Personality

Development &
Life Skills- Module-1
 Personality-The Introduction
Meaning- Personality is the collection of all possible ways in
which an individual reacts and communicates with others, Or It’s
a pattern behavior- the way in which an individual interact with
his surroundings.

Definition- “Personality is more or less a stable and enduring

organization of a person’s character, temperament, intelligence
and physique which determine his unique adjustment to
environment”
- Gordon Allport
 Dimensions/Determinants of Personality
Physical Determinants

Emotional Determinants

Intellectual Determinants

Linguistic Determinants

Cultural Determinants
 Dimensions/Determinants of Personality
Physical Determinants:- A Person’s physical features have some influence on his personality because it
will affect influence on others and, in turn, will affect his self-concept. It is divided into:- Body build,
Attractiveness, body control
1.Body Build:- Means constitution of the human body with possible link to an individual personality. Its fact that
the body shape affects how one interacts with others in social situations. Types of body are:-
Endomorphy:- Such individual physical component is indicated by soft roundness of the body, especially
when the belly is large relatively to other areas of the body.
Mesomorphy:- The figure of a person is usually hard, rectangular, and heavier than it appears, or
muscular in other words.
Ectomorphy:- People with such type are tall and thin.
2.Attractiveness :- Physical attractiveness is how pleasing someone or something looks.

3.Body Control:- means the management of the body in the common activities in all situation.
 Dimensions/Determinants of Personality
Intellectual Determinants:- Intelligence is a very general mental capability that, among other things
involves the ability to reason, plan, solve problems and handle situations.
Factors that influencing intellectual capacities are as follows:-
1.Heredity and Environment:- Intelligence depends on both either genes (that one get from ancestors) or
environment where an individual is brought up.
2.Culture:- An individual develops his intellectual capacities in the milieu of the culture, because different cultures
foster the development of different patterns of ability.
3.Health:- Healthy individual have better chances of learning than the individual with poor health.
Emotional Determinants:- It is one of major determinant that affect an individual’s personal and social
adjustments. Emotional is defined as a complex reaction which involves our feelings and bodily changes which
impact the quality of our behavior.
Linguistic Determinants:- Personalities are fluid and can be heavily affected by the language a person is
speaking.
 Dimensions/Determinants of Personality
Cultural Determinants:- Culture is one of the most important factors in shaping the personality of an
individual. It decides what the person actually is and what he is learning. It also determines the behavior and
attitude of a person towards freedom, hostility, rivalry and collaboration.
 Traits of Personality or BIG 5 Trait
Openness to experience:- Individuals with such are generally very active, have a tremendous
inclination towards creative and have broad range of interests. They are open to trying new things
and focused on tackling new challenges.
Conscientiousness:-Individuals with such include high levels of thoughtfulness, with good impulse
control and goal directed behaviors. Such individuals more organized and enjoy have a set
schedule.
Extraversion:- Individuals with such are excited, sociability, talkative, assertive. People who are
high in extraversion are outgoing & tend to gain energy in social situations.
Agreeableness:- Individuals with such include attribute such as trust, altruism, kindness, affection.
These individuals tend to be more cooperative and care about others.
Neuroticism:- Individuals with such are characterized by sadness, moodiness and emotional
instability. They experience lot of stress and get upset easily.
 Significance/Importance of Personality
The Personality of an individual plays a very important role in the organizational setup. Improper
personality often leads to unwanted stress in the organization. It may hamper the
employer-employee relations. Hence, managers understand the significance of personality, They
can easily implement it for growth and development of the company.
Following are the significance of personality in an organization:-
Creativity:- Personality is responsible for developing creativity in an individual. Conferences on
brainstorming and personal interchange of opinions promote creativity in an individual.
Retention:- An attractive personality of an individual also helps in enhancing job satisfaction and
lowering employee turnover rate.
Teamwork:- Some individuals work independently and follow their own rules and regulations.
Such people are not able to give their best in teams, But individuals with positive personality will
promote teamwork and be within to give best results.
 Erikson’s Personality Development Process
Infancy- During the first two years of life, an infant goes through : learning basic trust or mistrust. Well
nurtured and loved, the infant develops trust and security and a basic optimism.
Toddlerhood:- The second stage occurs during early childhood, Between about 18 months to 3 years of age.
It deals with learning autonomy. Well parented child get emerged with self confidence, related with his/her
own newly found control.
Preschool:- This stage occurs during the play age or the preschool years about from 3 years to entry into
formal school. The developing child goes through learning initiative- here child learns to use imagination, to
broaden skills through activity play and cooperate with others.
School age:- This fourth stage occurs with learning Situations or competence and try to develop few
intellectual skills. In this stage, the need for self discipline increases very year.
Adolescence:- Learning identity and direction to where to move occurs in this stage of adolescence. Maturity
starts developing during this time. Adolescence seeks leadership and gradually develops a set of ideals to live
by.