
psychologists emphasis on integration and organization in defining
personality. They define personality is
the entire organization of a human being at any state of his development. The way the individual adjust with the external
environment is personality. Thus psychologically
personality is the integrated and dynamic organization of the physical, mental,
moral and social qualities of the individual as that manifests itself to others
in social life.
Definitions of
Personality
Some of the important definitions of
personality are
1)
Morton Prince (1914):- “Personality is the
sum total of biological innate dispositions, impulses, tendencies, aptitudes
and instincts of the individual and the dispositions and tendencies acquired by
experience”
2)
Gordon R.G. (1928):- “Personality is a comprehensive
term which includes character”
3) Watson J.B (1924):-“Personality
is the sum of activities that can be discovered by actual observation over a
long enough period of time to give reliable information.”
4)
G.W. Allport (1937):- “Personality is the
dynamic organization with in the individual of those psychophysical systems
that determine his unique adjustment to the environment”.
5) R.B. Cattel (1967):-
“Personality is that which permits a prediction of what a person will do in a
given situation”
6)
Eysenck H.J. (1947):- “Personality is the more or less
stable and enduring organization of persons character, temperament, intellect
& physique, which determine his
unique adjustment to the
environment”
7)
Guilford J.P (1967):- “An individual’s personality
then is his unique pattern of traits”
8)
Lewin. Kurt (1935):- “Personality is a dynamic
totality of systems”
9)
S.R. Maddi (1976):- Personality is the stable
characteristics and tendencies that determine those commonalities and differences
in the psychological behavior (thought, feelings and actions) of people that
have continuity in time and that may or may not be easily understood in terms
of the social & biological pressures of the immediate situation alone”.
10) Moynihan & Peterson (2001):-
Personality is the key antecedent of an individual’s cognitions and affective
states that may influence his/her to and interpersonal or socio-emotional role
behavior.
Factors Influencing or Affecting Personality
Personality is dynamic, growing, and
different in each person in physical appearance, temperament and motivation. The
differences become more pronounced and complex with increasing and maturity due
to continuous interaction with the environment and accordingly each one of us develop
a personality different from others. Now
the question arises; how does personality develop? What causes these
variations? Why do we develop different
personality’s inspite of basic similarities? All these can be answered if we
examine the various factors which influence the structure & functions of
personality. Thus the development of
personality depends upon the following factors.
(i) Physiological and physical factors (genetic
or biological)
(ii)
Environmental or Social factors
(iii)
Psychological or Mental factors
(iv)
The cultural factors.
1) The physiological & physical factors
(genetic or biological)
The biological factors affecting the development of
personality are mainly three. They are
(a) Physique,
(b) Chemique
(c) Nervous system.
(a)
Physique
An individual’s personalities differ according to his
physique. These aspects are height,
weight, body-built, color appearance and proportion etc, which determine to a
large extent the way in which he behaves towards other and how others react
towards him. It is seen that in daily
life the fact men are easy going and social while thin men are self controlled,
irritated and unsocial. Even tall &
fair persons enjoy an advantage over their short and ugly associates. Thus the physical structure has some relation
with environment and makes a change in their personality.
b) Chemique
Chemique is meant the possible effects
of the ductless glands on the personality development. Ductless glands called
endocrine glands releases hormones into the blood stream which carries them to
all parts of the body. It brings about
changes in physical appearance, motor functioning, intelligence and emotional
stability. Eg:-Pituitary, Thyroid,
Adrenal etc. Individuals with profound
imbalance of ductless glands are rarely happy or well-adjusted. Glands play an important part in bodily,
mental and emotional development
c) Nervous System
Nervous system is mainly classified as
Central Nervous system (Control of our will) and Autonomous nervous system
(autonomic). The conditions of the body brought
by drugs, disease, diet, toxins etc. may also influence one’s personality and
behavior.
Hence heredity lies at the root of all the
possibilities of personality development.
2) The Environmental or Social Factors
Physical and geographical conditions
of the environment play an important role in shaping the personality of human
beings at every stage of development.
