Personality is to man what perfume is to flower -- Charles M.Schwab- Ten commandents of success.
The word personality has an interesting derivation. It can be traced to the Latin word "per sona". The Latin term was used to denote the mask, worn by actors in ancient Greece and Rome.
This Latin word is particularly relevant to the contemporary analysis of personality. Common usage of the word emphasis the role which the person displays to public.
What Is Personality?
1.A dynamic concept describing the growth and development of a person’s whole psychological system
a)Personality looks at some aggregate whole that is greater than the sum of the parts.
2.Gordon Allport
a)Personality—the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine his unique adjustments to his environment
3.Personality is the sum total of ways in which an individual reacts to and interacts with others.
a)It is most often described in terms of measurable traits that a person exhibits.
But the most meaningful would be to include both person and role. So personality is the characteristic pattern of behaviour (communication skill / ability, good interpersonal relation, etc) and modes of thinking that determine a person’s adjustment to the environment. Personality can also be described as how person affects others.
(Charisma) how an individual understand and views himself and his pattern of inner and outer measurable traits. In the process of development individual acquires distinctiveness and uniqueness which gives him identity which enables us to recognize him apart from others.
So personality is a sum total of different traits, which also includes external appearance, communication skills, interpersonal relations, sensitivity, emotionality and intelligence. Every person is in certain aspect.
Personality Determinants
An early argument
Personality was the result of heredity or of environment.
Personality appears to be a result of both influences.
Heredity
1)Heredity refers to those factors that were determined at conception.
2)The heredity approach argues that the ultimate explanation of an individual’s personality is the molecular structure of the genes, located in the chromosomes.
3)Three different streams of research lend some credibility to the heredity argument.
The genetic underpinnings of human behavior and temperament among young children
(a)Evidence demonstrates that traits such as shyness, fear, and distress are most likely caused by inherited genetic characteristics.
(2)The study of twins who were separated at birth
(a)Study of more than 100 sets of identical twins separated at birth and raised separately, but the researchers found a lot in common
(3)The consistency in job satisfaction over time and across situations
(a)Individual job satisfaction is remarkably stable over time. This is indicates that satisfaction is determined by something inherent in the person.
The impact of heredity on personality is very active but still unsettled area of understanding. The problem is that geneticist’s face a major obstacle is gathering information scientifically on human beings. Studies of twins, have proved newsworthy.
For example, "Jim Twin " who were identical twins separated at berth, were both named Jim, by their adopted parents. Both of their first Wife were named Linda, second Wife Betty, both named their son James Allan, both had dogs named toy. Both were mediocore student, both suffered heart attack and they both started getting migraine headache of about the same duration in the same period of their lives.
These cases of similarities of twins raised apart supported the position that heredity plays a major role in personality. Despite these unusual and interesting cases, a recent comprehensive review of research found that personality is more affected by environment than any other areas of human functioning but there are still questions to be answered.
Heredity Vs environment debate is still alive and no definite conclusions are yet possible. But it is clear that physical attribute are largely attributed to heredity.
Environment
a)Factors that exert pressures on our personality formation
The culture in which we are raised
Early conditioning
Norms among our family
Friends and social groups
b)The environment we are exposed to plays a substantial role in shaping our personalities.
c)Culture establishes the norms, attitudes, and values passed from one generation to the next and creates consistencies over time.
Man cannot be separated from his environment. His consciousness is inextricably linked with his surroundings, physical and social. He adapts himself to his social environment as well as his physical environment. Both environments affect his organic and mental development.
Neither nature nor nurture is more important because they are both essential for the development of the human personality. The basic relativity of nature and nurture cannot be overlooked. Sentience imports for us to be conscious of something and that something, whether painful, pleasurable, or indifferent, comes within our experience.
Some experiences are agreeable and some disagreeable; some are of our own seeking and some are thrust upon us. The character, quality, and trend of such experiences depend upon and are, to a great extent, determined by our birth, nationality, place, etc. - in short, by heredity and environment.
By far the most important part of the overall environment of man is the social environment. It differs from one nation to another, one period to another, one class to another, and its influences are outside the control of any one individual.
The social system needs to be remodeled such that individual success does not conflict with communal welfare. This can be achieved by encouraging such social traits as altruism, readiness to cooperate, sympathetic enthusiasm, and so forth, instead of putting a premium on many anti-social traits such as egoism, cunning, and insensitivity to human misery.
All in all, differences among mankind are the outcome of nature and nurture, of heredity and environment. Some are sharp, some are dull. Nevertheless many apparently dull persons can be restored to normal intelligence by proper education, regular exercise of the mind, and facilities for wholesome association.
The way to progress lies in a ceaseless effort to develop our knowledge and intelligence. Such development is possible only when the mind is kept steady and well-poised.
Thus, Heredity sets the parameters or outer limits, but an individual’s full potential will be determined by how well he or she adjusts to the demands and requirements of the environment.
