Determinants of Personality

Personality is a result of the combination of four factors- physical environment,

heredity, culture and particular experiences. Geographical environment sometimes
determines cultural variability. Man comes to form ideas and attitudes according to the
physical environment he lives in. To the extent that the environment determines
cultural development and to the extent that culture in turn determines personality a
relationship between personality and environment becomes clear.
Montesque in 18th century claimed that the bravery of those blessed by a cold
climate enables them to maintain their liberties. Great heat enervates courage while
cold causes certain vigor of body and mind. The people of mountain as well as
deserts are usually bold, hard and powerful. However physical conditions are more
permissive and limiting factors than causative factors. They set the limits within
which personality can develop. Hereditary is another factor determining human
personality.
Some of the similarities in man's personality are said to be due to his common heredity.
Every human group inherits the same general set of biological needs and capacities.
These common needs and capacities explain some of our similarities in personality.
Man tends to resemble his parents in physical appearance and intelligence. However
heredity does not mould human personality alone and unaided. We can assume that
there are genes for normal personality traits just as there are genes for other aspects
of human life and functioning. Heredity only furnishes the materials out of which
experience will mould the personality. Experience determines the way these materials
will be used. An individual may be energetic because of his heredity but whether he is
active on his own belief or on behalf of others is a matter of his training.
There can be little doubt that culture largely determines the types of personality that
will predominate in the particular group. According to some sociologists personality is
the subjective aspect of culture. They regard personality and culture as two sides of
same coin. Spiro had observed the development of personality and the acquisition of
culture are not different processes but one and the same learning process. Personality
is an individual aspect of culture while culture is a collective aspect of personality. Each
culture produces its special type or types of personality. A given cultural environment
sets its participant members off from other human beings operating under different
cultural environments. According to Frank culture is a coercive influence dominating
the individual and molding his personality by virtue of the ideas, conceptions and
beliefs which had brought to bear on him through communal life. The culture provides
the raw material of which the individual makes his life. The traditions, customs, mores,
religion, institutions, moral and social standards of a group affect the personality of
the group members. From the moment of birth the child is treated in ways which shape
his personality. Every culture exerts a series of general influences upon the individuals
who grow up under it. It can be summed up that culture greatly moulds personality.
The individual ideas and behavior are largely the results of cultural conditioning.
However it should not be concluded that culture is a massive die that shapes all that
come under it with an identical pattern. All the people of a given culture are not of
same cast. Personality traits differ within any culture. Personality is not totally
determined by culture even though no personality escapes its influence. It is only one
determinant among others.
Personality is also determined by another factor the particular and unique experiences.
There are two types of experiences one those that stem from continuous association
with one's group, second those that arise suddenly and are not likely to recur. The
type of people who meet the child daily has a major influence on his personality. The
personality of parents does more to affect a child's personality. The social rituals
ranging from table manners to getting along with others are consciously inculcated in
the child by his parents. The child picks up the language of his parents. Group
influences are relatively greater in early childhood. This is the period when the
relationships of the child with the mother, father and siblings affect profoundly the
organization of his drives and emotions, the deeper and subconscious aspects of his
personality. Group interaction moulds the child's personality. It may also be inferred
that personality is a matter of social situations. It has been shown by social researchers
that a person may show honesty in one situation and not in another. The same is true
for other personality traits also. Personality traits tend to be specific responses to
particular situations rather than general behavior patterns. It is a dynamic unity with
a creative potential.
Heredity, physical environment, culture and particular experiences are thus the four
factors that explain personality –its formation, development and maintenance.
Beyond the joint influence of these factors however the relative contribution of each
factor to personality varies with the characteristic or personality process involved and
perhaps with the individual concerned.