The type of home atmosphere parent child relationship, financial
conditions, types of school and the community or society etc are some of the factors
of environment which affect the personality.
a) Influence of Home & the family on
personality
Besides the role of parents in
personality development the atmosphere in the family is greatly
influencing. A peaceful and loving
atmosphere results in children being orderly peace-loving and very affectionate
and develop mature and pleasant personalities, where as in family where there
is tension, constant quarreling, incompatibility among parents, the child is
likely to develop insecurity, inferiority and becomes emotionally confused and unstable.
Rigid atmosphere, deprivation, autocratic styles of living, absence of
affection and sympathy affect adversely and the child often turns
criminal. Thus the child’s personality
is a creation of family and its development is fully dependent upon the child’s
parents and the child himself at home.
b) Influence of School on Personality
School plays an important role in molding
the personality of children because a significant part of a child’s life is
spent in school. In school the personality and behavior of the teacher, class
fellows and playmates, the richness of the curriculum, co-curricular
activities, method of teaching, nature of school organization and discipline
that prevails etc. are effecting the child’s personality. The child tends to identify himself with the
teachers and tries to imitate his ways & manners. Thus a good teacher and the congenial
atmosphere in the institution develop the child educationally and mentally, and
helps in formulating balanced personality development otherwise an unethical
behavior could have been found out with children.
c) Influence of Society on Personality
In the society each individual has same peculiar
status and roles corresponding to him.
It is found out that social control is exercised by traditions, myth,
legends, customs etc. and determines the style of life of an individual. The individual has to follow rules, regulations,
norms and law to govern the individual.
Thus social norms influence even the ways and attitudes of the
individual. This ultimately influences
his personality.
3) The Psychological or Mental Factors
The psychological factors like
motives, interests, attitudes, character, thinking, intelligence, reasoning,
imagination, creativity, habits, mental health etc developed by the individual
also affect their personality to a great extent.
4) The cultural Determinants
Every society is characterized by its
cultural heritage which is transmitted from generation to generation in the
form of social heredity. Thus
personality of an individual is gradually shaped by the culture where he is
born in. Culture is a way of life. It is a fact that we are able to distinguish
one person from other on the basis of effect of his culture over his
personality characteristics. Thus the
attributes and values practiced in a culture have a great effect on the personality
development of its members.
Features and
Characteristics of Personality
Various researches & observations
have led to the identification of the following characteristics of personality.
1)
Personality is something unique and specific.
Every one of us is unique person and different
from one another.
2)
Personality is dynamic and moving force.
It is never fixed & rigid.
However it seems to remain
stable to a large extent.
3)
Personality is the sum total of various human qualities. It includes all the behavioral patterns. It includes cognitive, connative, affective
domains and covers the conscious, semiconscious
& unconscious activities.
4)
Personality has a structure. It consists
of certain dimensions. It is the
combination of inner as well as outer
qualities.
5)
It is not mere physical appearance but it is the study of both physical &
psychological factors as an
integrated system.
6)
It is the product of Heredity & environment
7)
Personality exhibits self consciousness as one of its main characteristics. Man is described as a ‘person’ when the idea of ‘self’ enter into his consciousness.
8)
It is subjected to disorganization & disintegration leading to severe personality
disorders.
9)
Learning & acquisition of experiences contributes towards growth &
development of personality.
10)
It can be described & measured.
Thus
it may be said that personality is a complex blend of a constantly evolving and
changing pattern of one’s unique behavior, emerged as a result of one’s
interaction with environment and directed towards some specifications.
Related terms
& Explanation
1) Instincts
Mc Dougall used the team ‘instinct’ to
define the innate behavior of an individual.
Instincts provide the driving force for action. Some sort of control over instincts is necessary
and the aim of education is to modify and direct instincts into healthy
channels.
The development of character &
personality depends on modification of instincts. Instincts are said to be the bricks out of
which an individual’s character is fashioned.