The word personality has an interesting derivation. It can be traced to the Latin word "per sona". The Latin term was used to denote the mask, worn by actors in ancient Greece and Rome.
This Latin word is particularly relevant to the contemporary analysis of personality. Common usage of the word emphasis the role which the person displays to public.
What Is Personality?
1.A dynamic concept describing the growth and development of a person’s whole psychological system
a)Personality looks at some aggregate whole that is greater than the sum of the parts.
2.Gordon Allport
a)Personality—the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine his unique adjustments to his environment
3.Personality is the sum total of ways in which an individual reacts to and interacts with others.
a)It is most often described in terms of measurable traits that a person exhibits.
But the most meaningful would be to include both person and role. So personality is the characteristic pattern of behaviour (communication skill / ability, good interpersonal relation, etc) and modes of thinking that determine a person’s adjustment to the environment. Personality can also be described as how person affects others.
(Charisma) how an individual understand and views himself and his pattern of inner and outer measurable traits. In the process of development individual acquires distinctiveness and uniqueness which gives him identity which enables us to recognize him apart from others.
So personality is a sum total of different traits, which also includes external appearance, communication skills, interpersonal relations, sensitivity, emotionality and intelligence. Every person is in certain aspect.
Personality Determinants
An early argument
Personality was the result of heredity or of environment.
Personality appears to be a result of both influences.
Heredity
1)Heredity refers to those factors that were determined at conception.
2)The heredity approach argues that the ultimate explanation of an individual’s personality is the molecular structure of the genes, located in the chromosomes.
3)Three different streams of research lend some credibility to the heredity argument.
The genetic underpinnings of human behavior and temperament among young children
(a)Evidence demonstrates that traits such as shyness, fear, and distress are most likely caused by inherited genetic characteristics.
(2)The study of twins who were separated at birth
(a)Study of more than 100 sets of identical twins separated at birth and raised separately, but the researchers found a lot in common
(3)The consistency in job satisfaction over time and across situations
(a)Individual job satisfaction is remarkably stable over time. This is indicates that satisfaction is determined by something inherent in the person.
The impact of heredity on personality is very active but still unsettled area of understanding. The problem is that geneticist’s face a major obstacle is gathering information scientifically on human beings. Studies of twins, have proved newsworthy.
For example, "Jim Twin " who were identical twins separated at berth, were both named Jim, by their adopted parents. Both of their first Wife were named Linda, second Wife Betty, both named their son James Allan, both had dogs named toy. Both were mediocore student, both suffered heart attack and they both started getting migraine headache of about the same duration in the same period of their lives.
These cases of similarities of twins raised apart supported the position that heredity plays a major role in personality. Despite these unusual and interesting cases, a recent comprehensive review of research found that personality is more affected by environment than any other areas of human functioning but there are still questions to be answered.
Heredity Vs environment debate is still alive and no definite conclusions are yet possible. But it is clear that physical attribute are largely attributed to heredity.
Environment
a)Factors that exert pressures on our personality formation
The culture in which we are raised
Early conditioning
Norms among our family
Friends and social groups
b)The environment we are exposed to plays a substantial role in shaping our personalities.
c)Culture establishes the norms, attitudes, and values passed from one generation to the next and creates consistencies over time.
Man cannot be separated from his environment. His consciousness is inextricably linked with his surroundings, physical and social. He adapts himself to his social environment as well as his physical environment. Both environments affect his organic and mental development.
Neither nature nor nurture is more important because they are both essential for the development of the human personality. The basic relativity of nature and nurture cannot be overlooked. Sentience imports for us to be conscious of something and that something, whether painful, pleasurable, or indifferent, comes within our experience.
Some experiences are agreeable and some disagreeable; some are of our own seeking and some are thrust upon us. The character, quality, and trend of such experiences depend upon and are, to a great extent, determined by our birth, nationality, place, etc. - in short, by heredity and environment.
By far the most important part of the overall environment of man is the social environment. It differs from one nation to another, one period to another, one class to another, and its influences are outside the control of any one individual.
The social system needs to be remodeled such that individual success does not conflict with communal welfare. This can be achieved by encouraging such social traits as altruism, readiness to cooperate, sympathetic enthusiasm, and so forth, instead of putting a premium on many anti-social traits such as egoism, cunning, and insensitivity to human misery.
All in all, differences among mankind are the outcome of nature and nurture, of heredity and environment. Some are sharp, some are dull. Nevertheless many apparently dull persons can be restored to normal intelligence by proper education, regular exercise of the mind, and facilities for wholesome association.
The way to progress lies in a ceaseless effort to develop our knowledge and intelligence. Such development is possible only when the mind is kept steady and well-poised.
Thus, Heredity sets the parameters or outer limits, but an individual’s full potential will be determined by how well he or she adjusts to the demands and requirements of the environment.