The Meaning of Personality

The term personality is derived from the Latin word persona meaning a mask.
Personality is a patterned body of habits, traits, attitudes and ideas of an individual as
these are organized externally into roles and statuses and as they relate internally to
motivation, goals and various aspects of selfhood.
According to Robert Park and Earnest Burgess Personality is the sum and organization
of those traits which determine the role of the individual in the group.
According to Linton, personality embraces the total organized aggregate of
psychological processes and status pertaining to the individual.Parsonality says
Maclver is all that an individual is and has experienced so far as this all can be
comprehended as unity. According to Lundberg the term personality refers to the
habits, attitudes and other social traits that are characteristic of a given individual's
behavior.
By personality Ogburn means the integration of the socio-psychological behavior of
the human being, represented by habits of action and feeling, attitudes and opinions.
Davis regards personality a psychic phenomenon which is neither organic nor social
but an emergent from a combination of the two. According to Young personality is the
totality of behavior of an individual with a given tendency system interacting with a
sequence of situations.
On the basis of these definitions it may be said there are two main approaches to the
study of personality:

1. The psychological
2. The sociological

The psychological approach considers personality as a certain style peculiar to the

individual. This style is determined by the characteristic organization of mental trends,
complexes, emotions and sentiments. The psychological approach enables us to
understand the phenomena of personality disorganization and the role of wishes, of
mental conflict and of repression and sublimation in the growth of personality. The
sociological approach considers personality in terms of the status of the individual in
the group, in terms of his conception of his role in the group of which he is a member.
What others think of us plays a large part in the formation of our personality.
Thus personality is a sum of the ideas, attitudes and values of a person which
determine his role in society and form an integral part of his character.

Personality is acquired by the individual as a result of his participation in group life. As

a member of the group he learns certain behavior systems and symbolic skills which
determine his ideas, attitudes and social values. These ideas, attitudes and values
which an individual holds comprise his personality.
In brief it can be said:

1. Personality is not related to bodily structure alone. It includes both structure

and dynamics.
2. Personality is an indivisible unit.
3. Personality is neither good nor bad.
4. Every personality is unique
5. Personality refers to persistent qualities of the individual. It expresses
consistency and regularity.
6. Personality is acquired.
 7. Personality is influenced by social interaction. It is defined in terms of behavior.

Personality
Personality is not related to bodily structure alone. It includes both structure and
dynamics. Personality is an indivisible unit.
Every personality is unique. Personality refers to persistent qualities of the individual.
It expresses consistency and regularity. Personality is acquired. It is influenced by
social interaction. It is defined in terms of behavior.

According to Anderson and Parker personality is the totality of habits, attitudes and
traits that result from socialization and characterizes us in our relationship with others.
Lawrence A Pewin has given a working definition of personality in these words,
"Personality represents those structural and dynamic properties of an individual or
individuals as they reflect themselves in characteristic responses to situations.

According to N.L Munn personality may be defined as the most characteristic

integration of an individual's structure modes of behavior, interests, attitudes,
capacities, abilities and aptitudes.

 The Meaning of Personality

 Determinants of Personality
 Personality Disorganization
 Personality Disorganization Causes
 Culture and Personality Disorganization
 Personality Reorganization

Personality Disorganization
Society everywhere demands from its member's conformity to its folkways and mores,
to its values and standards. But often the individual fails to meet the requirements of
the society in which he lives.
As a result he develops personality problems and becomes disorganized. Such a
person is considered mentally unfit incase of mental derangement or abnormality.

He remains socially isolated because in his case there is breakdown of communicative

understanding. Personality disorganization therefore means that the individual is out
of adjustment with society who has failed to organize the chief goals of his life into an
integrated whole so as to achieve unity of the self.

Personality disorganization may take the milder or serious forms of mental disorder.
In addition to mentally disorganized persons there are other examples of personality
disorganization in the alcoholics, criminals, gamblers and drug addicts who are
mentally normal but socially abnormal.

Personality Disorganization Causes

The failure of an individual to adjust himself to society may be due to the factors
inherent in the individual or in the society in which he lives. He may have been born
with a mental disability which prevents his integration into society. Human society is
very complex, competitive and contradictory.
It makes excessive demands upon the individual. Different groups with different
moral standards and different cultural backgrounds create different notions of what is
right and what is wrong. In the midst of these varying notions the individual gets
confused. He fails to find out the right way of social behavior and relapses into
abnormal behavior.
In the modern society man's desires have increased manifold. The advertising has
stimulated his desires which often cannot be satisfied. It gives rise to frustration.
Repeated frustration tends to produce a generalized lack of confidence in one's ability
to achieve any end and generalized conception of oneself as less efficient and less
worthy than others.

The rapid changes in society create new ideas set up new standards while the old ones
still persist. All this leaves the individual bewildered and helpless in coping with the
new situation in which he finds himself. Under the circumstances the individual may
become a victim of mental disorder or become criminal or in extreme cases commit
suicide.