2) Character and Temperament as parts of
personality
Character is something different from
personality. It is said that personality is intelligence plus character.
Temperament is said to designate a
certain class of raw material from which personality is fashioned. Temperament is the affective nature of an
individual.
3) Personality Traits
According to Woodworth “A trait is
some particular quality of behavior which characterizes the individual in a
wide range of his activities and which is family consistent over a period of
time. Only those traits that are found
in an individual’s behavior more or less consistently similar situations are
called personality traits. Unity consistency
& continuity mark the personality traits.
The behavior of each individual is
mainly influenced by one or more strong and in depth specific trait or a set of
traits. The influence of such traits
will be reflected in all the behaviors of the individual. They are said to be the robust personality
traits of that individual.
Eg: Dominance -Submissiveness, Introversion - Extroversion
etc.
4) Concept of Mature Personality
According to
G.W. Allport a mature personality has three characteristics.
1) Self extension: Never be ego centric, have a
definite goal
2) Self objectification: Having a sense of
reality
3) Unifying philosophy of life: value oriented
& values are for welfare of all.
5) Concept of Integrated Personality
An integrated personality is one in
which the various aspects are integrated in a harmonious and effective
manner. The concept of integrated
personality differs according to different theories of personality. Psycho analysts view is that stable ego
functions contribute to balance & integration of personality. The Humanists believe that self concept of
person is the key concept that decides an integrated personality.
Characteristics
of Integrated Personality
1) An Integrated personality
1)
Is flexible, strong and organized as well as balanced.
2)
Has realistic assessment of oneself-one’s strength and weakness.
3)
Maintains harmony between ones abilities, capabilities, interests, self
concept, social constraints life goal and social codes and
conduct.
2) In an integrated personality
i)
There is no conflict
ii) Mind and emotions, desire &
determination and all mental activities work in an organized
way.
iii)
Ambitions & aspirations are in accordance with one’s mental capabilities.
Teachers
Personality
‘Example is better than percept’. A
teacher teaches not only by ‘What he says and does’ but by ‘what he is’. Children’s
are easily influenced by their ‘model’ teachers. So teachers must possess an
integrated personality.
Psycho osmosis
Teacher’s personality influences student’s
personality. This process is called
psycho osmosis. This is a gradual & often unconscious process. The ideas thus absorbed are to be conducive
to the development of an integrated personality.
Role of teacher
in Personality development
Teacher has to play a vital role to
ensure favorable environment to poster the development of good personally of
children. Teacher can develop a good
(balanced) personality among the children by projecting these qualities through
his own personality, showing related personalities of eminent persons through
audio-visual aids creating conductive social and emotional climate and
environment in the school.
Recent Research
in Personality
Recent researches in personality
includes the dimensions of
1) Various models of personality (e.g.: Big five
model)
2) Personality disorders
3) Genetic influence on personality
4) Predicting child’s future personality
5) Concept of personality science-For
personality measurement.
Conclusion
Throughout history philosophers, politicians,
physicians, jurists, and psychologists were interested to explain how and why
the differences among people occur. Most had the goal of explaining or
predicting human behavior. The study and understanding of personality is
important within the field of psychology and many other disciplines including
Education. Despite various definitions, personality is difficult to define
precisely, as the many experts in the field of personality psychology differ in
their standards and instruments of defining and measurement. Education aims at
the all round development of personality of the learner. The personality
factors of the learner do affect their learning and performance in class, and
knowledge of personality characteristics of the pupil is needed to give them
proper guidance. That is why both psychologists and educationists were always
interested in this aspect.
References
1) Educational Psychology-by Wool fold (Pearson
education)
2) Personality & personal growth-by Frager
Fadiman
3) Personality classical theories & Modern
Research -by Friedman, Schustack
4) Advanced Educational psychology - by S.K.
Mangal
5) Educational psychology - by S.K. Mangal
6) Essentials of Educational Psychology - by
J.C. Agarwal
7)
Advanced educational psychology-by Dandapani, S. (Annmol Publications. Pvt.
Ltd.)