Culture and Personality Disorganization

There is close relation between culture and personality disorganization. Every human
being in modern culture suffers from inner conflicts. Davis writes so far as mental
disorder is concerned the significant question is whether the social system is unified
by a nucleus of common values.

When the structure embraces conflicting principles of social organization based on

the incompatible values, psychic conflicts inevitably result. The stresses and strains
imposed by culture sometimes seem to be too heavy to bear and lead to mental
disorders.

According to Ogburn and Nimkoff cultures have their own characteristic mental
disorders reflecting distinctive cultural influences. Every culture embodies cultural
categories and values. If the individual fails to make good within the framework of
cultural categories and values the result is personal disorganization. Moreover there
are conflicts and contradictions in every culture. Not only different persons hold
different attitudes but the same individual holds contradictory and conflicting attitudes.
Even within the family there may be incompatible values and loyalties.

It may be said that every culture is heterogeneous presenting incompatible values. It

is a house divided against itself. We swear by rights yet practice untouchability.These
inner contradictions arise from the myriads of possible wishes of individuals and scores
of alternative ways of satisfying some of these wishes. Hence personality
disorganization is bound to occur in every culture.

Personality Reorganization
The cases of personality disorganization have increased in modern society. The social
scientists are busy in analyzing the causes and finding out the remedies.
There is however still a difference of opinion as to the best way to proceed. Those
who regard organic factors as the main determinants of social behavior seek to
improve it through eugenic means of one kind or another.

The psychologists, psychiatrists and psychoanalysts try to find the cause and remedy
in the individual alone as if he were living in a vacuum. Then there are
environmentalists who regard social environment as the main factor of personality
disorganization and consequently regard change in the environment as all important.

The problem of personality disorganization are many sided and any effective treatment
will need a consideration of heredity,biological,psychological and environmental factors
and a unification of culture bound together by mutually compatible and common
values.
 Personality Development
An individual's personality is the complex of
mental characteristics that makes them an exuberant
unique from other people. It includes all of emotional tone
the patterns of thought and emotions that
cause us to do and say things in particular
ways. At a basic level, personality is
expressed through our temperament or
emotional tone. However, personality also
colors our values, beliefs, and
expectations. There are many potential
factors that are involved in shaping a
personality. These factors are usually seen
as coming from heredity and the environment. Research by
psychologists over the last several decades has increasingly pointed to
hereditary factors being more important, especially for basic personality
traits such as emotional tone. However, the acquisition of values,
beliefs, and expectations seem to be due more to socialization and
unique experiences, especially during childhood.

Some hereditary factors that contribute to personality development do

so as a result of interactions with the particular social environment in
which people live. For instance, your genetically inherited physical and
mental capabilities have an impact on how others see you and,
subsequently, how you see yourself. If you have poor motor skills that
prevent you from throwing a ball straight and if you regularly get bad
grades in school, you will very likely be labeled by your teachers,
friends, and relatives as someone who is inadequate or a failure to
some degree. This can become a self-fulfilling prophesy as you
increasingly perceive yourself in this way and become more pessimistic
about your capabilities and your future. Likewise, your health and
physical appearance are likely to be very important in your personality
development. You may be frail or robust. You may have a learning
disability. You may be slender in a culture that considers obesity
attractive or vice versa. These largely hereditary factors are likely to
cause you to feel that you are nice-looking, ugly, or just
adequate. Likewise, skin color, gender, and sexual orientation are likely
to have a major impact on how you perceive yourself. Whether you are
accepted by others as being normal or abnormal can lead you to think
and act in a socially acceptable or marginal and even deviant way.

culturally deviant hair

style chosen by these
North American women
to mark their socially
marginal lifestyle
There are many potential environmental influences that help to shape
personality. Child rearing practices are especially critical. In the
dominant culture of North America, children are usually raised in ways
that encourage them to become self-reliant and independent. Children
are often allowed to act somewhat like equals to their parents. For
instance, they are included in making decisions about what type of food
and entertainment the family will have on a night out. Children are
given allowances and small jobs around the house to teach them how to
be responsible for themselves. In contrast, children in China are usually
encouraged to think and act as a member of their family and to
suppress their own wishes when they are in conflict with the needs of
the family. Independence and self-reliance are viewed as an indication
of family failure and are discouraged. It is not surprising that Chinese
children traditionally have not been allowed to act as equals to their
parents.

Despite significant differences in child rearing practices around the

world, there are some similarities. Boys and girls are socialized
differently to some extent in all societies. They receive different
messages from their parents and other adults as to what is appropriate
for them to do in life. They are encouraged to prepare for their future in
jobs fitting their gender. Boys are more often allowed freedom to
experiment and to participate in physically risky activities. Girls are
encouraged to learn how to do domestic tasks and to participate in child
rearing by baby-sitting. If children do not follow these traditional paths,
they are often labeled as marginal or even deviant. Girls may be called
"tomboys" and boys may be ridiculed for not being sufficiently
masculine.

risky activities which until the

late 20th century were allowed
only for males in most societies

There are always unique situations and interpersonal events that help to
shape our personalities. Such things as having alcoholic parents, being
seriously injured in a car accident, or being raped can leave mental
scars that make us fearful and less trusting. If you are an only child,
you don't have to learn how to compromise as much as children who
have several siblings. Chance meetings and actions may have a major
impact on the rest of our lives and affect our personalities. For instance,
being accepted for admission to a prestigious university or being in the
right place at the right time to meet the person who will become your
spouse or life partner can significantly alter the course of the rest of your
life. Similarly, being drafted into the military during wartime, learning
that you were adopted, or personally witnessing a tragic event, such as
the destruction of the World Trade Center towers in New York, can
change your basic perspective.

Are there Personality Types?

We often share personality traits with others, especially members of our
own family and community. This is probably due largely to being
socialized in much the same way. It is normal for us to acquire
personality traits as a result of enculturation. Most people adopt the
traditions, rules, manners, and biases of their culture. Given this fact, it
is not surprising that some researchers have claimed that there are
common national personality types, especially in the more culturally
homogenous societies. During the 1940's, a number of leading
anthropologists and psychologists argued that there are distinct
Japanese and German personalities that led these two nations to view
other countries as trying to destroy them.

The concept of national personality types primarily had its origins in

anthropology with the research of Ruth Benedict beginning in the
1920's. She believed that personality was almost entirely learned. She
said that normal people acquire a distinct ethos, or culturally specific
personality pattern, during the process of being enculturated as
children. Benedict went on to say that our cultural personality patterns
are assumed to be "natural" by us and other personality patterns are
viewed as being "unnatural" and deviant. She said that such feelings
are characteristic of all people in all cultures because we
are ethnocentric. Benedict compared the typical personalities of the
19th century North American Plains Indians with those of the farming
Pueblo Indians of the Southwest. She said that the bison hunting
Plains Indians had personalities that could be typified as being
aggressive, prone to violence, and seeking extreme emotional
states. In contrast, she said that the typical Pueblo Indian was just the
opposite--peaceful, non-aggressive, and sober in personality.

Plains Indian
Benedict's views were especially popular in the 1930's
among early feminists such as her student Margaret
Mead. This was because if personality is entirely
learned, it means that feminine and masculine
personality traits are not biologically hard-wired in. In
other words, culture rather than genes, makes women
nurturing towards children and passive in response to
men. Likewise, culture makes men aggressive and
domineering. If this is true, these stereotypical
behaviors can be altered and even reversed. Mead Polynesian woman
carried out ethnographic field work among
the Polynesian and Melanesian peoples of the South Pacific to
find examples of societies in which femininity and masculinity have very
different and even opposite characteristics from those found in the
Western World. She began her research in Samoa in 1925 where
she discovered a relaxed adolescence in which sex is talked about
freely by boys and girls rather than hidden or suppressed.

NOTE: In 1983, J. Derick Freeman argued that Margaret Mead was

wrong in her assertion about a relaxed Samoan adolescence in regards
to sexuality. He described Samoan society as being comparatively
puritanical as a result of Christian missionary influences. Other
researchers have countered by saying that Freeman did most of his
fieldwork a generation after Mead and that Samoan society may have
changed in that time.

Most anthropologists today believe that Benedict and her students went
too far in their assertions about the influence of culture on personality
formation and in discounting heredity. They also tended to over simplify
by defining people who did not share all of the traits of the "national
personality type" as being deviants. It is more accurate to see the
members of a society as having a range of personality types. What
Benedict was describing was actually the modal personality . This
is the most common personality type within a society. In reality, there is
usually a range of normal personality types within each society.

In the early 1950's, David Riesman proposed that there are three
common types of modal personality that occur around the world. He
called them tradition oriented, inner-directed, and other directed
personalities. The tradition-oriented personality is one that places a
strong emphasis on doing things the same way that they have always
been done. Individuals with this sort of personality are less likely to try
new things and to seek new experiences. Those who have inner-
directed personalities are guilt oriented. That is to say, their behavior
is strongly controlled by their conscience. As a result, there is little need
for police to make sure that they obey the law. These individuals
monitor themselves. If they break the law, they are likely to turn
themselves in for punishment. In contrast, people with other-directed
personalities have more ambiguous feelings about right and
wrong. When they deviate from a societal norm, they usually don't feel
guilty. However, if they are caught in the act or exposed publicly, they
are likely to feel shame.

Advocates of Riesman's concept of three modal personalities suggest

that the tradition-oriented personality is most common in small-scale
societies and in some sub-cultures of large-scale ones. Inner-directed
personalities are said to be more common in some large-scale
societies, especially ones that are culturally homogenous. In contrast,
the other-directed personality is likely to be found in culturally diverse
large-scale societies in which there is not a uniformity in socialization
processes and there is considerable anonymity for city dwellers.

While Riesman's analysis of personalities was insightful, critics have

pointed out that individuals may have characteristics of all three of his
identified modal types. For instance, most North Americans probably do
not feel guilty about exceeding speed limits when they are driving on
freeways, however, they would feel very guilty hitting someone with their
car and would likely call the police. In other words, for some infractions
of the law they are other-directed (or shame-controlled), and for others
they are inner-directed (or guilt-controlled). Likewise, many people like
to do some things in the same way every day but seek new experiences
in other areas of their lives. You may like to wear the same style of
clothes and spend your leisure time at the same place with your friends
most days. However, you may easily get bored eating the same kinds
of food every day and regularly try new restaurants when you go out to
eat. In other words, you are tradition-oriented for some things but not
others.

Determinants of Personality in Organisational behaviour

What determines personality? Of all the complexities and unanswered questions in

the study of human behaviour, this question may be the most difficult. People are
enormously complex; their abilities and interests and attitudes are diverse. An early
argument inpersonality research was whether an individual's personality was the
result of heredity or environment. Was the personality predetermined at birth, or was
it the result of the individual's interaction with his or her environment? Personality
appears to be a result of both influences. Additionally, today we recognize another
factor - the situation. The problem lies in the fact the cognitive and psychological
processes, plus many other variables, all contribute to personality. The determinants
of personality can perhaps best be grouped in five broad categories: biological,
cultural, family, social and situational.
 Biological determinants of Personality Development

The biological determinants of personality development are

Biological Factors
The study of the biological contributions to personality may be studied under three heads:
a. Heredity: Heredity refers to those factors that were determined at conception.
Physical stature, facial attractiveness, sex, temperament, muscle composition and reflexes,
energy level, and biological rhythms are characteristics that are considered to be inherent
from one’s parents. The heredity approach argues that the ultimate explanation of an
individual's personality is the molecular structure of the genes, located in the
chromosomes.

Research on animals has showed that both physical and psychological characteristics can
be transmitted through heredity. But research on human beings is in adequate to support
this view point. However, psychologists and geneticists have accepted the fact that
heredity plays an important role in one's personality.
b. Brain: The second biological approach is to concentrate on the role that the brain plays in
personality. Though researchers make some promising inroads, the psychologists are unable to
prove empirically the contribution of human brain in influencing personality. The most recent
and exciting possibilities come from the work done with electrical stimulation of the brain
(ESB) and split-brain psychology.

Preliminary results from the electrical stimulation of the brain (ESB) research give
indication that better understanding of human personality and behaviour might come from
the study of the brain. Work with ESB on human subjects is just beginning.

There seem to be definite pleasurable and painful areas in the human brain. This being
true, it may be possible physically to manipulate personality through ESB.
c. Biofeedback: Until recently, physiologists and psychologists felt that certain biological
functions such as brainwave patterns, gastric secretions, and fluctuations in blood pressure and
skin temperature were beyond conscious control. Now some scientists believe that these
involuntary functions can be consciously controlled through biofeedback. In BFT the
individual learns the internal rhythm of a particular body process through electronic signals
feedback from equipment that is wired to the body area. From this biofeedback the person can
learn to control the body processin question. More research is needed on biofeedback before
any definitive conclusions can be drawn. But its potential impact could be extremely
interesting for the future.
d. Physical features: A vital ingredient of the personality, an individual's external appearance, is
biologically determined. The fact that a person is tall or short, fat or skinny, black or white
will influence the person's effect on others and this in turn, will affect the self-concept.
Practically all would agree that physical characteristics have at least some influence on the
personality. According to Paul H Mussen "a child's physical characteristics may be related to
his approach to the social environment, to the expectancies of others, and to their reactions to
him. These, inturn, may have impacts on personality development".
 Personality Determinants in Organisational behaviour

If personality characteristics were completely dictated by heredity, they would be fixed at

birth and no amount of experience could alter them. But personality characteristics are not
completely dictated by heredity. There are other factors, which also influence personality.

Cultural Factors
Among the factors that exert pressures on our personality formation are the culture in which
we are raised, our early conditioning, the norms among our family, friends and social groups
and other influences we experience. Traditionally, cultural factors are usually considered to
make a more significant contribution to personality than biological factors.

The culture largely determines attributes toward independence, aggression, competition, and
cooperation. According to Paul H Mussen "each culture expects, and trains, its members to
behave in the ways that are acceptable to the group. To a marked degree, the child's cultural
group defines the range of experiences and situations he is likely to encounter and the values
and personality characteristics that will be reinforced and hence learned". Culture requires
both conformity and acceptance from its members.

There are several ways of ensuring that members comply with the dictates of the culture.

The personality of an individual to a marked extent is determined by the culture in which he

or she is brought up. It follows that a person reared in a western culture has a different
personality from a person reared in our Indian culture.

Family Factors
Whereas the culture generally prescribes and limits what a person can be taught, it is the
family, and later the social group, which selects, interprets and dispenses the culture. Thus,
the family probably has the most significant impact on early personality development.

A substantial amount of empirical evidence indicates that the overall home environment
created by the parents, in addition to their direct influence, is critical to personality
development. For example, children reared in a cold, un stimulating home are much more
likely to be socially and emotionally Mal adjusted than children rose by parents in a warm,
loving and stimulating environment.

The parents play an especially important part in the identification process, which is important
to the person's early development. According to Mischel, the process can be examined from
three different perspectives.
i. Identification can be viewed as the similarity of behaviour including feelings and attitudes
between child and model.
 ii. Identification can be looked at as the child's motives or desires to be like the model.
iii. It can be viewed as the process through which the child actually takes on the attributes of the
model.

From all three perspectives, the identification process is fundamental to the understanding of
personality development. The home environment also influences the personality of an
individual. Siblings (brothers and sisters) also contribute to personality.

Social Factors
There is increasing recognition given to the role of other relevant persons, groups and
especially organizations, which greatly influence an individual's personality. This is
commonly called the socialization process. Socialization involves the process by which a
person acquires, from the enormously wide range of behavioural potentialities that are open
to him or her. Socialization starts with the initial contact between a mother and her new
infant. After infancy, other members of the immediate family – father, brothers, sisters and
close relatives or friends, then the social group – peers, school friends and members of the
work group, play influential roles.

Socialization process is especially relevant to organizational behaviour because the process is

not confined to early childhood, taking place rather throughout one's life. In particular,
evidence is accumulating that socialization may be one of the best explanations for why
employees be have the way they do in today's organizations.

Situational Factors
Human personality is also influenced by situational factors. The effect of environment is
quite strong. Knowledge, skill and language are obviously acquired and represent important
modifications of behaviour. An individual's personality, while generally stable and
consistent, does change in different situations. The different demands of different situations
call forth different aspects of one's personality. According to Milgram "Situation exerts an
important press on the individual. It exercises constraints and may provide push. In certain
circumstances it is not so much the kind of person a man is, as the kind of situation in which
he is placed that determines his actions". We should therefore not look at personality patterns
in isolation.